The All-in-One Old Time Jam Book and Celestial Slow Jam

As someone who learns new tunes through a combination of notation and audio, I’m a sucker for a good fiddle tune book, especially one that comes with a CD or mp3 download.  When I saw the list of tunes in Celestial Mountain Music’s All-in-One Old Time Jam Book and Celestial Slow Jam book I figured that these would be good additions to my collection. 

While a total of 57 tunes between both volumes is not an exhaustive number of selections, the ones chosen do seem to be pertinent old favorites - common enough to be played in most jam circles, but not so common as to be complete duplicates of other fake books.  Because these compendiums were put together by currently active old-time musicians for use in group jam situations, there’s a good chance the arrangements are going to sound very similar to the way musicians in your area play them.

The simplified way these tunes are presented makes it easy for me to learn and retain them with a solid understanding of the tune’s basic melody, shape and chord structure.  I’ve only had the books for a few weeks, but I’ve already learned enough about Chinquapin Hunting, Rock the Cradle Joe, Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss, Little Billy Wilson, Cuffy, Barlow Knife, Fortune and Yellow Rose of Texas to play along proficiently at the various jams I attend.  Never before have I been able to pick up so many tunes in such a short amount of time with such little effort.  What fun!

The books are authored by old-time fiddler and guitarist Mary Gordon, co-owner of Celestial Mountain Music in Brevard, North Carolina, and old-time banjo player Hilary Dirlam.  Each tune is offered in standard notation plus clawhammer banjo tab.  Playing tips, chord diagrams and slow-play CDs are also included.  Click here for page samples and information on how to order.  See below for each book's tune list.

       All-in-One Old Time Jam Book

1.       Arkansas Traveler

2.       Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine

3.       Cindy

4.       Country Waltz

5.       Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss

6.       Julianne Johnson

7.       Liberty

8.       Mississippi Sawyer

9.       Needlecase

10.    Over the Waterfall

11.    Rock the Cradle, Joe

12.    St. Anne’s Reel

13.    Spotted Pony

14.    West Fork Gals

15.    Whiskey Before Breakfast

16.    Yellow Rose of Texas

17.    Barlow Knife

18.    Colored Aristocracy

19.    Girl I Left Behind Me

20.    Golden Slippers

21.    Redwing

22.    Sail Away Ladies

23.    Tombigbee Waltz

24.    Boatman

25.    John Hardy

26.    June Apple

27.    My Own House

28.    Poor Liza Jane

29.    Waterbound

30.    Cold Frosty Morning

31.    Kitchen Girl

32.    Red Haired Boy

33.    Altamont

34.    Billy in the Lowground

35.    High Yellow

36.    Saturday Night Breakdown

   

Celestial Slow Jam

1.       Martha Campbell

2.       Chinquapin Hunting

3.       John Brown’s March

4.       Chinese Breakdown

5.       West Virginia Rag

6.       Jaybird

7.       Bull at the Wagon

8.       Briarpicker Brown

9.       Little Dutch Girl

10.    Waiting for the Boatman

11.    Elk River Blues

12.    Cowboy’s Dream

13.    Big-Eyed Rabbit

14.    Waynesboro

15.    Little Billy Wilson

16.    Jenny Lind Polka

17.    Durang’s Hornpipe

18.    Train on the Island

19.    Cuffy

20.    Shove the Pig’s Foot a Little Further into the Fire

21.    Fortune

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