Sandy River
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American
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Sandy River" is an American reel in cut time and A major.<br> This tune comes from North Carolina fiddler Marcus Martin (1881-1974),<br> recorded in 1946 by Margot Mayo, Stu Jamieson, and Freyda Simon<br> for the Library of Congress. Marcus played the tune in a<br> variation of the open "Cross Tuning" with the first string<br> lowered to C# (AEAC#), generally called Calico Tuning, after<br> another tune where Marcus utilizes the unusual tuning.<br> In his youth, Martin often played unaccompanied for square<br> dances in Macon and Cherokee Counties.<br> A favorite fiddler of Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Martin played for<br> many years at Lunsford’s Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in Asheville,<br> opening the festival with the tune "Gray Eagle". With Lunsford he<br> performed as far away as Renfro Valley, Kentucky, and Chapel Hill,<br> North Carolina. Martin is a source for unusual tunes that are played<br> by old-time fiddlers today, including "Lady Hamilton" and "Jenny Run<br> Away in the Mud in the Night".<br> Best remembered for his masterful fiddling, Martin was a multi-instrumentalist,<br> also playing the banjo, harmonica and dulcimer. He was also an<br> accomplished traditional ballad singer. Martin learned to play the<br> fiddle from his father, Nathaniel “Rowan” Martin, who was half Cherokee.<br> This tune is not related to "Sandy River Belle".<br> The banjo tablature is by John Letscher.<br>
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