Callahan
Notation:
Standard Notation
ABC Notation
Banjo Tablature
Mandolin Tablature
traditional
PDF Files:
--- choose file type ---
Standard Notation
Banjo Tablature
Mandolin Tablature
Tune Sheet
American
Play
MIDI
No audio
available
Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Callahan", also known as "The Last of Callahan", "Callahan Reel", "Last of the<br> Callahans" and "Old Sport” is an old-time breakdown known in Arkansas, Oklahoma,<br> West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky in D Major. The parts are played AABB (Thede) or<br> AA'BB'CC (Brody, Reiner & Anick).<br> Thede says that fiddlers in Arkansas and Oklahoma<br> attribute the tune (as in the "MacPherson's Lament" story) to an outlaw who, just<br> before being hanged, requested to play the fiddle one last time ..."In his standing<br> position he played an unnamed fiddle tune and then handed the fiddle down to one of<br> the bystanders. Justice was meted out...and the likeness of the tune became "Last of<br> Callahan". Reiner & Anick (1989) say the first published report on the tune is from<br> 1912, which relates the story of a Kentucky outlaw named Callahan who was executed<br> around the year 1835; only in this account he played his tune while sitting on his<br> awaiting coffin and when finished broke the fiddle over his knee before stepping up<br> to the gallows. The tale is an example of a traditional tune-story that goes far back<br> in musical tradition, in the case of the fiddle at least, to the old Scottish song<br> "MacPherson's Farewell" and in America is similar to the legend behind the musically<br> related West Virginia/Virginia tunes "Camp Chase*", "Joe Coleman's March" (Pa.) and<br> "George Booker". A Cajun version of the legend is attached to the tunes "Guilbeau's<br> Waltz" and "Valse a Napoleon".<br> The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes (as "Last of<br> the Callahans") compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954.<br> There are many variations of this tune and the one given here is rather basic.<br> There is a short measure betewwen the B and C oarts. There is a phrase in the C part<br> that resembles phrases in the B part of "Sandy River Belle".<br> It was in the repertoire of Kentucky<br> fiddlers Luther Strong and Bill Stepp (who recorded for the Library of Congress).<br> It was printed in<br> Brody's Fiddler’s Fakebook (1983),<br> R.P. Christeson's Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, vol. 2 (1984),<br> Reiner & Anick's Old-Time Fiddling Across<br> America (1989), Thede's The Fiddle Book (1967).<br> It was recorded by Mike Cross on Child Prodigy (1979),<br> Highwoods String Band on Fire on the Mountain, Fuzzy Mountain String Band (1972)<br> (Learned from a West Virginia source via revival fiddler Dave Milefsky),<br> Roane County Ramblers (eastern Tenn. as "Callahan Rag" {1929}),<br> Clyde Davenport on Clydescope: Rare & Beautiful Tunes from the Cumberland Plateau<br> (1986), Fiddlin' Doc Roberts & Asa Martin (1930),<br> Dave Spilkia on Old Time Friends (1987),<br> Dykes Magic City Trio (eastern Tenn.) (1927),<br> George Lee Hawkins on Traditional Fiddle Music of Kentucky, vol. 1 (1997),<br> Fiddlin Cowan Powers (Russell County, S.W. Va. {1924}),<br> Jim Taylor on The Civil War Collection (1996) (appears as "McLanahan's March"),<br> Fiddling Powers and Family as "Callahan's Reel" (1924).<br>
Click
here
for a full page view.