The Last of Callahan
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"The Last of the Callahan", also known as "Callahan", "Callahan Reel",<br> "Last of the Callahans" or "Old Sport" is an American reel in cut or 2/4 time and<br> D Major. It is played in AEae or Standard fiddle tunings. The parts are played AABB<br> (Thede) or AA'BB'CC (Brody, Reiner & Anick).<br> Thede says that fiddlers in Arkansas and Oklahoma attribute the tune (as in the<br> "MacPherson's Farewell" story) to an outlaw who, just before being hanged, requested<br> to play the fiddle one last time. In his standing position he played an unnamed fiddle<br> tune and then handed the fiddle down to one of the bystanders. Justice was meted out<br> and the tune became "The Last of Callahan".<br> Reiner & Anick (1989) say the first published report on the tune is<br> from 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 to<br> the gallows.<br> It was printed in Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983),<br> Milliner & Koken's Milliner-Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes (2011),<br> Reiner & Anick's Old-Time Fiddling Across America (1989) and<br> Thede's The Fiddle Book (1967).<br> It was recorded by Mike Cross on Child Prodigy (1979),<br> Luther Strong on Library of Congress AFS 01537 B01 (1937),<br> Highwoods String Band on Fire on the Mountain and<br> Fuzzy Mountain String Band on Fuzzy Mountain String Band (1972).<br>
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