"Old Mother Flanagan", also known as "Old Mother Finnegan", "Old Granny Flanagan",
"Greenfields of America", "(Pretty/Charming) (Molly/Judy/Miss)(Brallaghan/Brannigan)",
"Miss Wedderburn's Reel", "Sooka Flanagan" and "Sukie Flanagan" is an American reel in
A Major (Brody, Phillips, Silberberg) or G Major (Bayard, Kaufman, Phillips, Songer).
It is played in AEae or standard fiddle tunings. The parts are played AB (Bayard,Silberberg),
AABB (Phillips/Gardella, Songer), AA'BB' (Kaufman) or AABBCC (Brody).
The title appears in a list of traditional Ozarks Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. In spite of the name and feel of this tune, it is probably American and not Irish but it is related to the Irish "Greenfields of America". This tune is often played with the parts in reverse order, starting with the B part and finishing with the A part. It was printed in Bayard's Dance to the Fiddle (1981), Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983), Kaufman's Beginning Old Time Fiddle (1977), Krassen's Clawhammer Banjo (1974), Phillips' Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1 (1994), Silberberg's Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern (2002), Songer's Portland Collection (1997), Titon's Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes (2001) (as "Sooka Flanagan"). It was recorded by Kenny Hall and the Sweet Mills String Band on Kenny Hall and the Sweet Mills String Band, John M. Salyer on John M. Salyer: Home Recordings 1941-42, Vol. 1 (1993), Mike Cross on Child Prodigy (1979), Bruce Greene on Vintage Fiddle Tunes (1986), Glen Smith on Say Old Man (1990), Fuzzy Mountain String Band on Fuzzy Mountain String Band (1972) and Summer Oaks and Porch (1973), Wilson Douglas on The Right Hand Fork of Rush's Creek (1975), Haywood Blevins on Old Originals, Vol. 2 (1978), Malcolm Owen & Bill Hicks on Rounder Fiddle (1990), Melvin Wine on Vintage Wine (1993) and Dirk Powell and John Hermann on Dirk Powell and John Hermann (1992). |