Gordon McLeod: Music

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Notes on “The Fiddle King” This song was inspired by an article by Charles Frazier ( author of "Cold Mountain") and his research into the people of the mountains of North Carolina during the Civil War. The character , Stobrod, the fiddler in Frazier's book was based on an actual person who was killed by the Home Guard for desertion. Frazier describes in his article the music of the region and its roots in the Scots-Irish traditions of the mountain people. The fiddle accompaniment in the recording of "The Fiddle King" is based on three North Carolina fiddle tunes from that era, mainly "Bonaparte's Retreat". I also "quote” a great old time tune called "Cluck Ol' Hen" and refer to two other tunes, "Jack o' Diamonds" and "Devil in The Strawstack". All of these tunes were played by Tommy Jarrell, one of the greatest exponents of the fiddle style of that region and would probably have been in wide circulation at the time of the Civil War.

Gordon McLeod: vocals, fiddle, guitars, banjo, bass; Bob Gentry; drums

Fiddle King (Words and music by Gordon McLeod © 2003)
Verse 1
When the Weather turned warm enough to wander
And the Carolina moon shone full in the spring,
With a boy’s delight I knew he was back
By that sweet scratchin’ sound of his fiddle strings.
Some nights I’d sneak and follow him
To the crossroads where he’d play and sing.
And the horsehair rubbin’ on the catgut
Made my bare feet shuffle and my little heart sing.

Bridge 1
They said he was no count and lazy, tradin’ his life for a fiddle’s ring,
Most said he was just crazy, but to me
He was the Fiddle King.

Verse 2
He drank whiskey whenever he could,
In an old hollow log he’d lay up for days.
But he was never too drunk to remember
Any tune I asked him to play.
He played “Devil in the Strawstack”,
“Jack O’ Diamonds” and “Bonaparte’s Retreat”.
He’d whip his bow into a Georgia shuffle,
Made his eyes shine bright, and give him dancin’ feet.

Bridge 2
Mama said she snatch me bald if she ever caught me puttin’ bow to strings,
She said the fiddle was the Devil’s toy but it sounded like Heaven
In the hands of the King.

Verse 3
They said he’d run from the Army
That the old Home Guard would soon make him swing.
He said it wasn’t his war, he wouldn’t fight no more
He was goin’ down to Georgia after the spring.
The last time I heard him play The Guard had him backed up to a cottonwood tree.
His last request was “Bonaparte’s Retreat”,
I always thought he played that tune just for me.

Bridge 3
Some said he was shiftless and lazy, tradin’ his life for a fiddle’s ring,
Most said he was plain crazy, but to me… oH!
Mama said he died a sinner, wasted his life on the Devil’s plaything,
Well that may be so but somehow I know that right now
He’s in the hands of the King------Fiddle King.