Six Chirps Smith fiddle tunes for a silent Western score

We're scoring the poem O sadness over rage O rage over sadness by K. Curtis Lyle, mostly because our movie unit wants to make a silent Western; and in the back-asswards way we do things, we start with the score and then go back and make the movie.

With music that would sound good in a silent Western always in the back of my mind, I put my paws on Down in Little Egypt by the Illinois fiddler Chirps Smith (Vigortone, 2003), and an awful lot of it sounded like the right stuff.

This record was given to me by my friend Jim Nelson, who played guitar on it and produced it (along with Chirps and Jeff Miller). Jim was sure Chirps would be okay with my posting some tunes and trying to work them into the score; and indeed when I checked with Chirps he said if it was okay with Jim then it was okay with him.

mp3s

"Amish Town"

Chirps Smith, fiddle
Fred Campeau, banjo

"Old Missouri"

Chirps Smith, fiddle
Jim Nelson, guitar
Fred Campeau, banjo

"Lost Indian"

Chirps Smith, fiddle
Dave Landreth, gut-string banjo

"Bowling Green"

Chirps Smith, fiddle
Jim Nelson, guitar
Fred Campeau, banjo

"Illinois Cotillion"

Chirps Smith, fiddle
Jim Nelson, guitar
Curtis Buckhannon, mandocello

"California Waltz"

Chirps Smith, fiddle
Jim Nelson, guitar
Fred Campeau, banjo

All tunes traditional, arranged by Chirps Smith and borrowed by him from various sources detailed in the liner notes to Down in Little Egypt.

All 26 tunes on this record are fantastic; any lover of fiddle music would want to have a copy of it. It is available from the CD Baby link I have provided or from Vigortone Records.

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OTHERS IN THIS SERIES

"Alcohol and Used Father Peyote" with Mike Burgett
From car jam to lost rock bands to Black Indian Cowboy poem
Barbara Harbach string quintet for Black Indian Cowboy score
Spaghetti Western music for O sadness over rage O rage over sadness