[Musicians] Danceability of versions of the same tune (Sleepy-Eyed Joe)

[Erik Hoffman]

First, the tune played by Norman Blake as well as the Sleepy Eyed Joe by Foghorn is not the same tune as the one played by Lyman Enloe. There is a transcription of the tune Lyman plays called Sleepy Joe in R. P. Christeson's "Old-Time Fiddler's Repertory." It's Hoedown #24 in book one.
https://www.amazon.com/Old-Time-Fiddlers-Repertory-Traditional-Tunes/dp/0826204392

The guitar version in Norman Blake's video misses the drive most of us strive for when playing for dances. It's not that a solo guitar can't do it, but it's missing the distinctive beat markers. The other versions all have backup instruments pushing the drive along...

~Erik Hoffman 

-----Original Message-----
From: Musicians <musicians-bounces at lists.sharedweight.net> On Behalf Of jim saxe via Musicians
Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2019 7:56 PM
To: musicians at sharedweight.net
Subject: Re: [Musicians] Danceability of versions of the same tune (Sleepy-Eyed Joe)

In my message of earlier today, I offered links to four renditions of "Sleepy Eyed Joe", including this one from Foghorn's out-of-print _Weiser Sunrise_ album:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2RI8FlwvQg     
    Foghorn Stringband
    ~134 BPM

Thanks to Meg Dedolph for an off-list message pointing out that the aforesaid video has been diasbled since I first posted a link to it in 2015 and for calling my attention to a video on the Westport Folk & Bluegrass Festival's channel of a live performance by Foghorn at Matt Molloy's Pub, Bridge Street, Westport, County Mayo, Ireland in 2016:

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd_q8vaQuI0
     Foghorn Stringband
     ~137-138 BPM

I've also found that the version from the _Weiser Sunrise_ album is currently available here:

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd_q8vaQuI0

The title and description of the Westport video attribute the tune to Norman Blake, but as I said in the postscript to my earlier message, notes accompanying one of Blake's CDs attribute the tune to one Ellis Hall.  I haven't heard Hall's 1952 78 RPM recording of the tune, so I can't say how it compares to any of the others I've mentioned.  Using Google Advanced Book Search, I found a 1952 copyright catalog with a listing attributing "Sleepy Eyed Joe" to Ellis John Hall.  Whether Hall was claiming authorship of the tune itself or just of his performance/arrangement is more than I can say for certain, but I didn't find any older references to "Sleepy Eyed Joe" as a tune name.

--Jim

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