Old-Time TOTW #321: Coleman's March (8/18/24)

Old-Time TOTW #321 is Coleman's March, a tune said to have been composed by Joe Coleman. The apocryphal legend states that Joe Coleman was sent to the gallows for murdering his wife with his cobbler's knife. As he sat on his coffin, he played the tune before being hanged. He challeneged anyone in the crowd to play better than he, and a fiddler named Franz Prewitt took the challenge and won. The story continues that Coleman handed him his fiddle before his hanging. His family took Coleman's body, revived him and took him down the Cumberland River towards Tennessee. The problem with this story is the similarity to so many others from the U. S. and British Isles of a man condemned to death who gives his fiddle to someone in the crowd for their skillful playing. There really was a Joe Coleman who was tried at Burkesville, KY, for the murder of his wife, with Circuit Judge Christopher Tompkins presiding. He was sentenced to be hanged on Tuesday, May 25, 1847, for the murder of his wife. He was the only white man recorded as ever being hanged in Cumberland County. According to evidence presented in court, Coleman's wife went into the woods to get some bark to make dye. Shortly after, he followed her taking a cobbler's knife with him. Shortly after, he returned with her dead body claiming he had found her dead in the woods. Later, his bloody knife was found where his wife had been in the woods. The evidence was given by Coleman's sister-in-law whom he did not have a good relationship with. The hanging took place on a hill south of Burkesville. (source: article in The Glasgow Daily Times, 1967) Regarding the tune, it is the same as The Irish Jaunting Car played slower with a change of meter. The Irish Jaunting Car words were supposedly written by Valentine Bousden after Queen Victoria's visit to Ireland. Victoria visited Ireland in August 1849 after the potato famine and again in August 1853). The original words to the song are debated and disputed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iri... A jaunting car is a lightweight, two-wheeled carriage for a single horse with a seat in front of the driver. It was adapted for public transport by Charles Bianconi in 1815, also a popular mode of transport in 19th c Dublin. The Bonnie Blue Flag is the same tune credited to Irish-born entertainer Harry McCarthy in 1861. The blue flag with a five-pointed white star in the middle, goes back to 1810 and was used for the short-lived Republic of West Florida. It was also the flag of the Republic of Texas for three years and the Republic of Mississippi before it became a part of the Confederacy. It was the flag of North Carolina during the Confederacy, but not officially adopted by the Confederat Congress. https://www.ncpedia.org/bonnie-blue-f.... Traditional Tune Archive states: "Bruce Greene introduced the tune to old-time "revival" fiddlers in the 1970's, according to Seattle old-time music expert Kerry Blech who gives that Greene had the tune from an old Kentucky fiddler by the name of Gene Conner, who was recorded in January 1962 in Bowling Green, KY, probably by Lynwood Montell and Wilgus. Connor and played the tune in standard tuning, although Greene and Vermont fiddler Pete Sutherland play it in DDad. Sutherland's version has been particularly influential in popularizing the tune in modern times. Greene told Blech the tune was played both ways in western Kentucky." I added additional, improvisatory parts on fiddle, viola, and bass, and my arrangement is copyright 2024. Joining me is friend Stephen Rapp on banjo (Kent, OH), and Michael Seiser on guitar. Subscribe to Stephen Rapp's YouTube channel:    / rappstephen   Paul has closely studied the music from Appalachia, the history of American old-time fiddling, source fiddlers, as well as the social aspects of the music. Since July 1, 2018, he has been creating and sharing videos each Sunday through his Old-Time Tune of the Week series on YouTube. Paul puts a great focus on fiddle bowing patterns and techniques and has devised practical methods for teaching with excellent results. One of his specialties is teaching old-time fiddle to crossover students, especially those coming from a background in classical violin and other musical traditions. Subscribe to my Patreon: www.patreon.com/paulkirk Join the Old-Time TOTW group on Facebook:   / 33100.  . In 2022, Paul was designated as a master old-time fiddler and received a Traditional Arts grant from the Ohio Arts Council to work with an apprentice of his choice.