Old-Time TOTW #31:Julianne Johnson (1/27/19)

This week’s tune is Julianne Johnson, and comes from the playing of Emmett Lundy (May 6 or 9, 1864- October 16, 1953) of Grayson County, VA. His death certificate gives his date of birth as May 6, 1864, but his tombstone says May 9, 1864. He was the son of Churchwell Lundy (1818-1888) and Caroline Ward Trimble (1821-1902). The Lundy family came to PA from England in 1687 and acquired land in Grayson Co., VA in the late 1780s. Caroline Ward Trimble’s maternal gr-gr-gr grandparents were born in New Kent Co., VA in the early 1670s. (source: ancestry.com) Emmett learned to play the fiddle in his late teens from an older man named Greenberry Leonard. Leonard was reputed to be the best fiddler in the area, somewhere between 65 and 80 years old when Lundy met up with him in the early 1880s. The tunes he learned from Leonard were obviously quite old, dating at least to the early 19th century. In 1925, Lundy teamed up with Ernest Stoneman, a guitar and harmonica player who was 29 years his junior. They recorded Piney Woods Gal and The Long Eared Mule for Okeh records. Lundy was not happy with the recording, and this marked the end of his venture into commercial recording. In 1941, Lundy recorded almost two dozen tunes for the Library of Congress. He often collaborated with other musicians, but was never formally part of any band. He remained content playing his fiddle after dinner to entertain himself and his family. Lundy was a farmer, but also worked as a blacksmith, watch and fiddle repairman, and also pulled teeth. Those were the days in rural areas where one person often took on various tasks, the combination of which seems very odd to modern minds. He is said to have won the first $10 gold piece awarded at a Galax, VA fiddle contest. That would have been equivalent to approximately $150 today. (above information derived from various sources, including Eugene Chadbourne) Fiddler’s Companion and the Traditional Tune Archive list two different versions of Julianne Johnson, referencing Lundy’s source recording and one in The Philip’s Collection of Traditional American Fiddle Tunes. The latter is presented as “Julian Johnson” and notated from the playing of Ted Erhard with Footloose. I disagree with calling these two separate versions. While there are slight differences, the shape (or skeleton) of the tune really is the same. Julianne Johnson is in the key of D, and I play it in high bass (ADAE tuning), but our guest fiddler and friend Amanda Morrison, plays it in standard tuning. Backing her up on banjo is Stephen Rapp (Kent, OH), Corey Snipes on bass (Lakewood, OH), and myself on guitar. I’d like to thank Amanda for joining us, and will be featuring more of her fiddling in the coming weeks on Old-Time TOTW. Next week I’ll feature some different faces, making music with some of my Old-Time family in Albany, NY...see you then!