July 2024- "At Ease Liberty"
In honor of the upcoming Independence Day celebrations, this month’s tab is an arrangement of the fiddle tune “Liberty”. Like many things considered to be “classic American”, the tune actually migrated to the United States from other countries. Its origins can be traced back to the early 1800s and a popular French Canadian dance tune titled “Reel de Ti’ Jean.” It subsequently traveled across the Atlantic to Europe, and then settled in the British Isles using a derivative of the original title, “Little John’s Reel.” Another popular variation of the tune became known as “The Tipsy Parson”.
Next in its global journey, “Little John’s Reel” or “The Tipsy Parson” found its way back across the pond to achieve its greatest success in the hands of the American fiddlers. Americans played “Liberty” in their various regional styles from one corner of the country to the other. The Contra Dance fiddlers in the Northeast added it to their repertoire while the Cajun fiddlers in Louisiana played it as a Two Step. Fiddlers played it up and down the West Coast and in Canada, while Missouri named it as one of that state’s essential fiddle tunes. Fiddlers in the Deep South renamed it again with classic old-time titles like “The Raccoon and the Parson” or even the more Appalachian folksy “The Possum, Raccoon and the Preacher”.
Its place as a staple in the repertoire of old-time fiddle music was cemented when Fiddlin’ John Carson made his historic recording of “Liberty” in 1925. Soon to come were recordings of it by Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers and Herschel Brown. Popular recordings of the tune soon came from Nashville fiddle great Tommy Jackson, as well as the King of Western Swing, Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys.
In continuing the tune’s tradition of evolution, the arrangement presented here adapts it into an aire by slowing the tempo and making a number of chord substitutions to emphasize the beauty of its melody. As a nod to those changes, I’ve also renamed the arrangement as “At Ease Liberty”.
Here’s a link to a YouTube video that demonstrates this arrangement:
Wishing you all a safe and happy Fourth of July!
In music and friendship,
—Tull
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