|
Early encounters 1981 was the year the
folk music world discovered Lotus Dickey, though
he had lived most of his 69 years on Grease Gravy Road, southeast of
Paoli, Indiana. Dillon Bustin and Nancy Cassell from Indiana
University, and Kathy Mundell of the Great Lakes Arts Alliance worked
with Lotus and his amazing repertoire of old ballads and original
songs. I met Lotus when Dillon asked me to book him for the Indiana
Fiddlers Gathering. I spent the next eight years in a memorable
friendship that coincided with our joint exploration of his equally
amazing store of fiddle tunes.
|
|
A
fellow grad student at the IU Folklore Institute, David
Brose, was among the first folklorists to visit Lotus
Dickey. These tunes are
from the recordings David made on his first trip to Lotus and Cyprien's
houses. The last
three were learned from the three 19th-century tune books the Dickey
brothers shared.
|
At his first appearances at the Indiana
Fiddlers Gathering in Battle Ground, Lotus
Dickey & Friends
included Dillon Bustin
on banjo & guitar and Linda
Handelsman
on hammered dulcimer & concertina. Most of the first fiddle
tunes I
heard Lotus play were tunes learned from sheet music or the
old tune books.
|
|
Six-year run at Battle Ground |
|
|
.From 1981 through
1984, Lotus Dickey & Friends included
Bloomington musicians Dillon Bustin
on banjo & guitar and Linda Handelsman
on hammered dulcimer & concertina. When Dillon left Indiana for
Massachusetts in 1985, Lotus asked Bob Lucas and me to be his
friends for the upcoming Indiana Fiddlers Gathering and other gigs.
|
|
The first four songs in this column are original songs by Lotus, as are
two more songs in the
next column . The rest are traditional tunes and folk songs.
|
|
|
Appearances at Indiana University |
|
In November 1981, Lotus Dickey visited several Folklore classes during
the day, and then gave a
concert that night in the University's Fine Arts Auditorium.
|
In
1983, Lotus made a guest
appearance on Music Down
Home, on WFIU-FM, hosted by Gary Stanton, and
another
appearance on the same show in 1986 when I was the host.
|
|
Orange County fiddle tune project One morning in 1986,
Lotus woke up with a tune in his head that he
hadn't thought about "for 60 years." More old tunes poured out. He and
I
began to systematically record these remembered tunes grouped according
to his source. In many cases, he often explained, Cyprien had learned
them
first and then taught them to Lotus, eight years his junior.
|
|
| Tunes learned circa 1926 from Albert Dougherty of Paoli: The first is the one that broke the dam of memory and let out a whole flood of fine old tunes. | Tunes
learned circa 1926 from John Coulter of Chambersburg: He
was a
storekeeper. Lotus often said with gestures, that Mr. Coulter had "a
real jerk in his bow."
|
Tunes
learned circa 1926 from Allen Downey, who "came into our
district from
Robinson County, Illinois." (Note: There is a town named Robinson in
Illinois, but not a county.)
|
Tunes
learned circa 1926 from Poindexter "Deck" Ainsworth, who
came up from
Arkansas.
|
| Tunes
learned circa 1926 from other local fiddlers and musicians.
|
Traditional tunes
from no identifiable aural source.
|
|
Tunes from beyond Orange County |
|
| book tunes | radio tunes
|