Old-Time TOTW
Old-Time TOTW #324 is Paddy on the Turnpike from Earl Bartholomew Collins (18 June 1911-29 September 1975). He was the son of Willie Sherman "W.S." Collins (1878-1965) and Martha Hall (1881-1968). Earl was born in Douglass County, Missouri, and moved with his family in 1917 to Wynnewood, OK. After a year they moved to Shawnee, Pottawatomie County, OK. He married Hazel M. Ward (1912-?) on 12 September 1931, and they moved to Los Angeles, CA, in 1935.
Earl's father and grandfather fiddled, and many members of the Collins family were musical. He was the fourth of nine children. Each of his siblings played an instrument and/or sang, and his younger brother Max (1916-2001) fiddled as well and accompanied Earl on the guitar.
In an interview published by Barbara LaPan Rahm, Earl stated:
"I used to hold my Daddy's [W. S. Collins'] arm while he fiddled when I was two or three years old...I started playing when I was about three or four. But I couldn't reach the fiddle...So Dad glued up this little old cigar box fiddle...and I played that for four or five years. I guess I was about seven when I got big enough to reach, make a true note...Then I started stealing my father's fiddle. He kept it under his bed. Boy, he'd spank my butt with a razor strop when he'd catch me playing his fiddle...Mother always watched for him. She'd say, 'I see Daddy coming, and you can put the fiddle up.' So one day I looked up, and Dad's standing in the door. I was about seven..."
Earl went on to relate that he was "scared and shaky" having been discovered by his father. At dinner, W. S. told him he would give him the fiddle if he didn't "fool it away." He also revealed that he'd been spanking him to get him to play. He said, "Usually if you try to make a kid play, he won't. Just like a hog, if he thinks you want him in the pen, he won't go in." From all the stories of other fiddlers saying their father would become angry if they played his fiddle, it seems this was a tactic used to get kids to play the fiddle in musical families!
Feeling disgruntled with the music industry, Earl stopped fiddling in 1950, but in 1965 his sons encouraged him to start playing again because they were taking up banjo and guitar.
Paddy on the Turnpike is a widespread tune with a long history. See the discussion at Andrew Kuntz’s Traditional Tune Archive: https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:...)
Joining me is friend Mark McNulty on guitar (Oberlin, OH).
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Paul Kirk has been playing bowed string instruments since 1980 and has been teaching them privately, in classroom settings, and in workshop formats since 1988. He studied music theory, composition, music education, music history, and musicology at Cleveland State University. While at CSU, Paul played violas da gamba, krummhorns, and recorders in early music ensembles. He was a founding member of Good Company: A Vocal Ensemble and has founded many of his own bands over the years including A Hundred Thousand Welcomes Celtic Ensemble, Knives and Forks English Country Dance Ensemble, and Down the Road Old-Time String Band. He has composed over 500 folk tunes in a variety of styles.
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.
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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.
Paul taught viola, choir, music history, and assisted with drama and art for ten consecutive summers at orchestra and fine arts camps for The Music Settlement when it was known as Cleveland Music School Settlement.