Old-Time TOTW
Old-Time TOTW #326 is The Parsley Girls from The Fiddle Book by Marion Thede. She credits “Collins Family” with the tune, but it was likely Willie Sherman “W. S." Collins (26 November 1878--8 April 1965) of Shawnee, Pottawatomie County, OK, who played the tune for her. He was the son of Bartholomew “Tol “Collins (1854-1946) and Mary Ann "Polly" Capps (1865-1922). His ancestor John Richard Collins (b. 1655, Cornwall, England) was in Virginia by 1675. (source for above, Collins Family tree and public documents).
W.S. Collins was born in Missouri and moved to Wynnewood, Oklahoma in 1917. He finally settled in Shawnee, OK (Pottawatomie Co.) with his family. Collins came from a very musical family. In addition to his father, uncles, and siblings who played the fiddle, Willie's sons Earl and Max played fiddle as well. Earl Collins mentioned in an interview, "We could have had a family like the Carter Family. There was four girls and five boys [Earl's siblings], and every one of them musicians. The girls...had guitars and sang." Earl also mentioned that W. S.'s father and grandfather fiddled as well.
Marion Thede collected many tunes from W. S. Collins in the 1930s and included a great deal of them in The Fiddle Book which was published in 1967. Many of the tunes she collected from other fiddlers were ones that the Collins family also played.
The Parsley Girls is a very interesting, crooked tune in calico tuning. Marion notated the tune in A,Eac# tuning, but it can also be played low tuned (G,DGB, F,CFA, or even E,B,EG#).
Thede gives the lyrics:
Oh, them girls of old Billy Parsley,
I-de I-de I-de,
Oh, them girls of old Billy Parsley,
I-de I-de-de die-de;
Girls in the cookhouse, boys in the parlor,
I-de I-de--de die-de;
Oh, boys in the cookhouse, girls in the parlor,,
Oh, them girls of Billy Parsley.
Thede explains that Billy Parsley was a engineer on the railroad in Douglas, Missouri, and when he was away on the railroad, music and dancing would take place at the Parsley home. Indeed, Billy Parsley was a real person. You'll have to wait for my book on Marion Thede and the Oklahoma fiddlers to read about Billy and other details surrounding this tune. McFarland & Company will be publishing it. I will post details of its publication as they are made known to me.
Joining me is friend Mark McNulty on guitar (Cleveland, OH)
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.