Transcriber’s Notes:Words or phrases in found brackets represent unclear or
unintelligible portions of the recording. Brackets are also used to provide the reader with helpful background information about the recording. Underlined text within the transcription represents more than one person speaking at the same time.Bailey:[Recording begins mid song.]
Interviewer:Where did you get that waltz, the “Kentucky Waltz?”
Bailey:Bill Monroe wrote that.
Interviewer:He did?
Bailey:Yeah.
Interviewer:That’s one of his tunes? “Sittin in the Parlor,” this is kind of an
old tune, isn’t it?Bailey:Yeah, that’s an old one.
[1:10--- 2:12 Plays “Sittin’ in the Parlor.”]
Interviewer:You like that one don’t you? [Laughs]. “Black Mountain Rag.”
Bailey:I’ve got to tune up for that one, so we better hold that one.
Interviewer:Oh, okay. How about [“Peach Liquor Still in Georgia?”]
Bailey:[2:27--- 3:36 Plays song [unsure about the title; interviewer’s voice
almost inaudible].Interviewer:Is it “Marjorie?”
Bailey:Yes.
Interviewer:“Marjorie.” Where did you get this tune? Wait a minute. Where did
you learn this tune?Bailey:Oh I learned it when I was a boy. It was real popular at that time.
Interviewer:All right.
Bailey:[I’ll try to remember it all].Interviewer:All Right.
Bailey:[3:54----5:01 Plays “Marjorie.”]
Interviewer:And after that we have “Maggie.”
Interviewer:“Maggie”
Bailey:[5:05--- 6:17 Plays “Maggie.]
Interviewer:Was that popular about the same time “Marjorie” was? I’ve heard
“Maggie” before.Bailey:That’s long before that. It was way back. It was real old.
Interviewer:“Green Valley Waltz?”
Bailey:[6:32--- 7:50 Plays “Green Valley Waltz.”]
Interviewer:“John Henry.”
Bailey:[7:56--- 8:55 Plays “John Henry.”]
Interviewer:“Black Eyed Susie.”
Bailey:[9:03--- 9:55 Plays “Black Eyed Susie.”]
Interviewer:And then “Wake up Susie.”
Bailey:[
1:00 --- 2:00Plays “Wake Up Susie.”]Interviewer:“Bumble in the Jug “
Mbailey:Bee.
Interviewer: “Bumble Bee in the Jug.”
Bailey:[
3:00 --- 4:00Plays “Bumble Bee in the Jug.”]Interviewer:I like that. I have never heard it before. Where did you get it?
Bailey:George Hawkins. [laughs]
Interviewer:George Hawkins!
Bailey:[Laughs] yeah.
Interviewer:You beared down real hard on those. I like that. Let’s stop a minute.
M.Bailey:Alfred, you want a drink?
Bailey:No, I don’t
Interviewer:You just played thirty just like that.
Bailey:Yeah.
Interviewer:Just like that you did that.
M.Bailey:Oh my lands.
[Recording turned off.]
[Recording turned back on.]
Interviewer:I understand that you are asked to play, that sometimes you’re asked
to play hymns. And let’s play through some of them. But let me get myself turned on here. Play, record. [Pause]. There we go. Very good. How about “Amazing Grace” and then we’ll play through some of the other hymns there if you want to.Bailey:[
5:00 --- 6:00Plays “Amazing Grace.”]Interviewer:“I Saw the Light.”
Bailey:[
7:00 --- 8:00Plays “I Saw the Light.”]Interviewer:“The Old Rugged Cross.” [Voices whispering in background]
Bailey:[
9:00 --- 10:00Plays “Old Rugged Cross.”]Interviewer:“Onward Christian Soldiers.”
Bailey:Who put that on there?
Another Voice: I thought you played that.
Bailey:Uh-uh. Mark that off.
Interviewer:Well, “Battle Hymn of the Republic?”
M.Bailey:“That’s a good one.”
Bailey:[
11:00 --- 12:00Plays “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”]Interviewer:You want to play “America?”
Bailey:[
13:00 --- 14:00Plays “America.”]Interviewer:Feels like we should have saved that one for last, doesn’t it.
Everyone:[Laughs]
Interviewer:That was something to kind of close out. What is this “Old ninety…?”
M.Bailey:Oh, that’s a---
Bailey:Old ninety-seven?
Interviewer:Old Ninety-Seven!
M.Bailey:They’re train pieces.
Interviewer:Oh let’s here that, that train piece.
Bailey:[
15:00 ---- 16:00Plays “Old Ninety Seven.”]Interviewer:“Darling Nellie Gray?”
Bailey:[
17:00 --- 18:00Plays “Darling Nellie Gray;” clock chimes in the background during the first part of the tune.]Interviewer:“My Little Girl I Know I Love You.”
Bailey:[
19:00 --- 20:00Plays “My Little Girl I Know I Love You.”]Interviewer:That was a popular tune sometime wasn’t it?
Bailey:Uh—hmm. When my daddy was young I think.
Interviewer:And then your daddy played that tune?
Bailey:I heard him sing it to me when I was a little boy.
Interviewer:Ooooh. It’s got words too.
Bailey:Yeah, yeah.
Interviewer:“Old Log Cabin in the Lane.”
Bailey:Yeah, now that’s a real old one.
[
21:00 ---- 22:00Plays Old Log Cabin in the Lane”Interviewer:“I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles.”
Bailey:[
23:00 --- 24:00Plays “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles.”]Interviewer:Where did you learn that?
Bailey:I learnt it, my daddy sang it. [Laughs]
Interviewer:[Laughs]
M.Bailey:Father played it on the piano too.
Interviewer:He did?
[Voices speaking at once.]
“Good Old Summertime?”
Bailey:Yeah.
[
25:00 --- 26:00Plays “Good Old Summer Time.”]Interviewer:And “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.”
Bailey:[
27:00 --- 28:00Plays “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.” Recording ends mid song. Recording picks back up again at 29:00and goes through 30:00 ].Interviewer:“Wabash Cannonball?”
Bailey:[
31:00 --- 32:00Plays Wabash Cannonball.”]Interviewer:Where did you learn that one?
Bailey:Oh, I’ve known that one a long, long time. I don’t really know.
Interviewer:[Laughs] You came knowing it, huh? Want to play “Orange Blossom Special?”
Bailey:Uh, it’s not one of my best ones, but I’ll play it.
Interviewer:Well, play [voice cut off by fiddle playing]
Bailey:[
33:00 ---- 34:00Plays “Orange Blossom Special.”]Interviewer:You want to follow that up with “Mockingbird?”
Bailey:I’ll try it.
[
35:00 --- 36:00Plays “Mockingbird.”]Interviewer:They outlawed that in some of the fiddling contests.
Bailey:Yeah, they do that. I could never come over the top afraid of dropping my fiddle.
Interviewer:[Laughs]. What do you mean come over the top?
Bailey:Come back this way and over the top, that’s the way a lot of them do. I
never did practice enough. Afraid I’d [drop] my fiddle.Interviewer:Oh, I see.
Bailey:You get better notes that way if you practice enough. You have to have an
extra holder they have on over their shoulder there.Interviewer:Is that right?
Bailey:Sometimes they help.
Interviewer:[Laughs] ah, “Foggy Mountain Breakdown?”
Bailey:Yeah! Yeah, yeah.
[
37:00 --- 38:00Plays “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.”]Interviewer:“Skip to My Lou.”
Bailey:[
39:00 --- 40:00Plays “Skip to My Lou.”]Interviewer:You’ve got a couple of hornpipes here. You’ve got “Thunder Hornpipe”
and “Sailor’s Hornpipe.”Bailey:Okay, let’s try do that Thunder. I’ll be in B. [plays a few notes to find
key]. Bout got it.[
41:00 ---- 42:00Plays “Thunder Hornpipe.”] I messed up on it. You want Sailors--Interviewer:“Sailor’s Hornpipe.”
Bailey:[
43:00 --- 44:00Plays “Sailor’s Hornpipe.”]Interviewer:We’ll stop right there and see if you want to come and let me treat
you to lunch.Bailey:No, we’ll pay for our own.
Interviewer:Want to come eat lunch together?
M.Bailey:Yeah.
Bailey:Yeah, we’ll go with you.
Interviewer:But you won’t let me treat, huh?
Bailey:No, no, no. We’ll, not today
Interviewer:Well [laughs]. Come on and we’ll eat then.
Bailey:How many did we play?
Interviewer:We played fifty.
M.Bailey:[laughs] She’s after fifty.
Interviewer:We played fifty. Don’t you like the way I included that with a we? [Laughs]
Bailey:Yeah. [Many different voices talking and laughing at the same time.]
I made a mess on two or three, but I wasn’t going to stop. I say, I messed up
some, but I wasn’t going to stop.Interviewer:I’ll tell you what.
M.Bailey:That goes with the territory.
Interviewer:I’ll tell you what---nobody’s perfect.
Bailey:Well, I don’t aim to be.
Interviewer:If we tried for perfection [Recording stops]
[Recording begins again during the middle of a tune.]
Interviewer:Wow, I like that one. “Turkey in the Straw.”
Bailey:[
45:00 --- 46:00Plays “Turkey in the Straw.”]Interviewer:“Old Joe Clark.”
Bailey:[
47:00 --- 48:00Plays “Old Joe Clark.”]Interviewer:“Chicken Reel.”
Bailey:[
49:00 --- 50:00Plays “Chicken Reel.”]Interviewer:And “Cackling Hen.”
Bailey:[
51:00 --- 52:00Plays “Cackling Hen.”]Interviewer:“Red Wing.”
Bailey:[
53:00 --- 54:00Plays “Red Wing.”]Interviewer:“Anna Laura.”
Bailey:[
55:00 ---- 56:00Plays “Anna Laura.”]Interviewer:Does that one have words too?
Bailey:Uh-hmm, I imagine.
M.Bailey:Yes! Yes, yes.
Bailey:I heard it on a movie, but I know’d it before that though.
Interviewer:Is that right?
Bailey:On a western movie one day, but I knew it when I was a little boy.
Interviewer:Was it one that your dad, your people played?
Bailey:[speaking too quietly to hear].
Interviewer:Number eighth is “Pretty Rainbow.”
Bailey:[
57:00 --- 58:00Plays “Pretty Rainbow.”]M.Bailey:My father played that on the piano too.
Interviewer:He did?
M.Bailey:umm-hmm.
Interviewer:“Fox Chase,” [inaudible] Mr. Kelly--- [Bailey begins playing fiddle
and overpowers sound of Interviewer speaking].Bailey:[
59:00 ---- 60:00Plays “Fox Chase.”]Interviewer:“Goodnight Waltz.”
Bailey:I played that before.
Interviewer:We did, didn’t we?
Bailey: This morning. Put it down twice I guess.
Interviewer:Yeah, you sure did. “Martin Waltz?”
Bailey:[
61:00 --- 62:00Plays “Martin Waltz.”]Interviewer:Where did you get that waltz?
Bailey:I learnt it down at the Rough River.
Interviewer:Down at Rough River?
Bailey:Yeah.
Interviewer:I couldn’t, I don’t----
M.Bailey:It’s real Kentucky.
Bailey:Do you like it?
Interviewer:Is, is it the real Kentucky one, hmm? Yeah, I do. Very much.
M.Bailey:That’s located in Letcher County, right out of Leitchfield.
Bailey:Yeah, it’s hard to play, but it’s ah---
M.Bailey:Western Kentucky.
Bailey:“Martin’s Waltz.”
Interviewer:“Ida Red?”
Bailey:Yeah.
[
63:00 --- 64:00Plays Ida Red.”]Interviewer:Twelve, ah, “Go to Heaven Uncle Joe.”
Bailey:[
65:00 --- 66:00Plays “Go to Heaven Uncle Joe.”]Interviewer:Where did you learn that tune?
Bailey:I learned it from a little boy who played it on a French harp.
Interviewer:Is that right? It’s on some Irish albums. A lot of Irish bands play
that tune. It’s almost the same, the same, it is the same tune that you played.Bailey:What’d they call it?
Interviewer:Mrs. Macleod’s Reel.
Bailey:Yeah.
Interviewer:I’ll tape that and bring it up and let you hear it.
Bailey:Okay.
Interviewer:It’s the same tune as “Go to Heaven Uncle Joe.” Solder’s Joy.”
Bailey:“Soldier’s Joy.”
[
67:00--- 1: 68:00Plays “Solder’s Joy.” Tape runs out before song ends.][1:
69:00End of recording]. 70:00