'Sally Ann' and 'Sail away ladies' medley with lyrics

Tom Hanway reports:

The traditional bluegrass side of my banjo recording in Ireland can be heard on a medley of two classic old-time tunes, 'Sally Ann' and 'Sail Away Ladies', very recently put online by Robert Mizzell, who sings 'Who's gonna dance with Sally Ann', the only known recorded country song to explore the subject of lynching. The entire track can be previewed (free) or downloaded, here: 'Who's gonna dance with Sally Ann'. Lyrics are found here, mentioning 'strange fruit' - a reference to the Lewis Allan (Abel Meeropol) song about lynching, made famous by Billie Holiday. Listen to the words.

Also, go here to Robert's site to hear this and other tracks (some with banjo), with more to be added very soon.

What I enjoy about this recording is the blending of high-octane bluegrass fiddle (Charlie Arkin) and 5-string banjo with a Cajun dance rhythm (played at a traditional dance tempo). Then, of course, there is Robert's gutsy, down-home singing style. Robert is a Lousiana man and understands country dance rhythms. It's a very steady track and swings nicely. That's why it was a hit single for Robert in Ireland and the UK.

Robert was thrilled with the bluegrass sound, and I've recorded several more numbers with him since 'Sally Ann', one of the most recent being 'A friend in need', now a promotional single for his next record, go to Robert Mizzell News, here, and scroll down for a sound clip under Promotional Single: Friend in Need Release.

Notes on the tune and recording:

This was a challenging track to record (without rehearsal) because of the unusual key (E) and modulation (E to A and back to E). I remember that on the studio scratch track there was a phantom mandolin sketching an interesting melodic (Irish) variation, but it seems to have disappeared from the final mix (alas). I think the feel of the banjo - inspired by J.D. Crowe and Scruggs - gives a real bluegrass bounce to the track; anyway, that's what I was going for.

Mizzell's hit-single version has very unusual lyrics, which are not heard in the old-time fiddle and banjo versions of this tune. This is because they are a modern add-on written by noted author, writer, and screenwriter Alice Randall, who collaborated with Mark O'Connor and Henry Stinson on 'The ballad of Sally Anne', (with John Cowan singing) for his New Nashville cats album (1991). Go here and scroll down. Randall is a Nashville songwriter, Harvard-educated, and the first African-American woman to write a #1 country hit. Mizzell's version owes to O'Connor's, though the latter's take has more of a solid country and less of a swingy-Cajun-bluegrass feel than Mizzell's version (to my ears at least). Mizzell's version was recorded in Jonathan Owens's famous Granard studio. Jonathan is an award-winning Irish producer, a talented drummer and multi-instrumentalist who plays on the track.

On the Mizzell version, my banjo is turned up quite loud in the mix, especially for a country record, so I'm happy with that. I had to relearn the breaks later, using a capo, and that's because on the recording, in order to get more tone out of the banjo, I used the old Flatt & Scruggs technique of tuning up the instrument, in this case, one whole step: aEAC#E. Flatt & Scruggs used to tune up a half-step (at times).

'Sally Ann' is a tune I've played many different ways in many different keys, G, A, D and E. I started with the Scruggs rendition (G) out of the Scruggs book, which is unique and very different from old-time and bluegrass fiddle versions of it, e.g., what Blaine Sprouse plays on the Dreadful Snakes recording, mp3 download here from Amazon.

Thank you, Richard, for bringing up the subject of old-time banjo tunes, 'Sail away ladies' and 'Sally Ann' (in a private email), or I never would have thought of contributing this piece.

The modern lyrics to 'The ballad of Sally Anne' (Alice Randall, Harry Stinson, Mark O'Connor) are quite haunting and send shivers up my spine.

Happy pickin' - Tom