Big Liza Jane: A Song History

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The Traditional Tune Archive files "Big Liza Jane" under its own title as an old-time breakdown in D major; the entry links it to two other tunes, neither of them one of the Archive's "Liza Jane" tunes.[1] The Archive's notated version comes from the West Virginia fiddler Franklin George by way of Alan Garren and the Rose City Aces of Portland, Oregon, and it was printed in Songer's Portland Collection in 1997.[1] George (1928–2017), born in Bluefield, played fiddle and banjo and, according to his West Virginia Encyclopedia entry, had been featured on 14 recordings since 1967.[2] The Archive points to "Where'd You Get Your Whiskey? (2)" and "Hawk Got a Chicken" as related tunes.[1] The Archive's version of the first comes from Lella Todd of Spout Springs, Estill County, Kentucky, in the mid-1970s, and Jeff Titon (2001) calls it a variant of "Big Liza Jane" with ties to the folk song "Cindy."[3]

Photograph of five string-band musicians posed with fiddles, guitar, banjo and autoharp

Members of the Bog Trotters Band, posed holding their instruments, Galax, Va., photograph, 1937. Library of Congress. No known restrictions. Galax-area musicians of the period, shown for the region; none of the sources consulted here connects them with this tune.

Phyllis Gaskins puts "Big Liza Jane" first among the D tunes in Galax Dulcimer: A Job of Journey Work and plays it in D, as she notates it.[4] She remembers the tune as played especially well by the dulcimer player Bonnie Russell, Bonnie's brother Roy, and their father Roscoe, whom she names only by his first name.[4]

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Sources

  1. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Annotation: Big Liza Jane".
  2. e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia: "Frank George".
  3. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Annotation: Where'd You Get Your Whiskey? (2)".
  4. Beatin' Path Publications: "Galax Dulcimer: A Job of Journey Work" (preview).