Annotation:Hale's Rag

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HALE'S RAG. Old-Time, Rag. C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'BB'C. "Hale's Rag" is an original by Pikeville, Tennessee, banjo player and fiddler Theron Hale [1] (1883-1954), who recorded it with his daughters in 1928. Hale and family were early Grand Ol' Opry performers, appearing on stage from 1926 until the band broke up in 1934 when daughter Mamie Ruth tired of traveling back to Nashville for performances. Hale and his other daughter continued for a while with other musicians substituting, but Mamie Ruth's alto second fiddle part was missed. Hale played locally with Sam McGee in the 1940's and made some square dance records with him in the early 1950's.

A shift in the third strain to the second or third position on the violin will facilitate playing this tune.

Sources for notated versions: Ron Kane [Phillips]; Hank Bradley [Silberberg].

Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 2), 1995; p. 59. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 58.

Recorded sources: County 542, Theron Hale - "Nashville: the Early String Bands, vol. 2." Greenhays GR 710, John McCutcheon - "Fine Times at Our House" (1982. Learned from Joel Eckhaus).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Hear Hale's 1928 recording on youtube.com [3]