A new tune each Wednesday (more or less), chosen arbitrarily by your Webmaster, a mixture of traditional and new but traditional in style tunes. Site visitors are encouraged to nominate tunes for this page.
This week’s tune:
Santa Anna’s Retreat: This is one tune for which we can trace back in time from learning it in Vermont to its origin and composer, Steven Foster via Quince Dillon. See this history in the tune’s Notes section. If the tune has an Irish lilt, Mr. Dillon’s name sounds Irish to me and it’s thought that there were Irish mercenaries on both sides of the Mexican War.
Last week’s tune:
Rainbow Trout, by Vermont’s own John Mowad with sheet music arranged by the composer for the Vermont Fiddle Orchestra.
Recent Tunes of the Week:
- Joe Crapeau. No, this is not a rude comment. The title is the Acadian spelling of the French word crapaud, in English, toad, a New Brunswick reel named for Joe “Crapeau” Chiasson.
- Big John McNeil. This great reel in A hails from Cape Breton and likely Scotland. It is said to be challenge for fiddle players, but it’s such a lively, danceable tune it’s well worth the ffort.
- The Pleasant Beggar, another great tune by Russ Barenberg, originally composed, I believe, as a guitar piece but played here by Vermont musicians Susan Reid, Pam Bockes and Leeds Brewer.
- Jimmy o’ the Bu’s Polka, from Orkney. According to site visitor Len Wilson, “In the 1920s and 30s barndances were held at the farm called The Bu’ on the island of Hoy. This was one of the tunes that Jimmy played, sitting on the end of the mill.” See the photo of Jimmy in the Notes section, and hear Jennifer Wrigley play it beautifully in the YouTube video.
- Tippin’ Back the Corn. We like to pair this one with Temperance Reel, aka The Teetotaler’s, for balance. 😁
- Springfield, an old-timey style reel by Erynn Marshall. Check out the video of herself playing it, surely the “correct” rendition even if not exactly as we are used to playing it around here.
- Munster Cloak, This waltz or Mazurka depending on how it’s played is very old in Ireland but perhaps even older — said to have been brought to Ireland from Spain in the 16th century, possibly by shipwrecked sailors from the Spanish Armand?
- Mistwold. Word is circulating that Dudley Laufman passed away on July 13, 2026. Composer of this beautiful tune who often played for English Country Dances, Dudley was a prime mover behind the resurgence of traditional dance and music, especially in his home area, New Hampshire’s Monadnock Region. My colleague Kenric Kite writes, “In my view Dudley Laufman, during the great folk revival, brought contra dance music back from the brink of extinction, and in doing so has enriched the lives of millions.”
- A Week in January by Seamus Egan. Despite it being July as I post this, here is a lovely slow air in G, including a YouTube video of Seamus playing it which must surely be the authentic version.
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- Background: I started this site about twelve years ago largely for my own convenience, but it quickly grew to be useful for a number of other musicians in my area. Since then it has grown far beyond my original vision, with over 1,100 tunes posted and around 6,000 user sessions per month from more than 30 countries. Until now I have built and maintained the site out of my own pocket but its increasing size and complexity is requiring more outside resources and costs; hence this appeal. So if this site is helpful to you, please consider a small contribution.