# Rural New England fiddle music



## Guest




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## Guest

Many of these I recognize as sailor shanties and/or minstrel songs.


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## Guest

I am SO glad someone had the sense to load this. Rodney Miller is one of the best of the New England fiddlers as well as a fiddle-maker. I bought this CD ages ago and fell in love with this fantastic medley of New England fiddle tunes.


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## david johnson

Victor, a very fine watch and listen. Thanks


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## Ingélou

Yes - some interesting videos. Thanks. :tiphat:


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## Guest

New England is comprised of six states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Some people think New York, Maryland, Delaware and like that are part of New England but they are not. The primary white settlers of New England were the Scotch-Irish--Scots who farmed in Ulster province in Ireland but who fled the long of arm of the English Church and settled in eastern Canada, New England, the Eastern Seaboard, the Appalachians, the Blue Mountains and the Great Smokies. The Scottish heritage of Eastern Canada isn't exactly lost. Nova Scotia, after all, means New Scotland and we find cities as New Glasgow. While Halifax, Nova Scotia is a well known place, there is also a Halifax in Scotland and it is also the name of a bank in Scotland. New Brunswick borders Maine and has a large population of displaced Scots as does Newfoundland/Labrador. And the fiddle music in these areas is top-notch. Nova Scotia even has a famous subgenre called Cape Breton which is an large island of Nova Scotia. Cape Breton fiddle is based on the Scottish fiddle dance music called strathspey but has a different "dot-cut-snap" rhythm that lets it get a little wilder than the stately dance it was intended to be in Scotland as opposed to reels and jigs.


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## Guest

Boston Harbor Scottish fiddles


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## Guest




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## Guest

Giant fiddle in Nova Scotia


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## starthrower

They have a few duo CDs, and Harvey has many great solo albums. Harvey & Joyce live in York, Maine.
http://www.woodpecker.com/


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## Shaughnessy

Interesting thread - I have only tangential knowledge of the subject which I encountered as a side subject whilst doing a study on Louisiana Cajun music but I hope that these selections will help to fill in some of the gaps.






Mellie Dunham (July 29, 1853 - September 27, 1931) was an American fiddler during the early twentieth century. Dunham was born in Norway, Maine.


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## Shaughnessy




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## Shaughnessy

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaYYgdalEO7BnfB31C8BkDAcPx6tAkJeU

Don Messer - Original Recordings - 1937 - 1959

Donald Charles Frederick Messer (May 9, 1909 - March 26, 1973) was a Canadian musician, band leader, radio broadcaster, and defining icon of folk music during the 1960s. His CBC Television series Don Messer's Jubilee (1959-69) featured Messer's down-east fiddle style and the "old-time" music of Don Messer and His Islanders, and was one of the most popular and enduring Canadian television programs of the 1960s.


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## Shaughnessy




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## Shaughnessy

An example of Cape Breton stepdance with fiddle accompaniment courtesy of the family group Leahy.

Cape Breton Stepdance is unique to the Cape Breton region of Nova Scotia, brought there by the Scottish settlers fleeing the Highland Clearances in an effort to preserve their traditional Highlands culture. It is danced with straight arms, stiff upper bodies, and quick, repetitive footwork.


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