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Old​-​Time Fiddling From Lubbock (MSOTFA 119)

by Jack Mears and Walter Edney

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Forked Deer 01:17
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Dusty Miller 01:58
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Waltz 02:23
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Lady's Fancy 01:48
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Rubber Dolly 01:28
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Mockingbird 02:24
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Done Gone 01:21
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about

This material is from a field recording made in the mid-60s and features Texas Champion fiddler Jack Mears of Lubbock, Texas, with Walter Edney on guitar. He plays all the "big" Texas tunes with facility and in a style that I would call "pre-Benny" sound and more reminiscent of Major Franklin. He would have been around 60 years old at the time of this recording.

Mears was born on Nov. 19, 1892 and died August 4, 1975. Per his obituary he was a veteran of WWII and a 32nd degree Mason and worked as a building engineer at the local college.

Various local newspaper accounts, which are numerous (he was a popular subject for the press in Lubbock County) provide information about his musical life. This article appeared in 31 August 1970 in the Lubbock Avalanche Journal:

ART, SPORT OF FIDDLING CITED BY OLDSTER...
"Fiddling is an art, either you have it or you haven't" is how well-known Lubbock fiddler Jack Mears describes an old and enjoyable American pastime, one he believes is “getting better” each year. And he also feels it’s a sport because “you go into a fiddling contest with “all ya got” even though it’s not athletic like ball games.”

Mears has been entering fiddling contests throughout Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Louisiana 40 to 6 years and has a closetful of trophies to show for it. His most recent competition was Saturday when he topped 15 fiddlers from all over Texas in the Senior Division of the Pioneers Old-Time Fiddle Contest at Weatherford.

But one of his most memorable triumphs was four years ago when he won first place in Dallas. He’s also been a winner Albuquerque, N.M., Crockett and Fort Worth. He possesses, in all, about 15 first place trophies.

Mears was born near Cleburne, south of Fort Worth near the Brazos River. He traces his 65 years interest in fiddling back to his boyhood in central Texas.

That was about 1910 “when the traveling medicine shows were traveling over the country. Most of them had a top-notch fiddler who would challenge the citizens of each town. That’s about the beginning of fiddle contests as far as I know,” he said.

In 1917 at the age of nine, Mears began entering contests when they were just getting organized. He started playing back then with a Stainer fiddle that he kept for forty years.

Today he strokes out the popular hoe-down tunes “Tom and Jerry”, “Arkansas Traveler”, “Gray Eagle”, and “Bill Cheatum” on an Ole Bull which he estimates to be 100 years old.

When asked the plight of the fiddler these days, Mears replies, “It’s getting better. Some of the fiddlers are really wonderful and nowadays we have some real good young fiddlers. It’s getting where if you announce there’s going to be a fiddling contest you can’t get into the house. But I think it’s us old fiddlers who’ve kept the interest up over the years,” he said.

Mears also says the best fiddlers in the world, he believes, come from Texas.

“In Tennessee they have what they call the ‘blue grass fiddlers’ who play really fast – a lot faster than us. But I’d bet most of them would admit Texas has the best fiddlers anywhere,” he said.

Although Mears has established himself as a renowned fiddler, he doesn’t consider himself a professional. “I guess I just have a natural talent,” he said. “My mother was a musician and both my brothers were fiddlers, too.”

Similar to the situation in professional gold when top golfers seem to meet each other in almost every tournament, Mears says he meets one or two of the same fiddlers in every contest.

His biggest rivals are Eck Robertson from Amarillo, Straley Allsup from Comanche and Gene Suel from Muskogee, Oklahoma. He terms these old-timers as “pretty rough competition.”

Mears phrases a fiddling contest similar to a boxing match. “When we enter the ring,” he said, “we’re fighting for blood, but always remain good friends. No one ever has hard feelings.”

The next time Mears “enters the ring” will be Labor Day in a fiddlin’ contest at Brownwood. Afterward he’ll be preparing for fiddle competition in Lubbock’s annual Panhandle South Plains Fair that begin in late September.

credits

released December 9, 2015

This tape is from the field recordings collection of Delores "Fiddlin' Dee" DeRyke of Lincoln, Nebraska - Recorded c. 1966. Ms. DeRyke was an avid promoter and collector of field recordings. Among her methods was to send blank tapes to fiddlers she met or heard of and ask them to fill the tape with their favorite tunes. Dozens of players from all corners of North America responded.

MSOTFA obtained these original reel-to-reel recordings, several boxes full, from Jack Shaw of Lincoln who bought them at an estate auction. We have painstakingly digitized and processed the material for your listening enjoyment and educational pursuits.

Original recording by Walter Edney on a single 5-inch reel. Edney played guitar for Mears and was himself a fiddler. He died in 1975 at Lubbock.

NOTE: Despite our best efforts, the quality of this recording is not great. The tape was in a severe state of deterioration, the emulsion coming of in chunks as it was being played. Still despite the lo-fi nature of the result it gives an important glimpse into this style of playing, the repertoire, tempo and bowing methods can still be derived by listening to this recording.

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Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers Association Missouri

The Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers Association works to promote and preserve the traditional fiddle music of Missouri and the surrounding region. Your purchase here supports those activities.

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