The Ranch Dance Fiddle – Frankie McWhorter

Traditional cowboy and ranch dance fiddle . . .
Sample tunes from a true master of the style Frankie McWhorter accompanied by members of “The Texas Playboys”

Click here to buy “RANCH DANCE FIDDLE” CD

Forsaken Lover

Tommy Don’t Go

Comin’ Through the Rye

Scatterbrain Schottische

Rainbow

The Quilting Party

Vaarsouviana

Ten Pretty Girls

Blue Skirt Waltz

Texas Quick Step

Snow Deer

Texas Waltz

Peacock Rag

Whiskey Before Breakfast

When You and I Were Young, Maggie

Cattle in the Cane

Heel and Toe Polka

Rocky Mountain Goat Schottische

Red Wing

Goodnight Waltz

CREDITS

The Ranch Dance Fiddle: Frankie McWhorter
Produced by Lanny Fiel, Frankie McWhorter, and Tommy Allsup

Engineered and mastered by Lanny Fiel
Mix by Tommy Allsup and Lanny Fiel
Technical assistance and audio consulting by Mark Murray

Frankie McWhorter: Fiddle
Tommy Allsup: Bass, Electric Guitar, and Acoustic Guitar
Curley Hollingsworth: Piano
Jim Benjamin: Drums
Bobby Koefer: Steel Guitar
Tommy Morrell: Dobro
Larry McWhorter: Clarinet
Lanny Fiel: Mandolin and Flat Picked Standard Guitar
Leon Rausch: Vocals
Tommy Morrell and Leon Rausch appear through the courtesy of WR Records.

Cover design: Beverly Cook Perry
Photography: Michael Calcote
Recorded in Lubbock, Texas, 1996

Fiel Publications Recording Series
FPRS 0005
© ℗ 1997 Fiel Publications, Inc.

All Public Domain arrangements by Frankie McWhorter
© 1997 Elnora Music
“Texas Waltz” by Cindy Walker and AI Dexter,
Unichappell Music, Inc. (BMI)
“Ten Pretty Girls” by Will Grosz and Jimmy Kennedy,
Chappell and Co. (ASCAP)

Sponsored by The Ranching Heritage Association in conjunction with The Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University. This recording is supported by grants from the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Community Folklife Program, administered by The Fund for Folk Culture and underwritten by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund; the Lubbock City Council, as recommended by the Lubbock Arts Alliance; The CH Foundation; The Summerlee Foundation; The Hank Smith Historic Retreat; and The Plum Foundation.

Frankie McWhorter and Lanny Fiel are also grateful for support from Texas Folklife Resources’ Apprenticeships in the Folk Arts Program for a Master/Apprentice grant to ensure that Frankie’s knowledge of Ranch Dance fiddle tunes remains a living legacy.

Special thanks to: the Malouf Abraham family, Virginia McWhorter, Virginia Browder, the Gray Family, Deborah Bigness, Mary Ann Ruelas, Scott Braucher, Susan Kouyomjian, David Salay, John Crain, Scott Brown, John Ford, Patrick Murfee, John Lilly, John Erickson, David Murrah, Reed Williams, Lonn Taylor, Jennifer Ames, Kevin Mulroy, Joe Carr, Stefan Keydel, Hal Cannon, Russell Hughes, Melissa Postnikoff.

LINER NOTES

Texas Sandman – Frankie McWhorter

Second release of traditional ranch dance fiddle by Frankie McWhorter with members of “The Texas Playboys” helping out.

Down Home Rag

Oklahoma Waltz

Mrs. McLeod’s Reel

Starlight Schottische

Gals in the Morning

Jesusita en Chihuahua

Little Green Valley

Evalena

Rabbit, Where’s Your Mama?

Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet

Between the Rivers

Hound Dog Waltz

Frieda

Flop-Eared Mule Schottische

There’s An Old Spinning Wheeel

Rickett’s Hornpipe

Green Grow the Lilacs

Little Brown Jug

Peek a Boo Waltz

Prettiest Girl in the County

Texas Sandman

Play It Lazy – Frankie McWhorter

There’s not much to do around the cotton fields of West Texas but practice or plow. Joe Stephenson chose to practice. He literally cut his teeth on a fiddle scroll while his dad Nathan “piped the tunes” into his head, And drawing a bow instead of a plowshare Joe Stephenson took Texas tradition beyond the West Texas horizon into a clear cloud of Gindust.

Gindust

Ace of Spades

Black Mountain Rag

Alayna

Listen to the Mockingbird

Little Black Dog Waltz

My Heart

Wang Wang Blues

Say Old Man

Laughing Boy

Turn Me Over

Mississippi Sawyer

Whistling Rufus

Joe’s Blues

Arkansas Traveler

Wonderin’

Moonlight on the Colorado – Joe Stephenson

West Texas fiddle tunes with a couple of great originals from Joe. Joe is a fourth generation fiddler from McAdoo, Texas. 1968 Texas State Fiddle Champion (at age 16) and 1976 Winner of the Super Picker Award from the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Joe’s McAdoo Fiddle

Maiden’s Prayer

Silver Bell

Cruel Willie

Liberty

Westphalia Waltz

Red Wing

Wonderin’

I Don’t Love Nobody

White Rose

Bonaparte’s Retreat

Music Box Dancer

Moonlight on the Colorado

Sally Gooden

Farther Along

Orange Blossom Special