John Stinson's No. 2

(traditional)

Cathy - banjo; Dave - guitar; Jim Lansford - fiddle; Kim Lansford - piano

We learned this tune from Cleveland fiddler and banjo player Dan Levinson while at the Fox Valley Folk Festival in 1996 and started playing it constantly, being very fond of the chord changes in the B part. Dan was reminded of the tune by Don Charles and Deb Gessner in Arizona. We eventually realized it probably came to the U.S. with Kevin Burke's "If the Cap Fits" album, in which he played both No. 1 and No. 2, tunes he learned from west Ireland accordion player John Stinson. Kevin, however, fiddled it in unison with an accordion and no chord accompaniment. Perhaps the tune picked up the chords in exchange for the Irish ornaments it lost. Dan says that at a festival in Michigan in late 1997, he asked a fiddler if he knew the tune. The reply was, "Do you mean how it is in Sully's or the way Barton and Para play it?" Dan replied he wished to hear the latter, since he was the one who taught it to us. "So, you're responsible," the fiddler said.