Fiddlin' Phil with Stephen Brown - Devon's Tune of the Day 074 from Lark Camp

Here at Lark Camp in the California Redwoods, I've got my good friend Stephen Brown on guitar playing this wild Acadian fiddle tune, "Fiddlin' Phil." Is it Acadian? Looking a bit deeper, I found it's a popular Canadian and North American tune from the early 1900s, either as "Fiddlin' Phil" in the Down East world, or "Dubuque" or any other names in the old-time world. But it was quite popular among Acadian fiddlers, from PEI all the way to the Boston States where I learned it from a field recording Frank Ferrell made of the crazy Franco-American fiddler Emile Melanson.

Melanson was a blind fiddler with an absolutely cracking fiddle style who played pretty much every genre of fiddle and had hilarious introductions to each tune. This was clearly his main party tune! Check out Frank Ferrell's book, "I'm A Yankee Doodle Dandy: Urban French-American Fiddling from the 1930's - 1950's" for more tunes like this and great field recordings.

Here are recordings of "Fiddlin' Phil" from PEI Acadian fiddlers
https://bowingdownhome.ca/islandora/o...

My favorite is "Fiddlin' Phil" from Bathurst, New Brunswick Down East fiddler Lucky Ambo -
   • Lucky Ambo - Fiddlin' Phil  


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