Gene Goforth
Emminence Breakdown
 | Gene Goforth hails from Emminence, Missouri and has been playing old-time fiddle for over 40 years. Back in 1957, John Hartford (who produced this album) first visited Gene at home and "we locked into a groove that has continued for, lo, these 39 years . . . we learned a lot from every fiddler that we ever came in contact, and especially in those days, but the standards and the true language of fiddlin' we got from Gene Goforth." |
Song Titles
Fiddle: Gene Goforth
Banjo: John Hartford
Guitar: Al Murphy
Produced by John Hartford
Recording engineer: Tim Wendt Mark Howard
Mixed by Mark Howard
Recorded at High Ridge, Mo.
Mastered by David Glasser and Bob Carlin at Airshow
Photo: Olan Mills
Art Direction: John Hartford and Luanne Price Howard
Notes: John Hartford
Thanks to Betty and Lonnie, Nila Goforth, Bob Skaggs and Matt Wyatt
Special thanks to Mark Wilson for making this project possible.
In Memoriam: Goldie and Wanda Goforth
Liner Notes
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The year Elvis made his first record for Sun was the first time we heard Flatt &nScruggs live at the old Chain of Rocks Park above St. Louis on the Mississippi River promoted by Roy Queen and his "Brush Apes". His fiddler that day was Gene Goforth from Emminence Mo. who also loaned his fiddle to Benny Martin cause Benny went off and left his at the house. Three years later, 1957, Marvin Hawthorne & Don Brown took us to Gene's house and from the beginning we locked into a groove which has continued for lo these thirty-nine years. His wife and him treated us like family which was good for we almost lived at his house. He had a younger brother Cecil, two years older than us that was left handed and played the "Goforth" style who we also spent a lot of time with. Four sisters Wanda, Ruby, Goldie and Betty that we became very close to. |
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There were lots of great old time fiddlers around when we were growing up that we played with - Dr. Jimmy Gray, Jess Arthur (one-armed), Billy Lee, Jackie Bryant, Fiddlin' Willy Key, Clifford Hawthorne, Tony Gilmore, Seth Bradley, Cleo Pursinger, Roy Wooliver, Homer Dillard, Don Russell, Lonnie Goforth (Gene and Cecil's kid brother), Ray Knuckles, Ed Thorpe, Walter Alexander, Al Evans (another one-armed fiddler), Burt Oliver, George Davis, Curly Johnson, Merle Owens, Neil Wheeler, Blacky Lewis, Uncle "Dee" Goforth (Gene's uncle) and Simey Gerst and others that were we're scratching our head to think of - alot of great players but of all of them, the one whose music spoke to us was Gene Goforth - we learned a lot from every fiddler that we ever came in contact and especially in those days but the standards and the true language of fiddlin' we got from Gene and Clifford Hawthorne - Clifford would have never attempted to make a recording such as this; his thing was "Boys, I may not be the best fiddler you ever heard but by God, I can tell when ones a-bein played". Clifford would have been the fiddle contest judge of all time - and Gene Goforth was his number one. "Boys, I'm here to tell you - that there's an old long legged boy up there in North St. Louis that can ACTUALLY play the fiddle." |  From left: Cecil, Betty, Wanda and Richard Goforth |
Gene is the perfectionist of all time and he never gets it to sound like he hears it in his head. (We can identify with that) So to get the true feeling of playing in the kitchen, we just had to turn it on and go for it, "warts" and all and that's what we've done here.
1. DIALOG
2. CHARLESTON NO. 1
This is Narmour and Smith's rendition of DONE GONE in "C". A real popular record
(like their CARROLL COUNTY BLUES) lots of fiddlers learned it. No. 2 is SILVER
STAR HORNPIPE and No. 3 is SAILORS HORNPIPE. (Bb tunes played in C)
3. DIALOG
4. DINK'S DUSTY MILLER
Gene's father, Richard Goforth's nick name was "Dink" and this is his version of
this tune.
5. PADDY ON THE TURNPIKE
A well known tune probably derived from the older SNOWBIRD ON THE ASHBANK.
6. DIALOG
7.QUAIL IS A PRETTY BIRD
Called SANDY BOYS up in the Eastern part of the Ohio River Valley; particularly
Kentucky and West Virginia.
8. BLACK RIVER
Marvin Hawthorne and I caught this tune on tape from old man Walter Alexander
in Leasburg, Mo. in 1958. Gene learned it from that tape. It's related to what Bill
Monroe calls BOSTON BOY; Howdy Forrester calls it LADIES IN THE BALLROOM.
It has a faint resemblance to the Texas tune WILD JOHN and "Festus" Ken Curtis,
who used to be on TV's "Gunsmoke" whistled it for us one time and called it
CHEROKEE SQUARE DANCE. See TAKE ME BACK TO GEORGIA" p. 272 Fiddler's
Fake Book. It is also called RATTLESNAKE BIT THE BABY.
9. WOLVES A'HOWLIN'
Gene's late sister, Goldie Goforth used to sing:
"Can't you hear them wolves a'howlin'
All around you poor little darlin'
One on the hillside, two in the hollar
Bet them wolves have done and got her."
Little Jimmy Dickens recorded it as POOR LITTLE DARLIN', it is a cousin to
COTTON EYED JOE. See SHEEPS AND HOGS WALKIN' THROUGH THE PASTURE
on Buddy Thomas LP, Rounder 0032.
| "Sheep and Hogs and walkin' thru the pasture Sheeps said, `Hogs can't you run a little faster?'" "Go on there and hush your growlin' Can't you hear them wolves a'howlin'?"
10. ROY WOOLIVER'S MONEY MUSK
11. JAWBONE |  Roy Wooliver on fiddle. |
12. DIALOG
13. HAMILTON IRONWORKS
Gene and Cecil Goforth, Clifford Hawthorne and us learned this from Roy Wooliver
in the 1950's and it never seemed to spread out of our area. We never figured out
if Roy learned it some where or made it up himself. Roy worked for Cousin Emmy
one time on KMOX but she fired him cause he wouldn't wear any socks. He was in
the pen twice for stealing the same watch (so the story went); The warden at Jeff
City, Mo. loved fiddle music and was always glad to see Roy come cause he'd
check him out on weekends (like a library book) and carry him around to fiddler's
contests and then lock him up during the week. Roy always played on borrowed
instruments and made his rounds through the country-side staying with a family
for a week, sleeping in the barn,cutting a little wood and playing some dances. In
Ryan's Mammoth Collection, the tune PIPER'S LASS is similar to HAMILTON
IRONWORKS.
14. DIALOG
15. UNCLE DINK
Gene came to my house one time and pulled out his fiddle and started playing
this tune. He said his Dad played it and he didn't know what it was. We recorded
it on a CD, "No End Of Love" and didn't know what to call it so we named it after
Gene's Dad.
16. SAY OLD MAN
Big Howdy Forrester used to play this on the radio in straight E minor. It is
sometimes played in E major with the G string down to low E and called LADIES
FANCY. Gene plays it that way but calls it SAY OLD MAN.
Verse:
"Say old man can
You play the fiddle.
I don't know, I
Might play a little.
17.FIDDLER'S HORNPIPE
One of Roy Wooliver's tunes.
18. EMMINENCE BREAKDOWN
Cecil Goforth plays this tune also. It's also called PADDY ON THE RAILROAD.
CORKONIAN REEL in Ryan's Mammoth Collection, MERRY BLACKSMITH in
Kennedy's Fiddler's Tune Book, THE BOYS OF THE LAKE in The Joyce Collection
of 1909. O'Neill calls it also, THE RAILROAD, THE POLICE JACKET and THE
SHEPHERD ON THE GAP.
19. PRETTIEST LITTLE GIRL IN THE COUNTY
Ira Ford calls it OLD AUNT JENNY on p. 48. Christenson says it's like SUGAR IN
THE COFFEE, No. 129, Volume 2. The Skillet Lickers called it PROSPERITY
BREAKDOWN. See Tally No. 41 and it is also kin to TURKEY BUZZARD.
Verse:
"Prettiest little girl in the county oh
How do I know, cause she told me so."
20. DIALOG
21. DEVIL'S HORNPIPE
From THE MASON'S APRON family of tunes. Roy Wooliver played it.
22. SALLY GOODIN
Maybe from OLD DAN TUCKER. (See Bayard No. 189) or Rye Whiskey, an old
melody that no one seems to know much about.
23. KNOCKIN' AT YOUR DOOR
From Walter Alexander. Doc Watson plays a variation of this called TEXAS GALES
(GALS).
24. WHITE RIVER
Tuned to A E A C#, a special tune played in the Goforth's family for several
generations. We talked to Goldie (whose favorite tune this was) a week before she
died and she said she had dreamt of White River and ice cream. Jack's Fork joins
the Current River at Emminence which then flows into Black River. Then on into
White River at Jacksport, Ark. and into the Mississippi at Mile 599.4 in
Scrubgrass Bend above Rosedale, Mississippi.
25. DIALOG
26. GETTIN' OUT THE WAY THE
FEDERALS
"Gettin' out the way the Federals
Gettin' out the way I say
Gettin' out the way the Federals
I'ma goin' home today"
Gene, Cecil and Lonnie play this and we suspect their Dad did too.
27. DIALOG
28. LITTLE BROWN JUG
From the tune of the very same name - Shows up as a coarse part on BLACK
RIVER, WILD JOHN and others.
29. GRANDMAMMY LOOK AT UNCLE SAM
Wilson Douglas said, that, Ed Haley played this, and called it;
"Run here Granny
take a look at Uncle Sam
He's soppin' all the gravy
and a-eatin' all ham."
30. DIALOG
31. ROCKY ROAD TO DENVER
Sometimes called ROCKY ROAD TO DUBLIN. Gene Goforth learned it from
Roy Wooliver.
32. COMIN' DOWN FROM DENVER (ON A TRIP TO GALWAY HERE AND THERE)
This was the complete title given to us (when we were a teenager) by Cleo
Pursinger. Birch Monroe played this tune once for Bill Harrison in the presence of
his brother, Bill who immediately corrected him saying the true name was COMIN'
DOWN FROM BOSTON. Tommy Jackson called it HERE AND THERE. It's called
OLD GRAY MARE in George H. Coe's album of music for the violin - 1876. The
coarse part (low part) is a cousin to the coarse part of HUMMINGBIRD REEL. Cleo
Pursinger and Gene Goforth are the only ones we ever heard play the third (high)
part. Christenson has it in Volume 1 of his collection (No. 35) and says the first
part is LARDNER'S REEL. Samuel Bayard who has it in D calls it COWBOYS AND
GALAXY REEL. Fletcher Bright calls it TURNPIKE REEL.
33. HOP SKIP SQUIRREL
Is what Gene's father called STONEY POINT.
RO-0388
Released: 1997
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