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String Band Classics - Mandolin
by: Dix Bruce

"Lee Highway Blues" is a classic fiddle show stopper like "Orange Blossom Special," "Sally Goodin," or "Fire on the Mountain." It's especially popular among old time fiddlers and that's just where this version comes from. I transcribed it as part of my "String Band Classics" project detailing the recordings of The Highwoods String Band.

The Highwoods were one of the most important old time groups from the 1970s old time revival. They sought out aging old time musicians, many who had never been recorded or heard outside of their home regions, studied their music and began performing it, presenting it to a new generation of musicians interested in traditional forms. Many of these learned treasures ended up on their Rounder Recordings.

Mel Bay asked me to transcribe all the songs and tunes from the Rounder Release "Feed Your Babies Onions" by the Highwoods String Band. I then adapted these for the book/CD sets "String Band Classics for Mandolin" and "String Band Classics for Guitar." By the way, in case you don't know, the full phrase is "Feed your babies onions so you can find them in the dark." Both the mandolin and guitar book/CDs sets of "String Band Classics" are available from my website: www.musixnow.com. Both are packed with great tunes and vocal songs that will be wonderful additions to any musician's repertoire.

I had a great time discovering and rediscovering The Highwoods' wonderful music. My work involved taking their fiddle based recordings and writing separate arrangements for mandolin and guitar. Moving these fiddle-based tunes to mandolin was fairly straight forward as the mandolin is tuned the same as the fiddle. So, things that fit well on the fiddle usually work on the mandolin as well.

Below are the first couple parts to "Lee Highway Blues" by the Highwoods String Band. Fiddlers usually extend the tune into a full blown tour de force. Listen to the original for the complete experience.

"Lee Highway Blues" is a fairly typical fiddle tune melodically and as far as the form goes. I've added some fretting finger suggestions between the standard music and the tab. Good luck and have fun with "Lee Highway Blues."