Happy Hollow

During the Marcus Martin (1881- 1974) recordings for the Library of Congress in 1941, Marcus spoke of learning some tunes from his father, Rowan Martin. But the influence who gifted him with the archaic tunes was Tennessee fiddler, J. Derrick Harris (b. 1868). Marcus told interviewer Alan Lomax that the faster tunes he played were newer, while the slower ones, often pitched one or two steps lower than concert, were the older tunes. He learned “Happy Hollow” as a song from Dora Edwards, who sang while Marcus adapted the tune on the fiddle. Chris and Lucy double fiddle: aeac#.