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SFR-DU-33037
FLOWERY GIRLS – OMER FORESTER, banjo
Featuring Houston Daniel and The Highland Rim Boys
1 FLOWERY GIRLS 2:43
2 KATY HILL 1:59
3 UNION GROVE 1:57
4 LOVE SOMEBODY 1:16
5 MORGAN MARSH SCHOTTISCHE 1:13
6 SPANISH FANDANGO 1:56
7 GOIN’ UPTOWN 1:18
8 LEXINGTON 2:33
9 RATTLESNAKE BIT THE BABY 1:23
10 SALLY GOODEN 2:07
11 JIMMIE RODGERS BLUES 2:04
12 GREEN BACK DOLLAR 1:33
13 ROCKY MOUNTAIN BREAKDOWN 2:25
14 BLUE CREEK 1:36
15 MCEWEN DRAG 1:17
16 GREY EAGLE 1:41
FLOWERY GIRLS
“There’s not many old-time musicians left up here in Humphries County,”
said Houston Daniel during a break in this session. “Those of us that
do still play it all know each other and keep in touch.” Humphries County,
lying due west of Nashville in an arm of the Tennessee River, was once
the stomping ground of musicians like Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith and Floyd
Ethridge; these and other lesser-known musicians have left their mark
in the music of the region though, and a small but devoted band of local
musicians have kept the region’s distinctive styles and tunes alive. Two
of the finest of these musicians are banjoist Omer Forester (from McEwen)
and fiddler Houston Daniel (from Waverly).
76 year old Omer Forster has, through the years, quietly developed one
of the most distinctive styles and repertoires of any old-time banjo player
in the country. All his life Omer has played in an archaic two-finger
style (thumb and index finger) which he can’t remember learning from anyone;
“it’s always been natural with me.” Nor has he during his life been aware
that his style was all that unusual; apparently his friends and neighbors
in rural Humphries County accepted the style without much comment. But
distinctive it is: soft, graceful, complex, different both from the classic
three-finger vaudeville styles of the other middle Tennessee artists like
Uncle Dave Macon, and different from the claw-hammer style of the eastern
mountains. Rick Good of the Hotmud Family has called Omer’s banjo playing
“mystic,” and Harper van Hoy, the founder of Fiddlers’ Grove, has called
Omer “the best old-time banjo player in the country.”
Omer was born on White Oak Creek, northeast of McEwen in Humphries County,
in a small house where he still lives today. Both sides of this family
were musical; his mother’s family, the Ethridges, had an especially important
influence on him. He learned some of his old tunes from his grandfather
Andy Ethridge, and others from his uncle Sam Ethridge, who was noted in
the area as a leading fiddler. Other old fiddlers he learned from include
Walter Warden and Morgan Marsh. By the time he was in his twenties Omer
was regularly playing square dances in the area, and in 1927 began playing
with Dickson county fiddling great Arthur Smith. Omer was a member of
the original Dixie Liners that played over WSM in 1927 (before Arthur
met up with Sam and Kirk McGee) and played over Chattanooga station WDOD.
Omer appeared several times on the early Grand Ole Opry, often with his
cousin fiddler Floyd Ethridge, who later played with the Crook Brothers
band; his last Opry appearance was in 1943, when he played with Grandpappy
George Wilkerson’s Fruit Jar Drinkers. Since then Omer has contented himself
with playing for dances and contests in the area; once he defeated the
legendary Uncle Dave Macon at a contest in Murfreesboro. “I’ve won everything
from shirts to money at these contests,” he recalls. “One time I won a
24-pound sack of flour, and I even had to go get it from the store.” Recently
he has won contests at Fiddler’s Grove, North Carolina (1976) and Clarksville,
Tennessee (the state championship contest) in 1977.
Omer is a quiet, shy, modest man who would just as soon plant a row of
Irish potatoes as go to a fiddling contest. (In fact, we had to post pone
this recording session because he tore his picking finger while out stringing
barbed wire.) When he does go to a contest, he sits quietly in a corner
hunched intently over his Kay banjo doing things that attract mainly people
who really know banjo playing. Though his playing has won the praise of
people like Merle Travis, Grandpa Jones, and the late Stringbean (“He
makes more notes with his little finger than I knew was on a banjo”),
Omer has never recorded before. When he finally agreed to record an album,
he wanted to do some tunes with the local band he has been playing with
for several years, Houston Daniel and The Highland Rim Boys.
Houston Daniel and his band are a real rarity in middle Tennessee today:
a regular, working old-time square dance band. The band consists of Houston
on fiddle, Omer on banjo, Maurice Dunaway on guitar, and Dan Hornsburger
on bass. (On this record, they are augmented by the fine guitar work of
Lee Forster, Omer’s son.) For years this band has been playing on an almost
weekly basis around the Waverly area, and has built up a style and cohesion
that only a working dance band can generate. Houston’s fiddling, much
of which he learned from his mother, a native of the same area, has won
him numerous awards and prizes over the years.
The tunes heard here fall into three categories: standards, regional pieces,
and originals. Most of the latter stem from Omer’s fertile imagination,
and include pieces like “Union Grove” (which he composed after his visit
to Harper van Hoy’s Fiddler’s Grove contest least year). “McEwen Drag”
(which he has played for years), and “Jimmie Rodger Blues” (which is a
dense melodic anagram of one of Rodgers’ old blue yodels). Regional pieces
include “Rattlesnake Bit the Baby,” a local favorite seldom heard; “Goin’
Uptown,” an old tune popularized by Dr. Humphrey Bate and his Possum Hunters
over WSM in the 1920’s; “Blue Creek,” a tune Houston’s mother used to
play; and “Lexington,” popular in the area and related to, but distinguished
from, “Love Somebody.”
“Flowery Girls,” one of the most haunting pieces on the album, was one
of Walter Warden’s tunes, and according to Lee Forster, is one of Omer’s
favorites. “Morgan March Shottische” was an old fiddle tune played by
local fiddler Marsh, and is similar to several shottisches played in south
central Kentucky by fiddlers like W.L. Gregory and Jim Gaskin.
This album was recorded in one marathon session in McEwen, Tennessee on
21 May 1977. By the time the session was over, the front yard of Lee Forster’s
house was full of cars, and over fifty numbers had been taped: a testimony
to the impressive richness of the Forster – Daniel repertoire. “I’ve forgot
lots of pieces,” Omer said. “I’ve let ‘em get away from me. Sometimes
they come back to you.” Here are a few that came back. - - Charles Wolfe
CREDITS
Produced by: Steve Davis, Charles Wolfe, and Bill Harrison
Edited by: Steve Davis
Liner notes by: Charles Wolfe
Remastering and technical assistance: Bill and Ellyn Trigg, Kim-Pat Studios
Photo credits: Front cover, C. Wolfe; back cover, Richard McFalls and
C. Wolfe.
Special thanks to Lee Forster for his assistance in setting up the session
for his hospitality and for his help in documenting Omer Forster’s career.