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Benton's Dream

Fiddler Michael Gorin and I have been playing a few dances here in the NYC area with pianist Neil Pearlman. He plays with a distinctive jazzy Cape Breton style that makes an interesting mix with the classic New England and Southern old time tunes we like to play.
Click the button above to hear us at Dave Harvey's Barn Dance playing Benton’s Dream. This fiddle tune is an all time favorite of ours for both sessions and dances and is really fun to play on any instrument including Anglo concertina. It was written by Benton Flippen.

In her tune book
The Portland Collection, Susan Songer writes that Benton told her that he was at neighboring Mt. Airy fiddler Tommy Jarrell's house “some time in the ‘60’s just fooling around on the fiddle when this tune emerged. Tommy said. "That's a good tune" and named it "Benton's Dream."
The last I heard, Benton Flippen from Mount Airy, North Carolina is still playing strong at 90 years old. You can listen to him play his tune, Benton’s Dream and other great selections on his myspace page, or here, or here.
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For Anglo players... cool tune right? Well, I chose this one because it works out great on both G/D and C/G instruments. The live dance recording above is played on a G/D but this slowed down version below is played on a Morse 31 button C/G with no tricks. All those notes are really there in the key of A Mixolydian. Try it for yourself.
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