The island of Cape Breton & its close neighbor, Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada are home to two of the oldest, strongest, and most vibrant fiddling traditions in North America. Cape Breton gave rise to a professional Celtic-based fiddling scene to rival anything coming out of Scotland & Ireland. Prince Edward Island’s traditional fiddlers developed lively, idiosyncratic styles every bit as musically compelling as anything you’ll hear on archival recordings of iconic American old-time fiddlers from the Appalachians. This book features 136 tunes from these two distinct but related fiddling traditions, collected by the author directly from master fiddlers, and arranged note-for-note for clawhammer banjo with as much flavor and nuance as possible. These settings of reels, hornpipes, jigs, marches, strathspeys, airs, and other fiddle tunes are all eminently playable and fully benefit from the author’s half-century of experience playing banjo, arranging for banjo, writing banjo instruction books, and researching fiddle-music traditions.

Here’s what you’ll find in this volume.

• 136 fiddle tunes arranged for clawhammer banjo in clear tablature
• Over 40 musical examples & exercises
• Instruction on basic and advanced techniques
• Fingering diagrams & detailed fingering suggestions
• A systematic approach to playing up-the-neck
• A thorough treatment of playing triplets, grace notes, and other characteristic ornaments in clawhammer
• Guides on how to approach playing various kinds of fiddle tunes
• A framework for understanding the modes encountered in fiddle music
• Historical notes on the tunes and musical traditions
• Biographical information on source fiddlers
• 169 audio illustrations available online

Note: Most audio illustrations for the tunes in this book are drawn directly from the author’s CDs, Devil in the Kitchen, Frails & Frolics, Island Boy, and Northern Banjo.

Andy Renwick’s Ferret

Angus Campbell

Archie Menzies

Banks Hornpipe, The

Bear River Jig

Bee’s Wing Hornpipe, The

Belfast Hornpipe, The

Belfast Jig

Big John McNeil

Bonaparte Crossing the Alps

Bonniest Lass in A’ the World, The

Bonny Lass of Fisherrow, The

Bonny Lea Rig, The

Brae Reel, The

Braes of Auchtertyre, The

Brenda Stubbert’s Reel

Caber Feidh

Cape Breton Wedding Reel, The

Captain Campbell

Carleton County Breakdown

Carnie’s Canter

Chaisson Reel, The

Cheticamp Reel, The

Chorus Jig

Come Under My Plaidie

Compliments to Buddy MacMaster

Cutting Ferns

Darlin’ Don’t You Meddle Me

Delphine’s Reel

Democratic Rage, The

Devil in the Kitchen

Dillon Brown

Dinkie’s Reel

Don’t Be Teasing

Dr Keith, Aberdeen

Dragger’s Reel, The

Drunken Piper, The

Dublin Porter

Duke of Gordon’s Birthday, The

Durang’s Hornpipe

East Neuk of Bear River, The

Emil Gaudet’s Reel

Farmer’s Daughter, The

Farmer’s Reel, The

Fay’s Hornpipe

Fermoy Lasses

Fig For a Kiss

Fisher’s Hornpipe (F Setting)

Fred Wilson’s Hornpipe

Glencoe March

Green Meadow Reel

Haggis, The

Hector’s Fancy

Hector’s New Dance Hall

High Level Hornpipe, The

Homeward Bound

Honeymoon, The

Inverness Jig

Irishman’s Heart to the Ladies

Iron Man, The

Island Boy

Jack Webster’s Reel

Jackson’s Jig

Jenny Dang the Weaver

Jerome’s Farewell to Gibraltar

Jerry Holland’s Jig

Joe Kearney’s Reel

Joe MacInnis’ March

Kenmure’s on & Awa’, Willie

Killiecrankie

Koehler’s Hornpipe

Lad O’beirne’s Reel

Lasses of Glenaladale, The

Levantine’s Barrel

Light & Airy

Little Donald in the Pigpen

Little Jack’s Reel

Londonderry Hornpipe

Lord Gordon

Lord MacDonald’s Reel

MacDonald’s March “Reel”

MacKinnon’s Rant

Marchioness of Tullibardine, The

Marie à Pierre

Marquis of Huntly, The

Meeting of Waters, The

Miller o’ Drone, The

Miller’s Reel

Miramichi Fire, The

Miss Barker’s Hornpipe

Miss Georgina Campbell

Miss Gordon

Miss Lyall Strathspey

Miss Maxwell

Mr. Murray

Munlochy Bridge

Munster Lass, The

North Side of the Grampians, The

Northside Tune

Orange & Blue, The

Ottawa Valley Reel

Paddy on the Turnpike

Pigeon on the Gatepost

Plains of Boyle, The

Poppy Leaf, The

Pride of the Ball

Prince Edward Island Wedding Reel

Princess Reel

River Bend Jig

Robert Cormack, Aberdeen

Robert Stubbert

Rock Valley Jig

Rose in the Garden, The

Rose of Tennessee, The

Rothiemurchus Rant, The

Royal Circus Jig

Shandon Bells

Shores of Lough Gowna, The

Silver & Gold

Sleepy Maggie

Souris Breakwater

Southern Melody

St Anne’s Reel (Original Version)

St Anne’s Reel (Prince County Version)

St Kilda Wedding

Stack of Barley

Stella’s Trip to Kamloops

Stool of Repentance, The

Teviot Bridge

Trip to Windsor

West Point Jig

When I Go Out the Door

Where the North River Flows

Whiskey Jig

Wilfred’s Fiddle

You Married My Daughter, & Yet