ABC version

For this week's TOW, I have selected a parking lot pickers absolute requirement - Cherokee Shuffle. Someone always whips this one out. Some people feel that Cherokee Shuffle and Lost Indian are the same tune. I maintain that they are not, and Cherokee Shuffle has, in its tail, that little dip into the relative minor. Good luck Have fun.

From: Tom Isenhour Date: Sun, 23 May 1999 23:10:00

The first parts of both tunes would be the same but in different keys, but 2nd parts are totally different. Generally Cherokee is in A for fiddles and mandos while Lost Indian is in D. Roland White has a good version of Lost Indian on one of his solo CDs. I like Artie Rose's version of Cherokee Shuffle from the 60's.

Hmm, just so happens I have this one in waiting for MP3 Traditional Tunes as well. It too is based on the Butch Baldassari "30 Fiddle Tunes for the Mandolin".

Hope this works! Got it from JC's tune finder... this version sounds a bit different than the mp3 at Dave Berry's site.

T:Cherokee Shuffle
M:4/4
L:1/4
K:A
F/2G/2|"A"AA/2B/2 AA/2B/2|"A"c/2B/2A "D"FE/2F/2|"A"AA/2B/2
c/2d/2e|\
"F#m"f/2e/2f/2g/2 ff/2g/2|
"D"aa/2b/2 aa/2f/2|"A"e/2f/2e/2d/2
c/2B/2A|"F#m"F/2G/2A/2c/2 "E7"B/2A/2G|"A"A3\
::
e|"D"f/2e/2f/2g/2
a/2e/2f/2e/2|"A"c/2d/2e/2f/2 ee|"D"f/2e/2f/2g/2
"A"a/2e/2f|\
"E"e3"(A7)"e|
"D"f/2e/2f/2g/2 a/2e/2f/2e/2|"A"c/2d/2e/2f/2
ef/2g/2|\
"D"a/2e/2g/2f/2 "E7"e/2d/2c/2B/2|"A"AA/2B/2 A:|

Here's an A and B part to Cherokee Shuffle that was, for the most part, transcribed from a version by Tim Laughlin. He put out a tape that I got from County Sales. The tape also includes a good version of "Howdy in Hickman County."

I've just found a version of Cherokee Shuffle that I tabbed out ages ago (click here). Note that there are quite a few different ways of playing "Cherokee Shuffle", and this is just one of them.

X:074
T:Cherokee Shuffle
N:An amalgam, a lot of Steve Kaufman
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:D
A,2 B,2 C2|D2 DF EDB,A,|DEDB, A,2 A,B,|D2 DE F2 A2|B2 BB B2 Bc|
d2 d2 d2 B2|ABAAG FEDE|FEDE F2 A2|B2 BB B2 dB|ABAG F2 E2|D2:|]
d2 c2 =c2|BABc d2 B2|ABAG F2 dc|BABc d2 e2|f2 ff f2 dc|BABc d2 B2|
ABAAG FEDE|FEDE F2 A2|B2 BB B2 dB|ABAG F2 E2|D2:|]

Nigel...I'd wager that there are versions where it's "Lost Cherokee" and "Indian Shuffle" as well. 8^)

Great tune(s).

I have heard the tune in G. I've also played around with it in C, along will Bill Cheatham and a few others normally thought of as A tunes. You can get it a little more Bluegrassy there.

I learned cherokee shuffle in D off the Steve Kaufman "bluegrass workout tape",which steve says"watch out for that x-tra meausure, I've ran into conflicts on that,when some say its not in there....I also try to play it in A.

Nigel Gatherer wrote:
> Cherokee Shuffle in G? That's a new one on me! ..........I don't think I've
> heard it in G. What source are you using?

Hi Nigel - my source is in my head, and I just found the tune running around in there and played in the first key that came to hand. I won't make any odds, because I'm unlikely to have to play it at a jam, and I could surely transpose it fast enough if I found myself needing to head off into A.

Nigel Gatherer wrote:
snip....
> ........ then in a Bluegrass session in Edinburgh it was played in A.
> Way back it was Tune of the Week #5 (when George Hunt's was
> tunemeister),

Nigel, who decides what version/key a tune gets when put in Tune of the Week? Really not who but by what criteria?

Jim Larkin wrote:
> ...Nigel, who decides what version/key a tune gets when put in Tune of
> the Week? Really not who but by what criteria?

The tunes I put up are usually the way I play them, or the key of the recording it comes from. Originally the Tune of the Week was simply a discussion about various tunes. Then people who didn't know the tunes were asking "Where can I get it?" - I thought it would be useful to have at least one version of a tune which was being discussed available, so I started placing tabs on my website.

[re "Cherokee Shuffle"]
> Usually when there are many versions of a tune, ....the key and number of
> measures stay the same regardless of the "version"...

Usually, but that's what makes "Cherokee Shuffle/Lost Indian" so interesting. I think most people play extra bars in CS, but whether it's in the A part, or the B part, or both seems to be open to debate.

Steve Rosen's "Lost Indian" on the CoMando Sessions CD is, in my opinion, Cherokee Shuffle without the extra bars. In Steve Kaufman's 'Bluegrass Workout' book/CD set, both LI and CS are in D, and are very similar, in this case CS has ten bars in each part.

Hi there weekenders..
Just been listening to Steve Rosen and Niles playing their cuts on the first CoMando Sessions CD. The Lost Indian is in D, which kills me, because when I learned (taught myself) Cherokee Shuffle in G, everyone said it should be in A, and now I find its counterpart in D. What's happening???

Sam Gifford wrote:
> ...Just been listening to Steve Rosen and Niles playing their cuts on
> the first CoMando Sessions CD. The Lost Indian is in D, which kills me,
> because when I learned (taught myself) Cherokee Shuffle in G, everyone
> said it should be in A, and now I find it's counterpart in D. What's
> happening???

One way (not nessicelery the right way, mind) to look at it is that "Lost Indian" is in D and has 8 bars per measure; "Cherokee Shuffle" is in A and has either 8 bars A part/10 bars B part, or 10/10. Having said that, there are versions of CK in D, and, according to George Hunt, in G, and C! Now someone out there's gonna say it was written in B flat by Sousa and should have 7 bars in the A part and 29 in the B part. The only way to win with Lost Indian/Cherokee Shuffle is to be ready to play it the way the folk you're playing with play it; in other words, have two or three ways under your belt.

Or...

when someone suggests Cherokee Shuffle, say "Yeah, well, it's a good toon, sonny, but give me [place a tune you know backwards here] any day of the week"