Brandywine

A G major reel credited on the record label to Kentucky bluegrass fiddler Kenny Baker and cut in April 1972 with Joe Stuart on guitar, Jack Hicks on banjo, Buck White on mandolin, and Monroe Fields on bass for Kenny Baker Country (County 736, 1972). Bluegrass and old-time players handle the tune differently: the part old-time fiddlers take as their A part corresponds to Baker’s B part. The 1972 track was reissued on the compilation Master Fiddler (County CO-CD-2705, 1993).

Kenny Baker (1926–2011) came to bluegrass from western swing, joining Don Gibson’s band as a replacement for Marion Sumner before meeting Bill Monroe and cutting his first sides with the Blue Grass Boys on December 15, 1957. He stayed with Monroe longer than any other band member, left in 1984, and was the fiddler Monroe chose to record the tunes handed down from his uncle Pendleton Vandiver. Baker’s long-bow phrasing became a reference for later bluegrass fiddlers.