Farewell Trion

Farewell Trion is an old-time reel in C major composed by Alabama fiddler Joe Blalock (born 1854) after being laid off from a mill in Trion, Georgia, likely in 1875 when the mill burned down. The tune was originally written with two parts and passed down through Blalock’s great-nephew Mack Blalock (1914-1987), who transmitted it to his neighbor, fiddler James Bryan of the Lookout Mountain region of Alabama. In the 1980s, Bryan added a third part to the tune, and the piece features a distinctive extended note in the second part that gives the tune a crooked, non-square structure. The tune is typically played slower than standard breakdown tempo, lending it a more lyrical quality. James Bryan recorded the tune in 1972 on the album “Old Time Fiddling From The State Of Alabama” with Rual Yarbrough & The Dixiemen, and again in 1985 on Bob Carlin’s influential album “Banging & Sawing” for Rounder Records, with Norman Blake on guitar.