Fiddler’s Reel

Fiddler’s Reel is an old-time breakdown in D major from the Round Peak tradition of Surry County, North Carolina. It is best known from the playing of Surry County fiddler Benton Flippen, who recorded it with the Smokey Valley Boys on their Rounder 0029 LP in the early 1970s. Later recordings include Sandy Bradley on “Potluck and Dance Tonite!” (Alcazar, 1979), the Plywood St. Band on a 1984 New York City string band contest compilation, and the New Dixie Entertainers on “Maybelle Rag.” A tune with the same title appears in Vance Randolph’s 1954 list of traditional Ozarks fiddle tunes, though it is unclear if the two are related.