Robert’s Serenade

Robert’s Serenade is an Old Time reel in AEAE cross-tuning, composed by fiddler Robert Sykes (1914–1994) of Surry County, North Carolina. It is a crooked tune built around syncopated five-beat phrases, and is closely related to “Clinch Mountain Backstep.” Sykes recorded it on Robert Sykes and the Surry County Boys (Heritage LP 057, 1987). Bruce Molsky also recorded it on Bruce Molsky and Big Hoedown (Rounder CD-0421, 1997).

Robert Sykes (1914–1994) spent most of his life in Surry County, working variously as a farmer, carpenter, factory worker, and operator of Farmers’ Cooperative Exchange stores. He settled in his retirement years in Toast, near Mount Airy, where neighbor Tommy Jarrell encouraged him to take up playing again; he performed through the 1980s with local musicians and on WPAQ radio in Mount Airy.