Tommy Jarrell at home in Mt. Airy, North Carolina © Evo Bluestein These poems, stories, songs, quote, and art have been gathered from all over the world, partly via FIDDLE-L, an online list for fiddlers and those who love fiddle music. dhebert@crocker.com

The Fiddler's Reply by Joel Mabus It's a question that I've heard before And all that I can say to that is -- no sir! No sir! I have played a tune in the dark on the porch Of a prairie farm -- summer rain coming Down so straight you could set your chair right there On the edge of the porch and keep bone dry. Such straight regular rain, they say, is good For the crop. Good for tunes too, I say, Deep in the night, listening to the corn. And I remember a tune one winter Afternoon up north, fiddling after chores. The sun staring in through a wet kitchen Window -- all ice outside, all steam inside. My chair tips back; the woodstove snaps loudly, Popping irregular time to the steppy Tunes, flannel and coffee, bisquits and boots. I've played tunes on a fine spring evening At the town hall dance where everybody shows, Joking with the caller, shaking off winter, Stretching limbs, swapping partners for neighbors. Good healthy tempos break the first real sweat. Long lines forward and back and -- Look! Outside! The sun's still up on a fine green evening ! And then there is a tune I know that plays just Like a cold November morning. Sober. Inside, looking out. A gray air that wants Chords unresolved -- turning into the mist Like so many leaves, riven and broken, Returning from sky to earth after fall -- The undeniable fall -- calls them home. I have played tunes -- not songs. Not voiceable, Obvious word-infested songs -- but tunes, Each tune a puzzle, each one a box With its own proud secret. Each its own smile Sweetly shown -- each tune is a lesson pondered. Pattern -- at once familiar yet unique -- Like snow crystals -- like footprints -- like the way The world is right now -- that's what a tune is. No sir. No sir. They don't all sound the same to me. © 1997, Joel Mabus. This poem recorded on Rhyme Schemes (Fossil 1097). Used with permission. Joel Mabus is a superb singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Michigan. He's released eleven CDs, tours nationally, and writes a column for the Folk Alliance Newsletter.