Happy Summer!
We’re back for Week 8 of Fiddle Tune Tuesdays with another tune from North Carolina, this time with “June Apple,” popularized by the prolific Mt. Airy, North Carolina, fiddler Tommy Jarrell (1901-1985).
Over the course of his career, Tommy Jarrell recorded seven albums and toured extensively. In 1982, three years before his death, he was selected as one of fifteen master folk artists in the first National Heritage Fellowships of the National Endowment for the Arts.
As with all oral tradition, the exact origins of “June Apple” are unclear. Jarrell didn’t write the tune, but his rendition of the Appalachian classic became particularly popular, especially his inclusion of singing in the second section. Yet even in that regard, he wasn’t alone. Other renditions of “June Apple” borrow lyrics from the tune “Train on the Island,” and yet other versions include different, original lyrics of the singer’s making.
Regardless of the version, by every account the tune takes its name from a group of early-ripening apples in the southern United States. There are many varieties of heirloom June apples with names like “Taylor Sweet” or “William’s Favorite” that each tell their own small story.
We hope you enjoy the last day of June!
All our love,
Late for the Train