I pm'd fiddler Jim Moss over at the mandolincafe.com and asked him if Kenny Baker used cross tuning to play Jenny Lynn. Jenny Lynn is an A tune and I was fiddling it recently and got to wondering -- it's on a Monroe compilation I have and of course is the ending to his "Uncle Pen" song. It'd be easier in cross, but it wasn't recorded that way. Here's Mr. Moss' reply:
David,
Kenny played Jenny Lynn in standard tuning.
Kenny would play most everything in standard.
I don't remember him ever changing tunings when
I was around. He refused to play a tune once
because he said he would have to change the tuning,
but he didn't play it. Now, he might have used
special tunings once in the past because he knew
the tuning of Cruel Willie which I recorded in
Dead Man's Tuning... DDAD as I remember.
It is easy to figure out by just listening to the
open plucks on the strings.
Frank is another thing. He uses special tunings
a lot, just look at Blackberry Blossom.
Jim Moss
Jim Moss plays fiddle with the great Frank Wakefield (mandolin player) and spent some serious time fiddling and learning from Kenny Baker at Baker's farm. Interesting stuff, I thought.
