Thank you, Dan by Bill Cassels This is a small personal tribute to Dan Charles, an incredibly gifted and talented musician, who delighted in sharing his extraordinary talent and interest with others. Dan had many facets other than music. He lived an interesting life, helped many people in many ways, and had an encyclopedic knowledge of many things including old movies, John Wayne, NASCAR racing, the Civil War, and the Dillards on the Andy Griffith Show. But my admiration and appreciation for Dan stemmed primarily from his generosity in helping me to learn to play the fiddle over the last 12 years, and these recollections are related to that. Although I don t recall the moment I met Dan, I m sure it must have occurred in 2006 as I became increasingly interested in playing traditional music, and became familiar with HTMA. After Marylee and I moved to Huntsville and I fully retired, for some reason I was drawn to wanting to play traditional music. I joined HTMA in late 2005, and by 2006, I had heard Dan Charles beautiful fiddling at many meetings. That, plus my desire to learn to play Ashoken Farewell, influenced me to take up the fiddle, though I had never touched one. So I ordered myself a fiddle online and started attending: HTMA meetings -- sitting in back listening and writing down the names of songs played. E.g., at the November 2006 HTMA meeting jam, I noted that Dan played Year of Jubilo, Maiden s Prayer, and St Anne s Reel, Pre-meeting workshops (the April 2006 workshop by Vice President Jim Holland was just what I needed String Instrument Adjustments for Dummies ), HTMA Coffeehouses -- my first Coffeehouse, in April 2006, featured Sandy River Ramblers (Don Evans, Pat Long, Paul Turner, Howard Bozeman). And HTMA members concert at the Burritt gazebo in July 2006, in which Dan appeared twice once with Three Forks of the Flint (with Sue Huffman and Jack Ellis), and later with Jerry LeCroy. I remember being motivated to someday be able to play like Dan.
By this time in 2006 I must have introduced myself to Dan at an HTMA meeting or event, and told him how I admired his fiddling. We gradually began playing fiddle together (Dan played, I practiced), usually at his house in his music room -- the first room to the left after entering his front door (and getting past his adoring dog Murphy who greeted visitors enthusiastically). As I struggled over the years to improve my tone and technique, I frequently begged Dan to tell me some secrets of fiddling. He never actually revealed a secret which I think was his way of telling me that there is no substitute for practice. Dan had practiced a lot, and from a young age. At some point in his youth he was taking lessons and practicing hours daily. He once told me a story about how a violin teacher, in order to force him to shape his left hand correctly, would hold a burning cigarette just above the back of his left hand while Dan played so that Dan would get burned if his hand shape changed. A few of the things Dan told me over the years come to mind. B sharp or B flat, by which he meant to tune each string just a tiny bit sharp so that when the string was stretched due to bow pressure, the tone would be accurate. Dan claimed that Red Wing was John Wayne s favorite song, which is probably true since Wayne sang it in 3 different movies. I once told Dan that I was thinking about learning to play the mandolin as a second instrument. His reply was simply, Why? Which to me meant that my effort would be better spent learning to play the fiddle better. At the close of every phone call I had with him, Dan would sign off saying Say Hey to Marylee! Which I always did. One would not have known it from his gruff voicemail greeting ( Nah, leave a message ), but he loved being with others, and was passionate about encouraging others to develop their music skills. I could never understand why someone with his ability would care about beginners like me. Dan was extremely supportive of my playing. He encouraged me to play with others, and gave me opportunities to do so by including me in some of his gigs. He was my fiddle guru. I outfitted myself with fiddle accessories just like his, hoping that would
somehow make me sound more like him. I bought the same left hand finger exerciser; the same fiddle stand, the same shoulder rest, the same rosin (although I did not buy the Liebenzeller rosin with meteorite iron that Dan was enthusiastic about for a while), the same mutes and the same strings. Regarding strings, Dan said he used, Dominants all the way, Bill. Silver-wrapped perlon A s and D s, and a wrapped aluminum over steel E - for a warmer sound. I even bought a violin from Dan in 2009. Dan told me this had been an extra violin that he bought in a Joplin (Missouri) pawn shop in 1978 while he was a student at Tulsa University. Dan kept it at his parents home in Neosho, MO, to accompany his mother on the piano when he visited them. Dan had gentle ways of teaching while we were playing together at a jam or practice. When a vocalist was singing, he would sometimes start chucking, which I understood to be a suggestion to me that I stop whatever I was playing and chuck along with him, at which point he would return to beautiful fills and harmonies. If he felt my timing was off, I would see his foot begin tapping in an exaggerated manner, drawing my attention to the proper timing. At jams and practices I liked to sit near Dan in hopes of learning from him. At least once each session he would play an amazing note that sounded remarkably good against the melody. I would ask him about how he chose that specific note to play. His answers would sometimes involve music theory -- augmented chords and leading tones -- and other times just a shrug. Whenever I d become frustrated at my lack of progress in sounding more like Dan (which occurred often), I would need to reinforce to myself that the fault was not in my fiddle, bow or strings. So every few months I d ask him to play something on my fiddle, and, of course, he made it sound awesome. I could never understand how he could drag my bow over an open string on my fiddle and it would sound beautiful and mellow. Yet, when I did it, the sound was screechy and raspy.
Dan loved to play music. In addition to his beloved Milltowne band, Dan was in many other music groups: I was aware of a few: Bob and Bartie Scott s Blue Velvet; Piedmont Strings/Chase Creek Strings (with Marcia Chesebro, Sue Huffman, and Jack Ellis among others; which, since 2010, played old English carols and seasonal songs for the annual Twickenham Christmas home tour); Jeriann Payne s Trillium; Rebecca Holbrook s Hot Rock Hollow Band; Tangled String Band, Phil Riddick s Sweetwater Bluegrass, and The Garden Strings. With his talent, Dan was in high demand. At the annual HTMA gazebo concert, he would often perform with two or more groups. This seemed to embarrass him, and he preferred to limit the number of times he performed at a concert, probably to ensure everyone had an opportunity to play. He attended lots of jams at Chuck & Lizze Arnold s home, Jerry Hinkle s home, Rebecca s porch, Straight to Ale, Lone Goose, Greg Staggs Meridian Crossing open mikes, and HTMA sponsored jams; sharing his ability and encouragement to all, at all levels. He was serious about his fiddle playing. I believe he always wanted to sound as good as he could, regardless whether he was at a paying gig, or just an informal jam. He always gave his best effort. In April 2018 he was a member of the orchestra for the Randolph High School musical Wizard of Oz. The music was very difficult probably much like orchestral music he played in high school and college. He practiced very hard for that gig. He would talk about the difficult fingering in the upper positions on the neck of the violin that he was working on for that gig. I was fortunate to see a performance and hear his beautiful violin work. Dan liked to refer to himself as a sideman or second fiddle when he and I played together. He preferred to not lead a song, but instead to be free to improvise at will to enhance the overall sound. At jams when it was his turn to pick a song, he would usually defer to someone else to lead a song that he liked so that he could do his magic as a sideman. At jams he insisted that singer picks the key. He would stick by that mantra, even if the singer picked Db or Ab. I think those were his two least favorite keys, but he seemed to play them effortlessly, and with perfect intonation, as always.
He could improvise on any song that he had heard before, without practice -- in 2009 the Walker Street Opry band played at Flying Monkey, and they requested Dan come on stage and join them for a few songs. He sounded great. He had the ability, while playing, to listen to the performance as a whole, and do whatever was necessary to improve it, on the fly. Dan would often tell me about Milltowne practice sessions where he and Greg Staggs had played interesting breaks -- playing off of each other, improvising harmonies, and countermelodies that synchronized well. When I played with Dan, he would somehow listen to what I was playing which was usually straight melody and he would improvise beautiful harmonies, fills and countermelodies. When I stumbled, he would return to the melody long enough so that I could get back on track, and then he would fly off and resume his beautiful improvisations. Dan could listen to the lyrics while he was playing, and tailor his improvisation to match the tone and rhythm of the lyrics. It seemed to me that Dan experienced music on a different level than I did. Dan said he had chromesthesia, and I believe he did see colors when he heard and played music, based on the way he would play beautiful harmonies and fills, always consistent with a song s chord progression. I was always amazed at how he improvised so beautifully. At first I thought this ability might be based on highly developed expertise in music theory anticipating the next likely chord and knowing which notes would be consistent with that chord. But I later realized that he played how he felt. While he was playing a complicated piece, he often did not realize the name of the chord. When asked what chord went with a particular melody note, he would figure it out by quickly playing an arpeggio of that melody note along with the other notes that sounded right to him at that point in the song, and then I think he would identify those notes, which would reveal the chord name.
Dan may also have had a sense of perfect pitch. He would usually tune his fiddle by ear, without a tuner. And while playing, I would see him stop briefly to tweak the fine tuner on one of his strings making a miniscule adjustment, before resuming the tune. I could hear no difference, but he could. Dan could play tunes by ear very well. I recall he would oftentimes suggest a song at a jam and, if others didn t recognize it by name, he would play it through beautifully, error free, by ear. Dan could also read music notation as well as anyone I have ever known. If I wanted to introduce him to a new tune that I was working on, I found it most efficient to show him the sheet music, rather than playing the tune for him (with my errors in timing and such). He would scan the sheet music and play the tune flawlessly. Dan loved to play many types of music -- traditional tunes, Civil War era songs, gospel music, Texas swing, rock, country, bluegrass and old standards. A few of his favorites he shared with me, many of which I still have on my learn for Danny list, include: Estrellita, Liebestraum, Waltz of the Ohio, Gypsy Waltz, Columbia Gem of the Ocean, Marching Through Georgia, Dixie, After You ve Gone, Anytime, Limehouse Blues, Lonesome Moonlight Waltz, All of Me, and Autumn Leaves (which he had enjoyed playing with his Mom). One song that I loved to play with him and Sue is My Dear Childhood Home. Some of Dan will certainly live on in me. Dan's influence will be heard by others whenever I
play out -- at nursing homes and jams. Dan will be in my mind motivating me as I keep trying to play cleaner, faster and master that hokum bowing we both worked on. My memory of Dan's pure sweet tones will be my goal, as I try to improve my own tone. And I know Dan would be pleased if I ever learn to properly count-in a song with a 6/8 time signature. So Dan: -- Thank you for sharing your talents and love of music with me, and with so many others. You are greatly missed. And yes, I remember another one of your favorite songs We ll Meet Again. I sure hope so.