Hughie Wentzell’s polka

I think I learned this Newfoundland single from Island to Island. It is one of Rufus Guinchard’s accordion tunes.

Hammy played this with another at the Chris Langan weekend. I think I might have learned it before then. There’s an irish polka that starts out in the A part almost exactly the same.

Yes the A part is very similiar to Mrs Crowley’s Polka
http://thesession.org/tunes/1833

Good catch! The first two bars (and their repeat in the second phrase) are identical, everything else different. Wonder what the story is? Seems like too much to be a coincidence. The Kelly Russell collection says "Hughie was an accordion player from River of Ponds." My guess is that would put it as something Rufus learned in the first half of the 20th century. irishtune.info has earliest source for "Mrs. Crowley’s" as 1998.

Nico, any chance you can remember what the other tune Hammy played with this one was?

Sol, I (perhaps stupidly) stopped recording concerts right about then… too much to listen to, and I decided listening well was more important. He did teach them to us in his class… but I did not recall it.

That said, I think it was these two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-v-HGuUmbw (but it might have been a different one).

play video

Also, I’m sure Mrs Crowley’s goes back a lot further than that. http://thesession.org/recordings/2812

Likely it was another old Kerry polka.

Nico, yeah, Hammy’s playing "Who Stole the Miner’s Hat" and "Hughie Wentzell’s" — two-thirds of a set from Island to Island, and I’ve heard it’s a pretty popular set in St. John’s these days. I’ve got ABCs for "Who Stole the Miner’s Hat", if someone doesn’t beat me to it I’ll post it when I’ve had a good chance to double-check my transcription (as I don’t know that tune as well as I’d like).

Not at all surprised to learn that Mrs Crowley’s goes back further than 1998, that was mostly to note that it wasn’t widely recorded.