Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss

Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss was originally recorded on November, 2nd 1927 by Frank Blevins and His Tar Heel Rattlers.  Blevins from Allegheny County, North Carolin recorded two sessions with Columbia in 1927 and 1928.  Columbia released eight sides from these two recording sessions.

My version of Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss is based on Rayna Gellert’s version found on her Ways of the World CD.   Rayna’s version is very faithful instrumentally to the Blevins recording. The B part has some syncopated parts.  Listen to the Blevins or Gellert recordings to get a sense of the rhythm on the B part of the tune. 

Here are a few versions of Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss for your listening enjoyment.

-Big Medicine, Too Old to Be Controlled, Yodel-Ay-Hee Records

-Frank Blevins and His Tar Heel Rattlers, Times Ain't Like They Used To Be, Vol. 1 Early American Rural Music Classic Recordings from the 1920s and 30s, Yazoo 2028

-Hobart Smith, In Sacred Trust: The 1963 Fleming Brown Tapes, Smithsonian Folkways SFW40141  Hobart played banjo, fiddle, guitar, and piano.  Hobart plays piano on this version.

-New Lost City Ramblers, New Lost City Ramblers - Vol. 3, Smithsonian Folkways FW02398

-Rayna Gellert, Ways of the World, Yodel-Ay-Hee Records

Note about the Tab/Notation: I use Finale Allegro 2007 for the music tab and notation.  There is some sort of bug in the program as Allegro doesn’t always notate the tab correctly.  Most times and I can figure out how to correct the incorrect tab.  This time I couldn’t

At the beginning of measure 13 you’ll see in the music that you hammer on to a B note from the open A string.  The B note should show up in tab as 2nd string, 2nd fret.  At the end of measure 13 you play two eighth notes, a B and D on the second string.  The D note doesn’t show up in the tab (it’s 2nd string, 5th fret).  If anyone knows any tricks to fix the tab, please drop me an email at oldtimemando@yahoo.com, and I’ll correct the tab.

Download a pdf of Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss -> Click FlyAroundMyPrettlyLittleMiss.pdf.