Colored Aristocracy

Colored Aristocracy, with Tim Rowell on guitar.
This tune comes from fiddler Sanford Rich, of Arthurdale, WV. It was collected by Charles Seeger in August, 1936 at a folk festival in Arthurdale, where he recorded the Rich Family for the Library of Congress (AFS 3306 B2). Mike Seeger learned the tune from this recording, and recorded it with the New Lost City Ramblers on their first album in 1958.
I was fortunate to hear Sanford’s nephew Elmer play it at a small jam a couple years ago in WV when I stopped by to visit my friend Mark Crabtree. Mark told me “This was a tune that Elmer’s family always played, and he didn’t think anything particular about it since he didn’t have any real involvement with the folk revival, but apparently that recording is the sole source for that tune.” You can hear Elmer’s version of it here:
Old Time Fiddle Music of West Virginia- Elmer Rich
Also, on a somewhat related note, here’s an old newsreel of the Rich family playing for a square dance attended by none other than Eleanor Roosevelt. The resettlement camp during the depression at Arthurdale was one of her special projects, and so here she is dancing to the band that is Elmer on mandolin, his dad Harry on fiddle, and Elmer’s brothers on banjo and guitar: