| Notes |
- Johns's death certificate lists his birth year as 1867 but his headstone says 1866. Which is correct?
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:m51EoNAqTRkJ:www.voyagerrecords.com/LN366.htm+drollinger+deaths&hl=en
(Reference the last paragraph of this liner notes excerpt for a reference to "Jack Drollinger")
PETE McMAHAN: 50 OLD-TIME FIDDLE GEMS
VRCD 366 Disks 1 & 2
Pete McMahan was well known nationally, both as a champion Missouri-style fiddler and as a respected judge at major contests. He made his mark on the world of old-time fiddling with a style all his own that firmly echoes the Missouri fiddle tradition. With approval and help from Sarah McMahan, this Voyager project brings Pete's out-of-print Lp records to new audiences of fans and fiddlers. And it offers a tribute to his achievements and influence.
Pete's branch of McMahans came from County Cork, Ireland, to North Carolina in 1734, and members of the family eventually moved across the mountains to central Kentucky. Around 1820, three McMahan brothers came to the north bank of the Missouri River in central Missouri, among the first Scotch-Irish pioneers here. Pete was born November 18, 1918. His parents were Homer and Dorothy Whitlock McMahan and Pete was one of eight children born on the family farm near Bluffton in the hills of southwestern Montgomery County and southeastern Callaway County. Pete's mother and several sisters played the violin, and his mother specialized in the reed organ, playing backup for fiddlers at local dances.
Pete started playing fiddle at age six with legendary dance fiddler Clark Atterberry, learning many tunes in chorded A or D. His first tunes were "Rye Whiskey" and "Ta-ra-ra-boom-teay." Pete remembered "That old man, Clark, could play a fiddle. He had the best ?Leather Britches' I ever heard". Pete's mother was Clark's favorite accompanist. According to Clark's nephew, Harvie Atterberry of Fulton, "Uncle Clark said he never played with nobody who could keep time like Pete's mother could." Clark Atterberry was a farmer near Readsville in southeastern Callaway County, a mile south of the McMahan farm. To make cash money, from time to time Clark and his brothers hewed oak railroad ties with broad axes, and ran a "tie crew" hauling ties with wagons to the KATY Railroad at Portland, an old town on the Missouri River.
On his deathbed in 1970, Atterberry asked Pete to play, and, after he played, said: "Pete you play just like I do." Pete said "I should. You gave me the inspiration."
As he grew into his teenage years, Pete played guitar for fiddlers and tried his hand at fiddling at countless Saturday night barn dances. He often backed up Herman Boone at dances at a store in Williamsburg, north of the McMahan farm. On occasion, Pete played tenor banjo, which he tuned like a violin (G-D-A-E). He also learned to call square dances, and remembered Jack Drollinger, a nephew of Clark Atterberry, to be the best caller in their area. Pete loved playing for square dancers, despite the rigors for the musicians. "It was something to watch, they jig-danced to every step of it. ... It's hard work to play for a square dance ... one set might last fifteen minutes. You made a dollar or dollar and a half a night, playing from dark till daylight."
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1867 - 1949 (82 years)
