I'll Fly Away

Hi everyone,
The song of the week is 'I'll Fly Away' in the key of G. 


Recordings
Del McCoury Band - key of Bb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOAmHrzE8v4

Alison Krauss & Gillian Welch - key of D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz-0C2dhKlg

Bill Evans, Jason Homey, Janet Beasley, & Gary Eller - key of A (starts at 0:51)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq5FlspZlKE
​
Jason Homey & The Snake River Boys - key of G (starts at 12:37)
Jason Homey and the Snake River Boys, IBA Open Mic, 4/23/19 - YouTube
The first, third, and fourth recordings come closer than what the second does to how I'll Fly Away has usually been played and sung at the jam, both in terms of where the breaks occur in the song, and the vocal harmony arrangement.


Jam Videos
Here are three youtube jam videos I have made for I'll Fly Away. I recommend starting with the one listed first. In that one, I am on guitar.
Jason’s YouTube Links – Alphabetical Listing – Parisology (cyberplasm.com)

Progression

The chord progression for I'll Fly Away is:

1111
4411
1111
1511

This is Progression V3 on the 'Basic Chord Progressions' handout, and is the same progression that is used for 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken', 'Mountain Dew', 'Cryin' Holy' 'When My Time Comes To Go', the chorus of 'It's Mighty Dark To Travel', some versions of 'Sitting On Top Of The World', and many other songs.

Since 13 out of the 16 measures of this progression consist of 1s, memorizing the progression need not involve anything more than just remembering the location of the 4s and the location of the 5 within the progression.

In the key of G: 1 = G, 4 = C, 5 = D. For the 1, 4, and 5 chords for each of the other 7 keys that the song may be played in at the jam, refer to the beginner jam Nashville Number Charts handout included in the attachments. (Scroll down to the very bottom of this email message for the attachments.)


Melody
While the chord progression is the same for both the verse and the chorus of I'll Fly Away, the melody of the chorus differs from the melody of the verse. The spots that differ are the whole first line, and on the Del McCoury Band recording, and in the way that I have sung the chorus at the jams (and on the Snake River Boys recording and on the jam videos), also in the first two measures of the 3rd line. ('When I die': the ascending sequence of D, E, and G notes when in the key of G, instead of the descending sequence of B, G, and D notes that the 3rd line of the verse melody begins with.)

In ascending order of pitch, when played and sung in G, the notes that make up the melody for the verses are: D, E, G, A, B, C, and the notes that make up the melody for the chorus are: D, E, G, A, B, C, D, with the high D note being the note that the chorus starts on. To see what these notes would be for the 7 other keys that I'll Fly Away may be played in at the jam, refer to the Nashville Number System Charts handout in the attachments at the bottom of this email, notes 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4 on the larger of the two charts.


Breaks
In the attachments at the bottom of this write-up, I have provided the verse melody as a guide for creating melody-based breaks for each of the instruments; but since the progression is the same for both the verse and the chorus, if you know the chorus melody and would like to play a break that is based upon the chorus melody instead of the verse melody, feel free to do so, just not at the beginning of the song for the intro break. This can make the song a bit more interesting, especially when two breaks are played back to back, or after several breaks have been already been played in the song that have been based upon the verse melody, and it will work in the context of the collective breaks that we play at the beginner jam, since the chorus melody is for the most part harmonious with the verse melody.
An example of a chorus melody-based banjo break sandwiched between two verse melody-based occurs on the Snake River Boys recording. The chorus melody-based banjo break happens right after the guitar break.

Here is an instrumental recording of I'll Fly Away that contains both verse and chorus breaks on each instrument: banjo (key of G), guitar (key of C), fiddle (key of F), mandolin (key of Bb), dobro (key of Eb), banjo (key of G):

Bluegrass '96 - Scott Vestal, Aubrey Haynie, Wayne Benson, Jeff Autry, Rob Ickes, & Mark Schatz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5joNSHVKzg


Harmony
I welcome harmony singers to sing not only on the choruses, but also on the second and fourth lines of the verses (the 'I'll Fly Aways'), like on the first and third recordings given here. Please remember though that when singing harmony, it is important to be focused on the lead singer as much as possible for the sake of timing, tuning, and phrasing. 

In the attachments (see the bottom of this email), I have included a simple three part harmony arrangement for the choruses (the notes for the 'I'll Fly Aways' in the verses are identical with the notes for the 'I'll Fly Aways' in the choruses, so I have not included a harmony arrangement for those parts of the verses in the attachments.) There are much more interesting note choices that one could use for the harmony parts than what I have written here, but for the sake of those who are just beginning to learn to sing harmony, I have tried to keep the parts as simple and straightforward as possible. 

On the harmony sheet attached here, the notes for the tenor harmony are the highest of the groups of three notes on the staff, the notes for the baritone harmony are the lowest, and the melody is the middle set of notes. If it suits your vocal range better, you may drop the tenor harmony part an octave to create the harmony part that is known in bluegrass as the 'low tenor', or you may raise the baritone harmony an octave higher to create the harmony part that is known in bluegrass as the 'high baritone'. 

On the third recording provided here, Bill, Janet, Gary, and I took turns singing the lead on the solo parts (the first and third lines) of the verses, but we each stuck to a given part when singing together on the chorus and on the second and fourth lines of the verses: Bill sang the melody, Janet sang the tenor harmony, I sang the baritone harmony, and Gary sang bass.


Lyrics
On the Del McCoury recording, there are two verses:
1. Some glad morning when this life is over....
2. Just a few more weary days and then....

On the Alison Krauss & Gillian Welch recording, there are four verses:
1. Some bright morning when this life is o'er....
2. When the shadows of this life have gone....
3. Oh how glad and happy when we meet....
4. Just a few more weary days and then....

On the Weiser Banjo Camp 2016 Instructors Concert recording, there are four verses that are essentially the same as the four on the preceding recording, but the order of the middle two verses is inverted:

Bill: Some glad morning when this life is o'er....
Jason: Oh how glad and happy when we meet....
Janet: When the shadows of this life are gone....
Gary: Just a few more weary days and then....

At the jam, I usually sing three verses: these are the same three verses that I sing on the Snake River Boys recording:
1. Some glad morning when this life is over....
2. When the shadows of this life have grown....
3. Just a few more weary days and then....

On the rare occasion when I have sung all four verses at the jam, I have usually put them in the same order as on the Gillian Welch & Alison Krauss recording.


Pickup Notes
The verse melody of I'll Fly Away starts with the same note as do the melodies for My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains and Beautiful Brown Eyes, and all three of these songs start with the 1 chord. Therefore, the same set of pickup notes that are effective to use for starting an intro break for My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains and Beautiful Brown Eyes will also work for starting an intro break for I'll Fly Away. 

https://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/jasons-beginner-jam-blog-2019---2020/category/my-homes-across-the-blue-ridge-mountains
(Scroll half way down the page to find the pick-up notes section in the write-up.)

Other songs on the current main list and additional songs list for the jam for which the same set of pickup notes (5, 1, 2: D, G, A when in the key of G; E, A, B when in the key of A, etc.) will work well for starting an intro break include: All The Good Times Are Past And Gone, Blue Ridge Cabin Home, Banks Of The Ohio, I'll Still Write Your Name In The Sand, Leaning On The Everlasting Arms, Little Cabin Home On The Hill, A Memory Of You, Red River Valley, Will You Be Loving Another Man, and You Are My Sunshine.

For, the first complete measure of all these songs starts with the 3rd note of the Major Scale (a B note when in the key of G, a C# note when in the key of A, etc.), and all these songs start with the 1 chord. 

An alternative set of pickup notes which will work equally as well, or better in some cases, for starting all these songs, except for the two that have the 5,1, 2 pickup notes built into their melody (Banks Of The Ohio and You Are My Sunshine), and which some may prefer to use, is 5, 6, 1.

key of G:   D,  E,   G 
key of A:   E,  F#,  A
key of Bb: F,   G,   Bb 
key of B:   F#, C#, B 
key of C:   G,   A,   C 
key of D:    A,   B,  D 
key of E:    B,   C#, E
key of F:    C,   D,   F

The pickup measure for the intro break on all the Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss recording consists of this set of pickup notes, and the pickup measures for the intro breaks on the Del McCoury, Weiser Banjo Camp, and Snake River Boys recordings are standard banjo licks that are based upon this set of pickup notes.


Fill-in Licks 
The third measure of lines 2 and 4 of each verse has only one syllable in it, which is sung at the beginning of the measure. And, the measure that follows begins with a rest. During these kinds of 'dead spaces' within the melody of a song, it is very common for a fill-in lick to be played on one or more of the instruments. In the attachments I have included a chart of simple fill-in licks for guitar, banjo, fiddle, and mandolin that will fit well into measure 3 through to the first quarter of measure 4 of lines 2 and 4 of the progression for I'll Fly Away when the song is played in the key of G. These same licks are also good to use in measures 3 to 4 of lines 2 and 4 of your breaks. 

On the chart of fill-in licks, notes in parentheses are not really part of the fill-in lick proper and may be omitted if they are inconvenient to get into from what you were doing immediately before the fill-in measures begin. For instance, if you are playing chop chords on the fiddle or mandolin right up to the point where the fill-in measure starts, you may wish to substitute a quarter note rest in place of the quarter note in parentheses that occurs at the beginning of the fill-in lick measure.  Likewise, the notes you play in a break in measure 2 of line 2 may lead you more naturally to play a D note at the beginning of the next measure rather than a G note, for the D note is the melody note. When this happens, just substitute the D note in place of the G note shown in parentheses on the chart.

If a harmony vocalist fills up the 'dead space' in the melody at the end of the second line of the chorus by singing 'in the morning' (like on two of the four recordings given here) in that spot, then it is best to not play a fill-in lick on the instruments there. This is an instance of what one might call, by way of analogy, a 'vocal fill-in lick'.


Endings
For songs like I'll Fly Away that use a progression that ends with two measures of the 1 chord, and in which the last syllable is sung at the beginning of the first of these two measures (which includes the overwhelming majority of the non-instrumental songs on the current main list and additional songs list), it is common for a two-measure ending lick to be played on the instruments during the last two measures of the progression when the song is going to end. In most cases, this means the last two measures of the final chorus (or, for songs that don't have a chorus, the final verse) of the song. 

In the attachments, I have included a chart of simple two-measure endings in the key of G for fiddle, mandolin, guitar, banjo, and bass that will work for all of the songs that fit into this category, except for the ones played in 3/4 time.

Notice that the last note played in each of the endings coincides with the beginning of the second half of the last measure. (For 3/4 time songs, appropriate ending licks would have their last note coincide with the beginning of the last measure.)

Song List
14 songs were played at the jam last night: 11 from the main list, 2 from the additional songs list, and 1 that is on neither list:
All The Good Times Are Past And Gone - A
Beautiful Brown Eyes - G
Blue Ridge Cabin Home - A
Bury Me Beneath The Willow - G
Cripple Creek - A
Down The Road - A
Foggy Mountain Top - G
Gathering Flowers From The Hillside - G
I'll Fly Away - G
Little Birdie - Bb
Shortnin' Bread - G
Old Joe Clark - A
You Are My Sunshine - E
Sun's Gonna Shine In My Back Door Someday - Bb
Here's the Flatt & Scruggs recording of Sun's Gonna Shine In My Back Door Someday that I mentioned at last night's jam:
Sun's Gonna Shine In My Back Door Some Day - YouTube - Key of G

The progression is the same as for the 16 measure version of Worried Man Blues shown on the current additional songs list, except that the last line is 55511 instead of 5511.
Other songs that have been played recently at the jam that are on the same Flatt & Scruggs album, Folk Songs of Our Land, are: (All The) Good Times Are Past And Gone, Nine Pound Hammer. and This Land Is Your Land. 
Good Times Are Past And Gone - YouTube
Nine Pound Hammer - YouTube
This Land Is Your Land - YouTube

I especially like the versions on the record of (Poor) Ellen Smith, McKinley's Gone (also known as White House Blues), which is my favourite on the album, and I'll Be No Man's Wife (better known by the title I Never Will Marry):
Ellen Smith - YouTube
McKinley's Gone - YouTube
I'll Be No Man's Wife - YouTube


Happy Pickin',
Jason


Sheet music:
I'll Fly Away - banjo tab
Download File

I'll Fly Away - guitar tab
Download File

I'll Fly Away - mandolin tab
Download File

I'll Fly Away - melody in G
Download File

I'll Fly Away - harmony in G
Download File

Endings for most songs in G
Download File

G Chord Fill-in Licks
Download File

Nashville Number System Charts
Download File