Angeline the Baker — Mandolin Tab

Mandolin tab and sheet music with synced audio · Stephen Foster · Key of D · 120 BPM · 4/4 time · Old-timey · Intermediate

Chords used in this arrangement: D, G.

Angeline the Baker has a pretty wild backstory. Stephen Foster's original 1850 song was actually called "Angelina Baker," and it was a lament about an enslaved woman separated from her lover when sold away by her owner. Somewhere along the way, the folk process stripped out that whole tragic story, "Baker" flipped from a surname to a job, and it got reborn as a bouncy fiddle tune about a stubborn 43-year-old woman who won't marry the poor guy no matter how much candy he buys her. This mandolin tab version of Angeline the Baker you're about to learn is actually a different melody from Foster's original. The fiddle tune as we know it today was first recorded by Uncle Eck Dunford of Galax, Virginia for Victor Records back in 1928. It's a D-major romp that sits beautifully on the mandolin, and at 120 BPM you'll find it grooves along nicely without feeling rushed, with plenty of room to dig into the rhythm and let the tune breathe.

This page includes mandolin tablature, standard music notation, and a chord chart — printable as PDF and playable in sync with the original recording. Change the key, slow the tempo down, and loop the bars you want to practise.