The ToneWay® Project: helping people play music


Molly and Tenbrooks [core]

Run oh Molly run, run oh Molly 4 run
Tenbrooks gonna 1 beat you to the 5 bright shinin' 1 sun

Refrain:To the bright shinin' sun, oh Lord, to the 5 bright shinin' 1 sun

Tenbrooks was a big bay horse he wore that shaggy mane
He run all around Memphis, he beat the Memphis train...

Tenbrooks said to Molly, what makes your head so red
Runnin' in the hot sun with a fever in my head...

Molly said to Tenbrooks, you're lookin' mighty squirrel
Tenbrooks said to Molly, I'm a-leavin' this old world...

Out in California where Molly done as she pleased
Come back to old Kentucky, got beat with all ease...

The women's all a-laughin' the children's all a-cryin'
The men's all a-hollerin', old Tenbrooks a-flyin'...

Kyper, Kyper you're not ridin' right
Molly's beatin' old Tenbrooks, clear out of sight...

Kyper, Kyper, Kyper my son
Give old Tenbrooks the bridle, let old Tenbrooks run...

Go and fetch old Tenbrooks and hitch him in the shade
We're gonna bury old Molly in a coffin ready made...

It’s on Strum Machine!

Play & sing along with Molly and Tenbrooks (or any song you type in) in any key, at any speed, with real instrument recordings. You have to see it to believe it.

Play this song on Strum Machine

Available in these books:

Get Started Plus: Core Songs Edition
100 songs and our acclaimed play-by-ear learning method.
Big Print Songs
Over 200 songs.
Family Tradition
The reference manual, with lyrics to 330 songs.
The first two books feature large-print lyrics (20-point type) and include chords, historical info, jamming hints, and more.

...and on these CDs:

Five CDs, 100 songs. Recordings from the Abbott family and their friends.
Listen to sample tracks.

The MP3 collection has all 100 songs on one CD for a discount. See details.


A song from the The ToneWay Mountain Music Collection, which offers lyrics and free Song Clips (recordings for learning the song by ear) for nearly 400 traditional songs, many of which are often heard in bluegrass and old-time jam circles. The ToneWay Project also offers songbooks, CDs, and a free online video series for learning to play music by ear. http://ToneWay.com