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twelvefret - Posted - 02/22/2010: 15:42:06
There is a thread discussion the introduction of the banjo into the Southern Appalachian regions. This is an abstract of an article about fiddler Hiram Stamper and his fiddle style was not suited for accompaniment. Be sure to listen to the recordings at the bottom of the page.
quote:
The instruments commonly associated with the fiddle - the banjo and guitar - did not appear much in eastern Kentucky before the Civil War, and the early 1900's, respectively. The fiddle music of areas such as southwestern Virginia is closely entwined with the rhythms of the banjo and guitar. In contrast, Stamper's playing requires an accompanist to adapt to his sense of timing and tune structure. Many of his tunes are not well suited to accompaniment at all. http://www.aca-dla.org/Berea/image/85.html
chuck
ramjo - Posted - 02/22/2010: 16:10:13
I really like that twitchy, back-beat of Hiram's tunes...and how many of them are crooked. It would be hard to play with him, but a great challenge to try to meet those sounds on a banjo. It's worth noting that Art, his son, has a much more square style, and much of his recorded work is with a string band.
Thanks for pointing us to the link to Hiram's tunes. (The Field Recorder's Collective used to have a DVD of Hiram, but it's no longer available.)
Edited by - ramjo on 02/22/2010 16:10:45
g-hog - Posted - 02/27/2010: 07:23:45
I heard this music somewhere a long, long time ago. His sound was similar to sounds I'd heard when we lived down on the KY Tenn border... interesting fiddle sounds, for sure.
I've been messin' around with my little half-toy Suzuki student model fiddle... since Sept when I bought it, and originally I wondered about tackling that style, but abandoned the efforts about as quickly as I thought about it... don't know.
Anyway, I guess it's a style that died off with people like Hiram... I haven't heard anyone play like that for years, alnd I don't remember ever hearing anybody under the age of 90 playing that style! That's what makes me want to try, but... well it doesnt' take long to stop trying... LOL.
twelvefret - Posted - 02/27/2010: 10:15:02
quote:
Originally posted by g-hog
Anyway, I guess it's a style that died off with people like Hiram... I haven't heard anyone play like that for years, alnd I don't remember ever hearing anybody under the age of 90 playing that style! That's what makes me want to try, but... well it doesnt' take long to stop trying... LOL.
It has not died off, fortunately. Clyde Davenport is still alive and playing. Here is a field recording I made this past Tuesday,
http://www.box.net/shared/t59quhaosq http://www.box.net/shared/42rjd604erMr. Davenport remember watching famed Kentucky fiddler, Leonard Rutherford, playing on the court house steps in Montecello.
notserp89m - Posted - 02/27/2010: 10:34:54
quote:
Originally posted by twelvefret
quote:
Originally posted by g-hog
Anyway, I guess it's a style that died off with people like Hiram... I haven't heard anyone play like that for years, alnd I don't remember ever hearing anybody under the age of 90 playing that style! That's what makes me want to try, but... well it doesnt' take long to stop trying... LOL.
It has not died off, fortunately. Clyde Davenport is still alive and playing. Here is a field recording I made this past Tuesday, http://www.box.net/shared/t59quhaosq http://www.box.net/shared/42rjd604er
Mr. Davenport remember watching famed Kentucky fiddler, Leonard Rutherford, playing on the court house steps in Montecello.
Wow i bet that was a pleasure listening to Clyde play right there in front of you! Love his playing
g-hog - Posted - 02/27/2010: 12:29:04
WOW... I'd heard Clyde Davenport play somewhere on the net several years ago, but he wasn't doing that style. Tell you what, that man is a very versatile fiddler... does a great job on that! You're right... guess it's not totally dead, but hearing anyone do that is a rarity, for sure. Thanks for the great link... and to record him yourself???? You know him, then? I'm turning green. I just wish I knew anybody interested in the least little bit... LOL!
twelvefret - Posted - 02/27/2010: 13:11:06
quote:
Originally posted by g-hog
WOW... I'd heard Clyde Davenport play somewhere on the net several years ago, but he wasn't doing that style. Tell you what, that man is a very versatile fiddler... does a great job on that! You're right... guess it's not totally dead, but hearing anyone do that is a rarity, for sure. Thanks for the great link... and to record him yourself???? You know him, then? I'm turning green. I just wish I knew anybody interested in the least little bit... LOL!
I met him at a local concert in Knoxville circa 2006. I asked if I could come to see him. He and his wife Loraine have been very welcoming.
Below are a couple of my recent recordings. I added a banjo to Betty Baker, but Clyde does it solo fiddle.
http://www.box.net/shared/mdg3ofb4rq Zollie's Retreat: Based on a Confederate General named Felix Kirk Zollicoffer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Zollicoffer who was killed at The Battle of Mill Springs near Somerset January 19th 1862. Clyde said his grandfather played this tune and had fought in the Civil War. The fiddle is tuned DDAD.
http://www.box.net/shared/0ilhvb406m This is my favorite Clyde Davenport tune. It took me a long time to figure out what Clyde was doing and it been very special to have finally "caught" it as he says.
He lives in Jamestown, Tennessee. You should pay him a visit.
Edited by - twelvefret on 02/27/2010 15:30:43
ramjo - Posted - 02/27/2010: 13:12:14
Clyde is great. His tune eloquently makes your point. It'd be tough to play along with him, but he sure does make you want to listen. Thanks!
Edited by - ramjo on 02/27/2010 14:53:59
g-hog - Posted - 02/27/2010: 14:07:59
Do you have an entire collection somewhere?
twelvefret - Posted - 02/27/2010: 14:18:04
quote:
Originally posted by g-hog
Do you have an entire collection somewhere?
These represent the field recording I made Tuesday and three I recorded about 18 months ago. Let me know if you have trouble accessing. Some are a bit long and have talking between me and Clyde.
http://www.box.net/shared/qk0j1itd74
Hunter Robertson - Posted - 02/27/2010: 14:21:29
Thanks for those Chuck, Davenport sure is great. I had randomly come across a recording of him playing Jenny in the Cotton Patch years ago and was astounded.
Hunter
g-hog - Posted - 02/27/2010: 15:39:52
did he used to play a different style? or am I confusing him with someone else???? Thanks for the links!
scruffyeagle - Posted - 02/27/2010: 22:21:13
I'm mainly self-taught on fiddle, as on everything else. Those are some wonderful recordings of Clyde. Thanks for sharing them!
twelvefret - Posted - 02/28/2010: 04:11:12
This is a tune called Blackberry Blossoms I learned from Mr. Davenport: http://www.box.net/shared/83vl39lepv As with Zollie's Retreat and Coming Over the Hill to See Betty Baker, I am the fiddler in these recordings.
Leonard Rutherford and Dick Burnett also played something similar. Norman Blake and Peter Ostroushko's Meeting On Southern Soil compilation has a similar tune they say they got from a Kentucky fiddler.
Again, I am just providing some resources to show that this style is alive and kicking. From what I am reading the same fiddler had fiddle banjo tunes they played and these archaic styled compositions.
derwood400 - Posted - 02/28/2010: 04:48:29
Field Recorders Collective has a DVD of Clyde Davenport. If I remember correctly about 1/2 of it is him playing banjo, and the other 1/2 is fiddle. Really good stuff.
g-hog - Posted - 02/28/2010: 06:05:06
Is Jamestown anywhere near Knoxville? We go to Knoxville all the time but Jamestown doesn't ring any bells.
twelvefret - Posted - 02/28/2010: 11:04:55
quote:
Originally posted by g-hog
Is Jamestown anywhere near Knoxville? We go to Knoxville all the time but Jamestown doesn't ring any bells.
Send me a PM and I will give you the information.
chuck
g-hog - Posted - 02/28/2010: 17:48:06
well I looked it up and see it's quite a ways west of where we generally are... I don't know when I could ever get there... of course, it's about as far as Dwight Diller is from me and I managed to get there a couple of years ago... I don't roam too far... plus, not sure Mr. Davenport would want to waste too much of his time with my curiosities...etc. But... well, maybe someday I'll get out there. Not for a while, though... too much to keep me strapped close to home at this point, I'm afraid.
