ScottK - Posted - 07/21/2011:  22:56:29

Hi All,

Since we’re in the middle of festival season I thought I’d pick a tune-of-the-week that’s been popular at the festivals I’ve attended so far this summer (Weiser and Fiddle Tunes).

The Road to Malvern is a modern tune written by Virginia fiddler and Uncle Henry’s Favorites band member Jim Childress.  It appears with 15 other original fiddle tunes on his very fine 2004 CD Turkey Sag.   But it didn’t get noticed out here in the northwest until it appeared on the Light and Hitch CD in 2008.  That CD (which doesn’t seem to be available any more) featured Mary Jane Epps, Aaron Olwell, Andrew Norcross, Michelle Orozco, and Joseph DeJarnette.   To get a feel for Light and Hitch’s sound you can listen to Old Kentucky Whiskey at DeJarnette’s MySpace music page.   On his MySpace blog DeJarnette had these comments about the Light and Hitch recording:

The First Track is a new OT band called Light and Hitch. (an oldtimer's expression for hitch up your horse and come on in and make yourself at home)

That's our take on the classic Old Kentucky Whisky. The Band is:

Mary Jane Epps- Fiddle, left channel

Aaron Olwell - Fiddle, right channel

Andrew Norcross - banjo, vocals

Michelle Orozco - banjo uke and vocals

and of course yours truly on the bull fiddle and in the engineer/producer seat.

We recorded it out in the yard, and we're really excited about it.

Well, after years of talking about it, I finally put out a stringband CD!  With twin fiddlers from Charlottesville va and plunk rocking banjo family from north carolina, the sound is now available for your listening pleasure! I am super self-critical, but I have to say I really like this CD... I am especially excited about the engineering... it's my favorite project thus far in my career... so many stringband records sound like crap... This is due to a lot of factors... OT musicians tend to clam up in sterile studio environments, and the music itself doesn't really resonate well there. I think we all play best when we are comfortable and I think the music sounds best outside. So we recorded this one live, outside under our festival tarps in some pine trees immediately after playing all night and all day at the 2007 mt airy fiddler's convention. We've gotten great feedback from all our favorite musicians.

Road to Malvern is the first tune on Light and Hitch.  It caught the ear of my son Erik.  Erik is an Irish trad fiddler who also plays a little old time.  He learned it and started playing it occasionally at picking parties here in Portland.  Pretty much everybody who heard it liked it and wanted to learn it.  Since I was playing with Erik I learned it from him.  A year later Erik decided to include Road to Malvern in his senior recital in the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick and asked me to perform it with him.  On my BHO music page I’ve included a solo fiddle recording of Road to Malvern that Erik made for me to practice with as well as a recording of Road to Malvern from the recital.

I haven’t found other commercial recordings of Road to Malvern beyond Turkey Sag and Light and Hitch.  But I did find a few YouTube recordings.

There is a Clifftop 2010 Road to Malvern recording with Aaron J Lewis and Cathy Mason on fiddles.  Looks like BHO member Steve Arkin on banjo playing clawhammer, but I’m not sure.

There is a Folklife 2011 Road to Malvern recording of Nettle Honey with Johnny Fitzpatrick on banjo playing three finger style (second tune in the video starting at 4:30).

And there is an interesting video of the Strawberry Hill Fiddlers playing Road to Malvern in Lafayette LA in 2010.

I had planned to make a “just banjo” recording of Road to Malvern and write up a tab for it to go along with this TOTW post, but I got busy this week and didn’t find the time.  Maybe I can add that next week.

All for now, Scott 

ramjo - Posted - 07/22/2011:  04:18:49

Great tune, Scott. And what a cool thing to have played it with your son at his senior recital. I'm sure he graduated with honors, given how good he sounds in the recording. And you're due a couple yourself. Thanks for spreading this one around to those of us not getting out to festivals this year.

sugarinthegourd - Posted - 07/22/2011:  06:26:53

Yep, I'm pretty sure that's BHO member (and former Bluegrass Boy) Steve Arkin in that video.

I like this tune a lot, one idly favorite "modern old-time" completions, along with"Winder Slide" and few others. There are some, notably "Sadie at the Back Door" that I particularly dislike -- I never feel that way about the old tunes. iI need to get Turkey Sag and see what else Jim has written.

hendrid - Posted - 07/22/2011:  07:15:13

Nice tune. ibiblio.org has a little on it. Not much else on google. Good pick Scott. Don

ibiblio.org
ROAD TO MALVERN. Old-Time, Breakdown. A Major. A modern composition by West Virginia fiddler Jim Childress. Jim Childress – “Turkey Sag” (2004).
X:1
T:Road to Malvern
M:C|
L:1/8
C:Jim Childress
K:A
cd|efed cBAc|BAFA E3D|FGAF EFAB|cBAc B2cd|
efed cBAc|BAFA E3D|FGAF EFED|CA,B,C A,2:|
|:AB|cBAF EFA2|B3c B2 AB|cBA2 [A4f4]|[A6e6]AB|
cBAF EFA2|B3c B2AB|cABc A3:||

J-Walk - Posted - 07/22/2011:  07:44:22

Excellent pick, Scott. But you can choose anything from that Light & Hitch CD and have a good pick. It's too bad that CD is no longer available. It's easily among my top-5 favorite albums.

According to the liner notes, Road to Malvern is in G, but it's actually in G#. I don't know if they were tuned a half note high, or they speeded up the recording a bit.

AZJohnB - Posted - 07/22/2011:  07:53:59

quote:

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According to the liner notes, Road to Malvern is in G, but it's actually in G#. I don't know if they were tuned a half note high, or they speeded up the recording a bit.

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Or perhaps tuned a bit flat, the ABC listed aboe is int he key of A

AZJohnB - Posted - 07/22/2011:  07:55:10

quote:

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Originally posted by AZJohnB

quote:

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According to the liner notes, Road to Malvern is in G, but it's actually in G#. I don't know if they were tuned a half note high, or they speeded up the recording a bit.

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Or perhaps tuned a bit flat, the ABC listed above is in t he key of A

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AZJohnB - Posted - 07/22/2011:  07:55:49

quote:

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Originally posted by AZJohnB

quote:

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According to the liner notes, Road to Malvern is in G, but it's actually in G#. I don't know if they were tuned a half note high, or they speeded up the recording a bit.

---

Or perhaps tuned a bit flat, the ABC listed above is in the key of A

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ScottK - Posted - 07/22/2011:  08:05:39

Thanks for the comments guys!  

Regarding the key, I guess from a fiddler's point of view it's most interesting whether it's played in cross tuning or standard tuning.  Erik plays it in cross A (AEAE), but also plays it in cross G (GDGD) if we happen to be in that tuning.   I subsequently learned it on fiddle in cross A.

Regarding modern tunes, a couple others that caught Erik's ear and that he started playing and so I started playing on banjo are John Hermann's Cherokee Trail from Songs from the Mountain and Eric Merrill's Hell and Grace from The Western Star.   I like           I like both of these tunes a lot, too.

Scott