JanetB - Posted - 09/29/2017:  18:31:19

Here's a post to dig into if you have the inclination.  This Kentucky fiddler was born the same year as my mother, 1921, and both are still alive (at least I haven't heard that Clyde Davenport passed away).  Clyde's tunes are real good ones, not your run-of-the-mill fiddle tunes.  Several of his tunes have been featured in Banjo Hangout's old-time Tune of the Week, including one of the two I'm sharing -- Polecat's Den (banjohangout.org/archive/247965). 

Flatwoods is a tune recorded in 1990 by Jeff Titon and included in his seminal book Kentucky Old-Time Fiddle Tunes.  You can hear the original recording here:  slippery-hill.com/recording/flatwoods-3.

Three months later I'm adding a third tune to this post called Five miles from Town.  See below for comments.

Here's some bio info on Clyde Davenport:  cds.library.brown.edu/projects...PORT.html.  He was a hard worker who refused to make a living playing music professionally, but, my he's good!  There's a DVD I enjoy watching over and over called Shades of Clyde.  He focuses lots on fiddle technique,  though I watch it for the music.  And you can preview a whole CD called Clydeoscope:   sandrockrecordings.com/album/clydeoscope/.  I'm still planning to work on them.

Hope you enjoy these two tunes and appreciate the living history in them.  I have a tab on my new website devoted to him:  mybanjoworld.com/clyde-davenport-tunes. 

This is a photo of Clyde at his 91st birthday party.  If you have any memories of him, please do share!

Edited by - JanetB on 12/21/2017 20:40:49

Polecat's Den

Flatwoods

Polecat's Den (CH) tab

Flatwoods (CH) tab

Tractor1 - Posted - 09/29/2017:  21:11:58

cool janet I do that flatwoods,   Here is Clyde's Version,I find his version setting a mood like a factory environment ,industrial sounding with no chord changes but interesting in it's endless  string of notes,Some called him Clyde the glide for his smoothness

digital.berea.edu/cdm/singleit...15/rec/31

5 pages of Clydehttp://digital.berea.edu/cdm/search/searchterm/Fiddle%20Tunes--Kentucky!Clyde%20Davenport/field/all!all/mode/exact!all/conn/and!and/order/nosort/ad/asc

Edited by - Tractor1 on 09/29/2017 21:27:00

mdthib - Posted - 09/30/2017:  00:01:19

Very nice sound and great tunes. If I were to suggest anything, maybe try recording a longer version—I was ready to sit back and let the repetitions roll on and on. Great sound and feeling and thanks for sharing it! I have an occasional duo partner and several of our favorites are from Clyde.

rickhayes - Posted - 09/30/2017:  09:02:28

Enjoed them both Janet.

stratovarious520 - Posted - 09/30/2017:  16:19:52

Loved 'em both, but Polecat's Den sounded like you enjoyed playing it more...it had a kind of mischeivous vibe to it. I live about 20 minutes from Flatwoods, KY (I know the song isn't about the same town), home of Billy Ray Cyrus...and other great musicians who just never got the break BRC did.

JanetB - Posted - 09/30/2017:  18:29:06

Thanks for listening and reading.  Tom, "Clyde the Glide" describes him well and you sure found an enormous on-line reservoir of Davenport recordings.  

BHO member Yigal Zan astutely observed that Flatwoods is the same tune as Shove That Pig's Foot Further in the Fire.  I read that Clyde Davenport was known to forget where he learned the many tunes he knew and possibly he forgot the titles, too.  This link to Shove That Foot is the fifth old-time Tune of the Week discussion thread from 2008 and has a link to North Carolina fiddler Marcus Martin, credited with the tune's first recording in the 40's:  banjohangout.org/archive/125024.  Since Clyde came from Kentucky perhaps he named the tune after the town close to you, Greg, though his home was in Wayne County. Kentucky is sooooo rich in good musicians, that's the truth.

stratovarious520 - Posted - 09/30/2017:  19:12:25

We have a stretch of road basically from "Catlettsburg" to Pikeville, US23 that has been renamed "country music highway"

stratovarious520 - Posted - 09/30/2017:  19:19:44

Billy Ray, Melvin and Ray Goins, Mike Murphy, Patty Loveless, Loretta Lynn, Keith Whitley (area but not right on the highway) just to name a few. Others as well.

JanetB - Posted - 09/30/2017:  20:48:10

Yes, Greg, those are big country names, though I don't listen too much any more to country music.  I do play Catlettsburg by Ed Haley and like Pike County Breakdown by Bill Monroe!  A favorite BHO member, Jim Reed, comes from Pike County and is exceptionally good playing both bluegrass and old-time tunes in a unique style everyone here adored (wish he was still posting -- search Jim Reed jimh269b and you'll be in awe). 

Clyde Davenport took a hiatus from playing for 15 years and resumed again in the 50's.  It's said that's how he retained the old-time flavor instead of being influenced by rising country and bluegrass styles.  

JanetB - Posted - 12/17/2017:  21:44:26

After three months I'm adding a third tune to this post.  Clyde Davenport tunes are sooooo good.  Five Miles from Town has a subtle exuberance with a note in the A part that goes unexpectedly up.  One might think of someone who is excited about getting to town, or perhaps even leaving town.  In the B part there's a quick minor chord that might indicate a deeper part of the story.  A great tune!  Jeff Titon claims it may be related to an Irish tune called The Mullingar Races.  I'm in good company on BHO with the likes of Joe Newberry and Don Borchelt having posted it several years ago.

Five Miles from Town

Five Miles from Town (CH) tab