EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 02/17/2018:  10:57:37

There was a bit of a communication breakdown with today's back-up volunteer, so this will be a very short emergency double-back-up Tune of the Week.



Today's tune is Moon Behind the Hill, which comes to us from West Virginia fiddler Melvin Wine.



Melvin was a very well-known figure in old-time circles, and you can read all about him in many places, including here oldtimeherald.org/melvinwine/a...tion.html  and here arts.gov/honors/heritage/fello...lvin-wine 

There are several versions of the tune on YouTube and elsewhere online, including:

Melvin's version: youtube.com/watch?v=fdKqGgKH-O4

Chuck Levy, Aisha Ivey, and Stephen Hodges: youtube.com/watch?time_continu...hX19YHsKg

Jon Bekoff and Nate Paine: youtube.com/watch?v=B9HPeNa9zwA

Gary Papenhagen and Yigal Zan: youtube.com/watch?v=7qDNZ6DP1tQ

Ken Torke's tab can be found on the TaterJoe's site: taterjoes.com/banjo/MoonBehindTheHill.pdf

(Note: There is a traditional Irish song titled Moon Behind the Hill, the words of which have been sung to more than one melody. I have not done enough research to determine what, if any, connection that song has to Melvin Wine's tune.)

 

Edited by - EggerRidgeBoy on 02/17/2018 11:02:36

carlb - Posted - 02/18/2018:  05:49:42

My friend, Terry Kane, sings a wonderful version of the Irish song. I've tried but have not been able to adapt those words to Melvin's tune. I've always thought, and maybe Melvin mentioned it to me, that there were words for what he played, but, alas, I've never found them.

cmic - Posted - 02/18/2018:  06:51:45

Another version appears on mossyroof:

stringband.mossyroof.com/MoonB...eHill.mp3

jack_beuthin - Posted - 02/18/2018:  07:03:23

Chip Arnold plays a wonderful 2-finger versions here on BHO:

banjohangout.org/myhangout/med...archived=

Chip mentions that he learned Moon Behind the Hill from a Orpheus Supertones cd, which I believe is Bound to Have a Little Fun.

 

jack_beuthin - Posted - 02/18/2018:  10:20:59

Here is a quick rendition, played while sitting around with my Sunday morning coffee. The convention in these parts is to play one A and one B. I used to play this in gEADE ("Sandy River Belle" tuning) but have come to like it better in open G where you can catch that low D in the beginning of the A part.

Moon Behind the Hill

 

JanetB - Posted - 02/18/2018:  10:44:19

Thanks, as always, Bret, for a brilliant tune choice this week. We're going to miss you :( (but hopefully you'll contribute still).



That's a wonderful version, Jack! I agree about that low note. Because I couldn't reach it I sought the cello banjo and retuned to double G.



It was fun reading in Erynn Marshall's book Music in the Air Somewhere the words told her by Melvin Wine about this tune. "Sometimes I'd be out somewhere and I would pick up one like...oh, what is the name of it anyhow? Well I play it a lot, but I learned it. I was a-walkin' from Fairmont to Clarksburg along the road. That's a thirty-mile walk. Well we got about halfway when a feller that was with us said, 'Let's go up to this dancehall and rest 'while and watch 'em dance.' 'Moon Behind the Hill,' that's the tune! So we went up to that dancehall, and there was nobody there but that fiddler, the guitar player, and the bouncer. They was playin' this tune and I'd never heard it, so I said to this feller, 'What is the name of that?' and he says, 'Moon Behind the Hill,' and I said, 'Would you play it again?' He said, 'Yea,' so he played it again. He said, 'Do you play a fiddle?' I said, 'Yea.' So I come home, and two or three months later , I thought of it and just went to play it. That's the way tunes is. If you like them, they'll just come around."

Moon Behind the Hill (CB) (TOTW)

Moon Behind the Hill (CH) tab