RV6 - Posted - 10/24/2019:  19:07:56

Valley Forge is one of my favorite tunes. It's also a favorite of our local, Old Time jam group that I play with and I learned it by listening to one of the recordings that I made when we played it together.



Here's a few things I came across when searching for material for this TOTW post.



A post by Carlb on the Fiddle Hangout about the tune: fiddlehangout.com/archive/14007



From The Traditional Tune Archive: tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Valley_Forge



From the Slippery Hill site, Valley Forge in A Modal: slippery-hill.com/recording/valley-forge-0



Trish Spencer and friends at Clifftop, 2012: youtu.be/QGnChbhgJg0



Tab from taterjoes: taterjoes.com/banjo/ValleyForge.pdf



Here's a recording of our local OT jam group: banjohangout.org/myhangout/med...archived=



And, here's a recording of me playing the tune on my Reiter A flat: banjohangout.org/myhangout/med...mp;archiv

Well, rats.  I couldn't figure out how to post hot links.  You have to copy and paste for the links to work. Sorry.

Edited by - RV6 on 10/24/2019 19:11:46

dbrooks - Posted - 10/25/2019:  04:18:19

Here are some live links in RV6's post.

A post by Carlb on the Fiddle Hangout about the tune: fiddlehangout.com/archive/14007



From The Traditional Tune Archive: tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Valley_Forge



From the Slippery Hill site, Valley Forge in A Modal: slippery-hill.com/recording/valley-forge-0



Trish Spencer and friends at Clifftop, 2012: youtu.be/QGnChbhgJg0



Tab from taterjoes: taterjoes.com/banjo/ValleyForge.pdf



Here's a recording of our local OT jam group: banjohangout.org/myhangout/med...archived=

David

And, here's a recording of me playing the tune on my Reiter A flat: banjohangout.org/myhangout/med...mp;archiv

Wyozark - Posted - 10/25/2019:  05:48:42

Perfect. A while back I had posted that I had been thinking of songs/tunes in "threes" - meaning that the three tunes would have some sort of connection by title or subject. I've been working on Lily of the Valley (the 1881 hymn, not the Luther Davis tune by the same name) and Red River Valley; but I hadn't yet come up with the third "valley" tune. Now I have it. Thanks Bob.

banjukebox - Posted - 10/25/2019:  05:51:53

Great TOTW choice! Also one of my favorite D tunes to play in a jam. I really like those tunes that throw a C chord in every once in a while.

Hilary Burhans plays a 4-part version in A  that she attributes to Ramona Jones. Here she is playing with her son Ry:

youtube.com/watch?v=ddMylpFCDEs

I learned the tune from a recording by Rachel Eddy: youtube.com/watch?v=kYkXD6PwKQg

Here's the version I came up with for the banjo: youtube.com/watch?v=uS_Azi-daoQ

Edited by - banjukebox on 10/25/2019 05:52:53

Noah Cline - Posted - 10/25/2019:  10:04:16

Here’s a version I done a few years ago in D, but in open D (dADF#A, gDGBD relative) on my gourd banjo. Normally, I play it in double D at jams.

VIDEO: Valley Forge ~ Gourd Banjo
(click to view)

 

banjo bill-e - Posted - 10/25/2019:  10:42:15

Neat tune! Enjoyed all the contributions, thanks.

RV6 - Posted - 10/25/2019:  15:23:34

quote:

---

Originally posted by dbrooks

Here are some live links in RV6's post.

 

---

Thanks, David.  I appreciate your fixing my post.

I actually had the post ready to go with all of the links "hot" and ------ ???  It left my computer.  I was too frustrated after that to "make it right" and wrote a new post in email and copy and pasted.  I was too tired to go in and go through the "make hot links" process.

Thanks, again.  That was darn nice of you.

RV6 - Posted - 10/25/2019:  15:33:21

quote:

---

Originally posted by banjukebox

Here's the version I came up with for the banjo: youtube.com/watch?v=uS_Azi-daoQ

---

I like your double C version quite a bit.  Thanks for posting that.

Are you playing a Reiter A Flat with a Fyberskyn head?   What strings?  (In case I ever want to go back to steel strings).

Thanks, Bob

Tamarack - Posted - 10/25/2019:  16:48:21

Great tune - thanks for choosing it this week. Another modal tune to get stuck in my head.

banjukebox - Posted - 10/26/2019:  06:32:12

quote:

---

Originally posted by RV6

quote:

---

Originally posted by banjukebox

Here's the version I came up with for the banjo: youtube.com/watch?v=uS_Azi-daoQ

---

I like your double C version quite a bit.  Thanks for posting that.

Are you playing a Reiter A Flat with a Fyberskyn head?   What strings?  (In case I ever want to go back to steel strings).

Thanks, Bob

---

This is a banjo I built and sold a few years back. 25.5 inch scale length. It does have a fiberskin head, but I couldn't tell you what I had it strung up with.

RV6 - Posted - 10/26/2019:  09:02:56

quote:

---

Originally posted by banjukebox

This is a banjo I built and sold a few years back. 25.5 inch scale length. It does have a fiberskin head, but I couldn't tell you what I had it strung up with.

The banjo sounds great!

JanetB - Posted - 10/26/2019:  12:25:20

You've chosen a great tune, Bob. Thanks for providing samples and your own recording. I think Ramona Jones is a good source, but used Jimmy Driftwood's version instead. There were some differences. In the C part Jimmy does a neat rhythmic thing that I attempted to tab with dotted sixteenth notes.  You can hear his recording from Ozarks Fiddle Music here:  Slippery Hill recording of Jimmy Driftwood's Valley Forge.  

It was a terrible time for Washington's soldiers during part of their stay at Valley Forge, but later became a time for a re-training program by Baron von Steuben that helped with their future success.  Titles of tunes often get me thinking of the story behind the tune.  The tempo is so fast that I wonder what kind of story I should be imagining...perhaps something slower would be good, too.

Valley Forge (TOTW)

Valley Forge (CH) tab

banjukebox - Posted - 10/26/2019:  13:29:11

I seem to remember being in a jam a while back where someone had lyrics to Valley Forge. Anybody heard of any? I did some research without success.