Mtngoat - Posted - 02/21/2025:  08:15:55

Crab Orchard Quick Step  TOTW O2/21/2025

I’ve chosen Crab Orchard Quick Step from Kentucky fiddler Kelly Gilbert (1895-1991) for this installment of TOTW.  Gilbert, who lived in Franklin County and learned tunes from local fiddlers Lewis Goins, Andy Palmer, and John Booker, seems to have been a private person.  His online profile is almost entirely lacking in little details giving a sense of his life.  John Harrod, who recorded and preserved his music, said “he didn’t talk very much; he didn’t like to talk he just wanted to play. He loved to play.”

The tune’s title refers to the village of Crab Orchard, Kentucky which was known as the “Saratoga of the South” during the mid-19^th century for its mineral spring baths, luxury hotels, and horse racing tracks.  The celebrated Crab Orchard Springs Resort and Spa opened in 1827 and used its status as a stage coach stop along the Wilderness Road, and later as a train station for the Louisville and Nashville Rail Road, to lure wealthy patrons from the South and Midwest, hosting as many as 500 guests nightly during the high season.  

The biggest draw, beginning in 1836, was the annual Crab Orchard Derby which was run during the spring racing meet.  Promoters moved the race to Louisville in 1876 to take advantage of that City’s larger population, better transportation network, and abundant visitor accommodations, and rebranded it as the Kentucky Derby.

The loss of the Derby and the public’s waning interest in taking spa treatments led to a slow decline in Crab Orchard’s fortunes as its tourist based businesses were forced to rely on less affluent, mostly day tripping, local customers.  Changing tastes in entertainment, associated with the introduction of motion picture theaters and radio broadcasts early in the twentieth century, ultimately led to the failure of the spa and it closed in 1922.

Today Crab Orchard is a sleepy little burg of 700 people, bypassed by the new highway, abandoned by the railroad, and largely forgotten; its golden age commemorated only by a roadside Historical Marker and an obscure fiddle tune.

The tune has a meager internet presence and I’ve linked what I found below.

Here’s Gilbert playing the tune with Boss Sewell on banjo:  dla.contentdm.oclc.org/digital.../id/5219/

Here are the Canote Brothers with Candy Goldman on banjo:  stringband.mossyroof.com/CrabO...kstep.mp3

Philip Lederer has a solo fiddle version about halfway down the page here:  philiplederer.net/music/

A banjo tab of the tune is here:   stringband.mossyroof.com/Crab_...kstep.png

And here is a transcription in standard notation:  abcnotation.com/tunePage?a=tun...-ext/0001

Readers are encouraged to post observations, opinions, performances, and tabs contributing to this thread.

Edited by - Mtngoat on 02/21/2025 08:21:53

RG - Posted - 02/21/2025:  10:59:09

What a great tune!

ndlxs - Posted - 02/22/2025:  06:16:16

Great tune, and great story.  Those two things go together!  Any great fiddle tune needs a great story to go with it. 

JanetB - Posted - 02/22/2025:  10:47:51

Thanks, Mtngoat! Great story of Crab Orchard indeed. The rhythm and melody tell of the town's heyday. The shortened B part makes the tune unique in its structure. I listened to Kelly Gilbert and liked Maya Whitmont's tab. After trying a couple of other tunings I stuck with open G and came up with something fun to play.

Crab Orchard Quick Step

Crab Orchard Quick Step (CH) tab

Mtngoat - Posted - 02/23/2025:  06:13:05

RG,  It is a great tune.  I've only heard it a handful of times at jams, all in the central Kentucky area, but it warrants more attention from the Old Time crowd. 

Andy,  Local history is always interesting.  Mr. Welby Burgin, who worked at the Resort for several years starting in 1909, was  interviewed for the Lincoln County Oral History Project in 1981.  His remembrances can be found here: lcplinfo.org/welby-burgin/

Janet, I have a bit of a dexterity problem in reaching the a on the first string 7th fret from the c on the first fret second string.    I've noodled around with various fingerings and returning of the first string but haven't found anything really smooth yet.  Maybe it's just a lack of practice that will work itself out in the end.

Thanks to all for your contributions.

ndlxs - Posted - 02/23/2025:  06:18:05

Thanks, that is a treasure. It is our jobs recording the memories of our elder and our peers...

BrendanD - Posted - 02/23/2025:  17:41:24

quote:

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Originally posted by Mtngoat

RG,  It is a great tune.  I've only heard it a handful of times at jams, all in the central Kentucky area, but it warrants more attention from the Old Time crowd. 

Andy,  Local history is always interesting.  Mr. Welby Burgin, who worked at the Resort for several years starting in 1909, was  interviewed for the Lincoln County Oral History Project in 1981.  His remembrances can be found here: lcplinfo.org/welby-burgin/

Janet, I have a bit of a dexterity problem in reaching the a on the first string 7th fret from the c on the first fret second string.    I've noodled around with various fingerings and returning of the first string but haven't found anything really smooth yet.  Maybe it's just a lack of practice that will work itself out in the end.

Thanks to all for your contributions.

 

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Fine tune! Thanks for the video link; I play a few Kelly Gilbert tunes, but I've never seen a video of him playing before.

As far as the reach from C to A in this tune; I don't have my banjo in hand at the moment, but could you try playing the C on the 3rd string, 5th fret before the A on the 1st string, 7th fret? Seems like a much shorter reach, but maybe when I pick up my banjo, I'll find out if that works or not! Just a thought, anyway.

JanetB - Posted - 02/23/2025:  18:35:57

Brendan's fingering idea is good.  I tried that, too.  Here's a tab with a similar idea, plus a tab in another tuning (fDGCD, capo 2).

Crab Orchard Quick Step (fDGCD) tab

Crab Orchard Quick Step (open G) tab