JanetB - Posted - 05/23/2025:  10:10:09

Blackberry Waltz is a lovely Ozark tune that fiddling father Lee Stoneking showed his son Fred Stoneking (1933 – 2009), who eventually recorded it and is the one I first heard.  Lee’s version was collected by Brad Leftwich and Linda Higginbotham and is equally enjoyable. Both links are below.

You can read anecdotes about the life of Fred and this large family of fiddlers with recordings of Blackberry Waltz and two others on the Missouri Fiddle and Dance Network site.  One story that stands out to me is of Fred, having gone off to Korea to fight in the Korean War in the early 50's and receiving a “cheaply made” musical recording of the family, which he listened to by turning a “cheap record player” by hand.  I can picture that scene in an army barrack overseas, missing his family, but enjoying their music making.  An entertaining autobiography is on the Musical Traditions site.

In the video liner notes of The Ozark Highballers, who play a nice harmonica/fiddle duet of Blackberry Waltz, Drew Beisswenger from The Old Time Herald wrote: Fred “worked as a welding foreman for 18 years. He was primarily a guitarist until the mid-1960s, when he started to see prize money for fiddle contests rising. He won his first fiddle contest in 1966, beating his father (who was proud of the fact).”  

There is another Blackberry Waltz from Tennessee, not the subject of this TOTW, but mentioned in an on-line search for the tune.  On Fiddle Hangout Nick Bachman wrote: “Apparently it was written and recorded in the 30’s by Nonnie Presson and the Perry County Music Makers.” On the folk music site ibiblio the two waltzes are differentiated with a #1 and a #2, the first being that of the Stonekings. Listening to a sample of Presson playing the zither on track #31 of a Perry County Music Makers compilation, you can hear they are different tunes.

The Traditional Archive site also mistakenly identifies the two tunes as being one and writes: “Old-Time, Waltz. F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Composed by Nonnie Presson, who, with her brother Bulow Smith, comprised the Perry County Music Makers. Presson played a fretless zither (with five chords that she had custom-made), wrote songs, and sang, and the duo recorded a few sides before World War II. Source Fred Stoneking learned the tune from his father, Lee Stoneking, who lived in the northern Ozarks in Missouri. A companion piece played by the Stonekings (sharing much melodic material) is the ‘Blackberry One Step.’”  

On a past TOTW we covered another Stoneking tune, Willot's Hornpipe, attributed to Lee.

Blackberry Waltz #1 is one those irresistible Ozark tunes I just had to learn.  Because it was recorded in the key of F, it went well with fDGCD tuning.

On-line listening:

Fred Stoneking

Lee Stoneking

The Ozark Highballers

Jon Bekhoff and Nate Pine (their last jam before Jon passed away)

Gary Sizemore

Nick Bachman

VIDEO: Blackberry Waltz (TOTW)
(click to view)

Blackberry Waltz (CH) tab

carolynf - Posted - 05/23/2025:  10:59:44

That is just lovely, Janet. You sure make that little banjo sing sweetly!
Clinton Davis also does this tune, on an old timey-sounding piano on his album, If I Live and Don't Get Killed. youtu.be/SmC9RsGKOr8?feature=shared
Clinton will be returning to CBA Grass Valley Fathers Day Festival this year.

Boblamoy - Posted - 05/23/2025:  13:13:47

Very nice. I'd like to learn it, but play tenor (GDae). Haven't been able to find the music and can't read the 5-string tab. Any suggestion to find the music online. Thanks.

JanetB - Posted - 05/23/2025:  14:31:04

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Originally posted by Boblamoy

Very nice. I'd like to learn it, but play tenor (GDae). Haven't been able to find the music and can't read the 5-string tab. Any suggestion to find the music online. Thanks.

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Here is the melody as I hear it.  It's played in the key of F, as did Fred Stoneking.  I created the pdf by using TablEdit in the notation mode after re-writing the clawhammer arrangement without indicating pull-offs, hammer-ons or anything with the 5th string (though perhaps that wouldn't have made a difference).  It played accurately with the MIDI file. This was new for me.  Let me know if it's helpful.

Blackberry Waltz notation

 

Boblamoy - Posted - 05/23/2025:  14:51:51

Thank you. That will work. The melody sounds easy enough to learn by ear. But I'm not sure I've got the patience to see it through.

JanetB - Posted - 05/24/2025:  08:44:19

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 The melody sounds easy enough to learn by ear. But I'm not sure I've got the patience to see it through.

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I learn from many methods. My favorite is with a slow downer for the fiddle version and then work out a banjo arrangement -- measured by measure, phrase by phrase, part by part. I need to write a tab to help me remember what I figure out. Years later, when I want to play the tune, I can use the tab and easily remember what I want to play. The slow downer app I use is called Anytune.

It's also possible, but much harder, for me to use sheet music to make an arrangement.

It sounds like you use sheet music to learn, but don't need to write out your arrangement. Is that true?

Boblamoy - Posted - 05/24/2025:  10:37:53

I learned to read music in school. Graduated high school in 1968. Didn't play anything until at age 67 I tried ukelele. Then banjo at 69.
Sooo, it's much easier to read tab. I tabbed your pdf this morning. First tune in F that I"ve ever tried. Challenging! Thanks so much for the help.