JanetB - Posted - 08/22/2025:  09:30:22

Some tunes lift up your spirit -- Bass Cove Waltz is one of those.  When playing it I get a feeling like all is well, life is good, and I’m relaxing by the lake without a care.  When I spoke to the composer, fiddler Erynn L. Marshall, she also felt the tune can be transportive, evoking a “powerful emotional feeling.  Playing the fiddle for me on a good day, I forget about myself and the music just carries me to a different kind of realm.”  

Bass Cove Waltz is included in a CD of original tunes called “Greasy Creek”, featuring Erynn and friends. Adam Hurt, who plays banjo on that track, with Beth Harness on guitar, said, “It’s one of the most beautiful pieces of music we’ve ever heard.” The liner notes say the tune was composed for “John McKormack and his wife Inkeri who have a cottage on Bass Cove near Picton, Ontario.  John serenades the cottonwoods, swans, ducks and loons there with his fiddle.”  I hadn’t realized until now that people commission musicians to write a tune which then helps a CD project to be funded, which is what John did and dedicated it to his wife.

In our phone conversation, Erynn explained some of her thoughts when composing a commissioned tune. “I always want to write a really good tune”, but here she also thought about the player and considered the physical aspect of playing the fiddle.  As one of her fiddle students, Erynn knows John McKormack’s style and ability level and so the tune was catered for his playing, even down to the fingering. 

Erynn has been commissioned to write several tunes and laughingly said, “I tell them if they don’t like it, I’ll write them another tune.” That, she said, has never happened.  I asked her about titles.  She uses names, places, animals, and never resorts to “cutesy names”, but admitted that coming up with titles within the old-time music genre is tricky.  Springfield (in Erynn’s native Canada) is one of her earlier compositions and the location has family history.

Most of us don’t often think about composing a tune, but it’s truly a skill one can cultivate. I learned it by example from BHO banjo player extraordinaire, Jim Reed, who actually wrote a tune for me. Jim could come up with a tune daily if he wanted to, and being gifted such a tune is really a thrill. Between Jim and BHO member Paul Roberts, I became inspired to write tunes, too, and have found it immensely satisfying. 

Erynn’s musical history is an old-time journey from Canada to Galax, where she currently lives. Her book about seven old-time musicians, Music in the Air Somewhere: The Shifting Borders of West Virginia’s Fiddle and Song Traditions, is a must-have. Her husband, the talented musician Carl Jones, also writes songs with her.  Then she says they have a “tag team” experience. I have several of her CDs, which include both traditional and original tunes and songs, available at this link as digital downloads: Greasy Creek on Bandcamp, plus Erynn's other CDs. You can listen to Bass Cove Waltz on track 8.

This tune is in the key of A and has three lovely, flowing parts. There’s musical genius in the composition, with a minor chord in the A and B parts, and major chords when you transition to the C part, giving it a simple and uplifting ending. On the CD Erynn and Adam first play a fiddle/banjo duet and then Beth’s guitar joins in and the full sound given by the guitar makes it beautifully complete. 

Bass Cove Waltz doesn’t have much internet presence yet.  Let’s hope that changes.

Erynn Marshall, Adam Hurt and Beth Hartness at Mid West music camp

Ken Elkington

Edited by - JanetB on 08/22/2025 10:39:03

VIDEO: Bass Cove Waltz (Erynn Marshall)
(click to view)

Bass Cove Waltz (CH) tab

dbrooks - Posted - 08/22/2025:  16:22:45

It's good to see a waltz as TOTW. That may be the type of tune I enjoy playing the most. It also brought back nice memories of seeing Erynn Marshall in concert with Chris Coole and Arnie Naiman years ago at Berea College as part of her book launch. 

 

David

JanetB - Posted - 08/23/2025:  18:41:56

I agree, David, waltzes are tops in my book, too. Another of Erynn's waltzes was a tune of the week in 2017, Madison County Waltz.  My recording back then used cello banjo, as does this rendition of Bass Cove Waltz, except here the cello banjo serves as quiet accompaniment. 

An image of Erynn from her original tunes CD captures my feelings for the tune.

Bass Cove Waltz