Lovely write up and beautifully played, look forward to trying this one!

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Originally posted by snoot

Lovely write up and beautifully played, look forward to trying this one!

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Thanks, it's a fun tune when get it!

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Originally posted by Andyrhydycreuau

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Originally posted by snoot

Lovely write up and beautifully played, look forward to trying this one!

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Thanks, it's a fun tune when you get it!

 

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Yay another Hamblen tune!

I first heard Chadwell's Station at the San Francisco Folk Music Club which back then met every other Friday at Faith Petric's house in SF. It was a hoppin' scene! Singers the living room, swing in the entrance way, a rousing Chanty Sing in the kitchen. The old time jam was always in the basement. Or it was Irish, depending on who go there first.

I heard the tune there first, introduced by Jere and Greg Canote, 1981 or 82?

But I didn't learn it then - it was far too incomprehensible. Instead I later ordered a facsimile copy of the Hamblen Collection from the Library of Congress (phone calls, sending a check through the mail, waiting for a package - remember those days?), and worked it out - *laboriously* - from the sheet music, first on fiddle then on banjo.

I did make a recording and I'll post it here, though I'm not thrilled with the quality. I'd probably do it a little differently now too. Not one of my best recordings - I think I used a videocam? And far too long... And who is that young guy anyway?? I really should redo this...

Thanks for sharing Stefan! I like your version - the audio is fine which is what matters really.
I wonder how the AAABB structure which is common now came into being? The old score doesn't have this - and you play it as it's written with just one repeat of each part.
I particularly like the brush you start the B part with.
Thanks again!

Its a real place. I drove through last spring, visiting old family sites in Lee Co., VA. I had to stop and play this tune!

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Originally posted by BTuno

Its a real place. I drove through last spring, visiting old family sites in Lee Co., VA. I had to stop and play this tune!

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Thanks Bruce, I did check Google maps before posting. Perhaps I'll get there one day. I'm interested that it is Chadwell Station, not Chadwell's!

It would be good to hear your version of you have an audio file?

All the best,

Andy

Nice choice, Andy! It's one I'd also considered for a TOTW. I recently got around to figuring this one out. Been trying to learn most of the tunes from the collection, at least the ones that grab my attention/are catchy (pretty much the majority of them). 

I've not taken a stab at it on banjo, but on fiddle. That low B note also shows up in the A part of "Sallie Will You Marry Me," but I also bounce around it a bit on the low D on banjo, and it fits. 

This tune just lopes along, though I've caught myself in a loop before with the repetitions of the A part ("Did I play it 3 or 4 times?"). Sometimes, it goes by feel if I got the repetitions in. 

Maybe I'll get a video up over the weekend. 
 

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Originally posted by Noah Cline

Nice choice, Andy! It's one I'd also considered for a TOTW. I recently got around to figuring this one out. Been trying to learn most of the tunes from the collection, at least the ones that grab my attention/are catchy (pretty much the majority of them). 

I've not taken a stab at it on banjo, but on fiddle. That low B note also shows up in the A part of "Sallie Will You Marry Me," but I also bounce around it a bit on the low D on banjo, and it fits. 

This tune just lopes along, though I've caught myself in a loop before with the repetitions of the A part ("Did I play it 3 or 4 times?"). Sometimes, it goes by feel if I got the repetitions in. 

Maybe I'll get a video up over the weekend. 
 

 

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Thanks Noah, 

I'll look out for your version - fingers crossed you have time.

I get that same "part repeat" anxiety too. Usually when I don't know a tune well enough for it to be automatic and so to allow my brain to do other things like count the parts.

Thanks for the comment!

You never let us down with your tune choices and presentations, Andy!  Exploration of the Hamblem collection and players like Christian Wig is rich.  

I played around on the cello banjo with this one, enjoying the low B note in the second and sixteenth measures on the fourth fret of the fourth string note by using a double G tuning (dGDGB), but went back to my short-neck Doc's Banjo and open G tuning and your tab and the two versions you also like best.  In your video, Sammy Lind said, "What's kind of neat is that it's all up to your interpretation because all you have is the notation" and so I felt free to add some chordal flavor to my arrangement.

Here are a few other nice videos out there.  This one has effective double stops on the fiddle: Barrow Wheary.  Listen to the warm string band sound of Paul Kirk, Stephen Rapp and Mark McNulty and check out the extensive history notes.  The rich harmony of twin fiddlers Spencer and Rains is unbeatable.

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Originally posted by JanetB

You never let us down with your tune choices and presentations, Andy!  Exploration of the Hamblem collection and players like Christian Wig is rich.  

I played around on the cello banjo with this one, enjoying the low B note in the second and sixteenth measures on the fourth fret of the fourth string note by using a double G tuning (dGDGB), but went back to my short-neck Doc's Banjo and open G tuning and your tab and the two versions you also like best.  In your video, Sammy Lind said, "What's kind of neat is that it's all up to your interpretation because all you have is the notation" and so I felt free to add some chordal flavor to my arrangement.

Here are a few other nice videos out there.  This one has effective double stops on the fiddle: Barrow Wheary.  Listen to the warm string band sound of Paul Kirk, Stephen Rapp and Mark McNulty and check out the extensive history notes.  The rich harmony of twin fiddlers Spencer and Rains is unbeatable.

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Thanks Janet,

Your playing is really nice on this. I'd love to hear the cello banjo too though!

I really like the Barrow Wheary fiddle version you shared, and his write up is interesting too. He talks about "errors" in those scores from A. Porter Hamblen just like I did. We'll never know of course, but it's interesting that Chris Wig thought they were unlikely to be errors and were intentional, even if they don't make sense to our ears.

Thanks again!

Here is the cello banjo version, Andy. It was trickier to play, and I like to avoid trickiness these days. You'll hear the low B note. Maybe I'll consider getting a six string banjo one day, which is a nice way to solve the issue of playing notes lower than our banjo can normally reach.  Notice that my cello banjo isn't tuned down a full octave below a regular banjo.  I found that was too low for my personal tastes.

Is the possible erred note the A note, the fourth note  in the first measure?  I was played it as a G for a while, as I thought I heard in other versions, specifically the Foghorn String Band when I began listening and learning, but then studied the original notation and your tab and altered my playing.  That led me to want to give a minor flavor in the first measure.

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Originally posted by JanetB

Here is the cello banjo version, Andy. It was trickier to play, and I like to avoid trickiness these days. You'll hear the low B note. Maybe I'll consider getting a six string banjo one day, which is a nice way to solve the issue of playing notes lower than our banjo can normally reach.  Notice that my cello banjo isn't tuned down a full octave below a regular banjo.  I found that was too low for my personal tastes.

Is the possible erred note the A note, the fourth note  in the first measure?  I was played it as a G for a while, as I thought I heard in other versions, specifically the Foghorn String Band when I began listening and learning, but then studied the original notation and your tab and altered my playing.  That led me to want to give a minor flavor in the first measure.

 

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Hi Janet,

I love the cello banjo version, the A part is nicer going down to the low B I think.

The errors I thought were there may just be my eyes combined with the old typeface - measures 8 and 9 in the B part looked like they finished on As and I nudged them down to Gs. But looking again I think they probably are Gs - albeit quite high above the line with smudged heads!

I need better glasses!

Well, here's my take on it with fiddle and banjo. Janet, I also considered doing it on my gourd banjo in dGDGA tuning, but I've got even heavier strings on it when I was playing around with octave tuning and haven't changed them back to the Aquila minstrels I usually have on it, so I resorted to playing it in gDGBD much like Andy's, Stefan's and your initial takes. But, I'm glad I did as I started noodling around with a high strain that works pretty well, putting it in the same register as the fiddle. For the B note in the lower strain, I do a bit of a backwards drop-thumb roll catching the open B with my index, open G with my thumb, and index on the D string, stopped at E. Ending the tune, I've felt it sounded like it should end the way I'm playing here, omitting the last couple measures or part of that. 

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Originally posted by Andyrhydycreuau

Thanks for sharing Stefan! I like your version - the audio is fine which is what matters really.
I wonder how the AAABB structure which is common now came into being? The old score doesn't have this - and you play it as it's written with just one repeat of each part.
I particularly like the brush you start the B part with.
Thanks again!

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Thanks! I wonder how I'd play it today? I'll have to give it a try and see if it's much different. Mostly play it on fiddle these days. AABB is just how I first heard it.

I was in a jam last year (Twin Town old-time festival in Minnesota - I'm going again this April!) and a fiddler played that long B part really truncated. I guess someone down the line thought "that second part is just too damn long!" - but honestly it just felt wrong. Maybe AAABB also was an attempt to "balance" the parts some?
 

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Originally posted by BTuno

Its a real place. I drove through last spring, visiting old family sites in Lee Co., VA. I had to stop and play this tune!

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Hi Bruce! I just spent a little time poking around in maps, and yeah I'd like to explore that road (clearly it was the old Highway 58, before 58 - aka Wilderness Road - was moved South) and see if there's anything like an actual "station" somewhere, probably fallen down. Also, there's a trail North of Chadwell Station Road, going to Chadwell Gap - an alternate pass to Cumberland Gap (trailblazed by Daniel Boone, apparently) and used to access a small town (Hensley) just on the other side. 

Attached is a clip of a USGS Map of the area, including Chadwell Station Road (the dotted line at the bottom I think), and Chadwell Gap to the north.

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Originally posted by Noah Cline

Well, here's my take on it with fiddle and banjo. Janet, I also considered doing it on my gourd banjo in dGDGA tuning, but I've got even heavier strings on it when I was playing around with octave tuning and haven't changed them back to the Aquila minstrels I usually have on it, so I resorted to playing it in gDGBD much like Andy's, Stefan's and your initial takes. But, I'm glad I did as I started noodling around with a high strain that works pretty well, putting it in the same register as the fiddle. For the B note in the lower strain, I do a bit of a backwards drop-thumb roll catching the open B with my index, open G with my thumb, and index on the D string, stopped at E. Ending the tune, I've felt it sounded like it should end the way I'm playing here, omitting the last couple measures or part of that. 

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Thanks Noah, that works really well. The longer piece from Chris Wig talks about fiddle design too, and the Hamblen family "two pointers". It looks like yours is an "no pointer"? Presumably an older design?

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Originally posted by slc

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Originally posted by BTuno

Its a real place. I drove through last spring, visiting old family sites in Lee Co., VA. I had to stop and play this tune!

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Hi Bruce! I just spent a little time poking around in maps, and yeah I'd like to explore that road (clearly it was the old Highway 58, before 58 - aka Wilderness Road - was moved South) and see if there's anything like an actual "station" somewhere, probably fallen down. Also, there's a trail North of Chadwell Station Road, going to Chadwell Gap - an alternate pass to Cumberland Gap (trailblazed by Daniel Boone, apparently) and used to access a small town (Hensley) just on the other side. 

Attached is a clip of a USGS Map of the area, including Chadwell Station Road (the dotted line at the bottom I think), and Chadwell Gap to the north.

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I'd like to wander around that area. Those hills must be beautiful!

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Originally posted by Andyrhydycreuau

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Originally posted by Noah Cline

Well, here's my take on it with fiddle and banjo. Janet, I also considered doing it on my gourd banjo in dGDGA tuning, but I've got even heavier strings on it when I was playing around with octave tuning and haven't changed them back to the Aquila minstrels I usually have on it, so I resorted to playing it in gDGBD much like Andy's, Stefan's and your initial takes. But, I'm glad I did as I started noodling around with a high strain that works pretty well, putting it in the same register as the fiddle. For the B note in the lower strain, I do a bit of a backwards drop-thumb roll catching the open B with my index, open G with my thumb, and index on the D string, stopped at E. Ending the tune, I've felt it sounded like it should end the way I'm playing here, omitting the last couple measures or part of that. 

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Thanks Noah, that works really well. The longer piece from Chris Wig talks about fiddle design too, and the Hamblen family "two pointers". It looks like yours is an "no pointer"? Presumably an older design?

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Andy, the fiddle is based, for the most part, on one of William Sidney Mount's patented "Cradle of Harmony" fiddles, designed with a concave or hollow back. The initial design was more of a wedge shape, but this one is based on one made by his nephew, Thomas Seabury, in 1857, being a cornerless shape. Mine turned out a little smaller, and the arch is not quite as pronounced as that of the existing fiddles, but close, and captures the same idea. His thought was that having the hollow back, it would reduce the size of the sound chamber, making the fiddle louder for dances, particular outdoor ones and being able to hear it above the crowd, and for structural support for the sound post and the top (and from my engineering background/studies, it makes perfect sense; an arch, like bridges with that design incorporated, will support weight or pressure better than a trough shape, much like the backs on normal fiddles being arched out from the rest of the body -- and a reason why you sometimes find old fiddles with back cracks located where the sound post is). But, the design never caught on, with the Stradivarius design being commonplace. 

I missed this post last week. Luckily I was back-scrolling through the forum and ran across it. Chadwell Station is a great tune that seems to be reemerging in my neck of the woods. As has been mentioned, there are many great versions available to listen to. I learned the tune from a recording by Spencer and Raines. It's definitely not a tune made to be played at breakneck speed. Here's the version I came up with:

 

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Originally posted by Noah Cline

Thanks Noah - really interesting stuff - of course the concave back makes total sense. There are some excellent rabbit holes to be found in the old time world aren't there?

It sounds great btw.

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Originally posted by banjukebox

I missed this post last week. Luckily I was back-scrolling through the forum and ran across it. Chadwell Station is a great tune that seems to be reemerging in my neck of the woods. As has been mentioned, there are many great versions available to listen to. I learned the tune from a recording by Spencer and Raines. It's definitely not a tune made to be played at breakneck speed. Here's the version I came up with:

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Thanks for sharing Pat, that's a really nice version too!

Here's my attempt at a more leisurely pace.

I stuck to the score for the most part, with a few of Andyrhydycreuau's tweaks thrown in. It's a bit more crooked than written with a short bar in the first section rather than ending with two beats - I like how JanetB annotated it, with the altered bar in the middle.

As always inspiring to hear all the different takes on it. The Foghorn String Band ones is quite different isn't it, more of a 'major' feel on the first part, which banjukebox's is maybe the closest to.

I also miscounted playing the A part the first time through, ho hum.

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Originally posted by snoot

I like how JanetB annotated it, with the altered bar in the middle.

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It might be interesting to note why I put the half measure where I did, as opposed to at the end of the part. From my experience growing up playing piano with lessons and cello in school orchestras, I was taught to count each measure -- 1-and-2-and-3-and- 4-and.  The measure following the half measure  begins on a "1" beat in my musical sense of the tune, not a "3" beat.  It is given the same emphasis as at the beginning of the other measures. 

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Originally posted by JanetB

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Originally posted by snoot

I like how JanetB annotated it, with the altered bar in the middle.

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It might be interesting to note why I put the half measure where I did, as opposed to at the end of the part. From my experience growing up playing piano with lessons and cello in school orchestras, I was taught to count each measure -- 1-and-2-and-3-and- 4-and.  The measure following the half measure  begins on a "1" beat in my musical sense of the tune, not a "3" beat.  It is given the same emphasis as at the beginning of the other measures. 

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Really interesting @snoot (lovely playing too) and Janet too.

My reading of standard notation isn't great - but I can't see that half measure in the A Porter Hamblen score? So I didn't put it in mine. What am I missing? 

I tried listening for the half bar too, but couldn't gety ears round that either?

The rest indictated in the last measure is not the standard 1/4 note rest symbol, but that's how I read it. 

All help and advice gratefully received!