Champion Fiddler, Inspired Performer
Redeemed is a beautiful old waltz. In recent years, it’s become a fairly common waltz in the open division at fiddle contests. It is my understanding that it’s a hymn. I haven’t done the research yet, but there is one thing I do know – It’s a very pretty melody. Oh, and it’s in Eb, [...]
Brown Kelly Waltz (also known as Kelly Waltz) is a pretty old double stop waltz. I first learned it from the Dick Barrett Waltz album that I played the heck out of when I was a kid. I had the whole series of Dick Barrett tapes. I still think that Dick’s versions of those tunes [...]
I have been planning on playing Tennessee Waltz as part of Fiddle Tune a Day from the beginning. I also received a number of requests for the song. And with good reason. It’s a beautiful melody, and a Country and Western classic. I didn’t want to play it as just a fiddle tune, and since [...]
Midnight on the Water is one of the Coolest Waltzes out there. And that’s not because there aren’t a lot of cool waltzes out there. It’s cross-tuned (DDAD), which is a great start. It has all sorts of open drones that ring beautifully in the cross tuning. It has a haunting melody, and it was [...]
Tonight, after I finished teaching my lessons, Palm Trees of Kerry was the tune that that was in my head. The reason it was in my head is that I learned it an hour and a half earlier when one of my students played it for me. Palm Trees of Kerry is a relatively simple [...]
As I get nearer to the end of this Fiddle Tune a Day Journey, there are some fiddle tunes that I want to make sure that I get in before the year is up. Many of these tunes define a style of fiddling. Jole Blon is one of these tunes. To me, Jole Blon is [...]
The only things I could remember about Missouri Waltz before I looked it up tonight so that I could play it were: I played it once as a kid. It was kind of slidey. It was pretty. That was enough for me to decide that tonight’s tune would be Missouri Waltz (after I listened to [...]
Chancellor’s Waltz is one of the prettier waltzes I know. It was written by Jim “Texas Shorty” Chancellor’s Dad. It’s not easy, but there are quite a few Waltzes that are more difficult. And, as I tell my students, the purpose of a waltz is to be beautiful, not to be difficult. I like how [...]
In my mind, Martin’s Waltz may be the prototypical fiddle contest waltz. It’s beautiful. It’s not quite as hard as it sounds, but it is tricky (so it sounds pretty darn tricky.) Daniel Carwile really took this tune to a new level with his recording of it. Martin’s Waltz according to Fiddler’s Companion [...]
I heard Roxanna(‘s) Waltz many times growing up, but I can’t say that I’ve ever performed it before tonight, or probably ever played it all the way through. It’s a pretty song, but it always felt a little awkward to me how it goes from C to A so abruptly, so I tried to arrange [...]
