Brown Kelly Waltz – Fiddle Tune a Day – Day 355

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 are a great place to start  out with contest fiddling versions. They start out by clearly establishing the melody, and they never get too far away from it. But they do establish a clearly defined character to the song, which is really important in fiddling. You need to make the song your own.

When I worked up this tune, I actually went back to the Eck Robertson recording of this tune (the oldest known recording of Brown Kelly Waltz.) That said, I added one of the parts that Dick played to it that Eck didn’t play. The plucking verse is all Dick Barrett.

And, I hope that when you listen to my arrangements, you can hear whispers of Eck and Dick Barrett, but that it really does sound like me.

Brown Kelly Waltz according to Fiddler’s Companion

BROWN KELLY WALTZ. AKA – “Brown’s Kelly Waltz.” AKA and see “Kelly Waltz.” Old‑Time, Waltz. USA, Texas. Recorded by Texas fiddler Eck Robertson for Victor Records with his family band in 1929 (released in 1930), the waltz was, according to Blanton Owen, one of the most performed numbers at live shows. Charles Wolfe (1997) believes this tune may have come from another Texas fiddler named Matt Brown, who composed “Done Gone,” and whose hey-day was in the early 20^th century. Actually, the core of the tune is the well-known “Kelly Waltz,” popular in fiddling circles throughout the western United States, to which a part was added by Brown, starting on the IV chord. Victor 40334 (78 RPM), Eck Robertson (Texas) {1929}.

KELLY WALTZ. See “Keller’s Waltz,” “Brown Kelly Waltz.”

KELLER’S WALTZ. AKA and see “Brown Kelly Waltz,” “Kelly Waltz,” “Kellytown Waltz.” Old‑Time, Waltz. USA; Texas, Oklahoma. G Major. Standard tuning. ABCC (Christeson): ABCDD’ (Phillips). A popular waltz among western-style fiddle players in the United States. It was apparently originally named after a fiddler named Keller, though the name has come down in oral tradition as Kelly, and the “Kelly Waltz” is the title by which it is perhaps best-known today. Texas fiddler Matt Brown added a part starting on the IV chord, and his variant of the tune is referred to as the “Brown Kelly Waltz.” R.P. Christeson notes: “Uncle Joe Morrow claimed he knew Keller, who for a time was a fiddler for a travelling medicine wagon. According to Mr. Morrow, Keller was in debt to a saloon in Mangum, Oklahoma, and offered to compose a waltz and play it for customers to settle the bill. The saloonkeeper agreed, and this purportedly is the waltz Keller composed.” Texas fiddler Bryant Houston, reputedly the composer of “Lime Rock,” is also said by some to have composed this melody. The tune was recorded in 1928 by Texas barber and fiddler Oscar Harper (an associate of Prince Albert Hunt) for Okeh Records (Wolfe, 1997). Woody Guthrie played at tune (in the key of ‘D’) called the “Cowboy Waltz,” which was a simplification of the “Kelly Waltz” melody. Source for notated version: Uncle Joe Morrow (Texas) [Christeson]. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, vol. 1), 1973; pg. 197. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; pgs. 272-273 (appears as “Kelly Waltz”).