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Originally posted by Quincy

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Originally posted by groundhogpeggy

Dwight was one of the very best. His buddy, John Morris, also of West Virginia, is also one of the very greatest Old Time fiddlers. Anja...you're looking at the best version out there (just my opinion, of course)...lol...go for it!

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There you are! Can this be called like a specific OT 'dialect' within OT music? I believe you I am looking at the best version, what a great discovery today:-D I'll search on your channel for the tune also when I have finished this post, I want to  compare now hehe I want what you got and Dwight Diller.

I really have an absolutely great connection with my good distant friend from Kentucky,  we always fix eachother haha ... he does not play fiddle though,  but we call eachother a lot, that is like the same  area almost if I look on the map , these are neighbour states!   That cannot be coincidence :-D  edit lol: ok, I got it, I just fall for the source , the heart , where it all began :-D

 

 

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Dwight Diller and John Morris both play with a West Virginia flavor to it. North Eastern Kentucky River Region might be very similar, but on down south in Eastern Ky or thereabouts I believe it does change a little. Either way...the West Virginia way is a great Old Time style.

Where in Kentucky does your friend live?

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Originally posted by groundhogpeggy

Where in Kentucky does your friend live?

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Georgetown :D Had a hard time figuring out his accent in English at first, but now I am used to it  hehe :-D 

I was just playing the first few notes of Sourwood Mountain,  trying to do what I see Dwight Diller doing move bow in different angles, oh yes this is it, starting to sound like something. This works for me , but must not move too much myself :-D Still sounding bit chaotic but yes! I'm on my way :D

I hope to hear it sometime soon.

Diving a little further into West Virginia 'flavour' hehe, haunting! I meanwhile also found Lester McCumbers <3 This is all SO good !! Comes to my mind I should study the regions and their tunes , that is going to make me a lot wiser. 

 

There seem to be a few pockets of old time playing that just remained untouched over the years...West Virginia is a big one, Western North Carolina is another...both seem to be the heart and core that radiate old time styles to surrounding regions. I'm no expert, but seems that way for both fiddling and banjo. For guitar...there's a few places but probably the most famous is Western Kentucky thumb-picking styles, which also radiated to nearby regions. You hit one of those musical hot spots and you can learn a lot from those who once lived and played their music there. Just my opinion.

fiddlehangout.com/topic/59523

Let's see how this works. . .

Anja, here's a litte self study guide if you want to learn more about central West Virginia traditional music. WV had/has a lot of fiddling styles - Clark Kessinger, the Tweedy Brothers, and the country music from the WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling, but John Morris and Dwight Diller were from the central and east central part of the state and were some of the few people who learned the music of their home area from the masters of the previous generation, as opposed to learning from a weekly jam session, YouTube, or a college program.
Here's some info about John:
arts.gov/honors/heritage/john-morris
He learned from fiddlers like French Carpenter, Ira mullins, Jenes Cottrell and others. Some of them came to the Brandywine festival in 1975, and you can hear recordings of them here, along with John and his late brother David:
slippery-hill.com/brandywine-r...wine-1975
Dwight was heavily influenced by the Hammons family:
wvmusichalloffame.com/hof_hammons.html
I don't think he ever got enough credit for befriending the family, which paved the way for others, and resulted in this great boxed set from the Library of Congress, and more on Rounder:
maint.loc.gov/folklife/LP/AFSL...mmons.pdf
Some recollections of visits to the Hammons:
blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2017/02...s-family/
Lastly, one of our members has written a book about Dwight:
mcfarlandbooks.com/product/dwight-diller/

That's some good stuff there, Doug....thanks for the links.

Thanks Peggy. I liked your comment about "pockets" of old time playing. There are more than you mentioned of course, but sometimes it might be just one extended family, like the Hammons, or the Hicks family of Beech Mtn., NC.
I just came across this YouTube of a record from 1963 that I'd never heard before. These are some of the musicians who influenced John Morris, playing some of the "standards" from Clay county:
youtu.be/ZGtlTStb17k?feature=shared
Gerry Milnes wrote this book about WV fiddling. I've never read it, but it might be interestng for Anja, if she's serious about the subject:
kentuckypress.com/978081319326...a-fiddle/
West Virginia traditional music is lots more than just fiddling of course. Here's a good film about Hazel Dickens, the great singer and songwriter. Anja, you might relate to the "Working Girl Blues" at about 19:30:
folkstreams.net/films/hazel-dickens

There is a video/film of the MORRIS FAMILY MUSIC FESTIVAL that took place in late 60's and early 70's near Ivydale WV. Believe it's also on facebook
Lots of good mostly central WV OT stuff. Burt Doddrill took me over there at least a couple times. Good memories, good music, and good times!

PIK - I was able to watch that film online once. It shows how that festival site was literally hewn out of the woods, and has lots of good music. I've not been able to find it again though. If you have a link you can share it would be great.

Yeah, Hazel Dickens was another good one.

Here's where that film lives now. Athens Library. Access via any local university affiliation if you have it. May be another way, that's just what I got following the red full access button

https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/morris-family-old-time-music-festival

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Originally posted by DougD

Thanks Peggy. I liked your comment about "pockets" of old time playing. There are more than you mentioned of course, but sometimes it might be just one extended family, like the Hammons, or the Hicks family of Beech Mtn., NC.
I just came across this YouTube of a record from 1963 that I'd never heard before. These are some of the musicians who influenced John Morris, playing some of the "standards" from Clay county:
youtu.be/ZGtlTStb17k?feature=shared
Gerry Milnes wrote this book about WV fiddling. I've never read it, but it might be interestng for Anja, if she's serious about the subject:
kentuckypress.com/978081319326...a-fiddle/
West Virginia traditional music is lots more than just fiddling of course. Here's a good film about Hazel Dickens, the great singer and songwriter. Anja, you might relate to the "Working Girl Blues" at about 19:30:
folkstreams.net/films/hazel-dickens

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This is an impressive answer Doug, with many interesting links. I watched the YouTube video of the Hammons family, I'll take them as a starting point for studying fiddle tunes from now on and yes, I am pretty serious about this.  I"ll just start in central West Virginia , and see how far I can travel from that point on hehe.

I watched and now am rewatching and rewatching the Hazel Dickens film....I can relate so much, it just literally blows me away. 

My father's family also worked in the coal mines , my grandfather was a night shift miner, not one day in his life he called in sick. My mother's family also worked in the mines and in the factories. My mother, the oldest of 6 brothers and sisters, was only 18 years old when she lost her father because of what they would call 'dust lung' over here.  That is what people who speak English know as black lung I know now. I looked up the lyrics of Hazel Dickens' song about her brother... and I feel her grief, but above all I understand her proud that shines through in the end. Because her words speak a  truth so many deny with bold-faced lies or try  to cover up with sugar coated fairy tales.  She might have been marked by life..but at least she had a free mind... where many others on this level are living in an eternal prison: the huge masquerade of the false. 

It is hard, very hard, to overcome the class you were born in, Hazel is so right in everything she tells and explains. What a truly brave woman she was, with a golden voice. I would LOVE to see a movie of her life.

100% Doug  :-)

Doug: The film about the Morris Family Music Festival is available but I understand one has to rent or purchase it. A little preview is available along with some other info by searching: Morris Family Music Festival.
Might try Documentary Educational Resources or WV Culture and History. Or get a copy for $25 here:
Enjoy the film by Robert Gates
"Morris Family Old Time Music Festival"
order from
Omni Productions
Box 5130
Charleston, WV 25361
omni@ntelos.net
30 minutes, black and white, VHS from the original 16 mm film
Institutional copies $150, individual copies for personal use $25 ppd. Special Collectors edition add $5, priority mail add $5

Listening to Dwight Diller being interviewed. He tells about when he came back from the navy and how he was diagnosed besides ptss with the same disorder as I have been succesfully treated for for more than almost 15 years. I knew there was a deeper reason why I was so instantly attracted to his way of playing with his syncopated rhythms, from the first recording I saw on. I recognized what he expresses, I feel that inside of me too. He is like me :-D I can do this, study him and all of his tunes. I have been listening how he tells the Hammons treated him as a grandson and how he was accepted by them for who he was, how he could be himself. There is so many available on his approach and I smile when I read he could be very harsh and opiniated lol. My guess is he was also very direct in his answers.
I wish there had been a chance to get closer to him in the years that have passed. I needed to find him, among so many other good fiddle players, he is the one where it all just started.

I'd like to Shove the Pigs Foot a little bit further....

I wanted to revive this thread before we lose it! :-D

I am embarking now on Cottage Groves. I love it so much. It's a four-part reel. I may never find anybody to play it with, unless I'm at a fairly advanced sesh? But I hope I'll get to play it with other people someday....fingers crossed... 

I don't play it with as much variation as Kevin Burke...I think that will confuse people (it's already enough asking them to know the 4 parts!?) ...but boy, what a glorious version he does!  Cottage Groves by Kevin Burke

Greasy String...I have the tune version of my preference slowed down to 37% and am now learning to hum the whole lot of notes without leaving out any nuances... Must be able to HUM it first. Good thing is that this tune never gets boring and it sounds very catchy even on 37% of the normal speed. My fingers are so itchy but I'll be patient and I'll only give it a try when I've finished the humming part.

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Originally posted by NCnotes

I wanted to revive this thread before we lose it! :-D

I am embarking now on Cottage Groves. I love it so much. It's a four-part reel. I may never find anybody to play it with, unless I'm at a fairly advanced sesh? But I hope I'll get to play it with other people someday....fingers crossed... 

I don't play it with as much variation as Kevin Burke...I think that will confuse people (it's already enough asking them to know the 4 parts!?) ...but boy, what a glorious version he does!  Cottage Groves by Kevin Burke

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I strongly agree ! This sounds perfect!

I've been playing a tune set I learned a couple of decades ago from Co. Donegal. Two tunes, both have 4 parts. First is "Jig of Slurs" which is basically two jigs, first 2 parts in D, second two in G. Following that with "Athole Highlander" which is all in A major except the very last part leans mixolydian by adding a G natural for a measure, probably be considered accidentals. If you don't play them, I highly recommend the set. It was made popular on the album that introduced the world to Donegal fiddling - Fiddle Sticks: Irish Traditional Music from Donegal.

I have that CD, and its still available: amazon.com/Fiddle-Sticks-Irish...0000037EC
The track list says "Irish Washerwoman" is played between the two you mentioned.
All those CDs from the Cork festivals are great.

DougD, what tunes have you been playing lately? Hope you haven't given up on your fiddle..