Annotation:Young Edward

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YOUNG EDWARD. AKA and see "Lonesome John." Old-Time, Air (whole time). A Major. AEae or EBEB tuning (fiddle). Played as a moderately paced listening tune up to breakdown speed. "Young Edward," from Knott County, Kentucky, fiddler Hiram Stamper [1], is derived from the air to “Drunkard’s Dream (The),” a ballad whose first line is:

Hiram Stamper (1893-1992)

Young Edward you look so handsome now,

Stamper himself sang the following couplet (but could not remember any more of the lyric), for Bruce Greene:

I dreamed I staggered home one night,
Through dark and dismal gloom.
I missed my wife where could she be?
And strangers filled the room.

Hiram maintained that his son, Art Stamper, reworked the tune as "Clinch Mountain Backstep," and was then taught to bluegrass great Ralph Stanely's repertoire.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources:

Recorded sources: Crooked Jades – “Seven Sisters.” Shanachie Records, Gerry Milnes & Lorraine Lee Hammond – “Hell Up Coal Holler” (learned from Hiram Stamper). June Appal JA-087, Charlie Stamper – "Glory to the Meeting House" (2014). Shanachie 6040, Gerry Milnes & Lorraine Lee Hammond – “Hell Up Coal Holler” (1999. Learned from the playing of Hiram Stamper). Christian Wig - "Chadwell's Station: Fiddling on the Frontier" ().

See also listing at:
Hear Bruce Greene's 1977 field recording of Hiram Stamper playing the tune at Berea Digital Content [2] and the Digital Library of Appalachia [3]
See/hear Hiram's son Charlie Stamper play his version of his father's tune on youtube.com [4]

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