Annotation:Shelvin' Rock (1)

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X:1 T:Shelvin' Rock I:From the playing of Henry Reel (1884-1968, Glen Lyn, Giles County, southwestern Virginia), I:recorded in 1966 by Alan Jabbour for the LOC N:Hear Henry Reed's field recording at the LOC, https://www.loc.gov/item/afcreed000077 M:4/4 L:1/8 Z:Alan Jabbour's Transcription, https://www.loc.gov/resource/afcreed.reedt006/ K:C G,|(C>D E)G (c/B/)(c/d/) {c}(B/A/)(G/E/)|AG A<c [d2e2][e2g2]|(C<E E)G c/(d/e/d/) cd| c/G/A/G/ (E/D/)C/C/ E<C (C2 G,2 A,B,|C)C E/E/G cc/(d/4c/4 B/)A/G/G/|AG A<c [d2e2][e3e3]D| C>(D E)G c/(d/e/d/) cd|c/G/A/(G/ E/D/)C/C/ D<C C(g|g/)(a/b/a/) gd (e/d/)(c/d/) cG| Aa (a/b/)(a/g/) f/dd/ d(e/f/|g/)(a/_b/a/) gd e/(d/c) [ce][ce]|G/D/A/(G/ E/D/)C/C/ D<C C|| (A/f/|g/)a/b/a/ gd e/(d/c) cG|Aa (a/b/a/g/ ^f/)dd/ d (e/4f/4g/-|g/)(a/_b/a/) gd e/(d/c) cG|c/G/(A/G/ E/D/)C/C/ D<C C2||

SHELVIN' ROCK [1]. American, Reel. USA; Virginia, West Virginia. C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Brody): AA'BB (Phillips). A ‘shelvin’ rock’ was the generic name for an outcropping of rock and usually a local landmark at which dances were at one time often held. Mark Wilson points out that the title has attached itself to several tunes, not all related. Although "Shelvin Rock" tunes are nowadays associated with West Virginia fiddle music, the title is fairly wide-spread (albeit, as Wilson points out, attached to different tunes). One early sound recording of "Shelvin' Rock" was recorded by Charlie Wilson and His Hayloft Boys for Gennett Records and was in the repertoire of Alfred Bailey (Bath County, Ky.). The title appears also appears in a list of traditional Ozarks Mountains fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954.

This first version, "Shelvin' Rock (1)," was collected from fiddler Henry Reed (from Glen Lyn, Va., near the W.Va. border) which he called “Billy in the Lowland (5)”; West Virginia fiddler Melvin Wine’s “Shelvin Rock” is similar to Reed’s. See also related first strain of "Billy in the Lowground."

Additional notes

Sources for notated versions: - Henry Reed via Hollow Rock String Band (North Carolina) [Brody]; Armin Barnett (Seattle) [Phillips].

Printed sources : - Brody (Fiddler’s Fakebook), 1983; p. 254. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 219.

Recorded sources: -Rounder 0024, "Hollow Rock String Band" (1974. Learned from Henry Reed). Rounder 0089, Oscar and Eugene Wright "Old Time Fiddle and Guitar Music from West Virginia" (learned from Henry Reed).

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