Annotation:Rich Mountain

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RICH MOUNTAIN. Old-Time, Breakdown. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune was in the repertory of fiddler Wallace Wolford Spangler, born 1851 in Meadows of Dan, Patrick County, southwest Virginia, brought the tune back with him from Wise County, Va., when he went west to cut cordwood as a young man, according to the account of his son Charles Langhorne "Tump" Spangler (b. 1885) [see Thompson, "Midnight Serenade: J.W. "Babe" Spanler", Old-Time Herald, vol. 10, No. 7]. The elder Spangler was locally renowned as a fiddler and influenced a generation of fiddlers in his region. See the related tunes "Wild Horse" (and, more distantly, "Miss McLeod's Reel") and "Rock Jenny Rock."

Rich Mountain is in West Virginia in eastern West Virginia (the Appalachian Trail runs along its ridge). The Civil War Battle of Rich Mountain was fought nearby the town of Mabie, Randolph County, W.Va., on July 11, 1861.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - Bill Shelor with the Shelor Family [Phillips].

Printed sources : - Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 198.

Recorded sources: - Field Recorders Collective FRC 112, "The Shelor-Blackard Family: Recordings from the collections of Ray Alden and Dave Spilkia" (2015).