Annotation:Salt River (4)

Back to Salt River (4)

SALT(Y) RIVER REEL [4]. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Iowa, Missouri. A Major. AEae or Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (Christeson, OTH). Source Cyril Stinnett (1912-1986) was a northwest Missouri sharecropper who played the fiddle left-handed and upside down, but nontheless played impeccably at dance speed. He never owned a violin during the last ten years or so of his life, yet he had a vast repertoire that he could recall at the mention of a title. He was known for his melodic and rhythmic precision and ability to play with perfect intonation. Another source was fiddler Casey Jones (1910-1987), who was known in the Great Plains region from his radio performances for nearly twenty years for the Henry Fields Seed Co. Show in Iowa in the 1930's. He learned from and shared tunes with his contemporary, Bob Walters, and influential radio fiddler from Nebraska. “Salty River Reel” is one of ‘100 essential Missouri tunes’ listed by Missouri fiddler Charlie Walden.

Additional notes

Sources for notated versions: - Casey Jones (Livingston County, Missouri) [Christeson]; Cyril Stinnett (1912-1986, Braymer, Andrew County, Mo.) [Old Time Herald].

Printed sources : - R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers’ Repertory, vol. 1), 1973; p. 21. Old Time Herald, Vol. 4, No. 5; p. 27. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 139.

Recorded sources: - Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers' Association 104, Cyril Stinnett - "Salty River Reel” (1992. Originally recorded in the 1960’s).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear Casey Jones recording at Slippery Hill [2] Hear Cyril Stinnett’s recording at Slippery Hill [3] See standard notation transcriptions of the tune as played by Bob Walters and Gary Harrison at taterjoes.com [4] Hear Cyril Stinnett’s recording and read Bill Schill’s biography at the MSOTFA site [5]