Annotation:Fifty Years Ago Waltz

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 FIFTY YEARS AGO WALTZ. AKA and see "Blue Valley Waltz." Old-Time, Waltz. D Major (Phillips): D Major ('A' part) & G Major ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Phillips). A very popular American waltz tune that has wide dissemination and is played in a number of genres, including old-time, contest, western swing, and bluegrass. Missouri fiddler Charlie Walden thinks the title refers to a wedding anniversary, and remarks that the waltz was shortened for contest play in the 1970's by great competitors like Herman Johnson. The melody was recorded for Paramount records by Alabama fiddler Y.Z. Hamilton (1888-1936) who had a local reputation in the Birmingham area, not only as a fiddler but as a ragtime piano player (despite having three fingers missing on his right hand). In 1925 Hamilton won a fiddle contest in Birmingham, beating such famous period competitors such as Earl Johnson, A.A. Gray, and Charlie Stripling. Y.Z. played with a popular local band, Uncle Bud and His Boll Weevils, which regularly played on the radio, did school house performances, and entered fiddlers' conventions.  Source for notated version:  Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; p. 254.  Recorded sources: Decca 5213 (78 RPM), Curly Fox (Ga.) {1936}. Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers Association 002, Taylor McBaine (b. 1911, Mo.) - "Boone County Fiddler." Paramount Records (78 RPM), Y.Z. Hamilton (Ala., 1888-1936), 1925.  See also listing at: Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources

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