Annotation:Forks of Sandy (1)

Back to 

 FORKS OF SANDY [1]. AKA and see "Three Forks of Sandy," "Three Forks of Big Sandy," "Roll 'em Up Sandy." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; western North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (Brody, Phillips). The title refers to the Big Sandy River on the West Virginia/Kentucky border, the (3) forks being the Big Sandy River, Levisa Fork and Tug Fork. Eastern Kentucky-based fiddler Ed Haley used to play the tune in three parts, one for each fork. Oscar Wright maintained the song was popularized in his area of West Virginia (Mercer County) by North Carolina banjo player and band leader Charlie Poole and his fiddler Posey Rorer when they played the area in 1916, 17 or 18. He claimed to have learned it directly from Rorer. West Virginia fiddler Clark Kessinger (1896-1975), who probably learned the tune as a boy in the Kanawha Valley, recorded the melody in 1930 for Brunswick Records (as "Three Forks of Sandy") {Wolfe, Mountains of Music, John Lilly ed. 1999}.   Source for notated version: Charlie Poole (N.C.) [Brody]; Posey Rorer (Milliner & Koken); Clark Kessinger (W.Va.) [Phillips]; Barry Shultz [Silberberg].  Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 111. Milliner & Koken (Milliner-Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes), 2011; p. 214. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 1, 1994; p. 241. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 47.  Recorded sources: Columbia 15106-D (78 RPM), 1926, Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers. County 747, Clark Kessinger- "Sweet Bunch of Daisies" (appears as "Three Forks of Sandy"). Flying Cloud FC-023, Kirk Sutphin - "Fiddlin' Around." Historical HLP-8005, Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers - "1926-1930: A Young Boy Left His Home One Day" (1975). June Appal 007, Thomas Hunter- "Deep in Traditon" (1976. Appears as "Three Forks of Big Sandy." Learned from Manco Sneed of Cherokee, N.C.). Rounder 0089, Oscar and Eugene Wright- "Old-Time Fiddle & Guitar Music From West Virginia." Rounder 0392, John Hartford - "Wild Hog in the Red Brush (and a Bunch of Others You Might Not Have Heard" (1996).  See also listing at: Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources

Back to