Annotation:Shelvin' Rock (2)
X:1 T:Shelvin' Rock [2] S:French Carpenter (1905-1965, Clay County, West Virginia) M:C| L:1/8 N:AEae tuning (fiddle) D:Folk Productions Recording, French Carpenter & Jenes Cottrell - D:Kanawha 301, French Carpenter - "Elzic's Farewell: Old-Time Songs and Tunes from Clay County W.Va." (c. 1964) N:Carpenter held the first note of the 2nd strain for 10 beats the first time through only; after N:that he played it as an 8 beat note. A fiddler's liberty that Chris Goertzen call a 'dwell note'. F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/shelvin-rock Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:Amix (3efg|a2) ab agef|g2 ga ged2|eaab agef|gged cA2ea-| a2ab agef|+slide+g2ga ge d2|eaab agef|gged cA2 || [c/e/]-[d/e/]-|[e8e8]-|[M:2/4][e4e4]|[M:C|] +slide+[c2e2]AF E2AB|+slide+c2cd efed|+slide+c2 AF E2 Ad|cABB- A3(B| c)BAF E2AB|+slide+c2cd efed|+slide+c2 AF E2 Ad| cABB- A4||
SHELVIN ROCK [2]. AKA - “Shelby Rock.” Old Time, Breakdown. USA; West Virginia, Virginia. A Mixolydian: G Mixolydian (Ernie Carpenter). GDgd (Ernie Carpenter) or Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB'. The melody is known as a "West Virginia old time fiddle classic." Ernie Carpenter claimed the tune was composed by his great grandfather Matt Jeremiah Carpenter, who is supposed to have written the tune in the late 18th century to commemorate his son Solomon's birthplace, an overhanging or "shelving" rock near the site of what became the Carpenter home in Webster County, West Virginia.
Wilson Douglas, maintains that "old Saul Carpenter" (French Carpenter's grandfather) composed the tune, calling it "Shelvin' Rock" for an outcropping in Webster County, W.Va., that was used as a sheltering campsite "back in the Civil War days when the people were all on the move, (and) there weren't no houses in the country at that time..." There is a confusion of Sauls or Solomons, objects Gerry Milnes (1999), who clarifies that although French’s grandfather was named Solomon, he was a good forty to fifty years younger than his ancestor, also named Solomon. French’s grandfather Solomon lived during the time of the Civil War (see note for “Camp Chase”) and was known as “Devil Sol.” Milnes reports that Artley (1955) mentioned two tunes in local tradition, “Old Solly’s Favorite” about the older Soloman Carpenter, and “Little Solly’s Favorite” about the younger, Devil Sol. John Hartford (1996) also believes the title and tune may be much older than the mid-1800’s. Bluegrass fiddler Kenny Baker’s father, also a fiddler, played it around Pound, Virginia, while fiddler Charlie Acuff knew it as “Shelby Rock.”