Annotation:Down at the Mouth of Old Stinson
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DOWN AT THE MOUTH OF OLD STINSON. AKA - "Mouth of Stinson." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, West Virginia. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. John Hartford notes that the area around Stinson Creek in Calhoun County, West Virginia, was at one time a very rough place and best avoided (although it was near Old Laury Hick's place, where Wilson Douglas used to hear the regionally famous fiddler Ed Haley play). Gerry Milnes reports that source Douglas associated the tune at the Mouth of Stinson Creek in Clay County, and recalled that there was a picnic attended by the 'woodhicks' (lumberjacks who were then harvesting timber in the area) there during which part of the entertainment was a wrestling match. Something went amiss and one of the participants, a man named Cheneth, was severely injured and died the next day. This 'crooked' tune is supposed to reflect the sadness of the event. According to Douglas there was an old tavern called Copperhead Junction (also known as “Bloody Bucket”) at the Mouth of Stinson that had a reputation as being one of the roughest places in the region, notorious for excessive drinking, fighting and shootings [1].
Source for notated version: The tune was sourced by French Carpenter to Old Uncle John McClune.
Printed sources:
Recorded sources: Marimac AHS#1, Wilson Douglas. Rounder 0392, John Hartford - "Wild Hog in the Red Brush (and a Bunch of Others You Might Not Have Heard) {1996}. Shanachie Records 6040, Gerry Milnes & Lorriane Lee Hammond - "Hell Up Coal Holler" (1999. Learned from West Virginia fiddler Wilson Douglas).
See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Hear French Carpenter's recording [3] and at Slippery Hill [4]
Hear Wilson Douglas's version [5]