Cumberland Gap

  1. Tracy Ballinger
    Tracy Ballinger
    Would like to learn it, and I'm pretty sure this is the same way Ricky Skaggs plays it. Anybody got tab?
  2. Tracy Ballinger
    Tracy Ballinger
    Found tab here, but I don't know if it's the same as the one in the video, or the traditional tune.
  3. kristallyn
    kristallyn
    found this tab
    http://books.google.nl/books?id=mmbq...num=3#PPA63,M1
    but it seems to be different
    and this one
    http://www.mne.psu.edu/lamancusa/tun...berlandgap.pdf
    which also seems to be different
  4. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Here are the search results on Mandozine for Cumberland Gap.

    I don't play this tune, so I'm really not much help!

    BArb
  5. Mike Romkey
    Mike Romkey
    Haven't heard, but I like it! It would be a good addition to the list. Nice picking. Is that wives chatting in the background? Slice of life!
  6. Tracy Ballinger
    Tracy Ballinger
    Here's Sam Bush's version, same as video above but up to speed.
  7. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    I was listening to this tune, and watching the ladies in the mirror. I'm betting they are playing scrabble, if you listen, you hear one of them saying somthing like 'No E'.... and midway through, the lady in the middle is moving her head in time to the tune!
  8. Tracy Ballinger
    Tracy Ballinger
    LOL! I noticed them but didn't watch that close. I'll have to watch it again!
  9. Joe Nobiling
    Joe Nobiling
    Always enjoyed Tim O'Brien's treatment of the tune on fiddle which is pretty close to Sam's. Find a snippet of it here. It's definitely a classic old-time mountain tune from way back that's been brought into the Bluegrass genre by many player. A standard, if you will, amongst instrumentalists.

    Here's part of what The Fiddler's Companion has to say about the tune...

    CUMBERLAND GAP [1]. AKA - "Tumberland Gap." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Arkansas, southwest Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, western North Carolina, Alabama. G Major: A Major: D Major (Tommy Jarrell). Standard, DGDG (Harvey Sampson) or ADAD (Tommy Jarrell). ABCC'DD (Phillips): AABB (Thede): AABBCC (Brody). The Cumberland Gap is a pass in the Appalachians between upper Tennessee and Kentucky. The tune was played by Rock Ridge, Alabama, fiddlers c. 1920 (D.B. Vol. 17, #2, pg. 20). It was in the repertoires of Fiddlin' Cowan Powers 1877-1952? (Russell County, southwest Va.) who recorded it in 1924 for Victor {though it was unissued}, and African-American fiddler Cuje Bertram of Kentucky's Cumberland Plateau region (Bertram recorded it on a 1970 home recording made for his family). Also in repertoire of J. Dedrick Harris who was from eastern Tennessee and who fiddled regularly with Bob Taylor in his run for Governor of the state in the late 1800's. Harris moved to western North Carolina in the 1920's and influenced a generation of fiddlers including the Helton brothers, Manco Sneed, Bill Hensley, and Marcus Martin. In the Round Peak region of western North Carolina the melody was known by the title "Tumberland Gap" for many years until the isloation of the area broke down. Near Round Peak, Mt. Airy, North Carolina, fiddler Tommy Jarrell (d. 1986) remembered the tune "came around" the region when he was a young man, around 1915, and was not known before then. The tune was mentioned by William Byrne who described a chance encounter with West Virginia fiddler 'Old Sol' Nelson during a fishing trip on the Elk River. The year was around 1880, and Sol, whom Byrne said was famous for his playing "throughout the Elk Valley from Clay Courthouse to Sutton as...the Fiddler of the Wilderness," had brought out his fiddle after supper to entertain (Milnes, 1999). The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. Sources for notated versions: Luther Strong [Phillips]: Walter Fenell (Latimer County, Oklahoma) [Thede]. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), 1994; pg. 62. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 114. Augusta Heritage Recordings AHR-004C, Harvey Sampson and the Big Possum String Band - "Flat Foot in the Ashes" (1986/1994. Learned by Calhoun County, W.Va. fidder Harvey Sampson from his father). Broadway 5118-A (78 RPM) {1924} and Library of Congress AFS 4804-B-3 {1941}, Osey and Ernest Helton (Asheville N.C.). Conqueror 8239 (78 RPM), Doc Roberts. County 723, Cockerham, Jarrell, and Jenkins- "Back Home in the Blue Ridge." Marimac 9008, The Lazy Aces String Band - "Still Lazy after All These Years" (1986. Learned from Arthur Smith). Rounder 1005, Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers- "Hear These New Southern Fiddle and Guitar Records." Rounder 0058, Corbit Stamper and Thornton Spencer - "Old Originals, Vol. 2" (1978). Rounder 0089, Oscar and Eugene Wright (W.Va.) - "Old-Time Fiddle." Vocalation 14839 (78 RPM, 1924) Uncle Am Stuart (b. 1856, Morristown, Tenn). Voyager 340, Jim Herd - "Old Time Ozark Fiddling." Yodel-Ay-Hee 05, The Wildcats - "On Our Knees" (1992).
  10. Bernie Daniel
    Bernie Daniel
    Tracy the is certainly similar to the version that Skaggs plays on the Extravaganza CD --as I recall he calls it the "original version" -- not clear what that means by that -- but he attibutes the tune to a Kentucky old tyme fiddler named Sanford Kailee.

    Somewhere on YouTube (under Cumberland Gap I think) is a video of an old timer from Georgia --I think --playing it in nearly the same way.

    The weird thing is the link to the Bush site shows that he is credited with playing it on the Extravaganza CD -- and I know it was Skaggs -- maybe Bush was also playing and they are both counting the track.
  11. jamann
    jamann
    There's 3 versions on Mandozine including a Skaggs version.
    http://www.mandozine.com/music/searc...rder=A&submit=
  12. Tracy Ballinger
    Tracy Ballinger
    Thanks for the info, Bernie. I was SURE it was Ricky Skaggs' voice I was hearing explaining the song, but I also found Sam Bush listed as the picker! Weird.

    Thanks so much, jamann! I can't wait to try it out.
  13. DryBones
    DryBones
    you're not allowed to play it until you visit it. guess who was just through there over Memorial weekend? Now I need to learn this song
  14. Tracy Ballinger
    Tracy Ballinger
    Been there but it's been a while! Hope you had fun Jason, it's a beautiful area.
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