This is my cover of Fiddlin' Arthur Smith's "Paris Waltz". Thanks for the listen!
That is just great, I love everything about it.
Magnifique!
Very enjoyable!
Beautiful production, Frank. Your playing is first rate and the pictures add so much to the video's appeal.
Best yet Frank, nice solid rhythm and Paris? -the city of love.
Great video, Frank, did you learn the tune by ear? Anyway, sounds fantastic.
Lots of really nice waltzes lately - add this to the list of excellent ones.
Wonderful playing, tune, and video!
Great recording, Frank, and many thanks for drawing our attention to this evocative old-time waltz. I've never heard of the tune or of Fiddlin' Arthur Smith before but I'm a sucker for bluegrassy waltzes so I thought I give it a go. Here is my interpretation of the tune, based on this transcription (which differs slightly from Smith's original): https://www.me.psu.edu/lamancusa/tunes/ParisWaltz.pdf It turned out a bit faster than yours (or Smith's, for that matter), but I quite like the feel. 1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin Vintage Viaten tenor guitar https://youtu.be/8SNz0o7x_Ek Martin
Thanks OS, Jairo, Frithjof, John, Simon, Christian, Ginny, Don, And Martin!!! The song was written about a place in Tennessee near where Smith grew up. But it sure does sound France Paris y. NIce version Martin. I couldn't find any recordings of this by Douglas, but Kenny Baker does a pretty nice one. Thanks again!
Another nice waltz session by Martin! The slightly increased tempo fits the tune well.
Oh and Christian, I did learn this by ear. Everything I've ever learned has been by ear. Thanks for askin'.
Thanks, Frank and Christian. Frank: I've had a look, and found that there is a digitised audio tape of Wilson Douglas playing "Paris Waltz" as part of the Alice Gerrard collection at the Southern Folk Life Collection at the UNC website. Source data is: "SFC Audio Cassette 8949: AG 767: Wilson Douglas with Tom King and Ron Mulleney, recorded on 18 July 1989, in Elkins, W.Va.". Paris Waltz starts at 2:10 minutes in the clip linked below: https://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/singleite...id/50323/rec/2 The audio quality is best described as "authentic", but it's really nice old-time fiddle playing. I see that Douglas did take the tune at much the same tempo as me, although I hadn't heard his version when I recorded mine. Also fascinating as the tape includes the dialogue between Alice Gerrard and Wilson Douglas where she asks him to confirm the name of the tune ("P-A-R-I-S, as in Paris, France?") and to play the B part again, giving that proper feel of a folklorist making field recordings. I note he didn't give any credit to Arthur Smith! Martin
Another opportunity to hear the pleasure of 2 different versions.