Fiddle Tune a Day - Day 24 - Forked Deer

The first version of this song that I remember hearing was a recording of Buddy Spicher playing it on a compilation album of the World's Best Country Fiddlers. He started out the tune by saying, "Look at the rack on that deer." I thought that was so cool, that I copied it on my album, "Long Time Comin'". Buddy Spicher has long been one of my favorite fiddlers. He plays with power and finesse and can play just about any style with amazing facility. And, he's a heck of a nice guy.

This song is also played for (and with) Brent Hawley, who is a great friend, and a great guitarist. Brent loves tunes that are a little off the beaten path, and especially if they have chords that are a little different, and even better if they have the B Part in a different key than the A Part. This is one of Brent's Favorite Tunes, and I always enjoy playing it with him.

More Fiddle Tune a Day at:
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Notes on Forked Deer According to the Library of Congress

"Forked Deer" is a quintessential fiddle tune of the old frontier. It is old and widely distributed, yet it cannot be traced to the Old World or the northern United States. "Forked Deer" begins with and gives greatest emphasis to the high strain of the tune. And it is fiddled with a fluid bowing style using slurs to create complicated rhythmic patterns, in the manner of the old Upper South. Its title both evokes the forest and (though few fiddlers in the Appalachians realize this) names a river in West Tennessee. An 1839 printed set from Southside Virginia (Knauff, "Virginia Reels", vol. 1, #4 "Forked Deer") establishes the tune's longevity under that title in Virginia. It found its way onto the nineteenth-century stage and into tune collections as a "jig": see "Brother Jonathan's Collection of Violin Tunes" (1862), p. 26 "Gas Light Jig"; Coes, "George H. Coes' Album of Music", p. 6 "Forkedair Jig," pp. 34-35 "Come and Kiss Me." But that did not give it circulation beyond its home region in the Upper South, where it turned up in many twentieth-century sets; see Thomas, "Devil's Ditties", pp. 131-133 (compare Victor 21407B, played by Jilson Setters (James Day)); Ford, "Traditional Music of America", p. 45 "Old Pork Bosom"; Morris, "Old Time Violin Melodies", #31 "Forkadair"; Thede, "The Fiddle Book", p. 135 (Oklahoma). Henry Reed plays a third strain, as do some other fiddlers, composed of the low strain recast an octave higher. He once mentioned that another old title for "Forked Deer" was "Hounds in the Thorn Bush," but he considered "Forked Deer" its proper name. He also mentioned it as one of the tunes in Quince Dillion's repertory.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Tune (folk Music)
• Buddy Spicher
• fiddle
• Bluegrass
• old-time
• guitar
• flatpick
• Brent Hawley

[teambronte]

I have posted all these great tunes onto my facebook page and have had lots of excited and positive feedback from people - keep it up! Roll out some Garryowen soon Vi!! hahaa

[vithefiddler]

@teambronte Thanks. It's on my to play list - along with 150 others. ;) Have patience. I will play it.

[teambronte]

hahaha ok Vi thanks!

[teambronte]

bravo both!