Black jack grove

[Perry]

I've been really liking the tune Black Jack Grove; I've heard the Berea College mp3's. Is there any "modern" recordings of this? Apparently Dirk Powell had it on a record at one time.

Anybody else play this?

Thanks
Perry

[Paul Hostetter]

Mozaik, a band comprised of Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny, Bruce Molsky, Rens Van Der Zalm and Nikola Parov, have a really nice version of it in a medley with a Romanian hora, on their Live from the Powerhouse CD.

Bruce Molsky also teaches the tune (he has a killer version, based on Walter McNew's) on his Southern Old-Time Fiddle Tour video.

The Battlefield Band does it, probably inspired by Mozaik.

A band from Kentucky called the Clack Mountain String Band (http://www.clackmountain.com/band.html) does a version, as does another band called Big Medicine.

And of course there's Art Stamper's version.

[Perry]

Thanks Paul.

I was playing the version out of Titon's book (McNew's)
and thought it sounded familiar. I have both the Art Stamper and Mosaic CD; both fantastic. I have so many CD's I can't keep track.

Do you think Molsky's "Southern Old-Time Fiddle Tour"
would be helpful to a non-fiddling mando player interest in that old-time sound?

Molsky's latest album is another keeper.

Perry

[Paul Hostetter]

Bruce is terrific. I don't know how applicable his fiddle playing would be to mandolin. But I never thought about this until now: if one could pick like he bowed, whoa! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Steve P]

Hi Paul and Perry,
The tune is on a Walter McNew tape cassette from Berea College entitled "Black Jack Grove," and on a cassette of Dirk Powell (fiddle) and John Herrmann (banjo). Both are excellent sources. The Dirk Powell cassette is available from John Herrmann. His address (in 1991) is listed as 28 Elizabeth Place, Asheville, NC.

I have transcribed a number of Bruce Molsky's tunes for the
mandolin. They don't begin to do him justice as far as duplicating his sound--impossible on the mandolin. They are still fun to play, however, and are always interesting versions.

Incidently, a good website to search for available recordings is: http://www.ibiblio.org/folkindex/index.htm Cheers, Steve Parker