Salt river

[sean parker]

i heard this tune "salt river" on a yazoo compilation. a fiddle tune with guitar backing, i think. it's fantastic. does anyone know this tune, and have the music for it? i'll try and work it out by ear, but it'll help to have the notes in front of me.
many thanks.

[Gibsonman]

Don,t you mean Salt Creek ? If so go to You Tube, and type it in.

[AlanN]

Salt River = Salt Creek, or am I wrong?

[Gibsonman]

I think you are wrong. I never heard a song called Salt River. But who knows.

[Skip Kelley]

Salt River = Salt Creek, or am I wrong?
Alan, I have heard it called Salt River as well!

[AlanN]

I thought so too, Skip. I think I heard Doc Watson called it Salt River.

[adgefan]

Doesn't the story go that Salt River was renamed Salt Creek by one Bill Monroe, to avoid confusion with the newly written Big Sandy River?

[mythicfish]

Could be. I often confuse salt and sand. Plays havoc with my cooking.

Curt

[psann]

There are twelve arrangements of tab and notation for Salt Creek on mandozine.

[sean parker]

i dug through my cds and found "salt river" on norman blake's whiskey before breakfast, and "salt creek" on the norman blake & tony rice 2 (with doc watson) cd, and they are the same tune.

but both don't really sound like the "salt river" i heard on the yazoo comp. however, it was a fiddle playing the melody, and was recorded in the '20's with the expressive flattening of notes, almost like Indian music.(excuse my ignorance) #john hartford played in this style on things like quail is a pretty bird.

anyway, all the different salt tunes mentioned are likely to be the same one. does anyone have the music or can point to where i might find it online? thanks.

.......oh hey, thanks psann!

[Steve Davis]

Is this it?

[adgefan]

A quick google found this. I wasn't imagining the Big Sandy River connection after all!

http://www.melbay.com/mandolinsessions/jun05/wendy.html

Hope that helps.

[cooper4205]

the story I heard is Don Stover taught Bill Keith the tune as Salt River. When Keith joined the BGB's, he taught it to Monroe and Big Mon recorded it under the name Salt Creek

[Gary S]

I believe the great old time contest fiddler Clark Kessinger recorded it as Salt River.

[woodwizard]

They are one and the same.

[mythicfish]

"They are one and the same."

Unless you're like me ... incapable of playing the song the same way twice.

[Jim Broyles]

"They are one and the same."

Unless you're like me ... incapable of playing the song the same way twice.
Same way twice?? I can barely play them the same way once!

[mythicfish]

I should have seen that coming ... but it's more fun when I don't.

Curt

[sean parker]

steve - from bar 9 onwards, it's very close. it's closer to the blake&rice 2 version. i suppose there are many slight variations. thanks steve for that, it really cleared things up for me.

the yazoo version is the one Gary S mentioned. the kessinger brothers. they did it in Bb. beautiful. like from another planet.

i don't know why i thought the kessinger and blake versions sounded different from each other, as now with the chart and hearing them back to back, it's clearly variations on the same melody. it's the fiddle that threw me, played in that raw, trancey sort of way that's impossible to replicate on a fretted instrument. if you haven't heard the kessinger brothers' "salt river" - it's well worth a listen.

thanks everybody

[mythicfish]

" it's the fiddle that threw me, played in that raw, trancey sort of way that's impossible to replicate on a fretted instrument."

I'm glad that nobody ever told me that when I started playing.

Curt

[mikeyes]

Bruce Molsky has a Salt River that does not sound like Salt Creek on the Lost boy CD. Is that the one you are looking for?

[Chris Biorkman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po5SYTZU1Vk

Watching a young girl tear it up like that makes me want to kill myself and Mike Marshall makes me wish I'd never been born.

[mythicfish]

"Watching a young girl tear it up like that makes me want to kill myself and Mike Marshall makes me wish I'd never been born."

Saying "yes" to ones limitations will ultimately lead to peace ... and progress. Or ... When you've gotten to it, and you find that you cannot do it, there you jolly well are ... aren't you.

Curt

[sean parker]

mike, excuse my lack of knowledge, but i don't who bruce molsky is. the lost boy cd either. thanks though.

[AlanN]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po5SYTZU1Vk

Watching a young girl tear it up like that makes me want to kill myself and Mike Marshall makes me wish I'd never been born.
I watched that, and realize I am bored with that scene.

First off, the tune was too fast for its worth. At that speed, cliches are bound to abound. Second, it has so been done, that tune in particular, and those same licks.

But, I suppose in that milieu, that is par for the course.

[Tom C]

Salt River is a different tune than Salt Creek. One of the bands(I forgot which one-still in a fog) played it at Grey Fox. It may be in Fiddlers fake book.

[mikeyes]

Sean,

Look at http://www.brucemolsky.com/store/prod_lostboy.htm and listen to the cut.

[sean parker]

thanks mike. will do. #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[mikeyes]

Or email me and I will send you a copy of the cut. I Can't seem to get it.

[G_Smolt]

The Improbabillies also do a bitchin' Salt River...check out the track Here (http://www.improbabillies.com/media/Improbabillies_SaltRiver.mp3)

great jam tune...

[MandoBen]

I have heard the only difference is that Salt River is Old-Time and Salt Creek is Bluegrass.
Quote from Doc Watson:
"Tonight we'll do a medley of two more of the old time fiddle tunes, Salt Creek, or Salt River I think the old tune was originally called, and that good ol' Bill Cheatum."
The Salt River was once raging rapids, by the mid 1900's it had shrunk to the size,of a creek. It is currently just a babbling salt brook, and expected to dry up entirely within the next ten years, at which time the title of the song will officially be changed to Salt Gulch. #;-)

[sean parker]

mike, got to hear bruce molsky finally---that's more like it. it's the same vibe. this is style the version i'm talking about is in. what ever modes bruce is using, and his phrasing, is in the same area as the kessinger version i have. bruce molksy makes his fiddle almost sound like a blues harp.

the blake,rice&watson version has a different feel, and even doc's contribution reshapes the melody again, and changes the feel. salt river is pretty malleable.

nice to hear "sail away ladies" too on bruce molsky's cd. such a good tune. thanks again for that.

G_smolt, couldn't access the improbabillies for whatever reason. thanks though.