Maury River Blues?

[acousticphd]

The "Deep Elum Blues" post reminded me to ask whether any of you have ever heard of an instrumental tune called "Maury River Blues"? Slow tune in Am. I play this from memory as I remember it played by a mando player in Utah, but never have been able to track down a writer or a recording. There is a Maury County (and a Maury River, I expect) in So. TN about 75 miles downstate of Nashville, but I've never come across anyone here who's heard of it.

[Geno]

The Johnson Mountain Boys did it and recorded it, I think it was on the "Let The Whole World Talk" album. I think maybe Dave McLaughlin, their mandolin player, wrote it too.

[Joe Parker]

I believe the Maury River that the song is named for is in Viginia,where the composer lives. JPP

[Geno]

Check out this free download of Maury River Blues on Amazon.com here (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000058U23/104-9419980-0819129?v=glance)

[acousticphd]

Hey, thanks for the above. Wish I'd asked sooner!

[GTison]

I've been thinking about that one too. A friend of mine said she thought Dave might have gotten that one from some movie about Lousianna accidently. She asked him if he had seen the movie. and he said yes that he liked that movie! whoops!

[David W McLaughlin]

Maury River Blues is named after the Maury River in Rockbridge County, Virginia. The tune came out of my own head in the 1970s. I remember seeing a list of VMI and W&L students who had died swimming in the river at Goshen Pass over the years. So I composed the tune in honor of the many students who had died in the river. I learned to swim in Goshen Pass because my father had learned there and he felt that if I could handle the tough areas of the rapids, I'd be good to go. It can be deadly in places after a good rain. I don't recall ever seeing a movie about Louisiana, and the tune is not derived from any other source.

[evanreilly]

And that is the compleat answer! I have 'worked up' that number and think it is a great slow blues tune. Thanks for the response, David.

[Jim Gallaher]

Maury River Blues is named after the Maury River in Rockbridge County, Virginia. The tune came out of my own head in the 1970s. I remember seeing a list of VMI and W&L students who had died swimming in the river at Goshen Pass over the years. So I composed the tune in honor of the many students who had died in the river. I learned to swim in Goshen Pass because my father had learned there and he felt that if I could handle the tough areas of the rapids, I'd be good to go. It can be deadly in places after a good rain. I don't recall ever seeing a movie about Louisiana, and the tune is not derived from any other source.
Here's what David himself had to say about the origin of the tune in his August 12, 2005 post to the Cafe:

[DryBones]

Here is the tab from Mandozine

Maury River Blues (http://www.mandozine.com/music/search_results.php?searchfor=maury+river+blues&tuneselectby=C&mandolevel=&category=&songkey=&artist=&transcriber=&sortby=T&sortorder=A&submit=Find+TableEdit+Files)