Hi All,
This week’s TOTW is West Fork Gals. I was surprised to find that West Fork Gals hasn’t been a TOTW yet. Looks like it’s been a topic in the BHO Sound Off! forum five times and has been posted to the BHO music archive eleven times. And for good reason. It’s a great tune!
I learned West Fork Gals from Miles Krassen’s Clawhammer Banjo book. I don’t learn tunes from tab much anymore, but I did for the first two or three years of my banjo journey and Krassen’s book is one of my favorites.
I’ve been really busy lately, so haven’t had time to do much research for this TOTW post. So I’ll just reproduce the Fiddler’s Companion entry for West Fork Gals and let others chime in with additional info for this tune:
WEST FORK GALS/GIRLS. AKA ‑ "Westfort Gals." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; West Virginia, Virginia. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. Known as a (central) West Virginia tune. Perlman (1979) thinks it may be related to the Irish reel "The Wexford Lasses" (both title and music?). Clay County, West Virginia, fiddler Wilson Douglas identifies the location of the title as the West Fork of the Little Kanawha river, in West Virginia, and thinks that influential regional (eastern Ky., West Va.) fiddler Ed Haley learned the tune in Clay County, W. Va. The West Fork is where "they used to have their big dances when (his mentor, French Carpenter) was a young man, back when they were logging," states Douglas, who also said that French played the tune in the 1920's along with one Anderson Dawson, who knew Ed Haley. Gerry Milnes says the river flows through Calhoun County, W.Va., and that there is a large, traditional old-time music community in that area. Krassen (1973) notes the tune is popular with fiddlers in the Gilmer County, West Virginia, region. Sources for notated versions: Fuzzy Mountain String Band (North Carolina) [Brody]; Danny Gardella [Phillips]; French Carpenter via Wilson Douglas (W.Va.) [Phillips]. Brody (Fiddler’s Fakebook), 1983; pg. 288. Carlin (English Concertina), 1977; pg. 24. Krassen (Appalachian Fiddle), 1973; pg. 30. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 1, 1994; pg. 254 (two versions). Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; pg. 166. Fretless 119, Rodney and Randy Miller‑ "Castles in the Air." Marimac AHS#1, Wilson Douglas. Rounder 0024, "Hollow Rock String Band" (1974. Learned from Lee Triplett, Clay County, W.Va.). Rounder 0035, Fuzzy Mountain String Band‑ "Summer Oaks and Porch" (1973. Learned from Ira Mullins & Wilson Douglas, Clay County, W.Va.). Rounder 0047, Wilson Douglas - "The Right Hand Fork of Rush's Creek" (1975). Rounder CD 0392, John Hartford - “Wild Hog in the Red Brush and a Bunch of Others You Might Not Have Heard” (1996. Learned from Wilson Douglas). Shanachie Records 6040, Gerry Milnes & Lorriane Lee Hammond – “Hell Up Coal Holler” (1999). Tennvale 002, Roaring Ramblers‑ "Galax 73."
There are lots of commercial recordings of this tune. A couple of my favorites are by Wilson Douglas and the Fuzzy Mountain String Band.
Last night I grabbed my trusty old iPod Classic with its Belkin mic attachment and made a recording of West Fork Gals on my Brooks 10L fretless to accompany this TOTW post. That’s on my BHO music page. But I’m guessing you’ll find better versions among those 11 posted in the BHO music archive.
All for now, Scott
