Today's Tune of the Week is Peach Bottom Creek, a short tune in D that comes to us from Wade Ward. I first ran across it in a tablature collection (I can't recall which one) while searching for tunes to play in Open D tuning (f#DF#AD). It caught my attention in part because of its eight-bar structure - as a relative beginner I often found that I could more easily get into the old-time rhythmic groove while playing shorter tunes like Cluck Old Hen, Cripple Creek, Shaking Down the Acorns, etc., than I could with longer tunes. After listening to some recordings and deciding that I liked it, I put Peach Bottom Creek on my "to learn" list. It spent some time there and then on my "know it" list, but is currently on my "to refresh" list, since once learning it I didn't play it very often, mostly because, not playing any other tunes in Open D, I rarely re-tune to that tuning. But when I do get around to it, I always enjoy playing Peach Bottom Creek.
As far as I can determine, all current versions of the tune can be traced back to Wade Ward. He was the first to record it, and the tune was closely associated with him during his lifetime. Indeed, it was sometimes called Wade's Special. He is occasionally referred to as the tune's author, but according to most sources Peach Bottom Creek is a traditional tune that Wade learned in his youth from his older brother Crockett. Wade can claim credit for the title, however, which he took from the name of the creek that flowed through his farm just outside the town of Independence, in Grayson County, Virginia. I don't know what name or names the tune might have had before Wade christened it Peach Bottom Creek, nor whether he forgot, never learned, or simply didn't like the earlier name. Wade evidently thought the tune was of African-American heritage, but other than that bit of speculation little seems to be known of the tune before it entered Wade's repertoire.
Unlike much of the current old-time banjo repertoire, Peach Bottom Creek is considered to be a "pure banjo tune", not a fiddle tune adapted to the banjo. It is not included in the online "Fiddler's Companion", nor in the handful of other fiddle tune collections I consulted. I could find no fiddle-only versions online (YouTube, Hangout Archives, etc.), and only one banjo/fiddle duet version. Nor have I yet come across a full band version of the tune, not even on the one CD released by the Colorado string band Peachbottom Creek, who took their name from the tune.
As far as I know, the first commercial recording of Peach Bottom Creek came in 1962, on the Folkways album "The Music of Roscoe Holcomb and Wade Ward" (http://www.folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=210). It was also included on the 1973 Folkways album "Uncle Wade", released as tribute two years after his death. An earlier version, recorded in Wade's living room in 1958 by Peter Hoover, can be found on the 2007 Field Recorders Collective release "Wade Ward".
I know of only a few recent recording of the tune.
R.D. Lunceford included it on his 2001 "Drop Thumb" album: http://elderly.com/recordings/items/CBM82498.htm
R.D. Lunceford included it on his 2001 "Drop Thumb" album: http://elderly.com/recordings/items/CBM82498.htm
Mary Z. Cox and Lo Gordon play a banjo duet version on Mary's 2008 "Florida Banjo" album: http://www.maryzcox.com/music2.html . According to Mary, she learned the tune from Lo, and he provided the tablature in the album's accompanying tab book. A video of Lo performing the tune can be found on Mary's BanjoQuest blog site: http://banjoquest.blogspot.com/2008/12/banjoquest-begins-today.html
Allen Hart recorded a version with bones accompaniment, which can be found on his recent "Old Time Banjo" album: http://www.voyagerrecords.com/LN368.htm
There are three sound files of Peach Bottom Creek in the BHO music archives, including this two-finger style version by Chip Arnold: http://www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/music.asp?id=6347&musicid=2767&ie6fix=1#comments
I found four videos of the tune on YouTube; three solo banjo performances (for instance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gyb9V6xwFNQ) and one featuring banjo and guitar (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npsIKhyRMFE).
As noted above, the tune is named after Peach Bottom Creek in Grayson County, Virginia. Photos of the creek itself (http://www.pbase.com/fuzzyone/image/3722741) and the surrounding landscape can be found in an online photo album at http://www.pbase.com/fuzzyone/sony_virgina_sampler&page=all.
