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Stylistic origins British folk, African music, minstrel, Tin Pan Alley, gospel, Appalachian music Cultural origins English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, African, French, German, Spanish Typical instruments Old time fiddle, guitar, banjo Derivative forms Bluegrass, country, Cajun fiddle | ||
"Yew Piney Mountain" is part of the canonical Appalachian music tradition which has been highly influential in American fiddle tradition generally, including its old time fiddle and bluegrass fiddle branches. According to Alan Jabbour at the Digital Library of Appalachia, the tune was called at one time "Blackberry Blossom" until that title was taken over by a different tune. The earlier "Blackberry Blossom", as played by Sanford Kelly from Morgan County, is now represented by the tune "Yew Piney Mountain". Differing from Jabbour, however, another influential secondary source, Andrew Kuntz's Fiddler's Companion asserts that the tunes are related Contradicting Jabbour, who clearly distinguishes the earlier version, is the account of Andrew Kuntz to the effect that "Betty Vornbrock and others have noted a similarity between 'Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom' and the West Virginia tune 'Yew Piney Mountain', a variant...also played by Kentucky fiddlers J.P. Fraley and Santford Kelly".
Culture: History and Influence
According to Andy Kurtz, similarities between an unspecified variant of "Blackberry Blossom", which may be the different song identified by Jabbour as today's "Yew Piney Mountain", were acknowledged in the literature. Whichever version that overlap refers to, it was reportedly also played by the well known Kentucky fiddler J.P. Fraley and the more obscure Owen “Snake” Chapman, as well as by Santford Kelly and others.
The tune is such a solid exemplar of Americana that it is the title of a radio show, serious blogging about Old Time fiddle music and a Smithsonian Folkways compilation