Five years ago, I began a quest to study old-time musicians from Ohio and the tunes they played. I was trying to determine if there was a specific repertoire of the Buckeye State.
Sure, there are tunes like "Banks of the Ohio," "Camp Chase" and "Big Scioty" that specifically reference the state and its landmarks, but these compositions are often attributed to sources outside of Ohio. There also are a number of wartime songs, minstrel tunes, broadside ballads and canal songs that have their origin in the state. However, I wanted to find the more unique tunes played by the fiddlers I surveyed, with special attention paid to those pieces that specifically mention Ohio in their titles.
First things first, I must mention that I am not a folklorist or ethnomusicologist. Old-time music and Ohio history is a hobby of mine, and I don't claim to be an expert. If you think I'm missing anything from my list, or you want to tell me how wrong I am, please leave your comments down below. And now, let's get to my list of what I'm calling ...
The Ohio Dozen
"Chillicothe Beauty," by Forrest Pick, was recorded in 1973 by John Harrod, Gus Meade and Mark Wilson for their compilation Along the Ohio's Shores, originally released by Rounder Records in 2005 and reissued in 2020 by the Field Recorders' Collective (FRC).
"Chillicothe Two-Step," by Lonnie Seymour, was recorded in the mid-1980s by Jeff Goehring and can be heard on the 2005 FRC release of Seymour's music, as well as the 1985 compilation Seems Like Romance to Me released by the Gambier Folklore Society and the 1987 cassette of The Ross County Farmers released by Marimac Recordings.
"Cincinnati Hornpipe," by Estil Adams, was recorded in the 1980s by Jeff Goehring and is available on Larry Warren's excellent Slippery Hill website. Adams was from Washington Courthouse, Ohio, in Fayette County. He learned from his father and uncle, who both played fiddle, and he played in a band with his brothers.
"Cauliflower," by Jimmy Wheeler, was recorded in the 1980s by Jeff Goehring and is available on the 2004 FRC release of Wheeler's music. Wheeler had a number tunes that seem to be unique to him, but this one just spoke to me.
"Hardesty's Waltz," by Clifford Hardesty, comes from a collection I received some years ago titled Ohio's Master Fiddler, but I have never been able to find any further documentation. I'd love to know if anyone knows more about that collection. Clifford and his brother Telford were included on the Seems Like Romance to Me album mentioned above, where they play a unique version of "Soldier's Joy" in the key of C. Clifford was well known for playing and building fiddles, and his grandson Jeremy Timmons now carries on his legacy.
"Hound Chase," by Arnold Sharp, was recorded in the 1980s by Jeff Goehring and can be heard on the 2006 FRC release. There's a cool video of Frank Lee playing this tune on banjo, where he references the tune's Ohio roots.
"Jess Large's Going Back to Pine Creek," by Jess Large via Arnold Sharp, was recorded by Jeff Goehring and can be heard on the same Arnold Sharp FRC album linked above. Jess Large was a fiddler who has been mentioned by several other Ohio musicians, but I've never found any recordings by him. A few years ago I wrote about a newspaper article I came across where his granddaughters were trying to track down his recordings, but as far as I know that effort was unsuccessful. Also in that article, it was mentioned that the tune should actually be titled "Going Back to Pine Grove," after nearby Pine Grove, Ohio.
"Log Chain," by Lonnie Seymour, was recorded by Jeff Goehring and is available on the aforementioned FRC released linked above. There's also a recording on the Old Town School of Folk Music website. I first heard the tune from a recording by Lynn Frederick.
"Portsmouth Airs," by Jimmy Wheeler, was recorded by Jeff Goehring and is available on the aforementioned FRC release linked above. There's also a version by Forrest Pick that appears on the Along the Ohio's Shores album.
"Portsmouth Hill Winder," by John Lozier, was recorded playing the tune on harmonica for the Along the Ohio's Shores album available through the FRC. There's another tune called "Portsmouth Winder," attributed to Ray Hilt, but I don't have a recording of it to tell if it's the same tune.
"Three Thin Dimes," by John Hutchison, was recorded by Jeff Goehring and is available on Slippery Hill. I don't have a whole lot of other information about Hutchison, other than he was from Barnesville, Ohio, and died in 1979. The Traditional Tune Archive has a little more information about him.
"Washington Courthouse," by Estil Adams, was recorded by Jeff Goehring and appears on the Red Mules 1992 cassette released by Marimac, which has just been reissued by the surviving band members and is available on Bandcamp. Goehring's version of the tune is also available on Slippery Hill. Adams didn't have a name for tune, so Goehring named it after the town where Adams lived.
For all the mention of Ward Jarvis on this blog, you might be surprised I didn't include any of his tunes, such as "Head of the Creek," "Icy Mountain" or "Pretty Little Shoes." I'm also leaving out some other great and unique tunes attributed to the fiddlers above, such as Wheeler's "Blind Steer in a Mud Hole" and "Pumpkin Vine," among others. All I can say is my list is not comprehensive, and there's always room for future posts on this subject.
As mentioned above, you can find recordings of many of these tunes, as well as some other great ones from Ohio, at Larry Warren's excellent Slippery Hill website. Other recordings of Ohio fiddlers are available through the FRC website and its Bandcamp site. And thanks to a reader who emailed me recently, I also learned of Columbus-based fiddler Henry Barnes' series of videos for the Ohio Arts Council about Ohio fiddlers, which you can find on his YouTube page.
You might have noticed that most of the tunes listed above were recorded by Jeff Goehring, and a lot of those tunes have been released through the FRC and elsewhere. I'm very thankful to Susie Goehring for sharing some of her husband's notes on these recordings, as well as to Lynn Frederick and Kerry Blech for providing supplemental information over the years.
One other tune that deserves mention is "Winder Slide," composed by Joe LaRose and released on his 1988 cassette, A Southern Catalog, released by Marimac. The tune has become pretty popular throughout the broader old-time community.
What a most-worthy (and fun!) undertaking. Thank you for saving this history.
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