Black Hills Waltz: A Song History

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The "Black Hills Waltz" known to old-time fiddlers comes down to us through Kenner C. Kartchner (1886–1970), a fiddler from Snowflake, Arizona, who believed the tune dated back at least to 1890.[1] His memoir, edited by Larry V. Shumway and published in 1990 as Frontier Fiddler: The Life of a Northern Arizona Pioneer, includes musical notation,[2] and the waltz is transcribed there.[1] A 1943 home recording of Kartchner playing it survives;[3] the tune is in A, with the fiddle cross-tuned AEae.[1] The title was also used for another piece: H. R. Marcyes composed a different "Black Hills Waltz" in 1877, issued for violin and piano by John Church of Cincinnati.[1][4]

1889 photograph of Spearfish Falls, two waterfalls pouring over a wooded cliff in the Black Hills

John C. H. Grabill, “Spearfish Falls,” Black Hills, Dakota, photograph, 1889. Library of Congress. No known restrictions.

Kartchner's own playing was issued on the Okehdodee album The New Beehive Songster, Vol. 1, and the waltz has since been recorded by Rafe Stefanini on Glory on the Big String (County) and by Skip Gorman on Lonesome Prairie Love (Rounder, 1996).[1] Peghead Nation's old-time fiddle course teaches it in the same cross-tuning and praises its easy, rolling lilt.[5] Stephen Seifert's mountain dulcimer book Join the Jam II includes a "Black Hills Waltz" among its old-time jam tunes.[6]

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Sources

  1. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Annotation:Black Hills Waltz (The)".
  2. Smithsonian Libraries: "Frontier fiddler: the life of a northern Arizona pioneer / Kenner Casteel Kartchner; Larry V. Shumway, editor".
  3. Slippery Hill: "Black Hills Waltz" (K.C. Kartchner, 1943).
  4. LOC's Public Domain Archive (Library of Congress Music Copyright Deposits): "Black Hills Waltz".
  5. Peghead Nation: "Session 7: Pretty Little Girl, Black Hills Waltz, and Western Country".
  6. Stephen Seifert: "Join the Jam II".