Chinkapin Hunting: A Song History

← Back to Browse By Song

A chinquapin, or chinkapin, is a dwarf cousin of the chestnut. The name most likely comes from a Virginia Algonquian word for the nut, and it shows up in English as early as 1612.[1] The Allegheny chinquapin grows as a big shrub or a small tree. Each of its spiny burs holds one sweet nut, and squirrels, deer, jays and people all eat them. The plant holds up moderately well against chestnut blight, but the fungus is still thinning it out.[2] The nuts ripen in the fall. A tune history from the Knoxville old-time music club says bags of them could still be bought at roadside stands in Stokes and Surry counties, North Carolina, in the early 1950s.[3]

Botanical color print of a chestnut branch with leaves and spiny burs

L. Prang & Co., “Chestnut. Castanea vulgaris, var. Americana,” chromolithograph, 1885. Library of Congress. No known restrictions on publication. The chinquapin is a smaller relative of the chestnut.

Several fiddle tunes go by this name. The Traditional Tune Archive notes that some of them differ so much that they count as separate melodies.[4] One came from Hiram Stamper (1893–1992) of Knott County in eastern Kentucky, who believed his tune went back at least to the Civil War. Folklorist Jeff Titon thought Stamper's version appeared to be unique.[4] According to the Knoxville club, Stamper passed his two-part tune on to his son Art Stamper.[3]

The version heard most often at jams today comes from Norman Edmonds of Hillsville, Virginia.[4][3] In 1927 Edmonds (1889–1976) recorded with banjo player J. P. Nester at the Bristol Sessions.[5][6] From the mid-1950s until about 1970, his son Rush taped his band, the Old Timers, for Saturday-morning radio programs in Galax. In 2004 the Field Recorders' Collective issued a "Chinquapin Hunting" from those tapes.[7][4] Edmonds also recorded the tune for an LP on the Davis Unlimited label,[8] and a recording of his appears on the CD Train on the Island.[9] His tune is a crooked, three-part piece in A, played on a fiddle cross-tuned AEae.[3][4][9] Stephen Seifert spells it "Chinquapin Hunting" in his mountain dulcimer collection Join the Jam II.[10]

Find books with Chinkapin Hunting for sale →

Sources

  1. Merriam-Webster: "Chinquapin".
  2. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service: "Plant Guide: Chinkapin, Castanea pumila".
  3. Knoxville Old-Time Music: "Chinquapin Hunting" (tune history).
  4. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Annotation:Chinquapin Hunting (1)".
  5. Music of Our Mountains (Handmade Music School): "J.P. Nester & Norman Edmonds".
  6. Birthplace of Country Music: "Music in the Blood: Norman Edmonds and Jimmy Edmonds".
  7. Field Recorders' Collective: "Norman Edmonds and the Old Timers, Volume 2 (FRC302)".
  8. Music of Our Mountains (Handmade Music School): "Chinquapin Hunting".
  9. Slippery Hill: "Chinquapin Hunting" (Norman Edmonds).
  10. Stephen Seifert: "Join the Jam II".