Clay Hole Waltz: A Song History

← Back to Browse By Song

"Clay Hole Waltz," often spelled "Clayhole," is a Western tune rather than an Appalachian one. The Traditional Tune Archive traces it to Larkin Gifford, a musician from Springdale, Utah, whose father taught him the tune.[1] Musician Ben Traverse names the father as Moses Elias Gifford and points out that nothing suggests Moses composed it, so its author remains unknown.[2] Gifford also explained the title: the Clayhole was a spot close to the Arizona–Utah line where cowboys and freighters used to gather and camp.[1][2]

1940 photograph of the wide, silted bed of the Virgin River in southern Utah, with mesas beyond

Russell Lee, “Silted bed of the Virgin River in Washington County, Utah,” photograph, October 1940. Library of Congress. No known restrictions.

According to Traverse, a 1976 recording of Larkin Gifford performing the waltz, made by concertina player Hal Cannon, was included on The New Beehive Songster, Vol. 2.[2] Skip Gorman and Ron Kane then paired "The Clayhole" with "Peeler Creek" on Powder River (Folk-Legacy, 1981), a collection of Western songs and tunes on which Cannon also played.[3] Gorman's liner notes for that album are the source of Gifford's explanation of the title.[2] The Gifford Family later recorded the tune in C for the Utah Arts Council's An Old-Time Utah Dance Party (1996).[1][4] Other versions include a 1988 recording by the Bunkhouse Orchestra and a setting from Greg Canote in Gene Silberberg's 2005 tune collection.[5]

It is also played in A: Slippery Hill notes that the Gettysburg Collection gives it in that key, and the Slower Than Dirt slow jam lists it among its core tunes in A.[4][6] It is one of the waltzes in Stephen Seifert's mountain dulcimer book Join the Jam II.[7]

Find books with Clay Hole Waltz for sale →

Sources

  1. The Traditional Tune Archive: "The Clayhole".
  2. Ben Traverse Music: "Clayhole Waltz".
  3. Smithsonian Folkways: "Powder River" (Ron Kane and Skip Gorman).
  4. Slippery Hill: "Clayhole Waltz".
  5. Folk Music Index (ibiblio.org): "Folk Music Index - Cir to Cno".
  6. Slower Than Dirt: "Clayhole Waltz".
  7. Stephen Seifert: "Join the Jam II".