Dirty Sheets: A Song History

← Back to Browse By Song

"Dirty Sheets" is a West Virginia reel in D major that the Traditional Tune Archive traces to the fiddler Melvin Wine of Braxton County, describing it as Wine's version of the better-known "Folding Down the Sheets."[1] The archive cites Jim Taylor's view that this parent tune was already widely played on both sides of the Civil War, and it traces most modern versions to the playing of Henry Reed, a southwest Virginia fiddler.[2] Wine (1909–2003) was born near Burnsville into a family that had lived in Braxton County since at least 1840, and he counted his father, Bob Wine, as his biggest musical influence.[3] He carried a repertoire of more than 250 tunes, received the Vandalia Award in 1981, and was named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1991.[3][4]

Etching of a woman in a headscarf and apron bending over a washtub

Charles-Émile Jacque, Washerwoman, etching and drypoint on chine collé, 1850. Shown for its washing day; it has no connection to the tune.

Wine's performance of the tune was issued on the Augusta Heritage album Old Time Fiddling of Braxton County, vol. 2 (1992), and transcriptions from his playing were printed in Stacy Phillips's Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1 (1994), and Silberberg's Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern (2002).[1][5] Gerry Milnes, a former folk arts coordinator at the Augusta Heritage Center, also taped Wine playing "The Dirty Sheets" at Copen, West Virginia, on October 8, 1991.[6] Larry Conger includes it in Hoedowns And Breakdowns, a Fingers Of Steel dulcimer book of danceable tunes that comes with an MP3 recording of each song; "Folding Down the Sheets" appears in the same book.[7]

Our book that contains the song "Dirty Sheets"

Sources

  1. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Dirty Sheet(s)".
  2. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Folding Down the Sheets".
  3. e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia: "Melvin Wine".
  4. National Endowment for the Arts: "Melvin Wine".
  5. East Providence Public Library: "Mel Bay presents the Phillips collection of traditional American fiddle tunes".
  6. Augusta Arts and Culture: "Melvin Wine fiddle tunes; Braxton County Fiddlers; 10/8/1991".
  7. Fingers Of Steel: "Larry Conger, Hoedowns And Breakdowns".
  8. Image: Charles-Émile Jacque, Washerwoman, etching and drypoint on chine collé, 1850. The Cleveland Museum of Art.

← Back to Browse By Song