Review: 'Shady Grove' Origins

Subject: RE: Review: 'Shady Grove' Origins
From: Lighter
Date: 25 May 23 - 12:59 PM

An additional reason for choosing to marry "Mattie Groves" to the "Shady Grove" tune is that the Dorian melody sounds noticeably archaic and ballad-like.

The tune may be older than the words, but there seems to be no way of knowing.

Our records of nineteenth-century Southern U.S. fiddling are maddeningly sparse, and the tune may have existed - since God knows when - under a different title.

Or it may have popped up in the 1890's. Unlikely, but who can say?

A different question is "How widely known was it in the days before radio and recordings?" People like to assume that all trad tunes made familiar by the revival were once known by just about everybody in the South. But few references, that, of course, is quite an assumption!

I've long been searching old books and newspapers for mention of Southern fiddle-tune titles before about 1920. Until the rise of "Old-Time Fiddlin' Contests" in the 1890s, they're rather few and far between.

Subject: RE: Review: 'Shady Grove' Origins
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 25 May 23 - 10:57 AM

The song "Shady Grove" was originally introduced to the folk community c. 1950 by Jean Ritchie on her first 10" Op Elektra album.

Bob

Subject: RE: Review: 'Shady Grove' Origins
From: cnd
Date: 25 May 23 - 09:04 AM

Thanks for sharing. I will definitely be giving this a read.

Subject: RE: Review: 'Shady Grove' Origins
From: Joe_F
Date: 24 May 23 - 06:21 PM

It appears, however, that in songs Shady Grove is often a *person*.

Subject: RE: Review: 'Shady Grove' Origins
From: Lighter
Date: 24 May 23 - 10:34 AM

Nice read, Musette. You might want to correct Wikipedia, which asserts that the "Shady Grove" tune "was traditionally used in Appalachia"   for "Little Musgrave/ Mattie Groves."

The Ballad Index mentions a text of "Shady Grove" from 1893. That would be the earliest I'm aware of.

The place name "Shady Grove" was once common in the U.S. There was one in Orange Co., N.Y., as early as 1760.

A Shady Grove post office was established in north Georgia in 1824, another in Gibson Co., Tennessee, by 1835, one in Russell Co., Alabama, by 1836, one in Buncombe Co., N.C., by 1838, and one in Jefferson Co., Tennessee, by 1854.

One Shady Grove in Kentucky is in Crittenden Co. in the state's far western corner. Another is near Paducah in the central part of the state. But there could have been others.

For some reason, the name of the N.C. Shady Grove was changed in 1838 to "Mud Creek."

Subject: Review: 'Shady Grove' Origins
From: GUEST,Musette
Date: 24 May 23 - 02:32 AM

Hello! My name is Musette and I'm a music blogger on Medium.com who has been a longtime lurker on Muscat. I mostly write about folk music (American and Gaelic) but occasionally cover other genres too. I wanted to share my latest blog post, which is about the song "Shady Grove." I'm relatively new to blogging and would like to know what you guys think! Also PLEASE feel free to fact check me.

https://medium.com/@musettedc/appalachias-shady-grove-a-mournful-ballad-through-the-centuries-b3852fc72284