Some fiddle music for a Thursday morning. Here’s Black Jack Grove performed by Art Stamper. Mr. Stamper, a player from Kentucky, played both Appalachian old time fiddle as well as bluegrass fiddle (he performed with the Stanley Brothers and Bill Monroe’s outfit). I read that as well as being a great fiddler, he was also a haircutter who owned a shop called The Way of Art.

I’ve been trying to learn this one on fiddle. I’ve got the tune down, and I’m working on getting my speed up and adding in drones. I’m finding fiddle to be pretty challenging to learn compared to banjo or accordion. Developing bowing control is an immediate obstacle and so is playing nice clean drones. On top of that, since there are no frets, you have to worry about getting the intonation right. I’m working hard at it though, and getting better a bit at a time.