"Monday's Waltz" - Isham Monday - D# A# F C

Here's the only waltz that Isham Monday played, unfortunately he couldn't recall the name, so it was named after him.
Tuning is D# A# F C (GDAE relative)
Isham Monday (1879 - 1964) (pronounced Ice-Um) was a lifelong farmer that lived on Cloyd's Ridge Along the Cumberland River In Monroe County, Kentucky. Monday was considered "the best fiddler in the Tompkinsville area." He supplied music in peoples homes in the region from the time has was a teenager until shortly before World War II, a span of fifty years. Isham learned to play the fiddle at age ten, He played a very old, archaic style of fiddle, where he'd be tuned so low that he could play three strings at once, and his bowing always consisted of slurs, swings, a series of saw-strokes, long-bows and was characterized by vigorous bowing and a great deal of bow pressure. He was recorded In the late 1950's by folklorist Lynwood Montell, who grew up In Monroe County, along with fellow folklorists D.K. Wilgus and John Newport.
When he was recorded he was eighty years old and past his prime, but his settings show a spare and tasteful sense of melody laced with occasional, contrasting ornate flourishes. He marks the beat vigorously, emphasizing the down-beat more than most fiddlers from the upper south. He told John Newport that he knew more than a hundred tunes when he was married in 1906 (Elizabeth "Lizzie" Pruitt Monday, (1888 - 1960), but at the time he was recorded he could start less than twenty. He played on his porch every night. "Oh, he lived for that," his son Carl told Burt Fientuch and Bruce Greene.
Here's a link to hear Isham Monday play this tune
www.slippery-h...
Here are links to Berea Archives, where you'll hear the entire Isham Monday recording sessions from 1959. Monday was visited twice.
First Recording Session:
berea.access.p...
Second Recording Session:
berea.access.p...
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[@garycottreau8442]

Really nice. Don't give up ... your music needs to be shared and educate us on the classic Appalachian style of music. Amazing!

[@tommybledsoe2371]

I learned a waltz with a very similar low part called Kiss Me waltz but the high part modulated to D. I learned it from Charles “Eely” Suttle in Scott County, VA. Eely had taken lessons from Charles “Pop” Tarter, a black musician in Gate City who I saw playing on the street when I was young. He dressed in a suit, white shirt and fedora- looked like the black version of my Grampa Enoch Bledsoe. I feel lucky to have heard him and one of his students, who brought a bluesy feel to his fiddling and guitar playing.

[@andreapatino2241]

Just saw this now. It's lovely. 🙂

[@greggkiply2763]

Beautiful.

[@tomsomervillemusic]

I don’t learn a lot of waltzes but this one is going on my list..

[@オオガキカツノリ]

👍👍👍

[@nadyabissett8729]

Sounds great! Your fiddle has such a beautiful tone.

[@benkiserappalachianmusic]

@nadyabissett8729 Thank you very much!

[@bearshield7138]

sweet job

[@benkiserappalachianmusic]

@@bearshield7138 thank you!

[@isaweesaw]

Quite unlike any of his other songs you've played...I find it quite charming

[@billmacaulay]

Lovely - did you change your strings to get this tuning?

[@benkiserappalachianmusic]

@@billmacaulay Nope, just regular d’addario strings