Скачать или смотреть Old-Time TOTW #80: Boatin' Up Sandy (Snake Chapman (1/5/20)

This week's tune is Boatin' Up Sandy from the playing of Owens Greenvile "Snake" Chapman (20 July 1919--30 October 2003) of Pike County, KY. He was the son of George Washington Chapman (1853-1952) and Pricy Blackburn (1871-1955). His ancestors on the Blackburn side came from North Yorkshire England and were in Virginia by 1742. He married Margaret Virginia Baldwin (1922-2007) on 29 May 1940.

Most sources state his first name as Owen, but public documents, as well as his gravestone, show his name was "Owens." Chapman grew up in an isolated hollow and began playing fiddle in the early 1930s. He learned many of his tunes from his father and paternal uncle, who were both excellent fiddlers. He worked in the coal mines from a young age and contracted black lung. He then moved to Michigan in 1966 to work in the auto industry. While there, Owens started a bluegrass band, but that did not last very long, and he moved back to his native Kentucky.

Chapman played Boatin' Up Sandy in the key of A, in cross A tuning, but I tuned low for this recording to FCFC. Joining me are friends Stephen Rapp on banjo (Kent, OH), and Jeanie Creamer on guitar (Hocking Hills, OH).

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