Uncle Pen

This is an online fiddle lesson for the tune "Uncle Pen." BluegrassDaddy.com is your best source for Bluegrass, Old Time, Celtic, Gospel, and Country fiddle lessons!

Genre: Bluegrass
Skill Level: Intermediate
Key of A

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To learn "Jenny Lynn," which is played near the end of Bill Monroe's "Uncle Pen," follow this link.

Video #1: Here is a video of me performing the fiddle tune "Uncle Pen."

 

James Pendleton Vandiver (1869–1932) was a Kentucky fiddler, born shortly after the American Civil War. He was uncle to bluegrass musician Bill Monroe, who immortalized him in a song, Uncle Pen.

Monroe used to hear his uncle playing fiddle on the hilltop where he lived, while Monroe put away his mules at night. He later said that Vandiver was "the fellow that I learned how to play from." Vandiver played fiddle at local square dances and social events, and his nephew backed him up, playing mandolin. Monroe's parents had both died by the time he was 16, and he lived part of the time with his Uncle Pen, in his two-room hilltop house in Rosine, Kentucky. Vandiver had been crippled earlier, and he made some money with his music. Bill Monroe's biographer, Richard D. Smith writes, "Pen gave Bill more: a repertoire of tunes that sank into Bill's aurally trained memory and a sense of rhythm that seeped into his bones. Sometimes Bill played guitar behind his uncle, sometimes the mandolin." On September 13, 1973, a monument in honor of Uncle Pen was unveiled by Monroe at the Rosine Cemetery.

Source: wikibooks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_TbkUo66IU

Bill Monroe left Vandiver another memorial, in the words of his song about his uncle:

Uncle Pen

Oh, the people would come from far away
They'd dance all night till the break of day
When the caller hollered do-se-do
You knew Uncle Pen was ready to go

Late in the evening about sundown
High on the hill above the town
Uncle Pen played the fiddle, Lord, how it would ring
You could hear it talk, you could hear it sing

He played an old piece, he called 'Soldier's Joy'
And the one called 'The Boston Boy'
The greatest of all was 'Jenny Lynn'
To me that's where the fiddle begins

Late in the evening about sundown
High on the hill above the town
Uncle Pen played the fiddle, Lord, how it would ring
You could hear it talk, you could hear it sing

I'll never forget that mournful day
When Uncle Pen was called away
They hung up his fiddle, they hung up his bow
They knew it was time for him to go

Late in the evening about sundown
High on the hill above the town
Uncle Pen played the fiddle, Lord, how it would ring
You could hear it talk, you could hear it sing

Late in the evening about sundown
High on the hill above the town
Uncle Pen played the fiddle, Lord, how it would ring
You could hear it talk, you could hear it sing