This is a video of me playing "Salt River" or "Salt Creek" live. I also give a sample of the fiddle lesson you will find at BluegrassDaddy.com. Clark Kessinger (July 27, 1896 -- June 4, 1975) was an influential American old-time fiddler. Many of his fiddle tunes made their way to other fiddlers or into the bluegrass music genre. Kessinger was born in South Hills, West Virginia. He teamed up with his nephew Luches "Luke" Kessinger performing at various locations and running their own radio show out of WOBU in Charleston, WV. Calling themselves The Kessinger Brothers, Clark and Luke made many recordings through the years, many of which were best-sellers. They were a band from 1906 until 1944, when Luke passed away. The Kessinger Brothers recorded "Salt River" in 1928-29 in Ashland, KY, on the Brunswick Label.
Clark Kessinger continued to record and to win prizes at different fiddling contests. In April 1971, he won the World's Champion Fiddle Prize at the 47th Old-time Fiddler's Convention in Union Grove, North Carolina. (wikipedia)
"Salt River" probably refers to the river of that name in Kentucky. Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys recorded this fiddle tune in 1964 under the title "Salt Creek" (Decca 31596), modifying the original name in honor of the creek in Indiana near where Monroe held his annual Bean Blossom Festival. Monroe's banjoist, Bill Keith, apparently got the tune originally from West Virginia banjoist Don Stover. The Monroe recording has given the tune a new lease on life on the bluegrass circuit. The tune's distribution seems to have been limited to Virginia and West Virginia before its bluegrsass diffusion in the later decades of the twentieth century. (Library of Congress).
