“Chattanooga,” sometimes called “Old Chattanooga,” is a traditional old-time fiddle tune from the Walden’s Ridge and Sequatchie Valley area near Chattanooga, Tennessee. It dates to roughly the 1920s and is associated with the fiddler Blaine Smith, who learned it from the older fiddler Bob Douglas.
The tune is a reel in the key of G, built in the two-strain form common to old-time fiddle music. It reflects the local “Chattanooga style” of fiddling — clear, unadorned melodies played over straightforward rhythm — and is a good example of how tunes stayed rooted in particular communities.
This recording features George Jackson and Tristan Scroggins and appears on “The Old Time 100, Vol. 1,” a collection drawing on the deep well of traditional fiddle tunes.
