Chinquapin Hunting

Art Stamper (1933–2005) grew up in Hindman and became a professional fiddler, working with the Stanley Brothers, Bill Monroe, Jim & Jesse and the Osborne Brothers among others. He recorded his father’s tune, titled “Chinqui Pin Hunting,” on The Lost Fiddler (County 779, 1982), playing it in D in standard tuning. That fast studio version is the one most jam and festival players follow now. When he played it at a Clifftop jam in 2003, however, it sounded closer to his father’s version than to the album. He also played a version in G-D-G-D tuning with John Herrmann.

The title causes confusion. Clark Kessinger of Kanawha County, West Virginia, also played a D-major tune named for the chinquapin, a dwarf chestnut. Brunswick issued his 1929 recording as “Chinky Pin”, which Charles Wolfe put down to a clerk mangling the tree’s name. Kessinger’s melody is a different tune, derived from the British Isles fiddle and pipe tune “My Love She’s But a Lassie Yet.” The same melody appears as “Miss Farquarson’s Reel” in a publication of 1756.