“Shenandoah Waltz” is a country waltz written by Clyde Moody and the fiddler Chubby Wise. By Moody’s account, the two wrote it at his kitchen table — Moody supplying the words, Wise the music — after Moody, who had driven many times through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, realized that so beautiful a place had no song of its own.
Moody recorded it in 1947, and the record became an enormous seller. Its success earned him the nickname “Hillbilly Waltz King,” and “Shenandoah Waltz” became a standard of the country and bluegrass waltz repertoire.
The song has remained a favorite of fiddlers in particular, for whom its graceful melody is a natural showcase.
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