By:Bill Monroe · Source Recording: Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass BoysBill Monroe (1950)Song details
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 and 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 fiddlin' begins
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
That’s your free listen. With an account the band keeps going — this song and every other one, as many times through as you like, in any key, at any tempo. Free for 14 days, no card.
Start my free 14 daysClicks before the band comes in, so you start together.
Raises the tempo as the band goes round, so you build up speed.
The band goes quiet for a bar or two and you keep the time going.
By:Bill Monroe · Source Recording:Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys (1950)
“Uncle Pen” is Bill Monroe’s tribute to his mother’s brother, James Pendleton Vandiver (1869–1932), the Kentucky fiddler known as Uncle Pen. Monroe’s mother Malissa died in 1921 and his father in 1928, and Monroe lived part of the time with Vandiver in his two-room hilltop house in Rosine, Kentucky. Vandiver played fiddle for local square dances and social events, and his nephew backed him on mandolin.
The song pictures those dances. People come from far away and dance until daybreak, the caller hollers the do-si-do, and Uncle Pen is ready to go; in the evening, up on the hill above the town, his fiddle rings out so that it seems to talk and sing. The singer names three of his pieces, “Soldier’s Joy,” “The Boston Boy” and “Jenny Lynn,” and calls the last the best of all, the place where, to him, fiddling begins. The final verse recalls the day Uncle Pen was called away and his fiddle and bow were hung up.
Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys recorded it for Decca on 15 October 1950 at Castle Studio in the Tulane Hotel in Nashville, with Monroe on mandolin and lead vocal, Jimmy Martin on guitar and Joel Price on bass singing harmony, Rudy Lyle on banjo and Red Taylor on fiddle. Decca released it in December 1950 on a single (46283) with “When the Golden Leaves Begin to Fall.”
Porter Wagoner recorded the song in 1956 and took it to number 14 on Billboard’s country chart. Ricky Skaggs’s version, released on Epic in June 1984, reached number one on the country chart, his ninth. Monroe’s 1972 Decca album Uncle Pen, named for his uncle, is his first album made up entirely of original material.
Please choose a song.
Clicks before the band comes in, so you start together.
Raises the tempo as the band goes round, so you build up speed.
The band goes quiet for a bar or two and you keep the time going.
Clicks before the band comes in, so you start together.
Raises the tempo as the band goes round, so you build up speed.
The band goes quiet for a bar or two and you keep the time going.
Loading chord chart…
Every song and every practice tool, free for 14 days. No card, nothing to cancel. Already have an account? Log in
Free for 14 days. No card needed.
Create an account and the whole thing is yours free for 14 days — every song in the catalog, every practice tool. No card needed.
Everything free for 14 days
Plus every chart in any key, playlists and printing.
Start my free 14 daysNo card, nothing to cancel.
