Shady Grove (song)

"Shady Grove" is an 18th-century folk song popular in the United States. It is a standard in the repertoires of folk, Celtic and bluegrass musicians. In most traditional versions, the melody is in the dorian mode such as the version in A dorian below (this is actually not in dorian it is in a six note or hexatonic scale, this should have been noticed as there is clearly neither an f sharp or an f natural in the tune as written and as performed, most Scottish tunes in minor modes have a six note basis, which is simply the addition of the notes of the two basic chords which can be used to harmonise the tunes, these are the Minor triad on the root and the Major triad a tone below); however, Bill Monroe's and some subsequent bluegrass versions use a major-key variation.

Many verses exist, most of them describing the speaker's love for a woman called Shady Grove. There are also various choruses, which refer to the speaker traveling somewhere (to Harlan, to a place called Shady Grove, or simply "away"). Some have said there have been over 300 stanzas written and added as variations. One of the most recognized cover versions belongs to Charlene Darling and the Darling boys on an episode of The Andy Griffith Show (Divorce, Mountain Style (1964)), portrayed by Maggie Peterson and The Dillards.

The melody is very similar to, and probably based on, that of an old English ballad, "Matty Groves".

Score

<score> << \new ChordNames \chordmode {

 \set chordChanges = ##t
 a4:m a4:m |%1
 g4 g4     |%2
 a4:m a4:m |%3
 a4:m a4:m |%4
 a4:m a4:m |%5
 g4 g4     |%6
 a4:m g4   |%7
 a4:m a4:m |%8

} \new Staff \relative c{ \key a \dorian \time 2/4 \repeat volta 2 { %start repeat

  a8 a16 a a8 a16 a |%1
  b8 a g4           |%2
  a8 a16 a c8 d     |%3
  e4 e4             |%4
  g8. g16 e8 e      |%5
  d8 b16 a g4       |%6
  a8 b8 d8 b8       |%7
  a4 a4             |%8
 } %end repeat

} >> </score>

Recordings

Well over 100 artists have recorded this song, notably:

• Among the Oak & Ash
• Clarence Ashley
• Blood Oranges
• Cabinet (Wilkes-Barre, Pa)
• J.J. Cale on the album Number 10
• Camper Van Beethoven adapted the song into "Peaches in the summertime"
• The Chieftains with Tim O'Brien on the album Further Down the Old Plank Road (2003)
• Coat of Grime
• Crooked Still
• Kris Drever
• The Duck Downpickers
• The Everly Brothers
• Richard Fariña
• Jerry Garcia, Tony Rice and David Grisman on the Pizza Tapes
• Jerry Garcia and David Grisman also recorded it on their album of the same name
• Mark Growden
• Hot Rize
• Kerosene Brothers, also better known as Hayseed Dixie
• The Kingston Trio performed on their live album "...from the Hungry i"
• Anthony Kyle
• Patty Loveless
• Taj Mahal
• Roger McGuinn
• Bill Monroe
• Mudcrutch, Tom Petty's first band, on their debut album released in 2008
• Jason Nesmith (son of Michael Nesmith) on the album Shelter
• Jayke Orvis & the Broken Band
• Pinmonkey
• Takenobu
• Pop and the Clingwrap Killers
• Janet Potin en David Egter van Wissekerke
• Quicksilver Messenger Service on the album of the same name
• Jean Ritchie
• David Rivett (acoustic guitarist, Western Australia)
• Pernell Roberts
• Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder
• Takenobu
• The Tin Box Boys
• Blitzen Trapper
• Doc Watson
• Dawud Wharnsby
• Whiskey Shivers
• Big Joe Williams
• Ryckeboer, Marcus, Inc. / RMI

In popular culture

• "Shady Grove" is part of the soundtrack of Take This Hammer, a movie about the building of dry stack stone walls.
• The song can be heard on one of the in-game radios in Episode 2 of the Xbox 360 and PC game Alan Wake as performed by the band Among the Oak & Ash.
• Eleanor Cameron's 1964 short story "The Meteor That Couldn't Stay" has a version of this song.
• A rendition of the song was included in the 1994 game Sid Meier's Colonization.

External links

• "Mattie Groves", an old English ballad with a very similar melody.
• A live version of "Shady Grove" by Doc Watson recorded at the 1996 Florida Folk Festival; made available for public use by the State Archives of Florida.
• Lyrics to Doc Watson's version.
• Takenobu's 2007 album "Introduction", including "Shady Grove" for cello and vocals.