"Jerusalem Ridge"
#457 / Flood Time Capsule: 1977
Toward the end of his 82 years, Joe Dobbs a decade ago was fond of saying, “You know, I think I’ve finally learned how to play this fiddle.”
Okay, but those of us fortunate enough to have known Joe for half his life were pretty impressed with what he already knew 40 years earlier.
Click the Play button on the video below for the evidence. What you’ll hear is Joe performing at a party at the Bowens’ house on a St. Patrick’s Day nearly a half century ago:
About the Song
The song that Joe is playing in the above video is “Jerusalem Ridge,” which was co-written by Bill Monroe with his fellow Kentuckian Kenny Baker in early 1970s.
The story goes that Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys band was staying at the Henry Clay Hotel in downtown Ashland, Ky., one night in August 1971. Around 1 in the morning, Bill called Kenny to his room and asked his fiddler to come up with a bunch of musical ideas on the spot until he heard a few that he liked.
Kenny obliged. Bill would play a section on his mandolin and the fiddler would play it and then modify it. Three ideas that Bill especially enjoyed became the first, second and fourth parts of a new tune. Monroe had already written the third part. The finished work would be widely regarded as one of the greatest bluegrass tunes of all times.
Its minor-key setting may have been inspired by earlier modal old-time tunes like “Glory in the Meeting House,” which was captured on recording by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress around the time Bill formed the Blue Grass Boys in the late 1930s.
Lomax recorded performances of that tune by two other Kentucky fiddlers, Luther Strong and William H. Stepp.
About That Name
The Monroe boys, Bill and Charlie and their brother Birch, grew up in a small but comfortable cabin on a farm called Jerusalem Ridge, overlooking Rosine, Ky., that had been in the family since 1801.
The top of the actual ridge is about a mile from the home place; Bill called the ridge "the most beautiful place in the world.”
More from Joe
Monroe, Baker and The Blue Grass Boys didn’t record “Jerusalem Ridge” until March 1975, which means the song was still just a youngster when Joe Dobbs introduced it to his fellow celebrants at the Spring 1977 Bowen Bash.
If this performance has you in the mood for more from that March 17, 1977, gathering, click the video below from The Flood’s legacy film series:
And for more in the Bowen Bash series, check this earlier article.
More Joe?
Finally, if you’d like a little more Dobbs in your day, don’t forgot the band’s free Radio Floodango music streaming service, where a few clicks will let you tune in the Joe Channel for a randomized playlist of Dobbsization.
Oh lord! I miss him so much