The Blackest Crow

Posted on Posted in Tunes

Also known as “As Time Draws Near” or “My Dearest Dear”. Fragments of and variations on the lyrics appear all over the place from the British isles to Alabama, set to different music, and probably this music has had many different lyrics in the past. The combination popular now is most likely based on the playing of Tommy Jarrell, though. One of my favorite versions of it is on Tim O’Brien and Dirk Powell’s album Songs from the Mountain. Here’s a simplified version of the melody:

Download (PDF, 77KB)

We should have banjo tab for this up soon, and I’m going to transcribe something close to the version on Songs from the Mountain later.

And here are a video of Bruce Molsky, Julie Fowlis, and others playing on The Transatlantic Sessions (Series 3, Programme 3), plus audio of Tommy Jarrell performing it.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6jh1vqNvMs

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUa5ikrLPjI