‘Uncle Pen’ was Bill Monroe’s oom, James Pendleton Vandiver (1869–1932). Uncle Pen was een – naar verluid heel goede – fiddler (vioolspeler). Zelf heeft Vandiver nooit wat op de plaat gezet, maar een piepjonge Bill Monroe hoorde hem bijna elke avond buiten spelen. Zonder die nachtelijke optredens van zijn oom had Monroe naar eigen zeggen de fiddle waarschijnlijk niet opgepakt.
Uncle Pen is vaak gecoverd, o.a. door Ricky Skaggs, die er een nummer 1 hit mee scoorde op de country charts. De versie van de bluegrass supergroep Old & In The Way (met o.a. David Grisman, Peter Rowan en Jerry Garcia) mag er ook zijn.
They’d dance all night till the break of day
When the caller hollered “do-se-do”
You knew Uncle Pen was ready to goLate 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 fiddle begins
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
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
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
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
