Episode 202 (2-24-14): "Cripple Creek"--On Banjo by Stewart Scales and On Virginia's Water-quality Agenda

Click to listen to episode (3:03)

TRANSCRIPT
From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of February 24, 2014.

This week, we feature a popular traditional tune whose name may come from a southwestern Virginia stream.  Have a listen for about 40 seconds.

MUSIC.

You’ve been listening to part of “Cripple Creek,” in a banjo version by Stewart Scales, a native of Wise County, Virginia.  Since the early 1900s, many versions of this tune have been recorded, and countless other versions played at festivals and at informal gatherings.  The origin of the tune is subject to debate, but the source may have been Virginia’s Cripple Creek, a New River tributary that flows through Wythe County, with headwaters in Smyth and Grayson counties.  “Goin’ up Cripple Creek to have some fun” is a line commonly sung to this old-time tune; but for the past several years, Virginia water scientists have been going up and down Cripple Creek to study the problem of bacteria that exceed water-quality standards.  While most Virginia streams aren’t connected to a historic tune, many share with Cripple Creek this modern problem of water-quality impairments that require an in-depth study and improvement plan, known as a Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL.  Thanks to Stewart Scales for this week’s music, and let’s end with about 15 more seconds of Mr. Scales’ fine banjo goin’ up and down along “Cripple Creek.”

MUSIC.

For other water sounds and music, and for more Virginia water information, visit our Web site at virginiawaterradio.org, or call us at (540) 231-5463.  From the Virginia Water Resources Research Center in Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

SHOW NOTES 

[All Internet addresses mentioned were functional as of 2/24/14]

Goin’ up Cripple Creek: February 22, 2014, view looking upstream near the creek’s confluence with the New River in Wythe County, Virginia.

Goin’ down Cripple Creek: July 22, 2013, view looking downstream between Cedar Springs and Speedwell in Wythe County, Virginia.  Photo courtesy of Patrick Lizon, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

Cripple Creek watershed in Grayson, Smyth, and Wythe counties in Virginia, with colors showing impaired, segments of the watershed, that is, segments that do not meet water-quality standards.  From Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, “Bacteria Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Development for Cripple Creek,” October 2009, page 27.

Acknowledgments: This week’s music was recorded for Virginia Water Radio on February 11, 2014, by Stewart Scales; used with permission.  More information about Mr. Scales and the group New Standard, with which Mr. Scales plays, is available online at http://newstandardbluegrass.com.

Sources:
Information on the tune “Cripple Creek” was taken from “The Traditional Tune Archive,” formerly known as “The Fiddler’s Companion,” by Andrew Kuntz and Valerio Pelliccioni, online at http://www.tunearch.org/wiki/TTA.  The “Cripple Creek” entry is at http://www.tunearch.org/wiki/Cripple_Creek.

Information on Virginia’s Cripple Creek, including the map above, was taken from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality report, “Bacteria Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Development for Cripple Creek,” October 2009, accessed online at http://www.deq.virginia.gov/portals/0/DEQ/Water/TMDL/apptmdls/newrvr/crippleec.pdf; and from the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall notice about the February 11, 2014, meeting on the TMDL Improvement Plan for Cripple Creek, online at http://townhall.virginia.gov/L/Viewmeeting.cfm?meetingid=21141.

Virginia Water News and Other Information

            For news, events, and resources relevant to Virginia's water resources, grouped into categories, please visit the

Episode 201 (2-17-14): Abraham Lincoln and the James River

This episode has been replaced by Episode 459, 2-11-19.

Episode 200 (2-10-14): "River Runs Dry," by Kat Mills

Click to listen to episode (3:14)

TRANSCRIPT

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of February 10, 2014.

This week, we feature a song from a Blacksburg, Va., musician, comparing the flow of water to the flow of ideas and creativity.  Have a listen for about a minute.

MUSIC.

You’ve been listening to part of “River Runs Dry,” by Kat Mills, accompanied by Rachel Handman, on the 2003 CD “Long Time,” from Sweetcut Music.  According to Ms. Mills, the river in the song symbolizes the inspirations and sources of creativity on which this musician depends in her life and work.  But the song’s questions about what to do if the river or well goes dry also bring to mind the challenges of sustaining sources of actual water.  Such challenges are clear from current events, like this month’s coal-ash spill in the Dan River; last month’s chemical spill in Charleston, West Virginia; and ongoing drought in California and other western states.  Thanks to Kat Mills for permission to use this week’s music, and for some inspiration for the big job of water, let’s end with another little sip of Ms. Mills’ and Ms. Handman’s creativity.

MUSIC (about 15 seconds).

For other water sounds and music, and for more Virginia water information, visit our Web site at virginiawaterradio.org, or call us at (540) 231-5463.  From the Virginia Water Resources Research Center in Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

SHOW NOTES
[All Internet addresses mentioned were functional as of 2/10/14]

A low-flowing St. Mary’s River, Augusta County, Va., July 30, 2011.  At the time, that area was rated as being “abnormally dry” by the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Acknowledgments: “River Runs Dry” and “Long Time” are copyright by Kat Mills and Sweetcut Music, used with permission.  More information about Kat Mills is available online at http://www.sweetcut.com/kat/ and at https://www.facebook.com/katmillsmusic.

The accompaniment on “River Runs Dry” is by Rachel Handman, a violinist based in the Hudson River Valley of New York State.  More information on Ms. Handman is available online at the Web site of the Ridgefield [Conn.] Symphony Orchestra, http://www.ridgefieldsymphony.org/musicians/.

Sources: Some starting points for information on the current water-resources events mentioned in this episode are the following:
Dan River coal-ash spill, February 2014: Virginia Water Central News Grouper, About 82,000 Tons of Coal Ash Spilled into Dan River after Pipe Break at Duke Energy Ash-storage Basin in Eden, N.C.; News Accounts Through Feb. 10, 2014, posted 2/10/14.

West Virginia chemical spill, January 2014: Virginia Water Central News Grouper, West Virginia Chemical Spill on Jan. 9, 2014—Information Sources, posted 1/10/14.

Drought in California and other western states: U.S. Drought Monitor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, online at http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/.

Virginia Water News and Other Information

            For news, events, and resources relevant to Virginia's water resources, grouped into categories, please visit the Virginia Water Central News Grouper, available online at http://vawatercentralnewsgrouper.wordpress.com/.

Episode 199 (2-3-14): Snow and Ice Follow Physics and Chemistry

This episode has been replaced by Episode 407, 2-12-18.