A collection of waltzes ranging from session and jam standards to lesser-known gems worth discovering. Alongside familiar favorites like Tennessee Waltz and Kentucky Waltz, you’ll find regional and old-time waltzes from Canada, Texas, and Appalachia. A waltz is a piece in triple meter, three beats to the bar with the emphasis falling on the first, named for the dance it accompanies. The word entered English in 1781, borrowed from the German Walzer (from walzen, “to turn” or “to roll”), tracing back to the German Ländler folk dances and the whirling ballroom style that scandalized polite society across Europe in the early 1800s before becoming a fixture of American fiddle and dance repertoire.
