Forked Deer

Forked Deer is a traditional American reel in D major. One of its first print appearances is in George P. Knauff’s Virginia Reels, vol. 1 (Willig, Baltimore, 1839). The title (pronounced “FORK-ed”) most likely refers to the Forked Deer River in West Tennessee, though a corruption of “Fauquier” (the Virginia county) has also been proposed. The Hamblen collection’s “Forked Ear” title is generally taken as a mishearing.

Modern players know it as a two-part tune with the high part leading, but older fiddlers routinely played three to six parts. Ed Haley’s home-recorded five-part version, Charlie Bowman’s five-part 1929 Columbia side, and Henry Reed’s three-strain setting all survive. Jeff Titon has argued that the 78-rpm recording industry drove the standardization down to two. Uncle Am Stuart made the first issued recording in 1924 (Vocalion), and the Kessinger Brothers’ brisk 1928 “Forked Deer Hornpipe” (Brunswick) became the most influential early version. Alan Jabbour recorded Henry Reed’s version for the Library of Congress in 1966.