The Oneota Stomp

The Oneota Stomp (mp3) (pdf)

Re-worked slightly in 2012, this tune has been around for a few years. I believe that we played it at least once, sometime in the past, in its earlier form with the now legendary Bear Creek Bluegrass Band in the Cafe Deluxe (later Sabor Latino) courtyard on a warm summer's night. It didn't catch on with the band then (neither did my searing rendition of Stonewall Jackson's "Waterloo") but now here it is again.

The photo is of the Upper Iowa (Oneota) River taken over a century ago by Professor Samuel Calvin. You can find it, and many more beautiful images, in the Calvin Photographic Collection hosted by the University of Iowa.

I like the recording here but I have to mention that the ending is a bit of a train wreck. I fumbled putting a tag on the original rhythm track and then compounded it by adding competing tags to the additional guitar and mandolin tracks, thinking I would "fix it in the mix". In the end the train wreck sounds more fun, so I left them all on.