Cumberland Gap

This arrangement of "Cumberland Gap" is based on the version by Clyde Curley from his 1998 Clyde Curley and The Oxymorons: Old Time Mandolin Music CD.  On the CD, Clyde plays "Cumberland Gap" as the first of a two tune medley with The "Billy Church Memorial Breakdown" being the second tune in the medley.

I’ve not found another version of "Cumberland Gap" that sounds like Clyde’s version. This version of "Cumberland Gap" has three parts.  There are couple versions of Cumberland Gap floating around .  Dock Boggs plays a version on the Folkways CD release that kind of follows parts A and B.  There is no part C with Boggs’ version.

The tune is played in the key of D with just with three chords: D, G, and of course A.  As I’ve often repeated, Woody Guthrie would say were getting a bit fancy here with three chords in song.

Download a pdf of "Cumberland Gap" -> CumberlandGap.pdf