This past weekend I attended a small dulcimer festival near me, and there were several workshops I enjoyed. One song, taught by Carolynne Langley in her 'Songs of the Mountains' workshop, stuck in my head long after I got home. It was Over The River Charlie, as played and sung by Jean Ritchie.Now, I've seen Jean's standard notation version in her Dulcimer Book, and I've heard her lovely recorded voice singing it over the years. But sometimes a song just grabs onto you at a certain moment in time and won't let go, and I am grateful to Carolynne for bringing this song to my attention again. I decided to make a TAB in true Dorian mode tuning for it, and to also include a simple harmony part that one might wish to play while singing the melody part. Jean Ritchie has written about this pretty way of singing the melody while playing a harmony on the dulcimer's melody string. I couldn't manage to sing it in D, so I tabbed it down to C instead, which helped. You can always play a dulcimer duet with someone using the two parts as well.
A quick clip of Jean Ritchie playing and singing this pretty song can be heard here. Of course no one can sing it like Jean.
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