The ToneWay® Project: helping people play music


Darling Nelly Gray [core]

There's a low green valley on the 4 old Kentucky shore
There I 1 whiled many happy hours a 5 way
A 1 sitting and a singing by the 4 little cottage door
Where 1 lived my 5 darling Nelly 1 Gray

Chorus
Oh my 4 poor Nelly Gray, they have 1 taken you away
And I'll never see my darling any 5 more
I am 1 sitting by the river and I'm 4 weeping all the day
For you've 1 gone from the 5 old Kentucky 1 shore

When the moon had climbed the mountain and the stars were shining too
Then I'd take my darling Nelly Gray
And we'd float down the river in my little red canoe
While my banjo sweetly I would play

One night I went to see her but she's gone, the neighbors say
The white man bound her with his chain
They have taken her to Georgia for to wear her life away
As she toils in the cotton and the cane

My canoe is underwater and my banjo is unstrung
I'm tired of living any more
My eyes shall look downward and my songs shall be unsung
While I stay on the old Kentucky shore

My eyes are getting blinded and I cannot see my way
Hark, there's somebody knocking at the door
Oh, I hear the angels calling and I see my Nelly Gray
Farewell to the old Kentucky shore

Chorus, last
Oh my darling Nelly Gray, up in heaven, there they say
That they'll never take you from me anymore
I'm a-coming, coming, coming, as the angels clear the way
Farewell to the old Kentucky shore

It’s on Strum Machine!

Play & sing along with Darling Nelly Gray (or any song you type in) in any key, at any speed, with real instrument recordings. You have to see it to believe it.

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Available in these books:

Get Started Plus: Core Songs Edition
100 songs and our acclaimed play-by-ear learning method.
Big Print Songs
Over 200 songs.
Family Tradition
The reference manual, with lyrics to 330 songs.
The first two books feature large-print lyrics (20-point type) and include chords, historical info, jamming hints, and more.

...and on these CDs:

Five CDs, 100 songs. Recordings from the Abbott family and their friends.
Listen to sample tracks.

The MP3 collection has all 100 songs on one CD for a discount. See details.


A song from the The ToneWay Mountain Music Collection, which offers lyrics and free Song Clips (recordings for learning the song by ear) for nearly 400 traditional songs, many of which are often heard in bluegrass and old-time jam circles. The ToneWay Project also offers songbooks, CDs, and a free online video series for learning to play music by ear. http://ToneWay.com