Amelia's Waltz

If you see him, don’t tell him — it’s liable to give him “the big head” — but the truth is we listen to everything that Doug Chaffin tells us. When it comes to music, Doug’s instincts are usually right on the money. For instance, whenever we’re playing a show, if Doug leans over and whispers, “Hey, maybe we oughta do this song next,” Charlie always revises the set list on the fly, because Doug seems to have a sixth sense about what people would like to hear. So, when Doug recently told us we ought to learn “Amelia’s Waltz,” we perked up and paid attention. Now, the piece you’ll hear sounds like an old tune, but it actually was written in 1981 by the late New Hampshire composer Bob McQuillen, who named the song in honor of a friend’s young daughter. It’s one of those lovely melody that sounds like it ought to be the soundtrack of a big, lush movie. What follows is our first take on the tune, with Doug leading the way, of course, with his fiddle.