Red River Valley

Red River Valley is a folk song and cowboy music standard of controversial origins that has gone by different names—e.g., "Cowboy Love Song", "Bright Sherman Valley", "Bright Laurel Valley", "In the Bright Mohawk Valley", and "Bright Little Valley" — depending on where it has been sung.

Author(s): Publisher: Code: UL514

Main Category: Accessories Main Instrument: Ukulele

2026-08-19

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Red River Valley

Edith Fowke offers anecdotal evidence that the song was known in at least five Canadian provinces before 1896. This finding led to speculation that the song was composed at the time of the Wolseley Expedition to the northern Red River Valley of 1870 in Manitoba. It expresses the sorrow of a local woman (possibly a Métis) as her soldier lover prepares to return to the east.

The earliest known written manuscript of the lyrics, titled The Red River Valley, bears the notations "Nemaha 1879" and "Harlan 1885." Nemaha and Harlan are the names of counties in Nebraska, and are also the names of towns in Iowa.

The song appears in sheet music, titled In the Bright Mohawk Valley, printed in New York in 1896 with James J. Kerrigan as the writer. The tune and lyrics were collected and published in Carl Sandburg's 1927 American Songbook.

Common Keys: C, G • Really any common Folk key (C G D A E).
First Melodic Interval: P5 ↑ P4 • ( starts on the perfect fifth of the key and the next melody note is up a perfect fourth. In the key of G major this would be: D to G)

Basic Open Position Chords for Red River Valley
A Basic Strumming Pattern: The Island Strum

More Red River Valley content below, continue exploring...

Note Inventory: This is simply knowing what the notes of the melody are, and where can you play them on your instrument? In our case, the ukulele. In C Tuning the notes are, from the lowest note D to the highest note D, one octave higher: D Eb E F A G C D'. These can all be played in the open position. Only the high D is slightly our of position on string one, fret (5). The Eb is a common chromatic substitution leading to the D7 on line three.

The E G and A can all be played in alternate note locations.

A is available on string four fret (2) and string one open
E is available on string for two and string three fret (4)
G is available on string four open and string two fret (3)

If playing the melody only as single notes I would stick with the open strings for the E and A. And, string two, fret (3) for the G in a more linear fashion with higher notes remain on the same string higher or going to the next higher string.

When adding in the chords with the melody, the open strings are a great arranging opportunity. This allows you to get a fuller sounding arrangement with allowing the open strings to ring.

These are the basic Open Position Chords that can get you through Red River Valley.

January 3rd
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January 2nd
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Start with the Four Famous Strums in the Building Your Core Strums for Ukulele Series .

Red River Valley
Arlo Guthrie — Red River Valley Lyrics