The Berea Tune Lists:
An Archival Resource for the Study of Social Music in Eastern Kentucky and East Tennessee in 1915
by Steve Green
[Footnotes moved to the end]
[Photo]
John F. Smith / Berea College
The Berea Tune Lists:
An Archival Resource for the Study of Social Music in Eastern Kentucky and East Tennessee in 1915 [1]
Steve Green
[This article was originally published in Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin 57:2 (1995). I have made a few formatting and minor editorial changes to improve readability, but have not updated references.]
~~~~~
In 1915, students in an English class at Berea College were asked to write down the names of banjo and fiddle songs and tunes known to them in their home districts of Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee. Today, these lists are found among the papers of Professor John F. Smith in the Southern Appalachian Archives at Berea College's Hutchins Library. Taken as a whole, the lists offer valuable insights concerning the repertory of traditional musicians in a mixed physiographic region on the western edge of Appalachia prior to the radio era of the 1920s when regional styles and local tunes began to give way to ever more popular pieces picked up from broadcasts, phonograph records, and traveling professionals.
INTRODUCTION
The nature of 19th century home-style fiddle and banjo music in the Kentucky mountains remains largely speculative. Our attempts to get at the roots of the music and to understand its development are much hindered by our lack of knowledge concerning the regional repertory before the 1920s when both the phonograph and the introduction of radio began to seriously change (and displace) locally performed music. The characteristics of earlier musical styles and the spectrum of pieces played must be patiently pieced together from scattered sources, both written and recorded. Recent discographical studies and field recordings made of older generation musicians since 1940 have in some ways shed more light on the region's instrumental music traditions than the combined accounts of travelers and others who wrote of the southern mountains in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. [2] Most writers at that time had little of substance to say about such music—only that it was "quaint," "lonesome," or something equally colorful and just as vague.
Folksong collecting in the Kentucky mountains began in earnest at the turn of the century (not, as many people suppose, when the Englishman, Cecil Sharp, visited the region in 1916), and from the earliest days Berea College was a center for such activity. [3] The folksong collectors had their own agenda, however, and while some may have taken brief notice of the vibrant fiddle and banjo tradition that flourished throughout the mountains and adjacent regions, none put their whole hearts into documenting it as they did with the ballads. In large part, this was due to the fact that the early collectors tended to be trained in the language arts, and it was often the poetic imagery of ballads that appealed to them. Furthermore, the puncheon floor hoedown (unlike the mountain ballad) had not yet achieved "legitimacy" by way of academic interest outside the region. [4] Nevertheless, it was a professor of English and rural sociology—not a music scholar—who seems to have been the first of the early collectors of Kentucky folk music to recognize the vitality and lasting value of traditional fiddle and banjo music and to attempt to find out more about it.
THE EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT
In March of 1915, Professor John F. Smith was teaching English at the Normal School, one of five schools making up Berea College in Berea (Madison County), Kentucky.[5] Since the college's primary purpose was then (as it is now) to serve the mountain communities and to benefit the people of the Appalachian region as a whole, it followed that the student body was drawn largely from this area. Berea maintained a high profile in the region and frequently described its programs in the newspapers in a continuing campaign to attract new students. A Normal School education was intended primarily to prepare graduates for rural teaching work, and a contemporary description of the Normal School in the Berea Citizen indicated that entering students usually had eight grades behind them. [6] However, since it was then common for people to begin (or continue) their education at any age, the students in Professor Smith's 1915 class were not necessarily young people. Charles Farmer, one of Smith's students from Pulaski County, wrote of the items on his list as "tunes played in my boyhood day" and added "all of these I liked to hear when I was a lad." Another student, Mary Hoskins of Leslie County, was born in 1882 which would have made her thirty three years old at the time she prepared her tune list for Professor Smith.
The official title for Smith's English N4 class was "Composition and Rhetoric," and the course description read in part: "This course consists of numerous reports on stories and books, current topics, biographies of famous people, great orations, great events of history, etc." [7] Just how fiddle and banjo music fit into this curriculum is not clear but Smith was known to be a champion of Appalachian culture and no doubt he found ways to offset the so called "great events of history" with more colorful topics close to home.
For this assignment, the students were asked to write down the names of fiddle and banjo tunes and songs known to them or that they could recall having heard in their home districts. [8] From a modern folkloristic perspective, such a project would seem to hold great interest, but it's hard to know how enthusiastically Professor Smith's pupils responded to the task. Apparently, not all the students took the assignment with the solemnity of purpose we would wish today. Some blatant examples of copying are in evidence, so blatant in fact, it is hard to imagine how anyone thought it might go unnoticed by the teacher. But then, we do not know the precise instructions given by Professor Smith to his class, and perhaps he encouraged the students to collaborate in coming up with their lists. It wouldn't matter really, except that seventy-five years later, the seemingly harmless copying undermines our hopes of using the lists as an index of local repertory. Nevertheless, many other valuable things can be gleaned from them, and the lists should be of great interest to anyone curious about oldtime music in the region. [9]
THE LISTS
There are twenty-two lists in all, handwritten on standard notebook size sheets. They contain upwards of 350 different titles of songs and instrumental pieces contributed by students from fourteen counties in southeastern Kentucky, and three students from east Tennessee. The Kentucky counties include Garrard, Lincoln, Casey, Pulaski, Madison, Estill, Wolfe, Owsley, Breathitt, Magoffin, Floyd, Clay, Leslie, and Knox. The Tennessee counties are: Sevier, Marshall, and one unidentified county. In addition to song titles, many of the lists give the names of musical instruments, and seven of them include short essays about community based musical activities such as singing schools and house dances. Fourteen of the lists were compiled by male students, seven were by female students, and one list bears no name. For all but the anonymously compiled list, it has been possible to identify the students' home locations by finding each student's name in a college directory for 1915. The directory entry, however, cites the student's home community at the time of enrollment and family moves prior to that time are not indicated. Thus, even without the copying problem mentioned earlier, the lists might not give a reliable reflection of musical repertory in the assigned locality. Nevertheless, when taken as a whole, the lists add considerably to our knowledge of social music in eastern Kentucky and Tennessee shortly after the turn of this century.
THE TUNES
While it is tempting to draw conclusions about repertory based on the presence or absence of titles on checklists such as the 1915 Berea lists, the organic nature of fiddle tunes and lyric folksongs is such that a single title can and frequently does attach itself to more than one piece, and vice versa. Furthermore, the general attitude among rural musicians and their audiences toward song and tune titles earlier in the century was possibly more cavalier than ours today (we seem to need to give everything a name) and probably much of this music existed and was passed between players without need for formal labeling. Thus, the lists should be used in conjunction with other available resources in order to avoid jumping to conclusions that might otherwise be turn out to be inaccurate.
A glance through the lists is illuminating. Most of the grand old saws of
southern hoedown music are cited: “Arkansas Traveler,” “Sourwood Mountain,”
“Cripple Creek,” “Cindy,” “Cumberland Gap,” “Ida Red,” “Black Eyed Susie,”
“Jennie Put the Kettle On,” “Leather Breeches,” “Soldier’s Joy,” “Little Brown
Jug,” “Liza Jane,” “Old Joe Clark,” “Sally Ann,” “Sally Goodin’,” “Shortening
Bread,” and “Turkey in the Straw.” These widely known tunes are synonymous
with oldtime fiddling in the region and have been presumed to go back at least to
the last century.10 If there was ever any doubt, the Berea lists confirm the
popularity of these pieces in Kentucky three quarters of a century ago.
In addition, the lists mention many tunes which apparently flourished at one
time in the eastern Kentucky fiddle and banjo repertory but which have now largely
been dropped by younger generation players.[11] Some examples are “Bonaparte's
7Retreat,” “Buck Creek Girls,” “Calahan,” “Cluck Old Hen,” “Drunkard's Hiccups,”
“Forked Deer,” “Fox Chase,” “Girl I Left Behind,” “Give the Fiddler a Dram,”
“Going Down to Town,” “Groundhog, Hell Broke Loose in Georgia,” “Hook and
Line,” “Indian Ate the Woodhen,” “Lost Indian,” “Nigger Inch Along,” “Old Hen
Cackled,” “Pretty Polly,” “Rocky Island,” “Rye Straw,” “Shady Grove,” “What'll
We Do With the Baby-o,” and “Waynesburg.”
I do not mean to imply that the foregoing tunes and songs are extinct or even
that they should be considered "rare" (which is, of course, a relative term). Some
like “Bonaparte's Retreat,” “Pretty Polly,” “Shady Grove,” and possibly “Forked
Deer” are still frequently heard at bluegrass and oldtime music festivals, fiddlers'
contests and on commercial recordings. But with each passing year, it becomes
harder to find indigenous players who have learned such pieces informally and
locally, and who have retained distinctly local versions. Some of the fiddle numbers
like “Calahan,” “Drunkard's Hiccups,” “Lost Indian,” “Nigger Inch Along,”
“Bonaparte's Retreat” (and many others) traditionally involved "cross-tuning" (or
"chording") the fiddle (AEAE, AEAC#, GDAD, DDAD, etc.), but that practice, too,
has almost completely disappeared in favor of standard violin tuning (GDAE).
Many titles on the lists appear to have been of purely local origin, or at least
were not perpetuated over a wide area for very long. A series of fiddle contests held
in Berea between 1919 and 1928 attracted players from more or less the same
region as that represented by Professor Smith's students, but while tunes like
“Calahan,” “Waynesburg,” “Nigger Inch Along,” “Billy in the Low Ground,”
“Wagoner,” and “Forked Deer” were played repeatedly by fiddlers in the contests,
none of the following titles found on the 1915 lists were played at these events:
“Blue Goose,” “Bunker Hill,” “Buttermilk and Brandy,” “Buzzard's Nest,”
“Everybody's Favorite,” “Casey Creek Samuel,” “Cold Winds from the West,”
“Court House Road,” “Cowbell Hollow,” “Follow Me and My Love[?] to Next
Cotton Picking” [sic], “Frady Cat,” “Going Down to Alice's House,” “Goose
Creek,” “Greasy Breeches,” “Green River,” “Hell's Up Again,” “Hobo John,”
“Johnnie Has Gone to Cuba,” “Let Him Sink or Swim,” “Little Speckel Hen” [sic],
“Lula Gal,” “Muddy Creek,” “My Old Belled Ewe,” “Nigger Stole a Pumpkin,”
“Old Billy Pitman and Georgeo” [sic], “Old Blue Hen,” “Old Buck's Horn,” “Old
Corn Whiskey,” “Old Rusty Bottle,” “Over the Road to Maysville,” “Pinnie Ridge”
[sic], “Piny Mountains” [sic], “Poor Little Kitty Puss,” “Pumpkin Vine,” “Railroad
Picnic,” “Rattle Down the Acorns,” “Red Lick,” “Rocky Mountains,” “Roxie Ann,”
“Sal Said She Wanted to Marry,” “Sheridan's March,” “Shoe String Cracking the
Floor” [sic], “Smoky Road,” “Somerset Conductor,” “Sweet Milk and Peaches,”
“Tater Bug,” “White Rooster,” “Wild Cat,” and “Yellow Hen.”
Even though the titles cited above did not necessarily figure in the fiddle
contests, some of them have maintained currency in localized settings—which is to
say that they have been collected in Kentucky within the past decade or so from a
8
few older generation players.12 Given nothing but titles, we can only speculate on
the connections they may have to tunes played by today's fiddlers. A few of the
pieces that have been preserved via sound recordings are “Black Jack Grove,”
“Blue Goose,” “Everybody's Favorite,” “Frankie,” “Kitty Puss,” “Lula Comb Down
Your Bangs,” “Muddy Creek,” “Old Corn Whiskey,” “Piney Ridge,” “Pumpkin
Vine,” “Rattlin' Down the Acorns,” “Red Lick,” “Shoe Strings Crackin' on the
Floor,” and “Smoky Road.”13
“Over the Road to Maysville” cited in 1915 by G. R. McMahon (from
Sevierville, Tennessee) is possibly the same as “Going Down to Maysville” played
today by the fine Pike County (Kentucky) fiddler, Owen "Snake" Chapman, and
probably refers to the old Lexington-Maysville turnpike that served as a major
thoroughfare for travel and commerce through Kentucky in the nineteenth century.
“My Old Belled Ewe” on Harvey L. Smith's (Pulaski Co.) 1915 list is probably the
same as “The Old Belled Ewe and the Little Speckled Wether” recorded in 1975 by
Bruce Greene from C. W. Strong who was originally from Lee County, Kentucky.
Mr. Strong sang a little ditty that went :
The old belled ewe and the little speckled wether
Devil of a gang when they all get together.
12Fortunately, tunes associated with many of the preceding titles have been recovered for
posterity in Kentucky, notably by the Lomax-Library of Congress teams in the 1930s, and since
the late 1950s by independent fieldworkers including Ray Alden, the Appalshop media collective,
Bob Butler, Bob Carlin, Robie Cogswell, John Cohen, Doug Dorschug, Barbara Edwards, Burt
Feintuch, Bob Fulcher, Bob Gates, Steve Green, Bruce Greene, John Harrod, Peter Hoover, Loyal
Jones, Sarah McNulty, Guthrie Meade, Lynwood Montell, Jim Nelson, Mike Seeger, Steve Rice,
Leonard Roberts, Art Rosenbaum, David Sizemore, Jeff Titon, Ed Ward, D. K. Wilgus, Mark
Wilson, Charles Wolfe, Marynell Young, and others.
13"Black Jack Grove" obtained from Walter McNew (Rockcastle Co.) and Vernon Payne
(Madison Co.). "Blue Goose" obtained from Buddy Thomas (Lewis Co.) and Bob Prater (Lewis
Co.). "Everybody's Favorite" obtained from Travis Wells (Estill Co.), Darley Fulks (Wolfe Co.),
George Hawkins (Bath Co.), Lella Todd (Clark Co.), Blanche Hurt Coldiron (Grant Co.), and
others. "Frankie" obtained from Buddy Thomas (Lewis Co.). "Kitty Puss" obtained from Buddy
Thomas (Lewis Co.), Owen "Snake" Chapman (Pike Co.), Clyde Davenport (Wayne Co.), Estill
Bingham (Bell Co.), Everett Kays (Anderson Co.), and others. "Lula Comb Down Your Bangs"
obtained from Grover Salyer (Magoffin Co.). "Muddy Creek" obtained from John Masters
(Madison Co.) and Doug Stipe (Jessamine Co.). "Old Corn Whiskey" obtained from Sammy
Walker (Metcalfe Co.). "Piney Ridge" obtained from W. M. Stepp (Magoffin Co.) [1937
recording]. "Pumpkin Vine" obtained from Morris Allen (Greenup Co.), Alfred Bailey (Bath Co.),
Buddy Thomas (Lewis Co.), Henry York (Bath Co.), and others. "Rattlin' Down the Acorns"
obtained from Clyde Davenport (Wayne Co.) and Delbert Hughes ([McCreary Co.]). "Red Lick"
obtained from Lella Todd (Clark Co.) and Travis Wells (Estill Co.). "Shoe Strings Crackin' on the
Floor" obtained from Darley Fulks (Wolfe Co.) ["Shoe Heels Crackin' on the Floor"]. "Smoky
Road" obtained from Columbus Williams (Estill Co.), Everett Kays (Anderson Co.), and Jim
Woodward (Jessamine Co.).
9
Some of the 1915 titles have been mentioned in print but seem not to have been
collected on disc, wire, or tape. One example is “Nigger Stold a Pumpkin.”14
"Nigger Stole a Pumpkin" was cited by Vance Randolph from Missouri sources15
while "Rufus Stoled a Pumpkin," was mentioned by Carl Carmer in his writings
about Alabama.16 B. A. Botkin printed the following couplet sung to the fiddle tune
in the midwest:
Rabbit stole a punkin / It started down to town
Heard the hounds a comin' / It throwed the punkin down.17
“Roxie Ann” was mentioned by Shearin and Combs in their 1911 Syllabus of
Kentucky Folk-Songs and later was given by Vance Randolph with a text from
Missouri in the Journal of American Folklore.18 Randolph also referred to a 1929
JAF article by Carl Van Doren who stated that "Roxie Ann" "was sung by settlers
from Kentucky."19
Other entries on the 1915 lists require interpretation by association, that is, they
reflect text phrases that can be linked to more widely established titles. For instance,
“I Don't Care Where in the World I Go” (listed by Mary Hoskinton from Leslie
Co.) bears a connection to the well-known piece called "Sugar in the Coffee-o."
The link becomes apparent in the following couplet associated with the latter title:
I don't care where in the world I go
14At a late stage in the preparation of this article, I discovered that Tom Carter recorded “Rabbit
Stole a Pumpkin” from an elderly accordion player, Emit Valentine, near Centerville, Franklin
Co., North Carolina in 1971. Mr. Valentine sang a verse that was only slightly different from the
B. A. Botkin example cited. [Source: unpublished paper by Tom Carter entitled “Traditional
Fiddling in the North Carolina Piedmont: A Study in Repertory” (pp.9-10). Southern Folklife
Collection, University of North Carolina.]
15Randolph, Vance. "Ozark Fiddle Tunes," Midwest Folklore 4 (1954) pp. 81-86. Researchers are
advised to note that Randolph, in compiling his list, almost certainly "borrowed" titles from non-
Ozark sources including collections from Kentucky and Mississippi.
16Carmer, Carl. Stars Fell on Alabama. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., 1934, p. 47. "Rufus
stoled a pumpkin, he took it down to town. / Policeman said, "Hey, Rufus, just lay that punkin
down."
17Botkin, B. A. The American Play Party Song. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing
Company, 1937, p. 184.
18Shearin, Hubert and Josiah Combs. A Syllabus of Kentucky Folk-Songs. Lexington, KY:
Transylvania Printing Co., 1911, p. 38. Facsimile reprint by Folcroft Library Editions, 1976.
19Van Doren, Carl. “The Ozark Play Party.” Journal of American Folklore 42 (1929): 225.
10
So as I get sugar in my coffee-o.20
Similarly, “Four in the Middle” (reported by Ward Allen, Floyd Co.) is probably an
alternate name for the play game and song "Jump Josie" ("Jim Along Josey") which
has sometimes been recovered with the words:
Four in the middle and you can't jump, Josie. 21
It goes without saying that phonetic transformations are easily and inevitably
wrought by oral transmission. What may have initially been heard in the context of
conversation later finds its way into written sources. Some of these titles are
imaginative—“Puncheon Floor” appears on the Berea Tune Lists as “The Old
Pumpkin Floor.” On the other hand, some titles are not as easy to pin down. At first
glance, “Sandy Lane” suggests a transformation of “Sandy Land,” but actually, that
title is more of an Ozark and western title than a Kentucky one. The reference is
more likely to be to a tune collected by John Harrod from Wolfe County musician,
Darley Fulks, that Fulks called “Shady Lane.”
One of the 1915 list entries, “Black Nance” (reported from Clay and Knox
Counties)22 is interesting since it turns up elsewhere in connection with a fiddle
contest held in Berea in 1919. “Black Nance,” given on the lists as if it was the
name of a fiddle tune, was also the nickname given to a black fiddle belonging to
one of the contestants, Millard Ramsey from Manchester in Clay County. The
newspaper account of the contest (penned in flowery English by John F. Smith)
made a point of mentioning Ramsey's "Black Nancy" fiddle:
By this time feet had begun to slow down a little, but were all
set a-wiggle in high glee by Millard Ramsey with the crack
dance tune "Adeline" on his famous Black Nancy. ...Millard is
a bit reckless with Black Nancy, but the old instrument is a
20 As sung by Clyde Davenport at Monticello, Kentucky (March, 1990 field recording by Jeff
Titon) released on Berea College Appalachian Center audiocassette AC-002 Puncheon Camps.
21A version from the Ritchie Family of Viper, KY is found in Come Let Us Sing (Berea, KY:
Berea College Press, 1974) 12-13.
22A close examination of W. M. Trosper's Knox County list and Ben Mills' Clay County list
reveals that one student was copying from the other. Since Millard Ramsey, the owner of the
"famous" Black Nancy fiddle was from Clay County, one suspects that Mills' list was the more
authentic of the two.
11
queen among fiddles, and when she speaks corns cease to ache
and a merry thrill creeps into every toe.23
OMISSIONS
So far, we have looked at the lists in terms of what they confirm about fiddle
and banjo music in eastern Kentucky. It is also instructive to examine them in light
of titles we would expect to find but which are noticeably absent or else mentioned
but once or twice. “Fire on the Mountain,” for instance, does not appear on any of
the lists, nor does “Chicken Reel,” “Liberty,” “Flop Eared Mule,” “Ragtime
Annie,” or “Mississippi Sawyer” (or the latter tune's older alter-ego “The Downfall
of Paris”). These omissions seem odd considering how popular those tunes have
been with fiddlers and their audiences for the past fifty years or more. Another
surprise is “Grey Eagle” which does not appear on any of the lists although its
"companion" piece, “Wagoner,” is mentioned by several of the students. In terms of
Kentucky fiddling, it is worth noting that “Martha Campbell” is missing as well, a
void that is puzzling when considering that today "Martha Campbell" is so well
known throughout the Commonwealth that it could almost be regarded as the
Kentucky fiddlers' national anthem.24 Finally, one of the greatest and most
enduring of American fiddle tunes is “Billy in the Low Ground.” It has been
recovered often in Kentucky and was played by six fiddlers in four contests at
Berea between 1919 and 1924. However, only one of Professor Smith's students—
Harvey L. Smith from Pulaski County—reported having heard it. Why such pieces
were not listed by Smith's students remains a mystery, for it is almost certain that
these tunes were being played in the region in 1915.
In some cases, regional variation in titles probably accounts for certain
omissions. The fact that “Cotton Eyed Joe” is cited only once in spite of its general
circulation nationwide is explainable since in eastern Kentucky most older
musicians who play the tune call it (or used to call it) “Nigger Inch Along.” It is
hard to explain, though, why even that title was cited only once since the tune has
been recovered with the “inch along” name from many fiddlers in the region.
Likewise, the tune "Stoney Point" (sometimes called "Wild Horse") is not on the
lists though it is well known and widely played throughout the upland South. The
1915 Berea lists give the tune's more common Kentucky title, “Buck Creek Girls,”
and an even more localized title variant, “Rocklick Girl.”
23Berea Citizen, August 21, 1919. Smith also printed in the same newspaper a poem, "The
Fiddlers' Meeting / Berea, Kentucky, August 15, 1919," in which he mentioned Ramsey's "Black
Nancy" fiddle.
24Steve Rice has pointed out to me that collected versions of "Martha Campbell" reflect a
distribution in the northeastern counties and the inner and outer bluegrass region, and that it does
not seem to be as popular among fiddlers in the counties represented in the 1915 lists which lie
somewhat to the south.
12
Numerous other tunes associated with eastern Kentucky during the first half of
this century are also missing from the lists: “Ways of the World,” “Glory in the
Meeting House,” “Lost Girl,” “Boatin' Up Sandy,” “Brushy Fork of John's Creek,”
“Birdie,” “Blackberry Blossom,” “Shelvin' Rock,” “Betty Baker,” “Big Footed
Nigger,” “Lonesome John,” “Old Christmas,” “Flannery's Dream,” “Chinkapin
Hunting,” “Going to Boston,” “Big Eyed Rabbit Soup,” and “Walk Along John.”
Many of these pieces seem to have been of the old modal type, and if recent
recoveries are any indication, many of them were "crooked," that is, with extra
measures thrown in or beats dropped, making the tunes difficult for accompanists to
"second" and perhaps unsuitable for dancing.25
BALLADS AND SONGS
In addition to lyric type fiddle and banjo pieces, the 1915 Berea tune lists
contain some early references to ballad and song material as well. It is interesting
that while much has been made of the old English ballads collected in the region,
“Barbara Allen” is the only obvious title of this type to show up on the 1915 lists.
The absence of other classic ballads like "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender," "The
Salt, Salt Sea" ["The House Carpenter"], and "Hangman, Slack Your Rope" ["Maid
Freed from the Gallows"] suggests that some distinction might have made between
"common" ballads (those that were appropriate for instrumental accompaniment)
and more formal pieces which would have been sung unaccompanied.
Some of the song and ballad titles are of local historical significance and will
also be of interest to students of native American balladry. “The Rowan County
Crew” factually describes a series of slayings connected to the Tolliver-Martin feud
during the Rowan County "war" of the 1880s. Authorship of the ballad is generally
credited to an itinerant blind fiddler, J. W. Day, and by 1915, the song had
circulated enough in the region to be mentioned by three of the Berea students
(from Wolfe, Floyd, and Lincoln Counties). "The Rowan County Crew" has since
been collected nationwide.
Another title, “Coal Creek,” is given by three students from Knox, Clay, and an
unidentified county. Possibly the title refers to another of J. W. Day's topical
ballads, "Coal Creek Troubles" (which chronicled an 1891 miners' rebellion near
Jellico, Tennessee) but it seems more likely to have been a fiddle tune called "Coal
Creek"26 or possibly another song, "Shut Up in the Mines at Coal Creek." A
25It is possible that what appears to us today as irregular musical structure may have at one time
been functional, and even logical, in the context of songs, dancing and music making. Lacking a
clear understanding of the social context of so-called "crooked" tunes, it is risky to judge the
music as somehow aberrant when it might be that we simply fail to fully understand how it
functioned.
26John Harrod and Bruce Greene both collected "Coal Creek" played on the fiddle by Manon
Campbell of Hallie, Kentucky (Knott Co.) in the late 1970s.
13
notable cycle of musical pieces associated with the Coal Creek locus has had a
strong presence in eastern Kentucky and Tennessee and has been discussed in detail
by Archie Green in his classic study of American coal mining songs.27 The title
“Cold Creek March” found on Ward Allen's 1915 list (Floyd Co.) undoubtedly
refers to "Coal Creek March," an unusual showpiece that has been collected
primarily as a banjo instrumental. Unraveling the history of this particular piece has
challenged folk music scholars since the late 1960s, and the title's appearance on the
Berea lists may turn out to be the earliest reference to "Coal Creek March" yet
uncovered. 28
Other titles on the Berea lists also refer to local historical events and persons of
note. “Ed Calahan”29 was a real-life sheriff who figured centrally in the plot to
assassinate Judge J. B. Marcum in Jackson, Breathitt County, Kentucky in 1903.30
Calahan was himself shot to death in 1912 but if a song commemorated the event, it
has not survived in tradition to the present day.31 On the other hand, the memory of
J. B. Marcum and the events surrounding his death live on in a ballad that has been
recovered widely and published in numerous collections. The song “J. B. Marcum”
(an adaptation of an earlier ballad about Jesse James) was probably composed by
either J. W. Day or Charlie Oaks, another blind Kentucky balladeer.32 Strange to
say, the only student citing this ballad on the 1915 Berea lists was G. R. McMahon
from Sevier County, Tennessee, some distance removed from the action described
in the ballad.33
27Archie Green, Only a Miner (University of Illinois Press, 1972, pp. 155-193).
28For more information on "Coal Creek March" see Charles Wolfe's book, Kentucky Country
[Lexington]: University Press of Kentucky, 1982, p. 28. See also Wolfe's article "New Light on
the Coal Creek March'" in JEMF Quarterly XII:41 (Spring, 1976) pp. 1-8. See also Archie Green,
Only a Mine, University of Illinois Press, 1972: 155-193).
29Spelled "Edd" by Frank Smithers on his 1915 list from Estill County.
30See Donald Lee Nelson's article "The Death of J. B. Marcum" in JEMF Quarterly XI:37
(Spring, 1975) p. 16.
31In all likelihood, the title “Calahan” on the 1915 Garrard and Pulaski Co. lists refers to the
legendary "fiddler's farewell" piece often called "The Last of Calahan" played by fiddlers
throughout the region. The tune generally carries with it a story concerning a fiddler who plays the
piece as he stands on the scaffold awaiting execution. For a detailed study of this legend, see D. K.
Wilgus "Fiddler's Farewell: The Legend of the Hanged Fiddler" in Studia Musicologica, Vol. VII,
Budapest: International Folk Music Council, 1965: 196-209.
32See Charles Wolfe's letter concerning authorship of "The Death of J. B. Marcum" in JEMF
Quarterly XI:4 (Pt. 4) (Winter, 1975) p. 165.
33Possibly, the events described in the ballad generated such intense feelings closer to home in
Breathitt and neighboring counties that the song was not sung or discussed locally. As late as
1925, folksong scholar, Josiah Combs, wrote of meeting a mountaineer who "looked about the
14
A piece entitled “Bill Goebel” (reported on lists from Knox and Clay Counties)
undoubtedly refers to a ballad about the famous assassination of William Goebel,
Kentucky's newly elected Democratic Governor in 1900. J. W. Day (mentioned
above) composed a ballad about the assassination (employing the tune of "Barbara
Allen"), but other songs were said to have been made about the event as well, so
there is no telling if the list entry actually refers to Day's piece.34 Goebel's
assassination was a major event in Kentucky history and the ensuing trial of Caleb
Powers was widely followed in the press. An additional title on the Berea lists,
“Governor Brown,” (reported by the same Knox and Clay Co. students) ties in with
the Goebel case in that James Young Brown ran against Goebel for the democratic
nomination and lost. After Goebel was killed, Brown acted as a defense lawyer for
the accused assassin, Caleb Powers. If there was a song composed about Brown, as
indicated by the Knox and Clay County lists, it was not widely circulated and has
not come down to us today.
Many songs that have since become America's best-known native folksongs are
found on the Berea lists, including “The Dying Cowboy,” “The Texas Rangers,”
“The Titanic,” “The Roving Gambler,” “Casey Jones,” “Jesse James,” and “Wild
Bill Jones.” The 1915 Berea lists also cite “Wild and Wreckless Hobo” (from
Pulaski County) and a variant title, “Wild and Western Hobo” (from Knox and Clay
Counties). Both the latter titles have been discussed at length by Norm Cohen in his
monumental study of railroading songs.35 In attempting to unravel the threads of
"Wild and Reckless Hobo" within a larger song complex, Cohen points out that the
earliest known text of "The Reckless Hobo" stems from a Kentucky source—Blind
Dick Burnett's pocket songbook printed probably in 1913 or 1914, only a year or
two before Professor Smith's students drew up their lists. Since the Berea titles are
so close in time and place to Burnett's songbook (Pulaski County is adjacent to
Burnett's native Wayne County) they raise interesting questions about the song's
currency in the region. It is frustrating that only the titles, without texts, are
available to us since in the case of "Wild Reckless Hobo" (which Burnett sang as
"rambling reckless hobo") the titles on the 1915 Berea tune lists represent some of
the earliest references known for this song.
Several other titles on the Berea lists deserve careful consideration for their
potential contributions to scholarship concerning individual songs. Space allows
room and said cautiously, 'A feller might get shot around here for singing that song.’'" (Folk-Songs
des Etats-Unis. Paris: 1925. Reprinted as Folk-Songs of the Southern United States, Austin:
University of Texas Press for the American Folklore Society, 1967, p 50.)
34For Day's ballad "The Assassination of Governor William Goebel," see Jean Thomas' book,
Ballad Makin' in the Mountains of Kentucky. New York: Henry Holt Co., 1939. Reprinted by Oak
Publications (New York) in 1964, pp. 192-194.
35Cohen, Norm. Long Steel Rail (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1981, pp. 355-366.)
15
only brief mention here of three such items. “John Brown's Coal Mine” (cited on
lists from Knox, Wolfe, and Clay Counties) is a variant title of a classic composite
(lyric) folksong best known as "In the Pines." In 1970, Judith McCulloh based her
Ph.D. dissertation entirely on her study of variants in this song family, and some
years earlier, Zonweise Stein devoted an article to "John Brown's Coal Mine" in
Kentucky Folklore Record.36 Norm Cohen also discusses the song in Long Steel
Rail.37 Again, while we have only the title, it is nevertheless one of the earliest
collected references to this lyric folksong cluster. “Blue River Train” is
undoubtedly a localization of "New River Train," (another substantial song
complex) while “Reckless Conductor” is almost certainly a reference to the song
Cohen treats under the title "The True and Trembling Brakeman."38 Other titles for
this latter piece include "The Dying Brakeman" and "The Reckless Motorman."
Cohen mentions two people who each claimed to know the circumstances behind
the events in this song. One man from West Virginia claimed to have composed the
piece after witnessing an accident in 1915, while a Kentucky man reported that his
sister-in-law had composed it after her husband was killed at a Harlan County mine
in 1938. The title's appearance on the March, 1915 Berea tune lists (from a
Tennessee source) suggests that yet another explanation is needed.
A substantial number of the list entries presumably reflect African-American
presence, especially songs like “All Night Long Baby,” “John Henry” and “John
Hardy” ("John Hearty" in Wolfe, Clay, Floyd, and Breathitt Counties). Again,
however, we are forced to extrapolate from lyrics of other known songs. For
instance, “Last Monday Morning” (reported from Magoffin Co.) and “Old Gray
Goose” (Pulaski Co.) may both refer to the same song (generally attributed to
African-American tradition) which contains the words "Last Monday morning,
Lord, Lord, Lord...."39 The song goes on to describe a preacher's hunting encounter
with a larger-than-life gray goose. That hypothetical connection is tempered,
however, by the text of a play rhyme called "Old Gray Goose" printed in 1928 in
the Kentucky Folk-Lore and Poetry Magazine. The text given there runs:
36Judith McCulloh. In the Pines: The Melodic-Textual Identity of an American Lyric Folksong
Cluster. Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, 1970. Zonweise Stein: "John Brown's Coal Mine"
in Kentucky Folklore Record 7 (1961): 147-158.
37Norm Cohen Long Steel Rail (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1981: 491-502. According
to McCulloh and Cohen, the earliest combined version of tune and text for "In the Pines" was
collected by Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles in Clay Co., Kentucky in 1917.
38For "New River Train" see Cohen, Long Steel Rail, pp. 466-471; for "Reckless Conductor" see
pp. 257-260.
39See "The Gray Goose" in John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs,
New York: The MacMillan Company, 1934, pp. 242-243.
16
Old gray goose come flying home,
Flying home, flying home;
Old gray goose come flying home,
Swing them around and around.
Chrous: Around and around, all the way around,
The old gray goose come flying home.40
Of course, the title “Old Gray Goose” could refer to any number of other songs or
fiddle tunes as well. Hans Nathan has noted a mid-nineteenth century “Ethiopian”
minstrelsy number with a refrain running:
Oh! looky har, Oh! looky whar
Look right ober yander
Don’t you see de Ole Grey Goose
Smiling at de Gander41
Perhaps this song eventually came down as the piece Shearin and Combs, in 1911,
mentioned as “Gray Goose” in a list of Kentucky ditties they characterized as being
“always rhythmical, and usually rimed, varying in length from a couplet to an
endless improvisation.”42 Other speculations are possible as well.
Finally, there are the popular "tin pan alley" songs promulgated both in and out
of the region by means of the vaudeville stage, the minstrel show, sheet music, and
phono records. These include such items as: “After the Ball,” “Bill Bailey,” “Dat Is
the Way to Spell Chicken,” “Don't Stay After Ten,” “Googoo Eyes,” “Trail of the
Lonesome Pine,” “When I Got Mine Boys,” and so forth. Although the mountains
have repeatedly been described as having been cut off from "the modern world"
until well into the 1930s, the Berea lists suggest that the influence of phonograph
records may have been felt well before that time. That recorded music was fast
becoming an integral part of people's lives in the mountains in 1915 is evidenced by
40"Old Gray Goose" in Pullen, Carl. “Some Singing Games” in The Kentucky Folk-Lore and
Poetry Magazine, Bowling Green, KY: The Kentucky Folk-Lore Society (January, 1928), p. 22.
41“Ole Grey Goose” in Hans Nathan, Dan Emmett and the Rise of Negro Minstrelsy, Norman,
OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962, pp. 461-463.
42“Gray Goose” mentioned in Hubert Shearin and Josiah Combs, A Syllabus of Kentucky Folk-
Songs, Lexington, KY: Transylvania Printing Company, 1911, p.38.
17
the frequent inclusion of the graphophone on the students' lists of musical
instruments.43
Further evidence of a phonographic presence in the region comes from one of
the "titles" on a Floyd County list submitted by student, Ward Allen. His entry,
“Chas Dow Mane,” is actually a reference to a person, Charles D'Almaine, a
violinist who recorded a number of popular fiddle tune medleys on cylinders and
discs at the turn of the century. These were not breakdowns in southern style, but
were more genteel treatments of hornpipes, jigs, and reels in the English, Scottish,
and Irish "book" tradition. The fact that trained "fiddlers" like D'Almaine were
being heard in the heart of "remote Appalachia" in 1915 is certainly a revelation,
but there is little to suggest that his recordings had much impact on local music
traditions.44
All in all, the Berea tune lists are quite revealing about the spectrum of music in
the mountains and hills of Kentucky and East Tennessee just prior to the era of
radio and commercial "country music" records. The references in some of the
student essays to the "old fashioned" fiddlers' tunes of bygone days and to
community dances as "a thing of the past" in 1915 suggests that the notion of
"oldtime music" was in place (even in rural settings) long before the Henry Ford
43A merchant's advertisement in the Hazel Green Herald (Wolfe Co.) for August 28, 1907
offered a free graphophone cylinder machine to any household whose purchases amounted to
$30.00. Records were also offered free with cash purchases of $5.00.
44There are, however, many fiddlers in the northern counties of Kentucky whose documented
repertories include hornpipes and other "book tunes" that might have come from violinist-fiddlers
like D'Almaine. In a 1976 interview, a Lee County journalist, Nevylle Shackleford, told Loyal
Jones: "There was an old-timer in our neighborhood named Andrew Cable, and he was a
sawmiller, and he ran a gristmill. Everything new that would come out, he'd buy it. ...And they'd
bought this Edison phonograph, and that was the first time I'd ever heard—I guess that was about
1915 or '16 or somewhere along about that time. What I remember about this Edison phonograph
was it played cylinder records. And the only record I remember was "Fisher's Hornpipe."
Interestingly, "Fisher's Hornpipe" was one of Charles D'Almaine's most popular pieces, and it
seems highly likely that the cylinder referred to by Mr. Shackleford was a D'Almaine recording.
18
fiddling craze of the 1920s and the folk music revivals of the 1930s and the 1960s.
The songs on the lists range from traditional English ballads like “Barbara Allen”
and minstrel songs like “Old Jim Crow” to tin pan alley pieces like “Bill Bailey”
and sentimental parlor songs like “The Letter Edged in Black.” But by far the
greatest representation is given to the fiddle and banjo tunes and songs. Taken in
conjunction with the programs of the fiddler's contests of the 1920s and the tunes
collected from older generation players since the 1930s, the Berea tune lists help us
better understand and appreciate the breadth and vibrancy of musical traditions in
the southern mountains.
19
THE BEREA TUNE LISTS
Note: Original spellings have been retained throughout; additions and clarifications have
been indicated in brackets.
20
1. JAMES M. RAINES O
Naillon, TN
"Musical Instruments: Jews Harp, French Harp, Auto Harp, Flute, Fife, Bagpipe,
Cornet, Trumbone [sic], Clarinet, Bass Violin, Violin, Banjo, Guitar, Mandolin,
Accordion, Drum, Organ, Piano, Little Joe [?], Bass Horn"
"Violin Tunes"
Sourwood Mountain
Sheridan's March
Dixie
Yankee Doodle
Cumberland Gap
Casey Jones
Possum's Nest
Buzzard's Nest
Shoot that Turkey Buzzard
Sugar in the Coffee Oh
What are you going to [do] with the
baby oh
Soldier's Joy
Sindy
Rattle down the acorns
Rocky Mountains
Frankie
Old Miss Mashmer[?]
John Henry
Little Brown Jug
Blackeyed Susie
Turkey in the Straw
The old hen cackled
"A Musical Occasion"
One evening there were about twenty five boys and girls gathered at the home of one of
the neighbors of our community for a musical occasion and good time. In the crowd
were five boys that might be called experts with such musical instruments as the Violin,
Guitar, and banjo. The sitting room was prepared for the occasion by removing the
furniture to make room for a dance. The musicians gathered in one corner of the room
and began the music by playing such tunes as Cumberland Gap, Sourwood Mountain
and etc. At the sound of the music the boys and girls were on the floor ready for the
dance. The square dance and the four handed reel, Weavley Wheat, and Buffalo were
the principal dances of the evening. At ten o'clock refreshments were served after
which the crowd returned home having had a good time.
21
2. FRANK SMITHERS O
Millers Creek, Estill Co., KY
"Old time fiddle tunes"
Sour Wood Mts.
Ark[ansas] traveler
Turkey in the straw
Hook and line
Buck Creek girls
Nigger inch along
Where did you get your whiskey
Drunkards Dream
Give the fiddler a dram
Git along down town
Edd Calahan
Leather Breetches
Salley Gooden
Cripple Creek
Jennie put your kettle on
Liza Jane
Whistling Ruphus
Ground Hog
Bonaparts Retreat
Sweet sixteen
Railroad picnic
Cumberland Gap
Fishers Hornpipe
Shorten Bread
Pinnie Ridge
Old Jim Crow
Everybodies Favorite
22
3. QUILLIE SHACKELFORD O
Flat, Wolfe Co. KY
"Some Old Fiddle and Banjo Tunes"
Turkey in the Straw
Sourwood Mountains
Marching thru Georgia
Cripple Creek
Hook and Line
Buck Creek Girls
Hell's broke loose in Georgia
The Texas Ranger
Its Hell Among Yearlings
Wild Bill Jones
The Fox Chase
Leather Breeches
The Rowan County Crew
Shortning Bread
Casey Jones
The Girl I Left Behind
Yellow Hen
Bonaparte's March
My Old Kentucky Home
Coming thru the Rye
I Went down to Alice's house
The Girl I left in sunny Tennessee
Johnny get Around
Going down to Town
Blue Goose
Ida Red
Shady Grove
Nellie Gray
Dixie
John Hardee
Shoo Fly
Cumberland Gap
Every body is doing it
A Dying Cowboy
The little brown jug
Chewing Gum
Yankee Doodle
The roving Gambler
Little Cora
Barbara Allen
Sugar babe
"The Names of Musical Instruments:
Violin, Banjo, Guitar, Mandolin, Flute,
Drum, Cornett, Trombone, Fife, Piano,
Organ, Victrola, Phonograph,
Accordian, French harp, Jews Harp,
Melodion, Bugle, Music box, Whistle,
Clarinet.
23
4. [UNKNOWN STUDENT]
"Old Fiddle Tunes"
Black Eyed Susan
Lizy Jane
Dolly Put the Kettle on
Take my Tobacco down
Develish Mary
Sour Wood Mts.
Shu Fly
Wild Bill Jones
Railroad Man
Johny gone to Cuba
The Girl I left behind me
Any Little Girl [My Little Girl?]
Old Dan Tucker
Little Speckel Hen
Buck Creek Girls
You have caused me to weep
Coal Creek
Happy was a miller boy
Sugar babe
Shorten bread
Old Buck's horn
Fishers Hornpipe
Hog eyed Man
Walking in the Parlor
Getting up Stairs
Cumberland Gap
Arkansas Traveler
Stand Around
Cold Winds from the West
Hichough oh Lordy
I love Somebody
Grasshopper setting on Sweet potato
vin[e]
Sally Ann
Ida Red
Sal Said She wanted to Mar[ry]
Shady Grove
The Wagoner
Ragged Joe
Lula Gal
Piny Mountains
24
5. ERNEST B. HILL O
Gunter, TN [Marshall Co.]
[Note: Compare with No. 1]
"Musical Instruments: Jews Harp, French Harp, Auto Harp, Flute, Fife, Bagpipe,
Cornet, Trambone, Clarinet, Bass Violin, Violin, Banjo, Guitar, Mandolin, Accordion,
Drum, Organ, Piana, Little Joe [?], Bass Horn, Bugle, Accordion"
"Violin Tunes"
Sourwood Mountain
Sheridan's March
Dixie
Yankee Doodle
Cumberland Gap
Casey Jones
Opossum's Nest
Buzzard Nest
Shoot that turkey buzzard
Sugar in the coffe oh!
What are you going to d[o] with the
baby o
Soldier's Joy
Sindy
Rattle down the acorns
Rocky Mountains
Frankie
Old Miss Mashmer[?]
John Henry
Little Brown Jug
Blackeyed Susie
Turkey in the stray
Coley night
Marching thru Georgia
Trail of the Lonesome Pine
25
6. LAUDA WHITT O
Lykins, Magoffin Co., KY
"A List of old time songs and fiddle tunes"
Cumberland Gap
Gettin down the river
Tippie have a hair cut
Googoo Eyes
Sourwood mountains
John Harty
Last Monday morning
The fellow that looked like me
Pretty Polly
Lulu comb down them bangs
[The Girl] Who wore the waterfall
Cassey Jones
Skip to my loo
Jessie James
Chewing Gum
Joe Clark
Two little nigger boys
Tater (potato) Vine
Man's life is Vapor
I'm bound to leave this place
Going down to town
26
7. W.B. TROSPER O
Gray, Knox Co., KY
"A List of violin tunes"
Rock little Lula rock
The girl I left behind me
Nigger went a fishing
Black eyed Susie
Sour wood mountains
Hook and line
Going down to town
Cripple Creek
Buck Creek
Casey Jones
John Henry
Frankie
Wagoner
Old blue hen
Cluck old hen
Nigger stole a pumpkin
Skip to my lou
Arkansas traveler
Bill Baily
Wild Bill Jones
Old hen cackled
John Brown
Court house road
Little Cora
Turkey in the straw
Nellie Gray
Shorten bread
The raccoon
Red wing
My little rosy girl
All night long baby
The rail roader
The dying cow boy
Little Liza Jane
Steam boat bill
Old ship of Zion
Cumberland Gap
Hell broke lose in Ga. oh
Marching thru Georgia
Ground hog stewed & ground [hog]
fried...
Jessie James
Old Black Joe
The Fox Chase
Preacher & the Bear
Some people say a nigger wont steal
Ground hog grease
Sally Ann
Big Stone Gap
The Drunkard's hell
Little brown jug
Ox driver
Nigger went a fishing
Rock little Lula rock
You caused me to weep & moan
Whoa Mule
Frankfort town
Coal creek
The Drunkard's dream
The last old dollar done gone
Ida Red
Governor Brown
Shady grow
Going down to Alice's house
Black Nance
Bill Goebel
Wild and Western hobo
Rocky Island
John Brown's Coal Mine
27
8. MARY HOSKINS O
Hoskinton, Leslie Co., KY
"Tunes"
Sweet Milk and Peaches
Red bird scratch
Leather breeches
Brickyard Joe
Greasy breeches
Sandy land
Rocklick Girl
I don't care where in the world I go
The wagoner's dream
Buttermilk and Brandy
Casey Creek Samuel
The white rooster
28
9. PETER PAYNE O
Whisman, Wolfe Co., KY
[Note: Compare with No. 7]
"A List of violin tunes"
Black eyed susie
Turkey and the straw
Sour wood mountains
Hook and line
Bonaparte
Going down in town
Rye Straw
Cripple Creek
Buck Creek
Wagoner
Casey Jones
John Henry
John Hearty
The drunkard's hiccups
Old blue hen
Cluck old hen
Nigger stold a pumpkin
Skip to My Lou
Arkansas Traveler
Court house road
Little Korea [i.e. Little Cory]
Johnson Brown
Bill Baily
Wild Bill Jones
Old hen cac[k]led
Preacher and the Bear
Ground hog grease
Sally Ann
Kitty Puss
Some folks say a nigger wont steal
Old Joe Clark
the Fox Chase
Jessie James
Ground Hog
Old Black Joe
Marching thru Georgia
Hell broke loose from Ga.
Cumberland Gap
Steam boat Bill
The Drunkard's Hell
Old Ship of Zion
Little Liza Jane
The dying cow boy
The rail roader
All night long baby
Red wing
The raccoon
Shortnen bread
My little Rosy Girl
Nellie Gray
Frankfort town
Frankie day
Ox driver
Little brown jug
The girl I left behind
Nigger went a fishing
Rock Little Lula Rock
Going to My New Jail
Johns brown's coal mine
Hell among the yearling
Ida Red
I love somebody
On the trail of the lonesome pine
29
10. LOU V. ELLIOTT O
Liberty, Casey Co. KY
"List of all the violin and Banjo tunes that I have heard"
Way Down upon the Swanee River
My Old Ky. Home
Yankee Doodle
Old Black Joe
Turkey in the Straw
Good Old Summer time
Shorten Bread
Little Brown Jug
Titantic
Casey Jones
Preacher & Bear
Rainbow
"The musical entertainments in our community consist of singing schools and lots of
musical entertainments are in the homes where we have piano, and organ music also
singing with the music. There is a piano or organ in nearly every home of the
community. I never heard many of the old fiddle or banjo tunes."
30
11. LENA ISAACS O
Ocala, Pulaski Co., KY
"List of all Violin and Banjo tunes that I have heard"
Old Kentucky Home
Way Down upon the Swanee River
Turkey in the Straw
Old Black Joe
Yankee Doodle Dandy dee
Good old Summer Time
Titantic
Shorten Bread
Little Brown Jug
"Other musical entertainments in our community consists of singing school, organ and
piano music. In the singing school, we have a teacher who usually meets with his class
twice a week, Saturday nights and Sundays."
31
12. RUTH TUTT O
Gosneyville, Wolfe Co., KY
"List of old tunes"
Drunken Hiccough
Sally Ann
Black Eyed Susan
I want to go a courtin
Ida Red
Eliza Jane
Don't stay after ten
Cumberland Gap
Sour Wood Mountain
Jenny Put the kettle on
Meet me in the moonlight
Cripple Creek
Shoo fly
Nelly Gray
Dixie Land
Shady Grove
John Hardy
Nigger & [?]
Kate & Sal
Ground hog
Ducks in the Mill pond
John Brown
"Musical instruments: Fiddle, Banjo, bugle, French harp, Jews harp, Drum, Accordion,
Organ, Piano."
32
13. BEN MILLS O
Bright Shade, Clay Co., KY
"A list of violin tunes"
[Note: Compare with Nos. 7 and 9]
Hook and Line
Sour Wood Mountain
Turkey in the Straw
Black eyed Susie
Going down in Town
Bonaparte
Cripple Creek
Buck Creek
Wagener
Casey Jones
John Henry
The Drunkard's hiccups
Old Blue Hen
John Hearty
Cluck Old Hen
Nigger stold a Pumpkin
Skip to my lou
Arkansas Traveler
Court House Road
Little Cora
Johnson Brown
Bill Baily
Wild Bill Jones
Old Hen Cackled
Preacher and the Bear
Ground hog grease
Sally Ann
Kitty Puss
Some Folks say a nigger wont steal
The Fox Chase
Old Joe Clark
Jessie James
Ground hog
Old Black Joe
Marching thru Georgia
Hell broke loose in Georgia
Cumberland Gap
Big Stone Gap
Steam boat Bill
Old ship of Zion
The Drunkard's Hell
Liza Jane
The dying cowboy
The rail roader
All night long baby
Red Wing
Shortening bread
The raccoon
My Litle Rosy Girl
Nellie Gray
Frankfort Town
Little Frankie
Little Brown Jug
Ox driver
Nigger went a fishing
The girl I left behind
Rock Little Lula Rock
Going to my new jail
Coal Creek
The Drunkard's Dream
Good thing
John Brown's Coal Mine
You caused me to weep and you
caused
me to morn
Governor Brown
Ida Red
Shady grow
Going down to Alice's house
Whoa Mule
Black Nance
Bill Goebel
Wild and Western Hobo
Rocky Island
"List of Musical Instruments: Violin,
Banjo, French harp, Organ, Piano,
Flute, Drum, Accordion, Fife,
Phonograph, Tambourine, Jews Harp,
Guitar, Roll or Crank Organ, Trumpet,
Bugle"
33
14. HARVEY SMITH O
Ansel, Pulaski Co., KY
"Fiddle tunes which I have heard
played"
Black Eyed Susie
Sourwood mountain
Red Wing
Fishers Hornpipe
Nellie Gray
Turkey in the straw
Buck Creek Girls
Callahan
Billy in the low ground
Pretty Polly
Casey Jones
Joe Doan [?]
Wild Bill Jones
Cumberland Gap
Bonaparte's retreat
Cripple Creek
Forked Buck
Arkansas Traveler
Shortening bread
After the ball
Somerset conductor
Frankie
Sugar in the gourd
Pumpkin Vine
Jenny get around
Sweet sunny south
Chewing gum
Wild and wreckless hobo
Hell broke loose in Georgia
Western cowboy
Old gray mare
Old gray goose
The runaway train
What will we do with the baby o
Old Billy Pitman and Georgeo[?]
Preacher and the Bear
My old belled Ewe
Little brown jug
Billy boy
Dixie land
Suwanee river
Old Kentucky Home [crossed out]
lively lad
Cluck old hen
Old rusty kettle
Sherman marching through Georgia
"The different kinds of musical
instruments which I have seen are as
follows: pumpkin vine bugle, sour
wood bark bugle, corn stalk fiddle,
banjo, guitar, fiddle, French harp, Jews
harp, organ, piano, phonograph,
mandolin, hand organ. I have never had
the opportunity of going to an old
fashioned country dance, as the people
in the community where I live regard
dancing as a very serious thing
therefore we seldom have any dancing.
I have heard a great deal of violin and
banjo music. Several times I have gone
to hear some of the old fiddlers and
banjo players play sometimes playing
until two o'clock in the morning
without thinking of getting sleepy.
Altho the old fashioned music is not so
classy as the up to date music yet I
enjoy the old fiddle and banjo tunes
which I have heard in the country so
much and which I have learned to like.
All these other musical instruments
which I have named I also like very
much and have played on some of
them but I am not much of a musician
and my principal musical instruments
were the sour wood bark whistle or
horn, the chestnut whistle and
pumpkin vine bugle."
34
15. CHARLES FARMER O
Poplarville, Pulaski Co., KY
"Fiddler tunes"
"We have watch[ed] the old fiddlers amuse themselves by playing their old songs which
they learned when a boy. Nothing seems to delight them more than to spend an
afternoon playing over the old songs. But this is not practiced as much now as it was
during the days of our fathers youth. Dancing has become a thing of the past it is not
practiced now because people have gotten new ideas of how they could amuse
themselves rather than spending hours at dances. Among some of the tunes played in
my boyhood day are as follows:"
Buck Creek Girls
Cripple Creek
Old Joe Clark
Ida Red
I love some body
Skip a ma Lew
Sour Wood Mountains
The old hen cackled
Leather Breeches
Granny will your hen peck
Sandy Lane
Fisher Hornpipe
Turkey in the straw
Arkansas Traveler
Jennie Put the kettle on
Casey Jones
Dat is the way to spell chicken
Black eyed Susia
"All these I liked to hear when I was a lad. And when we hear an old time fiddler play
we hear the old tunes or songs that have been played for years."
35
16. EDGAR THOMPSON O
Crab Orchard, Lincoln Co., KY
"Quaint old fiddle and Banjo tunes"
Turkey in the straw
Sour wood mt.
Marching through Ga.
Cripple Creek
Hook and Line
Buck Creek gals
Hell's broke loose in Ga.
The Texas Ranger
It's Hell among the yearlings
Wild Bill Jones
The fox chase
Leather Breeches
Rowan Co. crew
Shorten bread
Casey Jones
Every body is do'in it
The girl I left behind me
Yellow hen
Bonaparte's March
My old Ky. home
Coming thru the rye
The girl I left in Tenn.
Jonny get around
Going down to town
Blue Goose
Ida Red
Shady Grove
Nelly Gray
Dixie
John Hardy
Little Brown Jug
Chewing Gum
Old Daniel Tucker
Cumberland Gap
The dying cow boy
The fox chase
Yankee Doodle
Susan Gal
Bachelor's Hall
Barbara Ellen
36
17. ADDIE WILLIAMS O
Berea, Madison Co., KY
"Fiddle Music"
"H[ere] are some of the pieces that are played on the fiddle and some are dancing pieces
which is used in the old fashion dances. The pieces of music as following:"
Sallie Ann
Eliza Jane
Sourwood mts.
Getting along down in town
Buck Creek
Johnie has gone to Cuba
Dixie Land
Old Dan Tucker
Hook and Line
Marching through Georgia
Roxie Ann
Shoe string cracking the floor
Steam Boat Bill
Wayne Berge [Waynesburg]
Turkey in the straw
Little Brown Jug
..."are some of the pieces of music that are played on the fiddle and there are many
other[s] that are played."
37
18. WARD ALLEN O
Bosco, Floyd Co., KY
"Some old time fiddle and Banjo songs"
When I got mine boys
Skip to my Lou
Four in the middle
Rouser
The old hen cackle
The fox chase
Turkey in the straw
Sour wood mountain
Hell has broke loose in Ga.
Leather breeches
Shorten bread
Susan gal
John Hearty
Blue river train
Cold Creek March
That F. F. V.
Frankie
Blue Goose
Give me the hook and line
Criple Creek
Old corn whisky
Buck Creek Girls
Going to join the Army
Texas ranger
Hell among the yearlings
Wild Bill Jones
That lazy linger loue [Ginger Blue?]
The Rowan County Crew
Pretty Maummee
Red Wing
Steam boat Bill
Marching thru Ga.
Bonaparte March
Casey Jones
The girl I left behind
Let him sink or swim
Black eyed Susie
Yellow hen
I'm looking for a nice young fellow
Chas Dow Mane [Charles D'Almaine]
Meet me in the moon light
Frady Cat
Johnie look around
I went down to Alice house
Old Uncle Ned
When I was a single man
38
19. ANNA HAWLEY O
Bryantsville, Garrard Co., KY
"Old fashioned fiddle and banjo tunes and musical instruments"
"Some of the old fiddle and banjo tunes I have heard are:"
Arkansas Traveler
Wild Cat
Don't stay after ten
Casey Jones
Shortning Bread
Going to Cipper Creek
Turkey in the straw
Ida Red
Barbara Allen
Wild Bill Jones
Uncle Ned
Steam Boat Bill
Red Wing
The Old Pumpkin Floor
Red Lick
Old Joe Clark
Sour Wood Mountain
The "Devils" Dream
Everybody's favor [Everybody’s
Favorite]
Fisher's horn pipe
Rickets' horn pipe
Sally Gooden
Eliza Jane
Calahan
The Lost Indian
"Musical instruments: Piano, Organ, Violin, Guitar, Banjo, French Harp, Jews [Harp],
Accordion, Fife, Flute, Graphaphone [sic], Drum, Chestnut bark whistle, Willow bark
whistle, Gourd Fiddle, Corn stalk fiddle."
39
20. WM. S. ROBBINS O
Oakdale, Breathitt Co., KY
"Fiddle tunes"
Black eyed Susie
Turkey in the straw
Sour wood mountain
Hook and line
Bonaparte
Going downtown
Rye straw
Cripple creek
Buck creek
Wagoner
Casey Jones
John Henry
John Hearty
The drunkard's hiccups
Blue hen
Cluck old hen
Nigger stole a pumpkin
Skip to me Lou
Arkansaw traveler
Court house road
Little Kora
Johnson brown
Old Bill Baily
Wild bill Jones
Old hen cackled
Preacher and bear
Ground hog grease
Sally Ann
Kitty puss
Some folks say that a nigger won't steal
Old Joe Clark
Fox chase
Jessie James
Ground hog
Marching through Georgia
Hell broke loose from Ga.
Steamboat Bill
Drunkards Hell
Old Ship of Zion
Lizzy Jane
Dying cowboy
Red wing
Raccoon
Shortening bread
Railroad
All night long
Roses
Darling Nelly Gray
Show me the way to go home
Going down to Frankfort
Franky Gray
Ox driver
Charming Betsy
Susie Ann
40
21. CHESTER A. GABBARD O
Traveler's Rest, Owsley Co., KY
"Some Fiddle and Banjo tunes"
I love somebody
Black eyed Susie
The wagoner
The Fox Chase
Cluck old hen
The old hen cackled
Sally Ann
Rheuben [Reuben]
Ida Red
Nellie Gray
Bonaparte's retreat
Hiccough, oh Lordy
Sugar babe
Black Jack Grove
Muddy Creek
Jennie put the kettle on
Shorten bread
Going down to town
Shu Fly
Liza Jane
Bunker hill
Arkansas Traveler
Old buck's horn
Hay oh boys, give the fiddler a dram
Prettiest girl in the county oh!
Grass hopper setting on [a] sweet tater
vine
Follow me and my [love?] to [the] next
cotton picking
Black my boots all the wk. trying to
make them shine
Buck Creek Girls
Shady Grove
Cumberland Gap
Sour Wood Mountain
Sall said she wanted to marry
Cold winds from the west
Fishers horn pipe
Goose Creek
Stand around
Getting up stairs
Hog eyed man
Walking in the parlor
Good old summer time
a. Nigger inch long
b. Dixie Land
Ragged Joe
Piny Mountains
Pick a Boo
Cow bell hollow
Casey Jones
Hobo John
Red Wing
Cotton eyed Joe
Old Joe Clark
Lula Gal
Bill Bailey
Tater bug
The lost engine [The Lost Indian]
The ship that never returned
Old Dan Tucker
Coal Creek
Happy Miller boy
Jonny's gone to Cuba
Wild Bill Jones
Devlish Mary
The Girl I left behind
"Some Musical Instruments: Piano,
Organ, Violin, Guitars, Mandoline,
Banjo, Accordions, Dulcimer, Harps
(many kind), Bunglephone [sic], Fluta
[sic], Auto harps, Guitar zithers, Lyre
zither, Drum, Tambourines, Jew's
harps, Hand organs, Cornet,
Trombones, Horns, Clarinets, Flutes,
Piccolos, Bugles, Fife's [sic], Bag pipe,
Sourwood bugle, Sourwood [whistle],
Chestnut whistle, Cane [whistle] and
trumpet."
41
"Singing School"
"About two years ago, an old man came to the school house near home to conduct a
singing school. he was a very old man and didn't know as much about singing as he
thought he did. This school was to meet every night. There were a very large crowd
attended and seemed to get very much enjoyment out of it. He tried to teach round
notes and introduced a new book which contained many new and good songs. The
leader being poor was not very well equip[p]ed with charts etc for use to teach his
students so we all learned best we could. One night we had a visitor who was a young
singing master so he was called on to give instruction that night which he did, and you
know he "stared" [starred?] and in the conclusion he sang "Old Black Joe" which
seemed to hurt the old singing Master's feelings very much. Then the crowd were
dismissed to come back next night."
42
22. RAY MCMAHON O
Sevierville, TN
"Some old time fiddle tunes"
Sallie Goodin
Old Christmas
Lost Child
Cripple Creek
Forked Buck
Buck Creek Girl
Leather Breeches
Hell tore loose in Georgia O
What will you do with the Baby O?
Hell's up again
Spoon licked the laddle [Spoon
Licked the Ladle]
Up the steep and down the level
Cows ar comin
The old time tune
Fox Chase
Over the lea
Farewell my blue eyed girl
Sour wood Mountains
Christopher Columbus
Smoky road
Shake them simmons down
Shake them acorns down
Forked deer
Cumberland Gap
Wagoner
Indian eat the wood heap[?]
Bonapartes retreat
Over the road to Maysville
Southern hornpipe
Fishers [hornpipe]
Turkey in the straw
Shorten bread
Walkin in my sleep
J. B. Marcum
Black eyed Susie
Steamboat bill
Arkansas traveller
Turkey buzzard
John Hardy
Wing bird [Waynesburg?]
Green river
Down the road
Cindy
Ho that rabbit Ho
Ground hog
I'm as free a little bird as I can be
Good by little bonnie
The Drunkard's dream
[The Drunkard's?] Hiccoughs
Little black mustach
Letter edged in black
Shout old Luller [Shout Old Lula]
Grass hopper setten on a sweet tater vine
Way down yonder in the cornfield
Poor little Kitty Puss
Jessie James
Frankie Baker
When I went to New Orleans
Barbara Allen
The Reckless Conductor
Footnotes:
1. Many people use the designation "Eastern Kentucky" to refer specifically to those counties making up the eastern coalfields region, a mostly mountainous area readily identifiable as part of Appalachia. However, in this article, the term "eastern" is used in a general sense to mean the overall eastern end of the state, since the counties represented fall both in and out of the coalfields, thus defying neat categorization as "Appalachian." Dividing the state into simple north, south, east, and west quadrants results in four sections that have little or nothing to do with the various physiographic regions that are more often used as regional labels (i.e. Eastern Coalfields, Cumberland Plateau, Inner and Outer Bluegrass, Knobs, Pennyroyal, Western Coalfields, and Purchase). The Kentucky counties under discussion in this article fall into at least three physiographic regions. Knox, Clay, Leslie, Owsley, Breathitt, Floyd, Magoffin, Wolfe, and Estill counties are generally considered part of the Eastern Coalfields whose terrain is rugged if not mountainous, while Madison, Garrard, and Lincoln counties lie in the outer Bluegrass region (mostly rolling pasture land), and Casey and Pulaski counties are in the Pennyroyal section, which is hilly but not mountainous. Thus, the 1915 Berea tune lists do not reflect a single, unified cultural or geographic area such as most people envision when they speak of "Appalachia." I am indebted to Steve Rice of the Kentucky Division of Environmental Analysis at Frankfort for suggesting that I clarify this issue.
2 For an example of one scholar's attempt to better understand "archaic" fiddling based on the
evidence of sound recordings, see Charles Wolfe's "The Oldest Recorded Fiddle Styles" in Devil's
Box 17: 1 (Spring, 1983) pp. 22-26. Tom Carter also focuses on the nature of 19th century fiddle
and banjo music in the southern mountains in his article "I Never Could Play Alone: The
Emergence of the New River Valley String Band, 1875-1915" in Patterson and Zug, eds. Arts in
Earnest: North Carolina Folklife. Durham: Duke University Press, 1990, pp. 47-74; 283-286.
3 In an unpublished paper entitled "Berea's Ballad Collectors" (1980), Sidney Saylor Farr noted
that as early as 1893-94, Berea College President William G. Frost encouraged faculty members to
note down folksongs from their students. In 1899, Rexford Raymond wrote of collecting "Barbara
Allen" from a woman in the mountains. James Watt Raine, Katherine Jackson French, John F.
Smith, and Gladys Jameson are four other individuals affiliated with Berea College who devoted
considerable time to collecting folk music in Kentucky before 1920. Cecil Sharp made a point of
visiting Berea during his Kentucky sojourn in 1917, and a local doctor, Alson Baker, organized
fiddle contests at the college tabernacle beginning in 1919.
4 During early stages of ballad collecting in America, many individuals turned to Harvard professor, George Lyman Kittredge, for guidance and, indirectly, for validation of their work in the scholarly community. As a pupil at Harvard under Francis James Child, Kittredge inherited the latter man's position of authority regarding English and Scottish popular ballads, and it was
Kittredge's enthusiasm and knowledge of his subject that inspired many collectors around the country in their quests for ballad literature in America. As early as 1907, Kittredge had published on the topic of Kentucky mountain folk music (see "Ballads and Rhymes from Kentucky" in Journal of American Folklore XX:LXXIX (Oct., 1907). In 1914, James Watt Raine was teaching a course at Berea College on English and Scottish Popular Ballads, using Kittredge's edition of Child's earlier compilation as a text book.
5Professor Smith had a variety of teaching responsibilities ranging from sociology courses to Bible classes. The college catalog for 1915-16 lists him as Acting Professor of Latin and Rural Economics in the Normal School. Smith's own education was extensive and included training as well as teaching positions at Transylvania University, West
Tennessee College, Harvard University, West Kentucky College, Kentucky Classical
and Business College, and Oneida Baptist Institute (Bulletin of Berea College, No. 29
(May, 1915) p. 7). In one source, Smith's portrait was reproduced with a caption that
described him as a man "who perhaps knows more about the habits and customs of the
Mountain People than any other man in the country." [Bradley Kincaid. Favorite
Mountain Ballads and Old Time Songs. Chicago: WLS, 1928. Cited in JEMF Quarterly
XIII:45 (Summer, 1977)].
6. Berea Citizen (Sept. 6, 1917): 2
7. Berea College Catalog 1915-1916 (second edition) p. 62
8. Loyal Jones has told me that John F. Smith's awareness of home musical traditions was such that
he did not waste time asking his students if their families knew any old ballads; instead, he
entreated them to "bring me the songs your family sings." In this way, he induced them to submit
material they might otherwise have assumed was of no interest.
9Limitations of space prohibit a full-scale discussion of the copying problem, but since the
complete lists accompany this article, readers may examine them and draw their own conclusions.
On the basis of internal evidence (for instance when a reference to a specific title can be linked by
other sources to a particular county) some lists appear to be more "authentic" than others.
10For a discussion about the age of pieces such as “Sally Ann,” “Ida Red,” etc. see Tom Carter's
article "I Never Could Play Alone: The Emergence of the New River Valley String Band, 1875-
1915" (in Patterson and Zug, eds. Arts in Earnest: North Carolina Folklife. Durham: Duke
University Press, 1990) pp. 47-74; 283-286.
11To say that these tunes have been dropped by younger generation players implies a continuum
of fiddling at the grassroots level, but in reality, no such movement would seem to exist. While a
few scattered young people have embraced the oldtime music, they are far outnumbered by those
who have turned to bluegrass, gospel, country, and other genres where the fiddle and banjo occupy
mostly accompaniment roles. The influence of fiddle contests nationwide on the style and
repertory of today's younger generation fiddlers outweighs the influence of earlier traditional
players.