Annotation:Old Flannigan

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OLD FLANNIGAN/FLANAGAN. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Kentucky. A Major ('A' part) & E Major ('B' part). Standard or AEae tuning (fiddle). AABB (Songer): AABB' (Phillips). The tune was brought north to Kentucky by a fiddler named Brack Flannigan, originally from Texas, who settled in the Gallatin/Grant County area. It was recorded by the Blue Ridge Mountaineers in 1929 in Richmond, Indiana, one of only two sides the group recorded. The Mountianeer's fiddler, Frank Miller, had the tune from his uncle John Hall who had learned it from Flannigan. Having no name for the tune, they called it after their original source. The story may be somewhat apocryphal as the tune is clearly derived from "Old Mother Flanagan." See also the related Missouri melody "'A' and 'E' Rag."

Sources for notated versions: Frank Miller with the Blue Ridge Mountaineers (north-central Kentucky) [Phillips]; banjo and fiddle player Ray Andrico (Portland, Oregon) [Songer].

Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 170. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; p. 149.

Recorded sources: Gennett 6870 (78 RPM), Blue Ridge Mountaineers (1929). Morning Star 45005, Blue Ridge Mountaineers - "Way Down South in Dixie" (1980). Rounder 11661-0544-2, Harold Zimmerman - "Along the Ohio's Shores, vol. 1 - Fiddle Music Along a Great River." Yazoo 2200, Blue Ridge Mountaineers - "Kentucky Mountain Music: Classic Recordings of the 1920s & 1930s", disc 4.

See also listing at:
Hear the 1929 recording by the Blue Ridge Mountaineers on youtube.com [1]

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