Annotation:Cacklin' Hen (1)

Back to Cacklin' Hen (1)

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CACKLIN' HEN [1]. See "Old Hen Cackled (1) (The)," "Old Hen She Cackled," "Hen Cackle(d)," "Cluck Old Hen (1)," "Cackling Pullet," "Chicken in the Barnyard," "Old Man Depression Get on Your Way." Bluegrass, Old Time; Breakdown. USA, widely known. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Brody, Ruth, Shumway); AA'BB (Phillips): ABBCDD (Thede). Many variants, melodically disparate, of this widely known tune appear under titles which include the adjective "cluck" or "cackling," often with the word "old" also appendaged (see alternate titles above). It has been a fiddle contest standard, and is often still heard at fiddler's gatherings; for example, it is mentioned in a 1931 account of LaFollette, northeast Tenn., fiddlers' contest, and, in 1899 in a contest in Gallatin, Tenn., "Cackling Hen" was one of the 'catagory' tunes (where each fiddler would play the same tune with the winning version winning a prize {Charles Wolfe, The Devil's Box, vol. 14, No. 4, 12/1/80}). The piece was reworked by the early 20th century Georgia group called the Skillet Lickers, recorded in 1934 as "Old Man Depression Get on Your Way" in praise of Roosevelt's New Deal, The title appears in a list of traditional Ozarks Mountains fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954, and it was in the repertoire of Pocahontas County, West Virginia, fiddler Edden Hammons.

Source for notated version: Chubby Wise (Brody), Jubal Anderson (Pottawatomie County, Ok.) [Thede]; Kenner C. Kartchner (Arizona) [Shumway]; Robert Wise [Phillips].

Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 60. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; p. 92. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), 1994; p. 43. Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 94, p. 34. Shumway (Frontier Fiddler), 1990; p. 266. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; p. 123.

Recorded sources: Briar 4206, "Scotty Stoneman." Chubby Dragon CD1008, Brad Leftwich, Bruce Molsky et al - "Mountairy.usa" (2001). Document 8039, "The Hill Billies/Al Hopkins and His Buckle Busters: Compoete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, vol. 1" (reissue). Flying Fish 102, New Lost City Ramblers- "20 Years Concert Performances" (1978. Learned from Joe Stewart's Folkways album). Folkways FA2314, Joe Stewart - "American Banjo Scruggs Style." Kicking Mule, Reed Martin- "The Old-Time Banjo in America." Rounder C11565, Fred Price (northeastern Tenn.) - "Rounder Fiddle" (1990). Rounder 0009, Clint Howard, Fred Price & Sons - "The Ballad of Finley Preston." Rounder CD 0383, Mike Seegar and Paul Brown - "Down in North Carolina." Stoneway 104, Chubby Wise- "Chubby Wise and His Fiddle." Stoneway 148, Chubby Wise- "Fiddle Hoedown." Martin, Bogen and Armstrong- "Barnyard Dance." Recorded for OKeh in 1925 by Dedrick Harris (b. 1868) {Tenn., Asheville N.C.}, one of only two fiddle solos he made. Edden Hammons Collection, Disc 2.

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear Luther Strong's 1937 LOC recording at Juneberry 78's [2]

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