I GET MY WHISKEY FROM ROCKINGHAM. AKA and see “Rockingham Cindy,” "Rocky Road Cindy," "Way Down in Rockingham." Old-Time, Breakdown. D Major (Tommy Jarrell): G Major (Silberberg, Songer). Standard or ADae (Tommy Jarrell) tuning (fiddle). AABC. "I get My Whiskey from Rockingham" was a breakdown/song originally recorded by Georgia fiddler Earl Johnson [1](1886-1965), born in Gwinnett County. He was a contemporary of Gid Tanner and John Carson. Johnson's lyrics begin:
Earl Johnson
Where'd you get your whiskey, where'd you get your dram? I got it from a little girl way down in Rockingham.
Refrain Rocky Road Cindy, rocky road to town, Rocky Road Cindy, way down in Rockingham.
I went down to Rockingham, I did not go to stay, I fell in love with a pretty girl and I could not get away.
Lips as red as a red rose, her hair was huckleberry brown, The sweetest girl I ever saw, way down in Rockingham.
Fiddler Tommy Jarrell (1901-1985), Mt. Airy, North Carolina, whose version "Rockingham Cindy" is much imitated, sang:
Never loved old Cindy, don't expect I ever shall. Never loved old Cindy, but I love old Cindy’s gal.
Chorus: It's come along home, Cindy, Cindy. Knock along home Cindy, Cindy.
Where'd you get your whisky, where'd you get your dram? Where'd you get your whisky at? Way down in Rockingham.
Where'd you get your whisky, where'd you get your dram? Where'd you get your whisky at? (spoken) well it don't make a damn...
The Ballad Index lists the tune among a loose family of tunes, often fragmentary, under the title "Jinny Go Round and Around," recognized by the "Where did you get your whiskey" stanza.
Source for notated version: Source for notated version: Greg Canote (Seattle), who learned it from Tom Sauber [Silberberg, Songer].
Printed sources: Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 132 (as "Rockingham Cindy"). Songer (The Portland Collection, vol. 3), 2015; p. 102.
Recorded sources: Cartunes 105, Bruce Molsky and Bob Carlin – “Take Me as I Am” (2004. As "Rockingham Cindy," sourced to Tommy Jarrell). County Records, Tommy Jarrell – “Banjo Album.” County 507, Earl Johnson & His Clodhoppers - "Old-Time Fiddle Classics" (1965). County 543, Earl Johnson and His Clodhoppers - "Red Hot Breakdown." County CD 2734, Tommy Jarrell - "Down to the Cider Mill" (2004. Reissue of LP). Marimac 9009, Chad Crumm - "Old Time Friends" (1987, as "Rockingham Cindy"). Okeh 45183 (78 RPM), Earl Johnson & His Clodhoppers (1927).
See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Hear Earl Johnson & His Clodhopper's 1927 recording on youtube.com [3][4]
