Annotation:Black Jack Grove (2)

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X:1 T:Black Jack Grove [2] M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel S:L.N. Porter (Texas) N:Drone 'G' string during second strain Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:G [e3e3]d BA G2|DEGB AG G2|[e3e3]d BAG2|DEGE G2B2| [e3e3]d BA G2|DEGB AG G2|[e3e3]d BAG2|DEGD EDD2|| D2ED G2GB|A2GB AGED|D2 ED G2GB|A2GE EDD2:|

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BLACK JACK GROVE [2]. American, Reel (cut time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). Recorded in 1939 by John and Ruby Lomax on a field collecting trip, from the playing of "L.N." Biography:Lake N. Porter (1854-1947) of Falfurrias, Brooks County, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley of southern Texas. Although the tune is in 'G' major, it has a modal sound due to the emphasized, doubled (on the fiddle with open 'e' string and fingered 'e' on the A string), 'e' note at the end of each phrase. Porter sings "Black Jack Grove" at various times in his performance, and told the Lomax's it was his favorite tune.

A tune called "Black Jack Grove" is mentioned in a musing by C.H. Rust of San Angelo Texas, entitled "What has Become of the Old-Fashioned Boy?", printed in The Trail Drivers of Texas (1924,, pp. 41-42), originally compiled by J. Marvin Hunter. It goes:

What has become of the old-fashioned boy that went in his shirt tail until 10 or 11 years old, that being about the only garment he possessed during the summer months?

He could step up to an old rail fence and if he could hang his chin on the top rail, he would step back and leap over it and his shirt tail would make a kind of a fluttering noise as he went over.

What has become of the old-fashioned boy that used to run away from home on Sunday to the old swimming hole on the river five or, six miles from home, where the alligators were lying round on the banks of the river, seven and eight feet long, and, when he returned home in the evening, what has become of the old-fashioned mother that called him up for a reckoning and when she began to pry into his private affairs and became convinced that he was lying? When she got through with him, he went off behind the old ash hopper and got himself together as best he could, then he meditated and resolved to ask his mother's pardon, and the big swimming hole on the river was a closed matter.

What has become of the old-fashioned boys and girls that danced the square dance to the tune of "Cotton Eyed Joe," "Old Dan Tucker," "Black Jack Grove," "Hogs in the Cornfield," "Cackling Hens," and the "Old Gray .Horse Came Tearing Through the Wilderness'?"

What has become of the old-fashioned boy and girl that became one in wedlock when they went just across the spring branch from the old folks on the slope of the hill and built a house under the shadow of the old oak tree and raised a family and lived for God and humanity?