Annotation:Dunbar

Back to Dunbar

DUNBAR. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Kentucky. C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Titon): AABB (Songer). Mark Wilson and Guthrie Meade (1976) remark that this tune is related to "Billy in the Lowground (1)", although it appears to have been a regional tune, perhaps, as its name suggests, from the area around Dunbar, West Virginia. Jeff Titon (2001) remarks that he knows of no other source musician who played the melody besides the regionally influential fiddler Ed Haley [1] (1885-1951), of Ashland, Ky.

Originally, the name Dunbar was a Gaelic term meaning 'the fort on the hilltop'.

Source for notated version: Ed Haley (1883-1951, Ashland, Boyd County, Ky., 1946) [Titon]; Bruce Schwarz (Ketchikan, Alaska) [Songer].

Printed sources: Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; p. 68. Titon (Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 36, p. 69.

Recorded sources: Rounder 1010, Ed Haley - "Parkersburg Landing" (1976). See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: [2]

Back to Dunbar