Annotation:Bumblebee in the Jug (1)

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BUMBLEBEE IN THE/A JUG, THE. AKA - "Bumblebee in a Jar." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Kentucky, Indianna. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Phillips): AABB' (Songer). The coarse part is supposed to imitate a bee trapped in a jug. John Hartford (1996) traces the tune through successive fiddlers. Most modern versions derived from George "Geo" Lee Hawkins of Bath County, Kentucky, who learned it from Tom Riley whose parents had emigrated from Ireland to Flemming County, Kentucky. Tom Riley later moved to Marion County, Indiana, where Dick (John) Summers picked it up. Hawkins also taught the tune to Bruce Greene and Jane Harrod, from whom Hartford and Roger Cooper learned it. Hawkins and Cooper play the tune in the key of 'C'. Alfred Bailey also has a version of "Bumblebee in the Jug," that is distanced from the Hawkins tune.

Source for notated version: fiddler Joel Shimberg [Phillips].

Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 1, 1994; p. 42. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; p. 42.

Recorded sources: Rounder 0376, Geo Hawkins - "Traditional Fiddle Music of Kentucky, vol. 1." Rounder 0380, Roger Cooper (Garrison, Ky.). Rounder CD0392, John Hartford - "Wild Hog in the Red Brush and a Bunch of Others You Might Not Have Heard" (1996).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear George Hawkins' 1977 rendition of the tune recorded by John Harrod at Berea Digital Content [2]
Hear Alan Jabbour's version at Berea Digital Content [3]
Hear Alfred Baily's version at Berea Digital Content, recorded by John Harrod in 1986 [4]