Annotation:Davy Dugger

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DAVY DUGGER. AKA and see "Coon Dog (3)," "Ned Went a Fishing," "Old Coon Dog (1)," "Shoot that Turkey Buzzard." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; West Virginia, Kentucky. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB. The tune has been collected in northeastern Kentucky and West Virginia under the "Davy Dugger" title, although it has a much wider provenance as "Coon Dog" or "Old Coon Dog." Jeff Titon (2001) says it is related to the "Seneca Square Dance"/"Engine on a Mogul" family of tunes, and more distantly related to "Shoot That Turkey Buzzard." See also related melodies "Greasy String" and "Johnny Come Along." The "Davy Dugger/Duggar" title derives from these lines sung to the tune:

Shoot old Davy Duggar dead,
Shoot old Davy Duggar dead,
Shoot old Davy Duggar dead,
He stole my wife and ate my bread.

Source for notated version: Clyde Davenport (Monticello, Wayne County, Ky., 1990), who learned the tune from his father, Will Davenport [Titon].

Printed sources: Titon (Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 32, p. 68.

Recorded sources: Augusta Heritage Records AHR 015, Delbert Hughes - "The Home Recordings." Davis Unlimited DU 32028, W.L. Gregory/Clyde Davenport - "Homemade Stuff" (1978). Rounder 0089, "Oscar & Eugene Wright" (learned from an "old timer," local Mercer County, W.Va., fiddler George Stump).