Annotation:Number Nine

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NUMBER NINE. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB (Titon): AABB (Thede). The title refers to an engine of that number on the Rock Island Railroad in use in the 1870's, speculates Marion Thede. A tune by this title was remembered by Alva Greene (1894-1976) of Elliot County, Kentucky, as being one of regionally influential, blind, northeast Kentucky fiddler Ed Haley's big numbers. It was recorded by Earl Collins, originally from Oklahoma.

Sources for notated versions: Earl Perkins (Tulsa County, Oklahoma; who said the tune originated between 1870 and 1880 in Missouri) [Thede]; Alva Greene (1894-1976, Sandy Hook, Elliot County, Ky., 1973), who said he learned it from his father [Titon].

Printed sources: Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; p. 47. Titon (Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 110, p. 139.

Recorded sources: Briar 4204, Earl Collins - "That's Earl: Collins Family Fiddling" (1975). County 2714, Brad Leftwich - "Say Old Man" (1996).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear Alva Greene playing the tune in a 1973 field recording by Kevin Delaney at the Digital Library of Appalachia [2] and at Berea Digital Content [3]