I GET MY WHISKEY FROM ROCKINGHAM. See "Rockingham Cindy," "Rocky Road Cindy," "Way Down in Rockingham." Old-Time, Breakdown. G Major (Silberberg, Songer). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABC. "I get My Whiskey from Rockingham" was a breakdown/song originally recorded by Georgia fiddler Earl Johnson [1](1886-1965), born in Gwinnett County. He was a contemporary of fellow north Georgia fiddlers Gid Tanner and John Carson. Johnson's lyrics begin:
Earl Johnson
Where'd you get your whiskey, where'd you get your dram? I got it from a little girl way down in Rockingham.
Refrain Rocky Road Cindy, rocky road to town, Rocky Road Cindy, way down in Rockingham.
I went down to Rockingham, I did not go to stay, I fell in love with a pretty girl and I could not get away.
Lips as red as a red rose, her hair was huckleberry brown, The sweetest girl I ever saw, way down in Rockingham.
The Ballad Index lists the tune among a loose family of tunes, often fragmentary, under the title "Jinny Go Round and Around," recognized by the "Where did you get your whiskey" stanza. Included in this family is "Rockingham Cindy," the most famous version of which was played and sung by Mt. Airy, North Carloina, fiddler Tommy Jarrell (1901-1985). Jarrell's version is musically different from Earl Johnson's "I get My Whiskey from Rockingham," but the words are clearly related.
Source for notated version: Source for notated version: Greg Canote (Seattle), who learned it from Tom Sauber [Songer].
Printed sources: Songer (The Portland Collection, vol. 3), 2015; p. 102.
Recorded sources: County 507, Earl Johnson & His Clodhoppers - "Old-Time Fiddle Classics" (1965). County 543, Earl Johnson and His Clodhoppers - "Red Hot Breakdown." Okeh 45183 (78 RPM), Earl Johnson & His Clodhoppers (1927).
See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Hear Earl Johnson & His Clodhopper's 1927 recording on youtube.com [3][4]
