Annotation:Shippensport

Back to Shippensport

X:1 T:Shippin' Sport S:Doc Roberts (1897-1978, Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel Q:"Quick" D:Gennett 6689 (78 RPM), Fiddlin' Doc Roberts (1929) F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/shippensport-0 Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:G ef|"*$"g2 ef e2d2|BAGB AG[G2B2]|gfga gedg|ea2^g a2f2| gfga gedg|dBAG BGEF|GFGE DEGA|BGAF G2:| |:AB|c2c2 BAGB|AGBG AGEF|GFGE DEGA|BGBG A2G2| "**"c2c2 BAGB|AGBG AGEF|GFGE DEGA|BGAF G2:| P:Substitutions "*"g2 (f/g/f) e2d2||"or $"gfga gedg|edBG A2[G2B2]|]"**"c2 ec Bcdc|BAGB AGEF|]

SHIPPENSPORT. AKA – “Shippinport,” “Shipping Port,” “Shippingport” AKA and see “Blackbird Says (to the Crow).” Old Time, Breakdown. USA, eastern Kentucky. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Titon): AABBCC (Phillips). Shippensport or Shippingport was a town in the state of Kentucky at the site of what is now called Louisville. Falls were once present on the Ohio River at that location, requiring in former times the removal of goods from river craft that then had to portage the falls. A town grew up around the falls, Shippingport. Eventually a dam was built with locks for river traffic, and all that remains of Shippingport today is in the name of nearby Shippingport Island. The tune is sometimes played as a two-part tune (see John Master’s version). See the Irish reel "Greenfields of America (1)" which is related in the low part. The melody was known to African-American fiddler Cuje Bertram as “Blackbird Says to the Crow.”

Additional notes

Sources for notated versions: - Jimmy Johnson String Band (featuring fiddler Andy Palmer, born in 1881, Anderson County, Kentucky) and James Bryan (Alabama) [Phillips]; John Masters (1904-1986, Lexington, Fayette County, Ky., c. mid-1970’s), who said he had learned the tune from African-American fiddler Jim Booker [Titon].

Printed sources : - Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 220. Titon (Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 149, p. 174.

Recorded sources: - Augusta Heritage Records AHR 017, Burl Hammons – “Old Time Music of Pocahontas County” (1995). Document DOCD-8042, Doc Roberts – “Doc Roberts: Complete Works in Chronological Order” (1999). Fretless FR 160, The Double Decker String Band "Sentimental Songs and Old Time Melodies" (1981. Learned from Doc Roberts). Gennett 6689 (78 RPM), Doc Roberts (Ky. Mistakenly labelled "Shippin' Sport" on the lable). Rounder 0215, James Bryan "The First of May." Reed Island Rounders – “Goin’ Home” (2002).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Soures [1]
Hear John Master's c. 1975 field recording by John Harrod at Slippery Hill [2] and Berea Sound Archives [3]

Back to Shippensport