Annotation:Turkey Knob

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X:1 T:Turkey Knob N:From the playing of fiddler Clark Kessinger M:C| L:1/8 Q:"Fast" D:Smithsonian Folkways CD FW 02336, "Clark Kessinger, Fiddler" (1966) D:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/turkey-knob Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:A A,2C2E2A2|A2 Ac B-AAF|A,-CEF A2AB|cBAc BAA2| A,-CEF A2Ac|A2Ac BAFG|ABAF EFAB |cABc ABAF| A,-CEF A2Ac|A2Ac B-AAF|A,-CEF A2AB|cBAc BA[F2A2]| A,-CEF A2Ac|A2Ac BAFG|ABAF EFAB |cABc A3|| [de]-|[ee]fec e2 ec|e2ec fe[de]-[ee]-|[ee]fec efec|efec BAFA| ecefe2 cd |e2a2 fefg|afeB cBAF |E2G2 A2[d2e2]-| [e2e2]ef ece2|ea2e fecd|efec efec|efec BAFA| +slide+[e2e2]efe2 cd |e2a2 fefg|afeB cBAF |E2G2 A4||AB

Eleven year old coal miner, Turkey Knob Mine, MacDonald, W.Va., August 1908. Photo by Lewis Hine.

TURKEY KNOB. American, Reel (cut time). USA; West Virginia, Missouri. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB: AABB (Christeson): AA’BB’ (Beisswenger & McCann). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). Although “Turkey Knob” has been attributed to West Virginia fiddler Clark Kessinger ^[1] (1896-1978), it is not among Kessinger’s 78 RPM era recordings, and he did not record it until later in life, in the 1960’s. The tune is fairly wide-spread, and has become one of the ‘100 essential Missouri fiddle tunes’ according to Missouri fiddler Charlie Walden. Tennessee fiddler Tommy Jackson also recorded the reel. Drew Beisswenger (2008) points out similarities to “Dance Around Molly,” and says that the ‘A’ part shares melodic material with the ‘B’ parts of tunes such as “Fort Smith (1)” and “Lonesome Polly Ann.”

‘Turkey Knob’ is a place-name found in several upland-South areas, including one in Fayette County, West Virginia, a county adjacent to Kessinger’s birthplace in Kanawha County. It was the location of the Turkey Knob Mine, one of a cluster coal mines near the town of Macdonald (named after Symington McDonald, a mining official). A hundred years ago child labor in the mines was commonplace:

By 1910, an estimated 2 million children under the age of 15 were working industrial jobs, for lower wages than adults. Employers often took advantage of their small size and made them squeeze into tight spaces or handle small tools.

Faced with back-breaking labor and long, exhausting shifts, fatigued child workers suffered high accident rates. Those who were injured or maimed in the course of their duties often received no compensation.

In 1904, the National Child Labor Committee was formed by progressives determined to end the exploitation of child labor. Within a decade, the federal government had absorbed the committee and reestablished it as the Children’s Bureau within the Department of Labor.

The NCLC hired photographers to investigate and document the working conditions of child laborers in factories, mines, mills and other industrial settings. Among them was Lewis Hine, a New York City schoolteacher and sociologist.

Over the course of a decade, Hine crisscrossed the country, investigating children engaged in every kind of labor, including mining. He was rarely welcomed by employers, and usually had to interview the children under a pretext and take his photos with some degree of subterfuge. Hine’s photos and the work of the NCLC led to the passage of the Keatings-Owen Child Labor Act in 1916, which established minimum ages and maximum shift lengths for young workers. The Act was later ruled unconstitutional, but it laid the foundation for permanent child labor laws to be established during the New Deal.^[2]

Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Dean Johnston (1919-2007, Lamar, Barton County, Mo.), learned from Cyril Stinnett (Oregon, Mo.) [Beisswenger & McCann].

Printed sources : - Beisswenger & McCann (Ozarks Fiddle Music), 2008; p. 76. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddler’s Repertory, vol. 2), 1984; p. 19.

Recorded sources : - County Records, “The Legend of Clark Kessinger” (1996). Folkways Records FA 2336, “Clark Kessinger, Fiddler – Old-Time Country Music” (1966). MSOTFA 103, Cyril Stinnett - "Grey Eagle in C" (2015. Originally recorded on a reel-to-reel tape in the 1960's). Rounder 0436, Dean Johnston – “Traditional Fiddle Music of the Ozarks, vol. 2: On the Springfield Plain” (2000. Various artists).

See also listing at :
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear Clark Kessinger's 1966 recording at Slippery Hill [2]

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↑ Charles Wolfe, “Clark Kessinger,” ‘’’Mountains of Music’’’, Lily ed., 1999, p.28.
↑ Alex Q. Arbuckle, "Child Miners 1908-1911", Mashable.com [3], accessed 10.17.2020. Lewis Hine's photographs.

[1] Charles Wolfe, “Clark Kessinger,” ‘’’Mountains of Music’’’, Lily ed., 1999, p.28.

[2] Alex Q. Arbuckle, "Child Miners 1908-1911", Mashable.com [3], accessed 10.17.2020. Lewis Hine's photographs.

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