Annotation:Lardner's Reel (1)
X: 1 T: Lardner's Reel [1] M: C| L: 1/8 B: NEFR #69 B: Ryan's "Mammoth Collection", 1883, p.44 #144 F: http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/LAR.htm N: The Fiddler's Companion notes that the first part of this tune is combined with the N: second parts of several other reels, and this is common in tunes of American origin. F:http://www.john-chambers.us/~jc/music/abc/Contra/NEFR/T/Lardners_Reel.abc K: A E2 \ | A2 Ac BA GB | Ac eg a2 ga | bg eg ag fe | dc BA GB EG | | A2 Ac BA GB | Ac eg a2 ga | bg eg ag ae | fd BG A2 :| |: E2 \ | E2 GE BE GB | A2 cA eA cA | B2 ^dB fB dB | e2 ge bg eg | | ag ae fa ec | de fg ag af | ea gf ed cB | cE GB A2 :|
LARDNER'S REEL [1]. AKA and see "King of all Reels." American, Reel. USA, southwestern Pa. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'B (irregular in the 'B' part). The tune originally appeared in blackface minstrel James Buckley's New Banjo Method (1860) under the title "King of all Reels." In his analysis of the tune, Bayard treated the two parts of this tune as separate and pointed out they are seldom found together. "While the first half of this tune occurs pretty frequently in our instrumental tradition, it seems to have no steadfast association with any one second strain." The second strain is shared with "Turnpike Reel (The)", while the first strain is shared with (or related to) "Leviathan Hornpipe" and "Prairie Hornpipe." See also the related "Big Indian Hornpipe" from the playing of northeast Kentucky fiddlers Jimmy Wheeler, Morris Allen and Buddy Thomas.
The title appears in a list of traditional Ozarks Mountains fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. Irish variants include the hornpipe "Halfway House (The)" and "Turnpike Reel (The)."