Annotation:Old Jake Gillie

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OLD JAKE GILLIE. AKA - "Jake Gilly." AKA and see "Jake Gillie." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB'AACC. A West-Virginia/Kentucky regional tune (Charles Wolfe, 1997). The tune was recorded on a 78 RPM for Brunswick by Kanawha County, West Virginia, fiddler Clark Kessinger (1896-1975), who probably learned while growing up in the Kanawha Valley (Wolfe, Mountains of Music, 1999). See also the tune under the title "Jake Gilly/Gillie." Other old-time musicians in whose repertoire "Jake Gilly" was include Matokie Slaughter, of Pulaski, Va., best-known as a fine banjo player, but she also played tunes on the fiddle, including the "Gilly" tune. It was in the repertoire as well of fiddler Norman Edmonds (Hillsville, Va.) who played it on his c. 1950's radio shows, some of which were recorded. Some (e.g. Krassen) have noticed a general resemblance between this tune and "Eighth of January (The)," but others demur. See also the Midwest (Nebraska, Missouri) variant "Jake's Best Reel."

Source for notated version: Clark Kessinger [Phillips]. Fiddler Clark Kessinger (1896-1975) was from the Kanawha Valley, West Virginia.

Printed sources: Krassen (Clawhammer Banjo), 1974; p. 18. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 171.

Recorded sources: Brunswick Records 323 (78 RPM), Clark Kessinger (1930). County 717, Oscar Wright (Princeton, West Virginia) - "More Clawhammer Banjo Tunes." Document Records DOCD 8010, "The Kessinger Brothers, vol. 1 1928 - 1929: Complete Recordings in Chronological Order" (1997). Rounder 0057, Sam McNeil (Montgomery Co., Virginia) - "Old Originals, volume 1," (1976. Appears as "Jake Gillie"). "The Legend of Clark Kessinger. vol. II" (1967).