Annotation:Tugboat

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X:1 T:Tugboat M:C| L:1/8 Q:"Moderately Quick" R:Reel S:Edden Hammons (1875-1955, Pocahontas County, W.Va.) D:The Edden Hammons Collection vol. 2 N:From a 1947 field recording F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/tugboat Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:G ef|g2d2 efga|bagb agef|[dg]edg eddd|eaab a2ef| gedg efga|bagb agef|gage dged|BGAG G2ef| g2d2 efga|bagb agef|gage defg|a2 ab agef| gedg efga|bagb agef|g2d2+slide+[e3e3]d|BGAG [G2B2]|| |:[G,2D2]-|[G,D]EGB AG2(G/A/|B)ded {e}dBGA|[G2B2][G2B2] AG2A|BAGB AGEG| DGG2 AG2A|Bded [gd]def|gage dged|BGA(G [G2B2]):|

TUGBOAT. Old Time, Breakdown. USA; West Virginia, Virginia, Nebraska Oklahoma, Texas. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Christeson, Phillips): AA'BBC (Frets). Charles Wolfe (1997) states Kanawha County, West Virginia, fiddler Clark Kessinger (1896-1975) first recorded the tune (in 1929 for Brunswick with his nephew and accompanist, Luches Kessinger, on guitar. The duo was billed as the 'Kessinger Brothers' by the label. Other fiddlers learned the tune from Kessinger’s recording, among them Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson, who was instrumental in inserting the melody into the Texas contest tune repertoire where it remains a popular piece. “Tugboat” was in the repertoire of Missouri fiddler Cyril Stinnett, learned perhaps from Bob Walters, who probably learned it from the Kessinger Brothers’ Brunswick record (Christeson, 1984).

The tune was also in the repertoire of West Virginia fiddler Edden Hammons, who played it in standard tuning. See also the related "Jullianne Flannigan," “Ladies on the Steamboat, "Sally will You Marry Me" and the similar “Sandy River Belle (2).”

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - Clark Kessinger (West Virginia.) [Christeson]; Mark O'Connor and Benny Thomasson (Texas) [Phillips].

Printed sources : - R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, vol. 2), 1984; p. 75. Frets Magazine, "Byron Berline: The Fiddle," June, 1988; p. 55. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 244.

Recorded sources: -Brunswick Records 315 (78 RPM), Kessinger Brothers (1929). Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers' Association, Bob Walters (1889-1960) - "Drunken Wagoneer." Sound Archives SA-2, "The Edden Hammons Collection, vol. 2." Sugar Hill Records 3750, Byron Berline & John Hickman "Double Trouble." Edden Hammons Collection, Disc 2.

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear Edden Hammons' 1947 field recording at Slippery Hill [2]

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