Annotation:Monroe County Quickstep
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MONROE COUNTY QUICKSTEP. AKA and see "Taylor's Quickstep (2)." Old-Time, Quickstep. USA, Kentucky. F Major ('A' part) & C Major ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'AA'BBBB. The second strain is "crooked", with an extra beat added to the fourth measure. The tune was recorded in 1929 for Gennett Records in Richmond, Indiana, by fiddler Leonard Rutherford (1898-1951) paired with Kentucky singer John D. Foster (1896-1984). It was released on Gennett as "Taylor's Quickstep" and on Supertone as "Monroe County Quickstep." "Taylor's Quickstep" was named for Dennis Taylor, Gennett's talent scout in central Kentucky (according to Rick Kennedy, "Jelly Roll, Bix, and Hoagy: Gennett Records and the Rise of America's Musical Grassroots" (2013), agreeing with Tony Russell, who also described as Rutherford & Foster's manager [see Russell's "John D. Foster" in Country Music Originals: The Legends and the Lost", 2007).
The late prof. Charles Wolfe suggested that Rutherford may have learned it from one of the famous fiddling governors of Tennessee, Alf and Bob Taylor. The name Taylor is also associated with Rutherford in 1928 recordings with Dick Burnett, Byrd Moore, and a fiddler named Jim Taylor from Norton Virginia (just over the state line from Kentucky). See also the related "Washington Quadrille" and "Up and Down Old Eagle Creek."
Source for notated version: fiddler Leonard Rutherford (KY) [Phillips].
Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; p. 89.
Recorded sources: Arhoolie CD 519, McCamy's Melody Sheiks - "There's More Preety Girls than One!" (). Gennett Ge 6913, Rutherford & Foster (1929). JSP, JSP77130, "Gennett Old Time Music: Classic Country Recordings 1927-1934." Morning Star 45003, Rutherford and Foster - "Wink the Other Eye: Old Time Fiddle Band Music from Kentucky" (1980. Originally recorded for Gennett in 1929). Rounder 1004, "Ramblin' Reckless Hobo: the Songs of Dick Burnett and Leonard Rutherford."
See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
See transcription at Dr. Fiddle (Austin Rogers) [2]
Hear Rutherford & Foster's recording at Slippery Hill [3]