Annotation:Wilson's Clog (1)

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WILSON'S CLOG [1]. AKA and see "Fred Wilson's Clog," "Harvest Home (1)," "Cincinnati Hornpipe (1)," "Fisherman's Favorite," "Brown's Hornpipe," "Wobble Gears," "Wobbly Ears," "Wooden Shoe Clog." American, Clog. USA; New York, Michigan, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa. F Major (Ford): D Major (Bronner). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Bronner and Ford's versions are somewhat dissimilar in parts. The title appears in a list of traditional Ozarks Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. Bronner's source said the tune was not only popular in central New York, but much requested by Canadians. Tolman and Page, in the Country Dance Book, note that this tune was a specialty of Maine fiddler Mellie Dunham, an elderly fiddler who was Henry Ford's champion square dance fiddler in the late 1920's. For more, see note for "annotation:Fred Wilson's Clog." The “Harvest Home (1)” family of tunes is related primarily in the second (‘B’) strain, while the first strains are distinct and different. West Virginia/East Kentucky fiddler Ed Haley (1883-1951) called “Higgins' Hornpipe” AKA "Cliff Hornpipe," by the title “Wilson's Jig,” perhaps because of some melodic similarities in parts with “Wilson’s Clog [1]."

Source for notated version: Milo Kouf, 1977 (New York State, learned from his father) [Bronner].

Printed sources: Bronner (Old-Time Music Makers of New York State), 1987; No. 43, p. 163. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; p. 100.

Recorded sources: Voyager VRCD 344, Howard Marshall & John Williams – “Fiddling Missouri” (1999. Learned from a home tape of fiddler Casey Jones, who played over radio shows sponsored by the Henry Field Seed Company in Shenandoah, Iowa); Harry Maison, of Macomb County, Michigan, Karl Byarski Collection, University of Michigan-Flint [1]; Fred C. Miller, of Kinde, Michigan, Karl Byarski Collection, University of Michigan-Flint [2].

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