Annotation:Old Flannigan

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OLD FLANNIGAN/FLANAGAN. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Kentucky. A Major ('A' part) & E Major ('B' part). Standard or AEae tuning (fiddle). AABB (Songer): AABB' (Phillips). The tune was brought north to Kentucky by a fiddler named Brack Flannigan, originally from Texas, who settled in the Gallatin/Grant County area. It was recorded by the Blue Ridge Mountaineers in 1929, whose fiddler, Frank Miller, had the tune from his uncle John Hall who had learned it from Flannigan. Having no name for the tune, they called it after their original source. The story may be somewhat apocryphal as the tune is clearly derived from "Old Mother Flanagan." See also the related Missouri melody "'A' and 'E' Rag."

Sources for notated versions: Frank Miller with the Blue Ridge Mountaineers (north-central Kentucky) [Phillips]; banjo and fiddle player Ray Andrico (Portland, Oregon) [Songer].

Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 170. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; p. 149.

Recorded sources: Morning Star 45005, Blue Ridge Mountaineers - "Way Down South in Dixie."

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