Annotation:Walker Street
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WALKER STREET. AKA and see "Carpenter's Reel," “Laborer's Reel,” "Traveller (1) (The),” "Traveller's Reel." Canadian, American; Reel or Hornpipe. USA; New England, Northwest. Canada; Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (most versions): AA'BB (Phillips): AA’BB’ (Bégin). A popular reel of unknown provenance, first published in Boston publisher Elias Howe's Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883), edited by William Bradbury Ryan. There is a Walker Street in old Boston, in The Neck, although whether or not the tune title is associated with it is unknown. The melody is widely disseminated and can be heard played by fiddlers in a number of genres. In Kings County, Prince Edward Island, an alternate title is “Laborer's Reel,” from the French-Canadian variant “Reel des Ouvriers” (The Laborer’s Reel). See also Irish versions as "Traveller's Reel."
Sources for notated versions: Bill Christopherson (Conn.) [Phillips]; Archie Stewart (b. 1917, Milltown Cross, South Kings County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]; Dawson Girdwood (Perth, Ottawa Valley, Ontario) [Begin].
Printed sources: Bégin (Fiddle Music in the Ottawa Valley: Dawson Girdwood), 1985; No. 11, p. 24. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 45. Laybourn (Kohler’s Violin Repository), 1881-5. Messer (Way Down East), 1948; No. 42. Messer (Anthology of Favorite Fiddle Tunes), 1980; No. 62, p. 36. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 89. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 63. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 252. Ryan’s Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 72. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 164. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; p. 207. Sweet (Fifer’s Delight), 1965/1981; p. 71. White’s Unique Collection, 1896; No. 41, p. 8.
Recorded sources: Alcazar Dance Series ALC 201, Jerry Robichaud "Maritime Dance Party" (1978). Folkways 3531, Jean Carignan "Old Time Fiddle Tunes." Fretless 201, JerryRobichaud "Maritime Dance Party" (1978). Rounder LP 7007 Graham Townsend – “Classics of Irish, Scottish and French-Canadian Fiddling” (1976). Rounder Heritage Series 1166-11592-2, Graham Townsend (et al) – “The Art of Traditional Fiddle” (2001. Learned from one of his boyhood mentors, Billy Crawford).
See also listing at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [1]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [3]