Annotation:Diamond (1)
Tune properties and standard notation
DIAMOND [1]. AKA and see "Dooley's Fancy." American, Reel. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Although a connection with the tune, if any, is unknown, there were two dancers in the mid-1800's who went by the name Diamond. John Diamond was a young dancer who paired with banjo player (and also a dancer) Billy Whitlock (one of the original Virginia Minstrels). Whitlock later paired for a time with a young man named Frank Lynch, who also called himself Diamond, and frequently appeared in New York (Hans Nathan, Dan Emmett and the Rise of Early Negro Minstrelsy, 1962, p. 115). It may be that the name was chosen to highlight the 'value' of the reel.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 18. Kennedy (Traditional Dance Music of Britain and Ireland: Reels and Rants), 1997; No. 32, p. 10. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 41.
Recorded sources: