Annotation:White River

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WHITE RIVER. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Missouri. A Major. AEac# tuning (fiddle). AABBC. The tune was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, from the playing of Ozarks Mountains fiddlers in the early 1940's. The White River flows through southern Missouri and northern Arkansas and into the Mississippi River at Scrubgrass Bend, above Rosedale, Mississippi. The tune was “a special tune” played in the Goforth family repertoire for generations, according to the liner notes of Gene Goforth’s album, however, John Hartford (2001) says it is “one of those ancient Ozark tunes that nobody seems to know its origin.” Howe Teague learned it when he was young, and said he thought he had learned it from influential fiddler Roy Wooliver, and also cited another local fiddler, Buck Sullivan, as another he remembered playing it (Beisswenger & McCann, 2008). Drew Beisswenger (2008) notes similarities with other Ozarks tunes “Old Charlie Deckard,” “Bear Creek Sally Goodin',” and “Broken-Legged Chicken,” all of whom he says resemble parts of the well-known “Old Dan Tucker.”

Source for notated version: Howe Teague (1913-2005, Dent County, Missouri) [Beisswenger & McCann].

Printed sources: Beisswenger & McCann (Ozarks Fiddle Music), 2008; p. 150.

Recorded sources: Grey Eagle 101, Howe Teague – “Now That’s a Good Tune: Masters of Missouri Traditional Fiddling” (1989. Various artists). Rounder CD-0388, Gene Goforth – “Emminence Breakdown” (1997). Rounder 0442, John Hartford – “Hamilton Ironworks” (2001). Rounder CD 0435, Howe Teague – “Traditional Fiddle Music of the Ozarks, vol. 1” (1999. Various artists).