Annotation:Rocky Road to Dublin (8)

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X:1 % T:Rocky Road to Dublin [8] S:Allen Sisson (1873-1951, Fannin County, north Georgia) D:Edison Ed 51559 (78 RPM), 1925 M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel Z:Transcribed by Andy Kuntz K:Ador A,2A,2 A,B,CE|GEG2 EDCE|A,CA,G, A,CDE|EA A2 A2 [^ce][ce]:| |:eded ^c4|ABAG E2 ED|CDEF GE{A}GE|CDEF G2 (cd| e2)e2{c}d2 cB|ABAG E2 {G}ED|CDEG A^cBA|^cAAB (A2A2):| A2a2 abag|efga gedg|e2a2 abag|eded ^cAAB| A2a2 abag|eded gee2|gbag|e2d2|^cABd cA A2 AA||

ROCKY ROAD TO DUBLIN [8]. Old-Time, Breakdown. A Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBC.

This tune with the 'floating' title of "Rocky Road to Dublin" seems to have been known by Applachian fiddlers in the north Georgia, east Tennessee and western North Carolina region in the 1920's. "Rocky Road to Dublin [8]" was recorded by Fannon County, north Georgia, fiddler Allan Sisson in 1925 at the Edison studios in East Orange, New Jersey. Sisson worked for the DSC&J mines , a mining and smelting company, located in nearby Isabella (Copperhill), Tennesse. In 1914, at the age of 42, he became Section Foreman on the mine railroad. Sisson was the Tennessee State Champion fiddler in 1921.

A similar version was commercially recorded (probably in New York) by Asheville, North Carolina, fiddler Osey Helton (1879-1942), for Broadway Records, c. 1924, and in unissued recordings made in 1940, probably at WWNC in Asheville, N.C., by Dr. Jan Phillip Schinhan [see Carlin, Old Time Herald, vol. 10, No. 10 [1]). Along with his brother Ernest Helton, the half-Cherokee Osey performed regularly over WWNC in the latter 1920's. The brothers were regularly featured at the Asheville Mountain Dance and Folk Festival (founded by Bascom Lunsford in 1928) through 1940, and were recorded for they Library of Congress in 1941 by Alan Lomax. Lomax even arranged for Osey Helton and fiddler Bill Hensley to recreate their "fiddle contest", performed for years at Lunsford's festival, for a radio broadcast in New York City.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: -

Printed sources : -

Recorded sources: - Broadway 5122A (78 RPM), Osey Helton (c. 1931). Edison 51559 (78 RPM), Allen Sisson (1925). Rounder Select ‎82161-1160-2, Osey Helton - "Raw Fiddle" (2004. Reissue recordings, various artists.)

See also listing at:
Hear Osey Helton's Broadway recording on youtube.com [2][3]