Annotation:Railroad through the Rocky Mountains
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RAILROAD(ING) THROUGH THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Kentucky. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (Phillips): AABCC (Titon). Source Jim Bowles [1] (1903-1993) learned the tune from his uncle, Wash Carter, who called it “Goin' Down to Shirley's,” according to Jeff Titon (2001). The tune is related to a large tune family that includes “Cricket on the Hearth,” “Damon's Window/Damon's Winder,” “Devil in Georgia (2) (The),” “Grand Hornpipe (1),” “Marmaduke's Hornpipe,” “Mud Fence,” “Ride the Goat over the Mountain,” "Rocky Mountain Goat,” “Swiss Chalet."
Source for notated version: Jim Bowles (Rock Bridge, Monroe County, Kentucky, 1959) [Phillips, Titon]; George Reynolds [Silberberg].
Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 194. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 124. Titon (Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 133, p. 160.
Recorded sources: Marimac 9000, Dan Gellert & Shoofly - "Forked Deer" (1986. Learned from a field recording of Ky. fiddler Jim Bowles). Marimac 9060, Jim Bowles - "Railroading Through the Rocky Mountains." Meriweather 1001-2, Jim Bowles (et al) – “I Kind of Believe it’s a Gift“ (c. 1986).
See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Hear D.K. Wilgus's 1959 field recording of Jim Bowles playing the tune at the Digital Library of Appalachia [3] and at Slippery Hill [4]