Annotation:Davy Dugger

Back to Davy Dugger

X:1 T:Davy Dugger N:From the playing of fiddler Clyde Davenport (Ky.) N:Davenport (b. 1921) was born in Blue Hole Hollow, near Mt. Pisgah on the N:Cumberland Plateau in south-central Kentucky, not far from the border with N:Tennessee. M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel Q:"." D:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/davy-dugger D:Berea College Appalachian Center AC 002, Clyde Davenport - Puncheon Camps (1992) Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:G DE|G2[G2B2] BABA|d2B4dB|A2G2 EDEG|A2[G2B2]-[G2B2]:| e[_Bf]-|:[=B2g2][Bg][Ba]g2e2| d2B4^g2-|a2 ab a2ag|e2d2-d2ef| g2 ga g2e2|d2+slide+B4 dB|A2G2 EDEG| A2 [G2B2]-[G2B2]||

DAVY DUGGER. AKA and see "Coon Dog (3)," "Ned Went a Fishing," "Old Coon Dog (1)," "Shoot that Turkey Buzzard." American, Reel (cut time). USA; West Virginia, Kentucky. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB. The tune has been collected in northeastern Kentucky and West Virginia under the "Davy Dugger" title, although it has a much wider provenance as "Coon Dog" or "Old Coon Dog." Jeff Titon (2001) says it is related to the "Seneca Square Dance"/"Engine on a Mogul" family of tunes, and more distantly related to "Shoot That Turkey Buzzard." See also related melodies "Greasy String" and "Johnny Come Along." The "Davy Dugger/Duggar" title derives from these lines sung to the tune:

Shoot old Davy Duggar dead,
Shoot old Davy Duggar dead,
Shoot old Davy Duggar dead,
He stole my wife and ate my bread.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - Clyde Davenport (Monticello, Wayne County, Ky., 1990), who learned the tune from his father, Will Davenport [Titon].

Printed sources : - Titon (Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 32, p. 68.

Recorded sources: -Augusta Heritage Records AHR 015, Delbert Hughes - "The Home Recordings." Davis Unlimited DU 32028, W.L. Gregory/Clyde Davenport - "Homemade Stuff" (1978). Rounder 0089, "Oscar & Eugene Wright" (learned from an "old timer," local Mercer County, W.Va., fiddler George Stump).

Back to Davy Dugger