Annotation:Big Fish
X:1 T:Big Fish N:From the playing of W.Va. fiddler Lee Triplett, from N:a 1973 concert tape N:The tune is a version of "Rye Straw" M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel Q:"Quick" D:https://soundarchives.berea.edu/items/show/618 Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:G DGG2 EGGE|DGG2 ECEC|DGG2 EDGB|dedc B2G2:| [DB]-[D2d][Dd] [D2d2][D2B2]|c2 dc BG[G2B2]|[DB]-[D3d3][D2d2][D2B2]| cceg ecc2|[DB]-[D2d][Dd] [D2d2][D2B2]|c2 dc BG[G2B2]||
BIG FISH. AKA and see "Rye Straw (1)." American, Reel (cut time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. This Clay County, West Virginia, tune is a version of Rye Straw (1) <div class="mw-ext-score" data-midi="/w/images/lilypond/a/6/a6h25ulq2xhuzh8kjt5sea4736lvrq3/a6h25ulq.midi"><img src="/w/images/lilypond/a/6/a6h25ulq2xhuzh8kjt5sea4736lvrq3/a6h25ulq.png" width="606" height="59" alt="
X:1
M:C|
L:1/8
K:D
[A,2E2][A,E][A,D] F2 FD|EDED F(D D2)|E2EE F2F2|(ef)ed c(A A2)|
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Gerry Milnes (Play of a Fiddle, 1999) records that the tune was learned from legendary fiddler Lewis Johnson "Uncle" Jack McElwain (1856-1938) of White Oak (a tributary of Laurel Creek, near the village of Erbacon, Webster County, West Virginia) in a unique way by fiddler Dewey Hamrick. It seems that Hamrick's father, who did not fiddle, walked forty miles to and from McElwain's house to hear him play, and remembered and whistled the tunes (among them "Big Fish") when he got home for Hamrick to learn.