Annotation:Hell Broke Loose in Georgia (1)
X:1 T:Hell Broke Loose in Georgia [1] N:From the playing of the north Georgia group The Skillet Lickers, M:C| L:1/8 Q:"Fast" N:Play ABBCCABBCCDD N:Lots of sliding up and down the high notes in the first strain, with pitches approximate. D:Columbia 15516-D (78 RPM), The Skillet Lickers (1929) D:Document DOCD 8059, "Skillet Lickers: Complete Recorded Works vol. 4" (2000) D:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/hell-broke-loose-georgia Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:C +slide+[e4e4][e3g3]g-|gbag eg3|+slide+[e2e2] [ee][ee][e2g2]ga|[eg]edc A[c3e3]| +slide+[e2e2][ee][ee][e2g2][e2g2]-|[eg]c'ag eg2e-|c'e'2b- ag2e-|eg-ag e[c3e3]|| |:GAae gecA|GAae gecA|GAae gaga|gedc Ac3:| |:GA3[G2c2][G2c2]-|[Gc][ce][de][ce] [Ae][c3e3]|GAAc [G2c2][Gc]d|cAGE DC3:| |:[C2E2][CE][CE] A,-C[CE][CD]|[CE][CE][CE][CE] [CD][CE][CD][CE]|[C2E2][CE][CE] [CD]-[CE]EG|cAGE DC3:|
HELL BROKE LOOSE IN GEORGIA. AKA and see "Hell Bound for Alabama," "Been to the East Been to the West," "Great Big Yam Potatoes." American, Reel. C Major ('A', 'B' and 'D' parts) & A Minor ('C' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABCC'DD'. The title perhaps dates to the gold rush in Georgia before the settlement of Gordon County in 1850 (approx. c. 1830). There are three distinct fiddle tunes that have been identified with this title. The tune was used in 1899 in a Gallatin Tenn. fiddle contest as a category tune - each fiddler played a version, with the best version winning a prize (all fiddlers playing a rendition of the same commonly known tune was formerly a common way of structuring fiddle contests) [C.Wolfe, The Devil's Box, vol. 14, No.4, 12/1/80]. Cauthen (1990) finds reference to a Georgia fiddler, Ben Smith, who served with the 12th Alabama Infantry in the Civil War, and was known to have played the tune in that conflict. She also cites A.B. Moore in his History of Alabama (1934) who said it was one of the standard tunes in the square dance fiddler's repertoire. The melody "Streak O' Lean Streak O' Fat" is related to Phillips' version of the tune, as is "Big Footed Nigger (2)" and "Possum up a Gum Stump (2)." This was the four-part version recorded by the Skillet Lickers. The title appears in a list of traditional Ozarks Mountains fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954.
