Annotation:Johnson Boys
Tune properties and standard notation
JOHNSON BOYS. Old-Time, Song and Fiddle Tune. USA; North Carolina, Virginia, Arkansas. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Paul Clayton identifies this as an old courting song, comic in nature. Some see similarity with the Gows' tune "Welcome Whiskey Back Again." Warner (1984) says, "This is a dance tune for the fiddle and banjo - one of the oldest in the mountains. The words are incidental." The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954.
I hear them Johnson boys a-coming,
Singing and a-hollering and shooting off their guns,
All the other fellers scared as the devil,
Johnson boys has got 'em on the run,
Johnson boys has got 'em on the run.
Johnson boys went to the mountain,
They didn't reckon long to stay,
Met up with some high-borned ladies,
Didn't get back till the break of day,
Didn't get back till the break of day. (Warner)
Sources for notated versions: banjoist Frank Proffitt (North Carolina), who learned the tune "from his father's picking and picked up verses from prople on Beech Mountain, friends from Virginia, and others here and there" [Warner]; Jack Aldrich [Silberberg].
Printed sources: Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 76. Warner (Traditional American Folk Songs), 1984; pp. 303-304.
Recorded sources: Document 8040, "The Hill Billies/Al Hopkins and His Buckle Busters: Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, vol. 2" (reissue). June Appal 0067, Whitetop Mountain Band - "Seedtime on the Cumberland" (1992). Marimac 9038, Dan Gellert & Brad Leftwich - "A Moment in Time." Rounder CD0403, The Freight Hoppers - "Where'd You Come From, Where'd You Go?" Tradition TLP 1007, Boone Reid - "Instrumental Music of the Southern Appalachians" (1956).
See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]