Annotation:Jeff Sturgeon

Back to Jeff Sturgeon

---

JEFF STURGEON. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Kentucky. A Mixolydian. AEae tuning (fiddle). ABCC. Known as a Kentucky tune. The tune sounds double-tonic (i.e. moving from an 'A' Major chord to a 'G' Major chord, yet Salyer's accompanist consistently played an 'E' Major chord in place of the 'G'; many old-time musicians prefer that slightly discordant sound. Salyer learned the tune from Bob Johnson of Johnson County, Kentucky, but (according to Bruce Greene) the tune was named for the fiddler who taught Johnson to play. Jeff Titon (2001) the tune is a 'rare local tune', whose only source was Salyer.

Source for notated version: John Morgan Salyer (Salyersville, Magoffin County, Ky., 1941) [Titon].

Printed sources: Titon (Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Music), 2001; No. 73, p. 102.

Recorded sources: Berea College Appalachian Center AC003, "John M. Salyer: Home Recordings 1941-1942, vol. 1" (1993). Yodel-Ay-Hee 003, "Dirk Powell and John Hermann" (1992).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear Salyer's 1940 field recording at the Digital Library of Appalachia [2]

---

Back to Jeff Sturgeon