Annotation:Cuttin' at the Point
X:1 T:Cuttin' at the Point N:From the playing of fiddler Charlie Wilson (1906-1964) M:C| L:1/8 Q:"Fast" D:Yazoo 2200, Charlie Wilson - "Kentucky Mountain Music vol. 5" (2003) D:Montgomery Ward 8065-B (78 RPM) Charlie Wilson and His Hayloft Boys (1932) D:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_hGpOjfnZs D:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/cuttin-point Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:G A|f2d2f3d|f2d2 [d3f3]d| e2f2 gfed |B2[G2B2][G3B3]:| |:A|[G2B2][G2B2]- [GB]cdB|A2F2 [F3A3][FA]|[F2A2][F2A2]- [FA]ddc|B2[G2B2][G3B3]:|
CUTTIN' AT THE PINT/POINT. AKA and see "Knock Around the Kitchen 'Til the Cook Comes In." American, Reel (cut time). USA, Kentucky. G Major. ADae tuning (fiddle). AB (Silverberg): AABB (Phillips). The tune is played in Trimble, Henry and Carroll Counties in central Kentucky as "Knock Around the Kitchen 'Til the Cook Comes In." The "Cuttin' at the Point" title is sourced to a 1932 recording by Charlie Wilson (fiddle), with Asa Martin (dance calls), Roy Hobbs (guitar), and perhaps an unknown musician, and features a square dance caller. According to researcher Gus Meade (in notes to MS 45005), Wilson (1906-1964) was a Captain in the State Police in Montgomery County, Ky., who, along with "Shorty" Hobbs, accompanied Martin on his last sessions with the Gennett company. Wilson was born in the Stepstone vicinity of Bath County and began playing the fiddle in his early teens, maturing into a skilled dance fiddler much in demand, even in surrounding counties. While still in his late teens, he moved to Mt. Sterling and found work as a carpenter and a barber, before acquiring employment in law enforcement.
There has been much speculation as to the meaning of the title. Some think it refers to woodworking, roadbuilding or lumberjacking, or, that the title was originally "Cuttin' at the Pint" i.e. nipping from a whiskey bottle."