Annotation:Mud Fence
X:1 T:Mud Fence M:C| L:1/8 S:W.H. "Bill" Stepp (Kentucky) R:Reel N:ADae tuning (fiddle) D:Library of Congress AFS 01600 B02 (1937) F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/mud-fence Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:D [D2A2]f2 fgfe|[D2B2]g2 gage|[D2A2]f2 fgfd|edcB A2[FA][FA]| [D2A2]f2 fgfe|[D2B2]g2 gaga|b2fg aece|d2 (3gfe de:| |:[A,D]-|[A,2D2]FD [F2A2][F2A2]|defa ecdB|G2 [GB]G F2[FA]F|E2 EF EDCE| D2 DE F2[F2A2]|defa ecdB|(Bc)dA F2AF|EDCE D3:||
MUD FENCE. AKA and see "Drunken Billy Goat," "Rocky Mountain Goat," "Swiss Chalet." American, Reel (cut time). USA, Kentucky. D Major. Standard or ADae tuning (fiddle). AABB'. "Mud Fence" was in the repertoire of Salyersville, Magoffin County, Kentucky, fiddler William H. Stepp (1875-1947), who was recorded for the Library of Congress in 1937 by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax. It is a member of the tune family that includes "Damon's Window/Damon's Winder," "Devil in Georgia (2) (The)," "Grand Hornpipe (1)," "Railroading Through the Rocky Mountains," "Ride the Goat Over the Mountains," "Rocky Mountain Goat," and "Swiss Chalet," and although widespread in Appalachia under the various titles, as "Mud Fence" it is associated with eastern Kentucky. Fiddler J.P. Fraley (1924-2011), of Denton, northeast Kentucky, some fifty miles north of Salyersville, had a distanced but cognate version of Stepp's tune.
Likening something to a 'mud fence' was an expression of displeasure or disdain (or worse) in parts of Appalachia, as in "homely/ugly as a mud fence," the more emphatic "ugly as a mud fence on a rainy day," or the penultimate "ugly as a mud fence daubed with chinquapins." Applied to intelligence, we have "dumber than a mud fence." Ditch and turf fences were not uncommon as livestock enclosures in pioneer times, as were wattle-and-daub constructions.
