Annotation:Rattlin' Down the Acorns (1)

Back to Rattlin' Down the Acorns (1)

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RATTLIN' DOWN THE ACORNS [1]. AKA and see "Flattening the Acres,” “Shaking Down the Acorns (1)." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Kentucky. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'BB'. Clyde Davenport (b. ) learned this tune from his father and is the sole source for the melody, according to Jeff Titon (2001). The title was mentioned in a 1931 account of a LaFollette, northeast Tenn, fiddle contest and appears on the tune lists of the 1914 Berea, Kentucky, fiddle contest. The are similar sounding titles, however, leading to some confusion. “Shake Them Acorns Down,” for example is a title that also appears in the Berea tune lists, and “Rattlin'/Shaking Down the Acorns” is a frequently played and recorded old-time title, but is applied to a several tunes. Davenport's “Rattlin’ down the Acorns [1]" is not related to “Shaking Down the Acorns” as played by Burl Hammons, for example.

Source for notated version: Clyde Davenport (Monticello, Wayne County, Ky., 1990) [Phillips, Titon].

Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 195. Titon (Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 135, p. 161.

Recorded sources: County 786, "Traditional Music From the Cumberland Plateau, vol. 1" (1984). Heritage XXXIII, Delbert Hughes (outside Charleston, W.Va. He was born and raised in Stearns, Ky.) - "Visits" (1981).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear a 1981 field recording of Clyde Davenport playing the tune at the Digital Library of Appalachia [2]

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