Annotation:Slow Buck
X:1 T:Slow Buck N:From the playing of fiddler Byard Ray (1910-1988, Sodom Laurel, Madison N:County, western North Carolina), who learned the tune from his great-uncle, N:fiddler Mitch Wallin (1854-1932). M:C| L:1/8 Q:"Fast" R:Reel D:Sounds Good Studio SGS 104101, Byard Ray - "Traditional Music of the D:Southern Appalachians" (1981) D:https://dla.acaweb.org/digital/collection/Warrren/id/391/rec/4 Z:Andrew Kuntz K:A [d2e2]-|[e2e2]ab a2a=g|=gged c-dec|e2a2- abae |=gged ed e2-| ea-ab a2 aa|=ga-ag- edcd |[d2e2]-[e2e2]- [e2e2] [ee]c|(B/c/B)-BA =G-^G-GG| B2^G2 E3F-|^GG[GB]G ecec|[M:3/2]BGBG A6|| [Ae]-[Be]|[M:C|][c2e2][ce][ce] [ce][Be][Ae][ce]|[B2e2][Be][ce] [B3e3][FB]-|[G2B2][G2B2]- [G2B2]BG|E6 E-G| B2B2c3c-| d2 [d2f2] ffaf |ecec BGBG|A6||
SLOW BUCK. American, Reel (cut time). A Major/Mixolydian. Standard or AEae tuning (fiddle). AB. From the playing of fiddler Byard Ray (1910-1988, Sodom Laurel, Madison County, western North Carolina), who learned the tune from his great-uncle, fiddler biography:Mitch Wallin (1854-1932). The tune is in mixed modes in the first strain, and in major in the second. The first strain is also "crooked", or irregularly metered, with eleven measures in the strain with one measure of 3/2 time at the end to accommodate a "dwell" note at the end.
"Buck" was a common name for a steer, explained Byard to interviewer David Hold in 1976, and when he asked his great uncle Mitch about the name he was told that he once had a steer he used to pull to plow, but he was so slow the joke in the neighborhood was that there would be grass growing at the beginning of the furrow before he finished the end of it. Someone attached the name to the tune.
