Annotation:Speed the Plough (3)
X:1 T:Speed the Plough [3] T:Speed the Plow M:C| L:1/8 N:Learned from the playing of Bob Beers who had it from N:his maternal grandfather, George Sullivan (Wisconsin) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion R:Reel K:A cd|"A"e3 c3A|"E"BABc A3e|"D"fefg afed|"E"cB- B2 B2| "A"e4 c3A|"E"BABc A3e|"D"fefg afed|"E"cA B2 "A"A2 :| |:cd|"A"e2ee "D"fedf|"A"e2e2 "D"f3e|fefg afed|"E"cB-B2 B2 cd| "A"e2 ee "D"fedf|"A"e2e2 "D"f4|fefg afed|"E"cA B2 "A"A:|]
SPEED THE PLOUGH [3]. AKA - "Speed the Plow." American, Reel. A Major. Standard or AEae tunings (fiddle). AABB. No resemblance to either “Speed the Plow” [1] or [2]. Kerry Blech traces the introduction of this tune to the Seattle area through several fiddlers, starting with fiddler Armin Barnet of the Hurricane Ridgerunners and working backward. He finally tracks it down to a recorded performance in 1970 at the Union Grove Fiddler’s Convention of Antrim, New Hampshire, fiddler Rodney Miller. Miller told Blech he had learned it from New York fiddler Robert ‘Fiddler’ Beers at the Fox Hollow festival in the 1960’s. The tune was recorded by the Beers Family on a long out-of-print LP entitled “Introducing the Beers Family.” The liner notes (by Robert Sherman) indicated that Beers learned his "Speed the Plow” from his maternal grandfather, George Sullivan. Sullivan was born in Ireland, but raised in America, and was the champion old-time fiddler of North Freedom, Wisconsin, “a fellow, so his daughter says, who could play and sing the whole night through without ever repeating the same tune. . ." Apparently Beers spent many an evening as a kid listening to Sullivan, whose music continued to fill the house long after the kids went up to bed.
