Annotation:Grigsby's Hornpipe
X:0 T: No Score C: The Traditional Tune Archive M: K: x
GRIGSBY'S HORNPIPE. American, Reel. USA, Texas. A Major. AEac# tuning (fiddle). From Texas fiddler Eck Robertson (1887-1975), who played it in a medley with "Rye Whiskey," recorded in March, 1963, at Robertson's home in Amarillo, Texas. Robertson said on record he was the only fiddler to play the tune. The tune was perhaps named for “Grigsby’s Cowboys,” the 3rd Cavalry, a unit composed largely of cowhands from western states raised for service in the Spanish-American War by Melvin Grigsby, attorney general of South Dakota in 1898. Robertson biographer Chris Goertzen notes that Robertson was still a boy during the conflict at the end of the 19th century, and may have been quite taken with Grigsby's Cowboys. However, the war ended before the unit could be deployed and most remained in camp in Georgia, unfortunately where many succumbed to typhoid.
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