Annotation:Logger's Breakdown

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LOGGER'S BREAKDOWN. AKA - "Logger Breakdown," "Loggerman's Breakdown." AKA and see "Corn on the Cob." New England, Canadian; Reel. USA, New England. Canada, New Brunswick. B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Phillips): AA'BB' (Miskoe & Paul). The second strain of "Logger's Breakdown" is a variant of the second strain of "German Schottische (3) (Bohemian Melodies)", recorded by Scottish fiddler-violinist James Scott Skinner in 1909 on Columbia 26760 (78 RPM) and Rena Double-Face Record 1286 (78 RPM) (backed by "Petronella" on the reverse side.). The same melody as played by Skinner was also played in Michigan in the mid-20th century as "Hopp Waltz." Peter Corfield (2024) remarks that the origins of the "Logger's Breakdown" version are somewhat obscure, but likely developed in the lumber camps of Maine in the latter 19th century, migrating to Canada soon thereafter.

See also the related American Missouri Valley tune "St. Joe Hornpipe."

Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Vivian Williams (Seattle) [Phillips]; transplanted French-Canadian fiddler Omer Marcoux (Concord, N.H.) who actually learned the tune in a lumber-camp in Maine from a man from Waterville, Me. [Miskoe & Paul].

Printed sources : - Corfield (Tunes from New Brunswick), 2024; p. 70. Messer & Doyle (Backwoods Melodies), 1949; no. 15. Miskoe & Paul (Fiddle Tunes of Omer Marcoux), 1994; p. 28. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 146.

Recorded sources : - Apex 26314 (78 RPM), Don Messer & His Islanders (1949). Apex AL 1611, Don Messer & His Islanders "4" (1949). Folkways 8826, Per's Four--"Jigs and Reels." Front Hall FHR-021, John McCutcheon - "Barefoot Boy with Boots On" (1981. Learned from North Tonawanda, N.Y., dulcimer player Paul Van Arsdale who had it from a radio broadcast of a Canadian fiddler during the 1950's). RCA Victor LCP 1001, Ned Landry and his New Brunswick Lumberjacks - "Bowing the Strings with Ned Landry."

See also listing at :
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]

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