Annotation:Patrick County Blues

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PATRICK COUNTY BLUES. AKA and see "Rochester Schottische (2)." Old-Time, Schottische. The word 'blues' in the title seems to be a convention of the 1920's when numerous tunes had 'blues' inserted, either in homage to, or cashing in on, the success of Mississippi's Narmour and Smith's several very successful blues-tinged recordings. As with several old-time melodies with 'blues' in the title, there is nothing of the blues form; instead "Patrick County Blues" (AKA "Rochester Schottische") is a melody in straight-forward schottische form, with a key change in the second strain. The title "Patrick County Blues" was given to the tune by John Watts “Babe” Spangler (1882-1970) of Meadows of Dan, Virginia, who first recorded it in October, 1929 (with guitarist Dave Pearson, as 'The Old Virginia Fiddlers'). Spangler's father Wallace had been a fiddler of local renown. Spangler won the Virginia Fiddler Contest in 1927.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources:

Recorded sources: County 201, The Old Virginia Fiddlers - "Rare Recordings 1948-49." Okeh 45387 (78 RPM), The Old Virginia Fiddlers. "Virginia Roots: the 1929 Richmond Sessions" (2002).

See also listing at:
Hear J.W. and Dudley Spangler's version on youtube.com [1]
Hear Spangler & Pearson's 1929 recording [2]

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