Annotation:Walker Street
X:1 T:Walker Street Reel M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Reel B:Coes Album of Jigs and Reels, something new, for professional and amateur violinists, B:leaders of orchestras, quadrille bands, and clog, reel and jig dancers; consisting of a B:Grand Collection of entirely New and Original Clog-Hornpipes, Reels, jigs, B:Scotch Reels, Irish Reels and Jigs, Waltzes, Walk-Arounds, etc. (1876, p. 33) N:Coes performed with the San Francisco Minstrels in California from 1852 to 1859. Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G D|GB/G/ d/G/B/G/|A/B/c/d/ c/B/A/G/|B/d/f/d/ e/g/d/B/|c/B/A/G/ F/A/D/F/| GB/G/ d/G/B/G/|A/B/c/d/ c/B/A/G/|B/d/g/d/ e/g/d/B/|z/d/ ^c/A/ G:| |:e/f/|{a}gd/g/ B/g/d/g/|g/a/b/g/ a/g/e/f/|gd/g/ B/g/d/g/|c/B/A/G/ F/A/D/F/| {f}gd/g/ B/g/d/g/|g/a/b/g/ a/g/e/f/|g/f/g/a/ g/f/e/d/|e/g/f/a/ g/e/d/B/:|]
WALKER STREET. AKA and see "Carpenter's Reel," "Gigue des artisans," “Laborer's Reel,” "Reel des ouvriers," "Reel des travailleurs," "Reel Roarer," "Traveller (1) (The),” "Traveller's Reel." Canadian, American; Reel or Hornpipe. USA; New England, Northwest. Canada; Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (most versions): AA'BB (Phillips): AA’BB’ (Bégin). A popular reel of unknown provenance, first published in blackface minstrel performer George H. Coes' Coes Album of Jigs and Reels (1876), followed by inclusion in Boston publisher Elias Howe's Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883), edited by William Bradbury Ryan. There is a Walker Street in old Boston, in The Neck, although whether or not the tune title is associated with it is unknown. The melody is widely disseminated and can be heard played by fiddlers in a number of genres. In Kings County, Prince Edward Island, an alternate title is “Laborer's Reel,” from the French-Canadian variant “Reel des ouvriers” (The Laborer’s Reel). Other Quebec interpretations of the melody can be found as "Gigue des artisans" (Isidore Soucy) and "Reel des travailleurs" (Joseph Allard). See also Irish versions as "Traveller (1) (The)."
An early version of the tune, nearly identical to later versions but with a third strain, was entered into the mid-19th century music manuscript collection of Bellport, Long Island, fiddler and ship-builder biography:Isaac Homan with the title "Reel Roarer" (which presumably was a play on the word 'reel'/'real').
