Annotation:Humphrey's Jig (1)

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 HUMPHREY'S JIG [1]. AKA and see "Doctor Humphrey's Jig." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Kentucky. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'BB'. A popular tune (whose 'A' part is in duple time and whose 'B' part is in triple time--apparently a cross between a breakdown and a jig--) with Kentucky fiddlers especially in the (north)eastern portion of the state, drawn from a Scottish tune called "Bob of Fettercairn (The)," and not easy to play. Mark Wilson and Guthrie Meade (1976) point out that east Kentucky fiddler Ed Haley's (or Hayley, 1885-1951) version of the tune resembles not the mainland Scottish versions but rather a Shetland version of the melody called "Knockit Corn/Knack and Knockit Corn." Regardless, they say, it is extremely rare for a tune "of this nature to survive in the American South, where the original dance function of the music has been forgotten." Elderly fiddler Wilson Douglas (W.Va.) declared in 1995: I've only heard one man who I thought would come up to Ed  ''Haley, and I believe he died a year or two ago. A man named '' ''George Hawkins from Ashland, Kentucky. I'd put him and Ed '' ''Hayley together, you couldn't tell 'em apart. He and Ed Hayley's'' the only two men I heard could play the tune "Humphrey's Jig." I never got a chance to learn it. Kentucky fiddler J.W. Day recorded the tune twice for the Library of Congress, and George Hawkins, also of that state, also released a version on a 78 RPM. Douglas stated the tune was in old Saul Carpenter's (Clay County, West Virginia) repertoire, and was handed down to his son, Tom, who taught it to his son, the regionally influential French Carpenter (d. 1965), a distant relative and mentor of Wilson Douglas. See "Humphrey's Jig (2)" for a more syncopate, ragtime version of the melody.  Source for notated version: John Hartford [Phillips].  Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 116.  Recorded sources: Rounder 1010, Ed Haley - "Parkersburg Landing" (1976).  See also listing at: Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources

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