Annotation:Cuttin' at the Point

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CUTTIN' AT THE PINT/POINT. AKA and see "Knock Around the Kitchen 'Til the Cook Comes In." American, Reel (cut time). USA, Kentucky. G Major. ADae tuning (fiddle). AB (Silverberg): AABB (Phillips). The tune is played in Trimble, Henry and Carroll Counties in central Kentucky as "Knock Around the Kitchen 'Til the Cook Comes In." The "Cuttin' at the Point" title is sourced to a 1932 recording by Charlie Wilson (fiddle), with Asa Martin (dance calls), Roy Hobbs (guitar), and perhaps an unknown musician, and features a square dance caller. According to researcher Gus Meade (in notes to MS 45005), Wilson (1906-1964) was a Captain in the State Police in Montgomery County, Ky., who, along with "Shorty" Hobbs, accompanied Martin on his last sessions with the Gennett company. Wilson was born in the Stepstone vicinity of Bath County and began playing the fiddle in his early teens, maturing into a skilled dance fiddler much in demand, even in surrounding counties. While still in his late teens, he moved to Mt. Sterling and found work as a carpenter and a barber, before acquiring employment in law enforcement.

There has been much speculation as to the meaning of the title. Some think it refers to woodworking, roadbuilding or lumberjacking, or, that the title was originally "Cuttin' at the Pint" i.e. nipping from a whiskey bottle."

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - Liz Slade (Yorktown, New York) [Kuntz]; Tom Carter and Ron Kane with the Deseret String Band [Phillips].

Printed sources : - Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 64. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 32.

Recorded sources: -Gennett Records (78 RPM), Charlie Wilson and His Hillbillies (1932. The ensemble was from Montgomery County, Kentucky). Montgomery Ward 8065, Charlie Wilson and His Hayloft Boys (1932. Same as the Gennett recording. Breakdown with square dance calls). Morining Star 45005, Charlie Wilson and His Hayloft Boys (Ky.) - "Way Down South in Dixie."

See also listing at:
Hear Charlie Wilson's 1932 recording at Slippery Hill [1] and at youtube.com [2]

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