Annotation:Old Coon Dog (1)

Back to Old Coon Dog (1)

OLD COON DOG [1]. AKA - "Coon Dog." AKA and see "Davy Dugger," "Engine on a Mogull," "Shoot that Turkey Buzzard," "Higher Up the Monkey Goes." Old-Time, Breakdown. F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (Phillips). The tune is known by the "Old Coon Dog" title in eastern Kentucky and central Appalachia, according to Jeff Titon (Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes, p. 66). Titon finds recordings under the "Old Coon Dog" title by Vincent Crawford (1985, Anderson County, Kentucky), Alfred Bailey (1986, Fleming County, Kentucky), Kelly Gilbert (JH 023), Bill Livers (African American fiddler) JH 043, and eastern Kentucky fiddler Buddy Thomas (Lewis County, Kentucky). "Shoot that Turkey Buzzard" is a more distantly related tune, and, even more distantly (in the high part) of "Greasy String (1)."

Note that there were several tunes extent in northeast Kentucky and elsewhere that were called "Coon Dog" or "Old Coon Dog."

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - Seattle fiddler Vivian Williams, who learned a version in the key of F from a 1950's 78 RPM recording by Jack Barbour [Phillips, Silberberg].

Printed sources : - Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 169. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 109.

Recorded sources: -Rounder 0380, Roger Cooper - "Going Back to Old Kentucky" (1990. Appears as "Coon Dog"). Voyager 340, Jim Herd - "Old Time Ozark Fiddling."

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear Alfred Bailey play the tune at the Digital Library of Appalachia [2] and Berea Sound Archives [3]
Hear Kentucky fiddler Vincent Crawford at Berea Digital Content [4]
Hear Kentucky fiddler Buddy Thomas's (undated) field recording by John Harrod at Berea Sound Archives [5]
Hear Kentucky fiddler Carr Cunningham's 1980 field recording by John Harrod at Berea Sound Archives [6]

Back to Old Coon Dog (1)