Annotation:Brown Button Shoes

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X:1 T:Brown Button Shoes S:Buddy Thomas (1935-1974, northeastern Ky.) M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel D:Rounder Records 0032, Buddy Thomas - "Kitty Puss" (1976) F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/brown-button-shoes Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:G ga|b2b2 bage|d2de dBGB|cBcd cBAc|e[d2g2][dg][d2g2]ga| b2b2 bage|d2de dBGB|eceg fdfa|g2 (af) g2:| K:C c2-|cdeg a2(g/a/g)|eceg (f/g/f) ec| d2ga bagb|agea gage| cdeg a2 eg|eceg f2e2|dBba geAB|c2 dB c2[E2c2]-| [E2c2][E2c2]a2ga|eceg f2e2|d2g2 bagb|agea gage| cdeg a2(g/a/g)|eceg (f/g/f) ec| d2ba geAB|c2(dB) c2||



BROWN BUTTON SHOES. American, Reel (cut time). USA, northeastern Ky. G Major ('A' part) & C Major ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Phillips): AA'BB' (Reiner & Anick). The tune was also in the repertoire of Portsmouth, Ohio, fiddler and instrument repairer Jimmy Wheeler (1917-1987), who learned it either from his father or Acey "Aaa" Neal. Jeff Goehring says it was one of the "not-strictly Kentucky" tunes "popular among Portsmouth area fiddlers of an earlier era" [1]. Joe Stamper (Lewis County), another northeastern Kentucky fiddler, played a distanced version of the tune (which he also called "Brown Button Shoes").

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - Joe Stamper & Morris Allen via Buddy Thomas (Ky.) [Reiner & Anick, Phillips].

Printed sources : - Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 38. Reiner & Anick (Old Time Fiddling Across America), 1989; p. 102.

Recorded sources: -Rounder 0032, Buddy Thomas (northeast Ky.) - "Kitty Puss: Old Time Fiddle Music From Kentucky" (1976).

See also listing at:
Hear Joe Stamper's field recording at Berea Sound Archives [1]
Hear Buddy Thomas's 1998 recording at Slippery Hill [2]



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  1. Jeff Goehring, "First Recording Session with Jimmy Wheeler" [3]