Annotation:Coming down from Denver
X:1 T:Coming down from Denver S:Bob Walters (1889-1960, Burt County, Nebraska) M:C| L:1/8 R:Hornpipe R:Quick D:Univ. of Missouri LP, Bob Walters - Old Time Fiddlers Repertory (1976) N:Recorded by R.P. Christeson F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/coming-down-denver Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:A EG|A2 Ac BAGB|Aceg a2ga|bgeg aecA|dcBA GBEG| A2 Ac BAGB|Aceg a2ga|bgeg aecA|1dcBG A2:|2 dcBG A4|| |:A,ECE A,ECE|A,B,CE ABcA|EBGB EBGB|EFGE efge| a2ga faec|defg a2ga|bgeg afec|1 dcBG A4:|2dcBG A2||
COMING DOWN FROM DENVER. AKA - "Comin' down from Denver on a Trip to Galaway." AKA - "Here and There (2)." See "Cowboys (2)," "Halfway House," "King of all Reels," "Lardner's Reel (1)," "Turnpike Reel." American, Reel (2/4 and cut time). USA; Missouri, Nebraska. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB: ABC (Devil's Box). "Coming Down from Denver" is on Charlie Walden's list of '100 essential Missouri fiddle tunes'. Cleo Pursinger maintains the title for the tune is "Comin' Down from Denver (on a Trip to Galway Here and There)," but it may also have originally been "Coming Down from Boston." The 'A' part parallels "Lardner's Reel (1)" but the 'B' part shows some modification. The tune has been published as early as 1864 by Howe in Boston under the title "Lardner's Reel (1)" (Christeson), while a violin music collection published by George H. Coe in 1876 has it under the title "Old Gray Mare." Blackface minstrel troupe leader James Buckley published a version as "King of all Reels" in 1860. In the 20th century, fiddler Tommy Jackson recorded it as "Here and There (2)," while Fletcher Bright plays it under the title "Turnpike Reel." Howard Marshall informs that the tune has two distinct second strains current in Missouri fiddling tradition, both different. Some fiddlers, like Johnny Bruce, Cleo Pursinger and Gene Goforth, play a third part. The low parts of "Coming Down from Denver" and "Hummingbird Reel" appear related. Similarities also to "Waynesburgh."
John Hartford remarked in notes accompanying his transcription in the periodical The Devil's Box:
["Coming down from Denver on a Trip to Galaway"] was the complete title given to us (when we were a teenager) by Cleo Pursinger. Birch Monroe played this tune once for Bill Harrison in the presence of his brother Bill who immediately corrected him saying the true title was "Coming down from Boston." Tommy Jackson called it "Here and There." It's called "Old Gray Mare" in George H. Coe's Album of Music for the Violin (1876). The coarse part (low part) is a cousin to the coarse part of "Hummingbird Reel." Cleo Pursinger and Gene Goforth are the only ones we ever heard play the third (high) part. Christeson has it in Vol. 1 of his collection (No. 35) and says the first part is "Lardner's Reel (1)." Samuel Bayard who has it in 'D' calls it "Cowboys and Galaxy Reel."
