Annotation:Number Nine

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X:1 T:Number 9 N:From the playing of Alva Greene (1894-1976, Sandy Hook, Elliot County, N:northeast Ky.), recorded in 1973 by Chris Delaney. Mr. Greene N:was age 78 at the time of the recording. M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel Q:"Quick" D:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/number-9 Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:G ga|b2b2 bag2 |bage d2d2|egdg egdg|egdg a2ga| b2b2 ba g2|bage d2d2|egdg edBG|AG2 G G2|| |:[DA]c|BABc BAGA|Bddd d2g2|[d2g2]d2 edBG|A-BG2 AGEG| DEGA BAGA|Bd2d d2g2| [d2g2]d2 edBG|AG2 G G2:|]

NUMBER NINE. AKA - "Number 9." American, Reel (cut or 2/4 time). USA; Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB (Titon): AABB (Thede). The title refers to an engine of that number on the Rock Island Railroad in use in the 1870's, according to Marion Thede (1967):

When it was in use in early days it reached Pond Criik and Enid (orignially called Skeleton) March 2, 1890, when Oklahoma Territory was created. This engine was restored by the Rock Island and run from Chickasha, Oklahoma, to Anadarko in August, 1959. As a publicity stunt a group of Indians on horseback, reenacting Indian days of long agi, "chased" the train pulled by Number Nine, shooting at it with bows and arrows.

"Number Nine" was also recorded by southern California fiddler Earl Collins, originally from Oklahoma, whose family roots were in Missouri.

Curiously, the same tune (in much the same version) was remembered by Alva Greene (1894-1976) of Elliot County, Kentucky, as being one of regionally influential, blind, northeast Kentucky fiddler Ed Haley's big numbers. Greene learned the reel from his father, and this puts the tune in northeast Kentucky probably prior to it having been in Oklahoma. It is unlikely the Kentucky title referenced an Oklahoma steam engine; rather, it could reference the number of a coal mine or a specific seam inside of a mine ^[1].

Additional notes

Printed sources : - Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; p. 47. Titon (Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 110, p. 139.

Recorded sources : - Briar 4204, Earl Collins - "That's Earl: Collins Family Fiddling" (1975). County 2714, Brad Leftwich - "Say Old Man" (1996). The Georgia Horseshoes - "The Georgia Horseshoes" (2017).

See also listing at :
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear Alva Greene playing the tune in a 1973 field recording by Kevin Delaney at the Digital Library of Appalachia [2] and at Berea Digital Content [3]

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↑ c.f. the line from the country song "Nine Pound Hammer" that pleads: "Now when I'm long gone you can make my tombstone. Out of number nine coal, out of number nine coal."

[1] .f. the line from the country song "Nine Pound Hammer" that pleads: "Now when I'm long gone you can make my tombstone. Out of number nine coal, out of number nine coal."

[1]

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