Annotation:Ole Time Sorghum Mill

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OLE TIME SORGHUM MILL. Old-Time. A tune by this name was mentioned in a 1925 master's thesis by S.M. Taylor of the University of Alabama, "A Preliminary Survey of Folk-Lore in Alabama." To date the melody has not been located. The title was among those listed by Carl Carmer in his book Stars Fell on Alabama (1934). Carmer was an English professor at the University of Alabama from 1921-1927 who documented folkways in the state when he was in residence. On one occasion he attended a fiddler's convention in the town of Valley Head in the northeast part of the state, and wrote of the even:

With a loud scraping of chairs about a dozen men rose and walked to the platform. Some carried their fiddles in cloth bags under their arms, others had attained the dignity of violin cases held by handles. Their was a great squeaking of pegs in rosined holes--now and then snatch of melody. Eager supporters were placing chairs on the platform for their favorites.

Carmer listed the names of the tunes played that day, obviously delighting in them as a piece of folklore:

1. Wolves a-Howlin'
2. Jim Along Josy
3. Chaw Roast Beef
4. Circus Rider
5. Old Time Sorghum Mill
6. Leather Breeches
7. Mississippi Sawyer
8. Who Bit the Tater
9. Uncle Wash Washed His Corn
10. Mustard Plaster Hurts
11. Whole Hog or None
12. I'll Never Get Drunk Anymore
13. Alabama Gals
14. Bobbed-Tail Buzzard
15. Bucking Mule
16. Billy in the Lowground
17. Cotton Choppin' Dick
18. Dead up the Stump
19. Danny in the Cotton Patch
20. Double-Headed Train
21. Horse Shoeing
22. Mountain Top Cabin
23. Methodist Preacher
24. Rabbit Plowed the Possum
25. Shout Lula
26. Corn Shucking
27. Three Nights in the Piney Woods
28. Throw My Fiddle Over the Fence
29. River Bridge
30. Sugar in the Coffee
31. Rocky Hollow Hard Times
32. Wooden-Leg Diana
33. Third Party
34. Waggoneers
35. Went Down to the New Ground
36. Wild Horse in the Canebreak
37. Old Water Wheel (The)
38. Wild Goose
39. Old Mollie
40. Here What You Doin' There
41. Such a Getting Upstairs
42. Mister Chicken
43. Set My Trap in the Old Straw Field
44. Black B'ar'll Git You, Honey

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