Annotation:Rag Picker Bill

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RAG PICKER BILL. AKA - "Ragpicker Bill." Old-Time, Country Rag. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'B. A fast breakdown-like country ragtime tune from the playing of fiddler Rector Hicks [1], nephew to West Virginia fiddler Laury Hicks who was a member of influential regional fiddler Ed Haley's (1885-1951) musical circle. Haley himself complimented Laury on being the best fiddler he had heard on the older, faster old-time breakdowns. Rector had opportunity to learn from both fiddlers on his visits to his uncle's house, and patterned his fiddling after them. "Ragpicker Bill" was in Ed Haley's repertoire.

Source for notated version: Rector Hicks (1914-1989, born in Chloe, Calhoun County, West Virginia, later lived in Akron, Ohio) [Phillips].

Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 2), 1995; p. 106.

Recorded sources: FRC 709 - "Rector Hicks: Sugar in the Morning" (2015).

See also listing at:
Hear Rector Hicks field recording at the Field Recorders Collective website [2]

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