Annotation:Rats gone to Rest

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X:1 T:Rats gone to Rest N:From the playing of fiddler George Lee Hawkins N:(1904-1991, Bath County, northeastern Ky.), recorded N:in the field by Mark Wilson, March, 1974. Hawkins learned N:the tune from a black sharecropper, Bill Trumbo, a mentor. N:Hawkins introduced the tune: "Rat's gone to Rest...with D-Con!." M:C| L:1/8 Q:"Fast" D:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/rats-gone-rest Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:G B-d2d- dABd|edBA G2A2|ce2e- efgf|edBA G2A2| Bd2e dABd|edBA G2AA|ce2e- efgf|edBA G2G2|| DEGA BdBA|GBAG E2E2|DEGA BdBA|GBAG [G2B2][G2B2]| DEGA BdBA|GBAG E2E2|DEGA BdBA|GBAG [G,4G4]|]



RATS GONE TO REST. American, Reel (cut time). USA, Kentucky. G Major. The tune was in the repertory of Kentucky fiddler George Lee Hawkins. Mark Wilson writes that Hawkins learned this Bath County, Ky., tune as a boy around 1915 from an African-American farm worker named Bill Trumbo. Hawkins was a good fiddler by all reports, and learned complicated hornpipe pieces from fiddlers in Ohio and Indiana which he played with more of the traditional hornpipe dotted style than many American fiddlers. When naming "Rats gone to Rest" he always appended as an aside “…with D-Con” (a pesticide). Jeff Titon (2001) notes the low part is similar to Georgia fiddler Lowe Stokes’ “Citaco.”

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - George Hawkins (1904-1991, Bethel, Bath County, Ky., 1974) [Titon].

Printed sources : - Titon (Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 134, p. 161.

Recorded sources: -Light and Hitch - "Light and Hitch" (2007). Rounder CD 0376, George Hawkins (et al) – “Traditional Fiddle Music of Kentucky, vol. 1: Up the Ohio and Licking Rivers” (1997). Rounder Heritage Series 1166-11592-2, George Hawkins (et al) – “The Art of Traditional Fiddle” (2001).

See also listing at:
Hear George Lee Hawkins' 1974 field recording by Mark Wilson at Slippery Hill [1]
Hear/see various youtube versions [2][3][4]



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