Annotation:Rattler Treed a Possum
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RATTLER TREED A POSSUM. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Arkansas. D Major. ADad tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune was recorded in April, 1928, in Chicago for Brunswick Records (Vocalion) by the Ozarks region group Reaves White County Ramblers [1], a brothers' group consisting of fiddlers Isaac ("Ike") and Ira Reaves, keyboard player Lloyd Reaves, and guitar player Fred Rumble. The brothers hailed from McRae, White County, Arkansas, while Rumble was from nearby Judsonia. The piano they intended to use during the session was broken, so a reed organ from a nearby church was substituted. Vocals, by Lloyd Reeves, were simple and went:
Rattler treed a possum ...x3
Up a 'simmon tree.
Raccoon and a possum, ...x3
In a hollow log.
Raccoon said to possum, ...x3
Beward of that barking dog.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Gray & Hall (Kenny Hall's Music Book), 1999; p. 43.
Recorded sources: Copper Creek CCCD-0196, Tom, Brad & Alice – “We’ll Die in the Pig Pen Fighting.” County 519, Reaves White County Ramblers - "Echoes of the Ozarks, vol. 2." Vocalion 5219 (78 RPM), Reaves White County Ramblers (1928).
See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Hear the Reaves White County Rambler's 1928 recording on youtube.com [3] and at Slippery Hill [4]
See Tater Joe's standard notation transcription of Brad Leftwich's version [5]