Annotation:Tugboat
X:1 T:Tugboat M:C| L:1/8 Q:"Moderately Quick" R:Reel S:Edden Hammons (1875-1955, Pocahontas County, W.Va.) D:The Edden Hammons Collection vol. 2 N:From a 1947 field recording F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/tugboat Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:G ef|g2d2 efga|bagb agef|[dg]edg eddd|eaab a2ef| gedg efga|bagb agef|gage dged|BGAG G2ef| g2d2 efga|bagb agef|gage defg|a2 ab agef| gedg efga|bagb agef|g2d2+slide+[e3e3]d|BGAG [G2B2]|| |:[G,2D2]-|[G,D]EGB AG2(G/A/|B)ded {e}dBGA|[G2B2][G2B2] AG2A|BAGB AGEG| DGG2 AG2A|Bded [gd]def|gage dged|BGA(G [G2B2]):|
TUGBOAT. American, Reel (cut time). USA; West Virginia, Virginia, Nebraska Oklahoma, Texas. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Christeson, Phillips): AA'BBC (Frets). Charles Wolfe (1997) states Kanawha County, West Virginia, fiddler Clark Kessinger (1896-1975) first recorded the tune (in 1929 for Brunswick with his nephew and accompanist, Luches Kessinger, on guitar. The duo was billed as the 'Kessinger Brothers' by the label. Other fiddlers learned the tune from Kessinger’s recording, among them Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson, who was instrumental in inserting the melody into the Texas contest tune repertoire where it remains a popular piece. “Tugboat” was in the repertoire of Missouri fiddler Cyril Stinnett, learned perhaps from biography:Bob Walters (1889-1960), who probably learned it from the Kessinger Brothers’ Brunswick record (Christeson, 1984).
The tune was also in the repertoire of West Virginia fiddler Wikipedia:Edden_Hammons (1875-1955), who played it in standard tuning. See also the related "Jullianne Flannigan," “Ladies on the Steamboat, "Sally will You Marry Me" and the similar “Sandy River Belle (2).”
