Annotation:Western Gem
X:1 T:Western Gem M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Reel or Hornpipe S:Ryan’s Mammoth Collection (1883) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:A (3E/F/G/ | A/c/B/A/ A/c/e/c/ | d/e/f/g/ a/f/e/c/ | .A(c/B/) A/c/e/c/ | B/c/B/A/ G/E/F/G/ | .A(c/B/) A/c/e/c/ | d/e/f/g/ (3a/4g/4a/4(e/c/) | f/e/d/f/ e/c/A/c/ | B/A/G/B/ A :| K:E |: G/A/ | (c/B/).B/.B/ .Bc/d/ | e/d/e/f/ .g(f/g/) | a/g/f/a/ g/f/e/g/ | f/e/d/c/ B/A/G/A/ | (c/B/).B/.B/ .Bc/d/ | e/d/e/f/ .g(f/g/) | a/g/f/a/ g/f/e/g/ | f/e/d/f/ e :|]
WESTERN GEM REEL. AKA and see "Chicoutimi Reel (2)," "Hill Lilly," "New York Reel (1)," "St. Botolph Hornpipe." American, Reel or Hornpipe. A Major (‘A’ part) & E Major (‘B’ part) . Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. "Western Gem Reel" was printed in William Bradbury Ryan's Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883). Ryan was an employee of the Elias Howe music publishing company in Boston, which had published Elias Howe's Musician's Omnibus Nos. 6 & 7 a year or two earlier; in Howe's volume the exact same tune appears as "Hill Lilly." The second strain was used by Prince Edward Island fiddler Sidney Baglole for his “Sidney Baglole's Reel.” The first strain is shared with several nineteenth century reels, according to folklorist Alan Jabbour, including "New York Reel (1)," "St. Botolph Hornpipe" and "Witch of the Wave," and, more distantly, "Buckley's Fancy," from Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883). Similarly, Francis O'Neill printed distanced first-strain cognates in his Music of Ireland (1903) as "Comely Jane Downing" and "Lakeside Road (The)." Jabbour collected an untitled tune from Glen Lyn, Virginia, fiddler Henry Reed (1884-1968), with a similar first strain (see Amercian Memory [1]).
