Annotation:Where the Southern Crosses the Dog
X:1 T:Where the Southern Crosses the Dog S:Willie Narmour (1889-1961) and Shellie Smith (1895-1968) (Carroll County, Mississippi) M:C| L:1/8 R:Country Rag Q:"Moderate" N:The beats per measure are irregular throughout the piece, and no attempt has N:been made to add time signatures to the transcription. The piece is highly N:improvisational, and Narmour varies it considerably with each repetition. D:OKeh 45480 (78 RPM), Narmour & Smith (1930) F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/where-southern-crosses-dog Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:C [B4g4][B3g3][Bg]-|[Bg]a2g e2 |[G2c2]G2 [Gc]G A2|c2[d2e2]-[e2e2]g2 ed c2|B8-B2| [B4g4][B3g3]a|g2+slide+e2-edcG[D2A2]|[E6c6] _E2-|=EDEc- c2A2| EDE2 [E6c6] _E2-|=EDEc- c2A2|EDE2 [E6c6] [G2_B2]-|[G=B][GA][GB][Bg]- [B2g2]f2| dB3 g6_B-|=BABg- g2f2|dB3 g6 ||
WHERE THE SOUTHERN CROSSES THE DOG. American, Country Rag (cut time). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. A moderately-paced tune from fiddler biography:Willie Narmour and his playing partner Shell Smith (guitar), of Carroll County, Mississippi, recorded for Okeh Records in 1930. The title refers to a former railroad crossing in Moorhead, Mississippi, where the Southern Railroad lines once crossed the Yazoo Delta Railroad, known as the "Yellow Dog." The Southern travelled east-west, and later became the Columbus and Greenville Railway, while the Yellow Dog travelled north-south, and later became the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad. According to information from the State of Mississippi Official Tourist Resource, it is widely believed that W. C. Handy, after hearing an old man singing about "where the Southern cross the Yellow Dog", was moved by the sound and began what came to be known as the "blues". According to Narmour's daughter Hazel Wiggins, the titles of many of Narmour and Smith's songs were negotiations with the recording company, as they largely came to the studio without names for their tunes.