Item 1 of 1
Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier: The Henry Reed Collection
| Play this item |  Help |
|
|---|---|---|
| Choose Format | bandwidth/file Size | |
 |
Play | 56k or higher |
 |
Play | 238 kilobytes |
 |
Play | 6 megabytes |
Item Title
Shelving Rock
Alternate Title(s)
Billy in the Low Ground
Billy in the Low Land
Billy in the Lowland
Author/Creator
Collector: Jabbour, Alan
Collector: Jabbour, Karen Singer
Performer: Reed, Henry; fiddle
Created/Published
June 18, 1966
Reed family home, Glen Lyn, Virginia (Giles County)
Notes
This is a well-known and widely circulated American reel that usually goes by the title "Billy in the Low Ground" or "Billy in the Low Land"; see, for example, Bayard, "Hill Country Tunes", #5; Thomas, "Devil's Ditties", p. 130; Ford, "Traditional Music of America", p. 65; Adam, "Old Time Fiddlers' Favorite Barn Dance Tunes", #42; Morris, "Old Time Violin Melodies", #37. The published and recorded versions seem to cluster in a broad swath from Pennsylvania and Virginia through Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. By the later twentieth century it had moved into the general American fiddling repertory and can be heard in contests and jam sessions from coast to coast. It is similar and perhaps related to British instrumental tunes such as the reel "Braes of Auchentyre." The title appears elsewhere in the Appalachian South and refers to the shelf rocks or sheltered outcroppings in the Appalachian mountains that local people often use as campsites and as markers for finding one's way in the forest.
Title change: The title appeared in the fieldnotes as "Shelvin' Rock."
Key: C
Meter: 4/4
Strains: 2 (low-high, 4-4)
Rendition: 1-2r-1r-2r-1r-2
Phrase Structure: ABA'C QRQ'C (abcd ab'ef qrst qref)
Compass: 16
Stylistic features: Slurs predominate in bowing.
Recording chronology: 007
Related Tune(s): Braes of Auchentyre
Duration: 1 minute, 21 seconds
Subject
Breakdowns
Reels
Fiddle tunes
Instrumentals--fiddle
Ethnography
Music
United States--Virginia--Giles County--Glen Lyn
Object Type
Medium
sound recording
Language
English
Call Number
AFC LWO 5031 reel 4B, AFS 13034B:35
Digital ID
afcreed 13034b35
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/afcreed.13034b35