Billy In The Low Ground: A Song History

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"Billy in the Lowground" ranks among the most durable and widely played American dance tunes, and scholars have traced likely roots in Britain and Ireland. Samuel Bayard suggested that it began around 1710 or earlier as a slow song in 3/4 time, "O Dear Mother What Shall I Do?" In his account, one branch of that song became the quick Scottish dance tune "Braes of Auchtertyre," the direct ancestor of "Billy." Miles Krassen points to a possible Irish relative, "The Kerryman's Daughter."[1] The earliest American printing in the sources consulted here is in George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels, volume III, published in Baltimore in 1839.[1] A 1909 Alabama newspaper recalled the tune at an 1827 housewarming in Perry County. Historian Bell Irvin Wiley, in The Life of Johnny Reb, listed it among the favorites of Confederate fiddlers.[1]

George Inness painting of low meadows beside a river at sunset, with a dark stand of trees

George Inness, Autumn Meadows, oil on canvas, 1869. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0).

Eck Robertson recorded it for Victor in New York on July 1, 1922, paired with "Sallie Johnson."[1][2][3] Other early recordings soon followed. They include Fiddlin' John Carson (1923), Kentucky fiddler Doc Roberts for Gennett (1925 and 1927), Burnett and Rutherford for Columbia (November 1927), Dr. Humphrey Bate and His Possum Hunters for Brunswick (1928), the Kessinger Brothers (1929), and Lowe Stokes with Riley Puckett (1930).[1] Library of Congress collectors recorded Luther Strong in Hazard, Kentucky, and Jilson Setters in 1937, and John Hatcher in Mississippi in 1939. The African American fiddler Cuje Bertram said he taught the tune to Leonard Rutherford.[1] Dick Burnett told a tall tale about the tune's origin: a man named Billy fell into a sinkhole with his fiddle and passed the time playing this tune. The Traditional Tune Archive calls the story improbable.[1]

Most versions are in C major, though a D-major setting is also documented.[1] In West Virginia, an A-major version in AEae tuning was paired with "Bonaparte's Retreat" by the older players French Carpenter knew.[4] The title is easy to confuse with others. "Billy in the Low Land" is simply another name for this tune, but "Billy in the Lowlands" has been attached to several unrelated melodies.[5] Kentucky's "Old Time Billy in the Lowground," a G-major tune, has no musical connection to the C-major one. According to one fiddler's account, "Old Time" was added to its name once recordings of the C tune spread.[6] Stephen Seifert's mountain dulcimer book Join the Jam II includes the tune.[7]

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Sources

  1. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Annotation:Billy in the Lowground (1)".
  2. National Fiddler Hall of Fame: "Eck Robertson Bio".
  3. Wikipedia: "Eck Robertson".
  4. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Annotation:Billy in the Lowground (2)".
  5. The Fiddler's Companion (Andrew Kuntz): "Bill - Bins".
  6. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Annotation:Old Time Billy in the Lowground".
  7. Stephen Seifert: "Join the Jam II".