Hickory Jack: A Song History

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"Hickory Jack" is an old-time Kentucky fiddle tune, documented in field recordings Alan and Elizabeth Lomax made for the Library of Congress in October 1937.[1] They recorded it from Boyd Asher at McKinley Asher's store in Hyden, Leslie County, on October 15, and from Luther Strong at Hazard in Perry County a few days later.[2][1] Jeff Todd Titon printed Strong's version as No. 60 in Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes (2001), placing the tune's origin in the coal fields of southeastern Kentucky and linking it closely to a central Appalachian tune called "The Route."[3] The Traditional Tune Archive classes it as a reel in A, played in standard or AEae fiddle tuning, and lists no alternate titles.[3] Don Pedi includes it, in EAD tuning, in Bound To Have A Little Fun!, a collection of tunes he transcribed for mountain dulcimer.[4]

Etching of villagers outside an inn under a large tree, listening to a fiddler and a boy with a hurdy-gurdy

Adriaen van Ostade, The fiddler and the hurdy-gurdy boy, etching, c. 1654–56. A Dutch village fiddler, shown for the tune's fiddle tradition.

Our book that contains the song "Hickory Jack"

Sources

  1. Alan Lomax Kentucky Recordings (Berea College, University of Kentucky, Library of Congress American Folklife Center, Association for Cultural Equity): "Hickory Jack" (Luther Strong).
  2. Alan Lomax Kentucky Recordings (Berea College, University of Kentucky, Library of Congress American Folklife Center, Association for Cultural Equity): "Hickory Jack" (Boyd Asher).
  3. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Hickory Jack".
  4. Don Pedi: "Bound To Have A Little Fun!".
  5. Image: Adriaen van Ostade, The fiddler and the hurdy-gurdy boy, etching, c. 1654–56. The Cleveland Museum of Art.

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