Ladies On A Steamboat: A Song History
"Ladies on the Steamboat" (also "Lady on a Steamboat") is an American reel in G major. Banjo player Dick Burnett and fiddler Leonard Rutherford, a Kentucky duo, cut it for Columbia in Atlanta on November 3, 1927.[1][2] Columbia issued it on 15209-D in February 1928.[1][2] On the disc Rutherford's fiddle and Burnett's banjo play together, with Burnett adding spoken asides and vocal effects.[1] Burnett came from Monticello in Wayne County, Kentucky.[2] Through the pair's touring and their record, the tune became a standard among old-time players in Wayne County, and the Traditional Tune Archive notes that banjo players there commonly knock on the instrument's head as a tribute to Burnett's exuberant rendition.[2]
Marion Post Wolcott, photograph of an excursion steamer that carried passengers on summer “moonlite” rides with a dance orchestra, tied up at Lake Providence, Louisiana, June 1940. Library of Congress. No known restrictions.
The tune was not confined to Kentucky. Collectors notated versions from Bob Walters of Burt County, Nebraska, who had it from his father, and from Lonnie Robertson of Springfield, Missouri.[2] The Traditional Tune Archive links it with "Steamboat around the Bend," Walters's "Ladies Round the Bend" and "Poor Black Sheep."[2] It appears on Rounder's 1970 album Ramblin' Reckless Hobo, and later recordings came from Clyde Davenport and Bob Carlin.[2] It is also included in Stephen Seifert's mountain dulcimer book Join the Jam II.[3]
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