Little Black Dog Came Trottin' Down The Road: A Song History
"Little Black Dog Come a-Trottin' Down the Road" is a fairly simple reel in D major, marked "Quick" in the Traditional Tune Archive's transcription.[1] The archive traces it to Luther Davis (1887–1986), a fiddler from the Galax area of Grayson County, Virginia, and lists no printed sources for it.[1] The archive also notes that "Little Dog Trottin' Down the River," from Missouri fiddler Cyril Stinnett, has a similar title but is a different tune.[1]
Allen & Ginter, card from the Dogs series (N47) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes, albumen photograph, ca. 1888. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). A cigarette card shown in fun; it has no connection to the tune.
Tom Carter and Blanton Owen recorded Davis in 1973 and 1974, while surveying the traditional music of the central Blue Ridge over the course of a year.[2] At one session at Davis's home, he played with Hus Caudill (1884–1986) of Alleghany County, North Carolina, a friend from his youth whom he had not played with for decades.[2] The Field Recorders' Collective released that session in 2023, with this tune as its third track.[2][3]
Revival players have also taken it up, including Molly Tenenbaum on Instead of a Pony (2002) and the Run of the Mill String Band on Steal Aboard (2006).[1]
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