Waynesboro: A Song History
"Waynesboro" is one of several names for a G-major breakdown in cut time. The Traditional Tune Archive lists it as "Waynesburgh," and "Waynesburg" and "Waynesborough" also occur. Towns with these names are found in several states.[1][2] Its documented home is Kentucky and West Virginia. Kentucky's Doc Roberts did the most to spread it. He learned it from his brother Liebert and traced it to Owen Walker, an African-American fiddler from whom Roberts learned many of his tunes.[1] The tune was already well known before Roberts recorded it: according to Jeff Todd Titon's research, five different fiddlers played it at the Berea, Kentucky, fiddle contests of 1919 and 1920, which made it one of the favorites there.[1] In West Virginia, it was part of the repertoire of Edden Hammons (1874–1955).[1]
Perspective Map of the City of Waynesboro, Va., American Publishing Co., 1891. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division. Public domain. The tune is not documented as named for this particular Waynesboro.
Roberts recorded the tune as "Waynesburgh" for Gennett in 1927.[1][2] Ten years later, on October 19, 1937, Alan Lomax recorded Bev Baker and Norman Combs playing it on fiddle and guitar in Hazard, Kentucky, for the Library of Congress. The original catalog card spells it "Waynesburg," and the collection's notes take the spelling as a sign that local players learned it from Roberts's record.[2] In Wolfe County, Darley Fulks played a version he called "Andrew Jackson."[1] In Wayne County, Clyde Davenport's "Ladies in the Ballroom" is a regional variant of the same tune.[3]
The Traditional Tune Archive treats the tune as an American form of the Irish reel often called "Over the Moor to Maggie." That melody first appeared in print as an untitled hornpipe in P. M. Haverty's One Hundred Irish Airs (New York, 1858). Cape Breton players sometimes call it "The Willow Tree."[1][4] In the American revival, recordings include Bartow Riley's (1965), Rodney Miller's (1985) and Mike Seeger's (1988). The tune also appears in printed collections such as The Portland Collection (1997) and Titon's Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes (2001).[1]
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