Mtngoat - Posted - 09/05/2014:  03:40:45

I’ve chosen Kentuckian John Salyer’s Stumptailed Dolly for this installment of TOTW.

Here’s the excerpt from the Traditional Tune Archive:

“DOLLY. AKA and see “Stumptown Dolly,” “Stumptailed Dolly.” Old-Time, Breakdown.  USA; Magoffin County, Ky.  G Major. Standard tuning.  AA'BB.  A regional eastern Kentucky tune.  Jeff Titon (2001) says John Salyer (1882-1952) recorded a similar version of this local tune as “Stumptailed Dolly.” John lived not far from Titon/Phillip’s source, William Hamilton Stepp (1875-1947), and the two played together frequently, sharing some of their respective repertoires. Stepp was recorded for the Library of Congress by the Lomax’s in October, 1937, and his version can be heard on AFS 568. The original title of  “Dolly” may or may not have been “Stumptailed Dog,” named so by Salyer’s father Morgan, who had a bob-tailed dog named Dolly (according to Magoffin County fiddler Glen Fannin (1901-1978), who played a version for Bruce Greene). Other Kentucky fiddlers simply knew the tune as “Dolly.”  Bath County Fiddler George Hawkins (1904-1991) also had a version of “Dolly,” according to John Harrod.  Stump Tailed Dolly has another meaning—it is the slang name for the poss stick, or paddle, and dolly tub employed when washing clothes the old-fashioned way. “

The laundry reference intrigued me a bit as my grandmother used to wash my grandpa’s coal mining cloths in large iron kettles over a wood fire.   She made lye soap in the same pots.  The stick used in the laundry operation was called a “beater”.   It was mallet shaped with a large head and long thin handle made from a single piece of hickory and was operated in an up and down motion.  It was also used to transfer hot laundry between the wash and rinse pots.

The stick used to stir and mix the soap was called a “paddle”.  It was made from the trunk of a sassafras tree with the fat basal end flattened on both sides and the bark left on the rounded upper portion for a handle.   The paddle was operated in a side to side motion.  Both of these tools were home crafted by my grandfather from wood harvested on the farm.   I don’t recall hearing the term “dolly” but other families or communities could certainly have used that name.

For those interested in such things here is a web site on the History of washing clothes.  Search through the links labeled dollies, bats, and ponches for information regarding those tools.

A Web site dedicated to Scottish music has this to say:

 “Songs once accompanied every kind of work in Scottish communities. There were songs for waulking tweed, for spinning wool, for rowing, milking, churning, bringing home the cattle and many other tasks. All these songs were designed to help pass the time and make the work involved a little less hard. With many of these songs, the work involved was very repetitive, and so these songs have a strong rhythmic pulse.”

That last sentence aptly describes Stumptailed Dolly.   Even simple renditions of the melody sound good so long as the performer properly emphasizes the cadence of the tune.   An inspired fiddler might well have composed the tune to mimic the rhythms of wash day.  The coarse part is especially effective in portraying a single-minded determination to the job at hand while the fine part serves as a fun reward for dogged perseverance. 

So was the tune named for a family pet or for a household utensil?  Old-time authority Kerry Blech says it could be both in this 2002 FIDDLE-L post wherein he offers an opinion on the derivation of the title:

“I asked Bruce Molsky where he heard about this being a term for an old-time washing implement. He told me that he learned about it from Roc Myers, whom I think is one of us Fiddle-Listers... Bruce forwarded an email to me from Roc where Roc recalls his grandmother, Kentucky bred, telling him that the 'dolly' was a paddle used in the old clothes washing process and a shorter version of that implement was known as a 'stump-tailed dolly.'  Personally, I do not find this inconsistent with Jeff Titon's relation that John Salyer had a dog with a stump-tail and added the "stump" part to the "Dolly" tune title to personalize it. Quite often some of these titlings have many facets, puns of sorts. If this washing terminology was common in Magoffin County, I'd bet that Mr. Salyer was aware of it and considered it when retitling the tune.”

The Eastern Kentucky provenance of the tune is brought into question by a memoir published in 1911 by Confederate General Basil W. Duke.  He recalls having heard a tune called Stump-tailed Dolly played by southern army fifers at Clarksville, Tennessee, in 1861.  Clarksville is in the western section of the State, 250 miles from the supposed Magoffin County, Kentucky origins of the tune.   Of course this could have been a completely different tune with a floating title, a not uncommon happenstance in old-time music, but it shows that the title at least pre-dates Salyer.  You can read it here:   Reminiscences of General Basil W. Duke. 

Additional confusion comes from Fannin’s assertion that the tune was originally called Stumptailed Dog which is the title of a tune collected from Modesto, Illinois fiddler Howard Sims (1896-1977).  J-Walk featured the Illinois tune in his 09/27/2013 TOTW presentation and concluded that “There might be some connection with a tune called "Stump Tailed Dolly" but I can't hear much of a resemblance.”  Blech concurs and states that Sims’ tune “though also in the key of G, does not appear to be related melodically” to Stumptailed Dolly.   I think most, upon hearing the tunes played together, would agree.

Click on these links for the original field recordings of fiddlers Salyer , Stepp  , Fannin , and  Hawkins .  Recent recordings by Jesse Wells and Steve Blake are also available.  The Blake selection can be used as a background play-along while learning the tune.

Here are a couple of nice string band versions: Byron, Jones, Jackson, and Pedi  and Highball Whistle .

Banjo takes on the tune include recordings by Clawhammer Tune of the Day,  Adam Hurt, and a video by Cindy Louhoo  that serves as a good tutorial for learning the tune.

I was unable to find a tab for Stumptailed Dolly but Titon gives a score in standard notation for Stepp’s version, which seems to be the basis of most modern recordings,  in his book Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes.   

Viewers are encouraged to post observations, opinions, performances and tabs contributing to this thread. 

Edited by - Mtngoat on 09/05/2014 18:11:51

BDCA - Posted - 09/05/2014:  04:25:56

Wonderful, Thank you. I have been working on this tune the past few days as I have been staying in a house with a stump tailed dog. They do have a washing machine!

Cya!

Bob

BrendanD - Posted - 09/05/2014:  12:05:20

Great write up, Mtngoat! I'm impressed with the history and stories you've dug up on this tune. Here's a version played by Mark Simos at a showcase concert at Clifftop in 2004, accompanied by Karen Celia Heil on guitar and myself on banjo. It's based on Bill Stepp's 1937 recording referenced in your post above.

Dolly

Mtngoat - Posted - 09/06/2014:  14:24:27

Bob, be sure to post your version before the week's out.

Brendan, Stepp's version at Salyer's tempo!  Good job.  

JanetB - Posted - 09/06/2014:  19:24:46

A most interesting essay, Mtngoat, especially the personal history regarding your grandparents' story.  I'd go along with the laundry utensil as the title's inspiration.  Here's my attempt after listening to William Stepp and the more modern Jesse Wells performance.  The notation in Jeff Titon's book helped, too.  My tab uses Cumberland Gap tuning, which Adam Hurt also calls SRB tuning (fDGCD, capoed 2 for the key of G).

Stumptailed Dolly (TOTW)

Stumptailed Dolly tab

LyleK - Posted - 09/07/2014:  14:51:10

quote:

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Originally posted by Mtngoat

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I was unable to find a tab for Stumptailed Dolly but Titon gives a score in standard notation for Stepp’s version, which seems to be the basis of most modern recordings,  in his book Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes.   

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Hard to find the tab version I had posted for this.  I have it listed just under "Dolly" as that is how Stacy Phillips has it in his Collection.  Anyhow, here are the links for *.tef and *.pdf as well as my tab web-site:

lylewk.home.comcast.net/~lylewk/Dolly.tef

lylewk.home.comcast.net/~lylewk/Dolly.pdf

lylewk.home.comcast.net/~lylewk/

Oh, almost forgot.  If you go to my tab web-page you'll notice that some tunes have the parenthetical notation "M100."  To see what that's about, go to: missourifiddling.com/One_Hundr...ntial.htm

Edited by - LyleK on 09/07/2014 14:58:04

Mtngoat - Posted - 09/07/2014:  16:02:47

Janet, wonderful performance as usual and thanks for the tab.

Lyle, your site is always one of the first resources I check when researching a tune.  I play this tune in standard open G tuning and I looked under both names on your gDGBD list without finding it.  Through a lack of imagination I never thought to look under any other tuning.

There must be something to this alternate tuning thing though since you and Janet both utilize it for Stump Tailed Dolly.  I'm going to give it a try and see which way I prefer.

JanetB - Posted - 09/07/2014:  17:58:07

Nice tab, Lyle, with some good ideas I can use.     Your web link shows an incredible amount of tunes organized by tunings.  Valuable resource--thanks for posting.

stevel - Posted - 09/08/2014:  12:32:43

how cool... the same day this tune gets posted as TOTW I received my song/tab book that accompanies Sarah Wood's One May Morning album.  One of the tunes is Stumptailed Dolly.

Sarah states she learned it from Jesse Wells (who plays along on fiddle on the CD) who learned it from his father.

It is played and tabbed out in standard G tuning.

I had been interested in this song for a while, and had located the Titon book notation mentioned above and tabbed it out but hadn't gotten too far with it yet.

I like Sarah's arrangement.  A sample can be found here:

cdbaby.com/cd/sarahwood3

Ron Ortegel - Posted - 09/08/2014:  17:12:05

Steve,

How did you get a tab/song book for the cd?

I ordered the cd from cdbaby, no songbook.

Thanks.

ron

stevel - Posted - 09/09/2014:  07:44:19

quote:

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Originally posted by Ron Ortegel

Steve,

How did you get a tab/song book for the cd?

I ordered the cd from cdbaby, no songbook.

 

Thanks.

 

ron

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Hi Ron- the tab book was a "reward" for helping to support her Kickstarter campaign.  However, she most certainly had to order a specific lot size from the printer, as there were several boxes visible in the picture she sent out after letting us know they had arrived.

How she plans to sell them, I really don't know.  But I plan on sending her a note telling her how much I like the book, and I can inquire about how others might attain the book.

steve

Ron Ortegel - Posted - 09/09/2014:  08:53:37

Thanks, Steve.

Let me know if you find out. I would have supported the Kickstarter if I had known about it.

Ron

sugarinthegourd - Posted - 09/09/2014:  18:06:09

There is an alternate explanation of the tune's origin at this site. 

Mtngoat - Posted - 09/09/2014:  19:03:26

John,

That's a great find!  The story certainly sounds plausible, the time frame fits with the Duke memoir, and the geographic location is within a hundred or so miles of the Salyer homestead.

Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

sarahwood3587 - Posted - 09/11/2014:  16:31:07

I love the tune!  It's pretty simple and reminds me of Lost Girl, but there's something different and special about it!  If anybody would like a copy of One May Morning or the songbook that goes along with it, I have them for sale on Etsy here:

etsy.com/listing/195933402/one...lbum-from?

I haven't made a separate listing for the songbook, but I'm selling them for the same price as the CD ($15) so if you're interested, just buy the CD and let me know in a message or in the order if it's the CD or the book you want.  As far as tablature goes, the songbook has One May Morning (Mary Lozier), The Roving Cowboy (Buell Kazee), Old Aunt Jenny With Her Nightcap On (Estill Bingham), Lonesome Scenes of Winter (Addie Graham), Rock Andy (Paul David Smith), The Lady of Carlisle (Jack Helton), Stumptailed Dolly (Bill Stepp), The Brown Girl (Lily May Ledford), Glory in the Meetinghouse (Luther Strong), and The Old German War (George Gibson) {plus lyrics and chords to those and several others}.

Sarah

sarahwood3587 - Posted - 09/11/2014:  16:32:32

Also, Jesse always says the song's about a dog.