Annotation:Leake County Blues
X:1 T:Leake County Blues N:From the playing of the Leake County Revelers (Mississippi), with N:fiddler Wil Gilmer. M:C| L:1/8 R:Blues N:There's a 3rd part to the tune in Milliner-Koken D:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/leake-county-blues D:Columbia 15520-D (78 RPM), Leake County Revelers (1930. Recorded D:12/1929 in New Orleans, La.). D:Document DOCD 8030, "Leake County Revelers, vol. 2" (1998) Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:C g2-|ge-e2 +slide+[e2e2]cg-|ge-e2 +slide+[e2e2]cg-|ge-e2 +slide+[ee]d-c(_E|=E)GAc- c3E-| FGAc +slide+[ee]dcA|FGAc +slide+[ee]d2A-|c4-c[de]-[ee]f|-g_B-=B_B =BG2g-| g_B-=B_B =BG3|gage- ec d2|[E6c6]:||:b2-|c'eae bagc'-|c'eae bagc'-| c'eae bagg|egee dc3|agaf- fcd^d|e3f g2 (a/g/e)| c4-c+slide+[ee]-[ee]f-|-g_B-=B_B =BG2g-|g_B-=B_B =BG3|gage- ec d2|[E6c6]:|
LEAKE COUNTY BLUES. American, Blues Tune. USA, Mississippi. C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Leake County is in center of the state of Mississippi. "Leake County Blues" is an eleven-bar blues (most standard blues tunes are in twelve or sixteen bar form) tune recorded in December, 1929, by the popular Sebastopol, Mississippi, string band the Leake County Revelers, who recorded an "extensive collection of breakdowns waltzes, two-steps, blues, rags and sentimental songs--a repertory which reflects a wide variety of 'outside' influences" (Tom Carter). A shift to the second or third position on the violin will facilitate this tune.
The Revelers' recording, one of forty-four they made, proved popular and the tune was disseminated beyond regional boundaries. Glen Lyn, Giles County, Virginia, fiddler Henry Reed (1884-1968) played the tune for Alan Jabbour in 1966, calling it "Lake County Blues."
