Annotation:Pigeon on the Gate (4)

Find traditional instrumental music

Back to Pigeon on the Gate (4)


PIGEON ON THE GATE [4]. AKA - "Pigeon on the Gatepost (3)." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, West Virginia. D Major. ADae tuning (fiddle). Identified by Doc White (1889-1974) of Ivydale, Clay County, West Virginia, as a West Virginia tune featured by blind northeastern Kentucky fiddler Ed Hayley. White said of Hayley, "He was the best fiddler I ever heard draw a bow." White himself was a jack-of-all trades and sometime dentist, physician and midwife, all self-schooled; he apprenticed with local practitioners and read every medical book he could get his hands on. Surprisingly, he was allowed to practice in rural Clay County. The tune is quite crooked, or irregular in metre. White can be heard playing it on AFS 13,704 (June, 1967).

Doc White (Jack Cawthon Photo)



Source for notated version:

Printed sources:

Recorded sources:

See also listing at:
Hear Doc White's field recording at Slippery Hill [1][2]




Back to Pigeon on the Gate (4)