An Emmett Walk-Arounds

[Tim Twiss]

Another body of material you never see much of...Dan Emmett's walk-Arounds. I think most were written in New York c. 1860 when working with Bryant's Minstrels. Includes High Daddy, Old K.Y. Ky., What O' Dat, Loozyanna Low Grounds, Billy Patterson. Always with an interesting dance at the end. Anybody do these, and any speculation why they don't get played?

[Carl Anderton]

I've looked them over and played a few, such as "Greenbacks!" (1863).  A very "dramatic" piece, in my opinion, hard to do outside of the blackface theater.  Perhaps one of the earliest "who's your daddy" references in verse 2.

http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/scriptorium/sheetmusic/a/a48/a48...

[Dave Culgan]

I love that song "High Daddy" and have a mostly complete banjo / vocal arrangement from the piano score but I am having trouble getting the dance-walkaround part at the end in stroke style. Its pretty quick and would work well in my ensemble with the fiddle taking the lead there and just backing him on the banjo. Dave

[Carl Anderton]

High Daddy has a great melody but the lyrics are way over the top.

http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/levy-cgi/display.cgi?id=024.038.0...

So who is High Daddy?  Why has he chok'd on chicken pie?

[Tim Twiss]

"What O' Dat".....pretty good lay on the instrument. Lyrics are okay.

Might try this one....

[Mark Weems]

Where I come from, we still sometimes refer to whomever gives the orders (at the workplace, in the extended home, etc) as "big daddy". I would think "High Daddy" would refer to ol' Massa himself. 

Carl Anderton said:

High Daddy has a great melody but the lyrics are way over the top.

http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/levy-cgi/display.cgi?id=024.038.0...

So who is High Daddy?  Why has he chok'd on chicken pie?

[Michael Pasquerette]

We're playing a brass band (Port Royal) version of Old K.Y. Ky. now, and we're playing at Antietam on Sunday the 16th, might even be on live TV - History TV C-SPAN3 will be at the battlefield noon - 8:30pm on the 16th