- Style
- Old-time
- Tradition
- Galax and Round Peak old-time
- Form
- Reel
- Key
- A
- Level
- 2
- Played on
- Fiddle, Mandolin, and Banjo
In the public domain. Source
Music
100bpm
Click any note to start from there
Chord chart
History
It comes from the triangle of Galax and Meadows of Dan in Virginia and Mount Airy in North Carolina, where people once went from house to house for dances through the two weeks around Christmas. Meadows of Dan fiddler Lawrence Bolt, 82 when Tom Carter and Blanton Owen interviewed him, said this was the last tune of the season, played by Wallace Spanger, and that one old man named Bozwell cried every time he heard it. Mike Yates wrote that around Galax it was only played at dances on January 6, Old Christmas.
Tommy Jarrell played it, and it is a standard at old-time jams in December.
Hoo-ray Jake and hoo-ray John, Breakin' up Christmas all night long. Way back yonder a long time ago, The old folks danced the do-si-do.