Cluckin' Hen / Bonaparte's Retreat

Cluckin’ Hen / Bonaparte’s Retreat (D) Instrumental 3:15

Traditional, Public Domain; Bristol Mountain Roads Recordings - BMI

Tom - Banjo; Kyle Dean - Guitar; Jerry - Fiddle

A medley of great Kentucky tunes from equally great Kentucky fiddlers: J. P. Fraley (1923 - 20 II) and William Stepp (1875 - 1957.) The tunes naturally work together in part because they share the DDAD fiddle tuning. Stepp's version of Bonaparte’s Retreat was collected in 1937 by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress and transcribed by Ruth Crawford Seeger. It was shared with composer Aaron Copeland, who, in tum, used it as the basis for the Hoedown section of his ballet "Rodeo."