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Shortened Bread/Shortening Bread
Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; east Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama, north Georgia, Arkansas.
ARTIST: from EC Perrow 1912
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: 1800s. Collected by Perrow in 1912
OTHER NAMES: Shortened Bread; All About Preachers; Three Little *Children Laying in Bed;
RELATED TO: Hen and the Rooster; Buck Eyed Rabbit; Old Cap'n Rabbit; Sourwood Mountain Medley; In the Woodpile; Shortening Bread (Tune); Run, Johnny, Run (tune);
PRINT SOURCES Roud #4209: Randolph 255, "Shortenin' Bread" (2 texts, 1 tune)
BrownIII 461, "Short'nin' Bread" (2 texts plus 7 fragments and 1 excerpt; some of the fragments, especially "I," may be associated with some other song)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 149-153, "Short'nin Bread," "Short'nin' Bread," (no title), "Put on the Skillet" (4 texts plus some odds and ends, 3 tunes; it's possible that some of the fragments are something else)
Lomax-FSNA 267, "Shortenin' Bread" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 234-236, "Shortenin' Bread" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, p. 160, "(Shortnin' Bread)" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 497-498+, "Short'nin' Bread"
RECORDING INFO: Shortenin' Bread [Me IV-D26]
Lomax, J. A. & A. Lomax / American Ballads and Folk Songs, MacMillan, Bk (1934), p234 [1920s]
Lynn, Frank (ed.) / Songs for Swinging Housemothers, Fearon, Sof (1963/1961), p197
Best, Dick & Beth (eds.) / New Song Fest Deluxe, Hansen, Sof (1971/1948), p 40
Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p329/#255B [1941/04/25]
Lomax, Alan / Folksongs of North America, Doubleday Dolphin, Sof (1975/1960), p504/#267
Blood, Peter; and Annie Patterson (eds.) / Rise Up Singing, Sing Out, Sof (1992/1989), p112
Lorenz, Ellen J.(ed.) / Men's Get-Together Songs, Lorenz, Fol (1938), p 51/# 68
93 All-Time Song Favorites, Mills, Fol (1962), p 5
Richardson, Ethel Park / American Mountain Songs, Greenberg, Bk (1927/1955), p 81
Banjo Newsletter, BNL, Ser (1973-), 1978/01,p21
Banjo Newsletter, BNL, Ser (1973-), 1978/09,p13c
Banjo Newsletter, BNL, Ser (1973-), 1977/12,p21b
Botsford, Florence Hudson (ed.) / Universal Folk Songster, Schirmer, Sof (1937), p 75
Asher, McKinley. Library of Congress Banjo Collection, Rounder 0237, LP (1988), trk# 5
Benfield, Kenneth. Mountain Music on the Autoharp, Folkways FA 2365, LP (1965), trk# 9 [1961/04/28]
Blevins, Frank. Devil's Box, Devil's Box, Ser, 32/2, p18c(1998) [1931/07/27]
Bouterse, Curtis C.. Down the Road I'll Go, Dancing Cat EWM 1002, CD (2006), trk# 14
Bowles, Leonard. Black Banjo Songsters of North Carolina and Virginia, Smithsonian SF 40079, CD (1998), trk# 25
Breskin, Flip. Puget Sound Guitar Workshop Album, Kicking Mule KM 128, LP (1977), trk# 4
Brown, Paul. Old Five String, Heritage (Galax) 039, LP (1981), trk# 15
Bunch, Jack. Old Time Banjo Pieces, Jowaisas SC 433, Cas (1987), trk# B.06
Carter Family. Original Carter Family in Texas - Vol 1, Old Homestead OHCS 111, LP (1978), trk# 5
Clayton, Bob. Banjo Newsletter, BNL, Ser (1973-), 1981/01,p21
Clifton, Fred. Old Originals, Vol. 1, Rounder 0057, LP (1978), trk# 17 [1974/07/04]
Cousin Emmy (Cynthia May Carver). New Lost City Ramblers with Cousin Emmy, Folkways FTS 31015, LP (1968), trk# 16
Crook Brothers String Band. Nashville Early String Bands, Vol. 2, County 542, LP (1976), trk# A.01 [1928/10/05] (Jobbin Gettin' There)
Davenport, Clyde. Puncheon Camps, Appal. Center Ser. AC 002, Cas (1992), trk# 13
Du-Tels. No Knowledge of Music Required, Shimmy Disc SHM-5103, CD (2000), trk# 7
Erbsen, Wayne. Banjo Newsletter, BNL, Ser (1973-), 1980/02,p33
Fink, Cathy;, Duck Donald and Peter Paul Van Camp. I'm Gonna Tell, Likeable 02, LP (1980), trk# 7
Flat Mountain Girls. Flat Mountain Girls, Flat Mountain --, CD (2003), trk# 3
Fuzzy Mountain String Band. Fuzzy Mountain String Band, Rounder 0010/CD11571, CD/ (1995/1972), trk# 27 [1972/08]
Graham, Ora Dell. Afro-American Blues and Game Songs, Library of Congress AFS L 4, CD (1942), trk# 20 [1940]
Harriston, Lewis "Big Sweet". Black Banjo Songsters of North Carolina and Virginia, Smithsonian SF 40079, CD (1998), trk# 26
Hall, Kenny; & the Long Haul String Band. Kenny Hall and the Long Haul String band, Voyager VRLP 328-S, LP (198?), trk# 10
Hall, Kenny. Gray, Vykki M,; and Kenny Hall / Kenny Hall's Music Book, Mel Bay, Sof (1999), p 57
Hash, Albert; and the Whitetop Mountain Band. Albert Hash and the Whitetop Mountain Band, Heritage (Galax) 025, LP (1979), trk# 10
Hash, Albert; and the Whitetop Mountain Band. Cacklin Hen, Mountain 313, LP (1977), trk# B.03
Hellman, Neal. Hellman, Neal; and Sally Holden / Life Is Like a Mountain Dulcimer, TRO, sof (1974), p 2
Herren, Ruth Burton. Solomon, Jack & Olivia (eds.) / Sweet Bunch of Daisies, Colonial Press, Bk (1991), p 74 [1975ca]
Hurt, Mississippi John. Mississippi John Hurt, Vol. 3. Sacred and Secular, Heritage (England) HT320, LP (1988), trk# 8 [1963/07/23]
Hurt, Mississippi John. Mississippi John Hurt, Last Sessions, Vanguard VSD 79327, LP (1972), trk# 9 [1966/07]
Hurt, Mississippi John. D.C. Blues, Vol 2. Library of Congress Rec...,, Fuel 302 061 495 2, CD (2003), trk# 2.05 [1963/07]
Jabbour, Alan. Silberberg, Gene (ed.) / Complete Fiddle Tunes I Either Did or Did Not., Silberberg, Fol (2005), p178
Jabbour, Bradley and Thompson. Sandy's Fancy, Flying Fish FF 260, LP (1981), trk# 7a
Jackson, O. B.. Hollerin', Rounder 0071, CD (1995/1976), trk# 13a
Jarrell, Tommy. Joke on the Puppy, Heritage (Galax) 044, LP (1992), trk# 4
Jenkins, Snuffy; and Pappy Sherrill. 33 Years of Pickin' and Pluckin', Rounder 0005, LP (1971), trk# 13
Johnson, Earl; and his Clodhoppers. Red Hot Breakdown, County 543, LP (1976), trk# B.04 [1927/03/23]
Kidwell, Fiddlin' Van. Midnight Ride, Vetco LP 506, LP (1975), trk# A.06
Kimble Family. Eight Miles Apart, Heritage (Galax) 022, LP (1979), trk# 21 [1977/09/19]
Kimble Family. Pine Knots School Rowdies, Marimac 9037, Cas (1992), trk# 9
Krassen, Miles. Krassen, Miles / Appalachian Fiddle, Oak, sof (1973), p15b
Krassen, Miles. Krassen, Miles / Clawhammer Banjo, Oak, sof (1974), p60
Ledford, Lily May. Lily May Ledford, Old Blue --, CD (2005), trk# 4 [1966/06/29]
Leftwich, Brad. Old Time Herald, Old Time Herald, Ser, 2/2, p21(1989)
Mainer's Mountaineers. Border Radio, County 550, LP (1990), trk# 11 [1941]
Muller, Eric. Muller, Eric & Barbara Koehler / Frailing the 5-String Banjo, Mel Bay, Sof (1973), p20
Mullins, Ira. 2nd Annual Brandywine Mountain Music Festival, "75 Tradition..., Heritage (Galax) 012, LP (1976), trk# 16 (Shortnin')
Nashvile Jug band. Nashville Jug Band, Rounder 0221, LP (1987), trk# 6
Parsons, Pheoba & Roscoe. Traditional Music at Newport, 1964, Part 2, Vanguard VSD 79183, LP (1965), trk# B.08
Payne Brothers. Tennessee: The Folk Heritage, Vol. 2. The Mountains, Tennessee Folklore Soc. TFS-103, LP (1980), trk# 10 [1977/03/13]
Pickin' Around the Cookstove. Pickin' Around the Cookstove, Rounder 0040, LP (1975), trk# 9
Reaves White County Ramblers. Echoes of the Ozarks, Vol. 2, County 519, LP (1970), trk# B.06 [1928/03ca]
Ritchie, Jean. Shivaree!, Esoteric ES-538, LP (1955), trk# A.08
Roan Mountain Hilltoppers. Down Home, Roan Mountain, CD (2000), trk# 11 [1982/02]
Roberts, Fiddlin' Doc. Fiddlin' Doc Roberts; Complete Recorded Works..Vol. 1, 1925-1928, Document DOCD 8042, CD (1999), trk# 3 [1925/10/01] (My Baby Loves Shortening Bread)
Ross County Farmers. Farmer's Frolic, Marimac 9013, Cas (1987), trk# 11 [1986/10/11]
Rutherford, Enoch; and the Gold Hill Band. Old Cap'n Rabbit, Heritage (Galax) 080, Cas (1989), trk# 20
Sewell, Ace. Southwest Fiddlin', Voyager VRLP 319-S, LP (1977), trk# A.01
Skillet Lickers. Skillet Lickers, Vol. 2, County 526, LP (1973), trk# 2 [1926/11/03]
Slaughter, Matokie; and the Back Creek Buddies. Saro, Marimac 9028, Cas (1990), trk# 7
Sutphin, Vernon & Cleve. Close to Home, Smithsonian/Folkways SF 40097, CD (1997), trk# 5 [1957/02ca]
Trail, Arthur. Ozark Folksongs, Rounder 1108, CD (2001), trk# 19 [1941/12/12]
Walker Family. I Kind of Believe It's A Gift, Meriweather Meri 1001-2, LP (198?), trk# 4.07 [1977]
Wilbur, Marie. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p329/#255A [1919/08/02]
Wilson, Nile. Tie Hacker Hoe-down, MSOTFA 202-CS, Cas (1995), trk# 2.03
Wright, Oscar And Eugene. Oscar & Eugene Wright, Rounder 0089, LP (1978), trk# 9
Shortening Bread (Tune) [Me IV-D26a]
Rm - Irish Cobbler ; Shortenin' Bread ; Hell on the Wabash
Bryan, James. Lookout Blues, Rounder 0175, LP (1983), trk# 4
Roberts, Fiddlin' Doc. Kentucky Country; Old Time Music From Kentucky, Rounder 1037, LP (1983), trk# 15 [1931/03/05]
Roberts, Fiddlin' Doc. Fiddlin' Doc Roberts. Complete Recorded Wor..., Vol 3. 1930-1934, Document DOCD 8044, CD (1999), trk# 4 [1931/05/03]
Meade, Spottswood and Meade "Country Music Sources: A Biblio-discography of Commercially Recorded Traditional Music"
Henry Whitter (hca solo) 26 or 27 February 1924 in NYC [OK 40064]
Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers (2 vls, gtr, bjo & vcl) on 3 November 1926 Atlanta [Co 15123-D]
Dykes Magic City Trio (vln, gtr & autohp) on 10 March 1927 NYC [Br 125]
Earl Johnson & His Dixie Entertainers (vln, gtr & bjo, with vcl ref) on 23 March 1927 Atlanta [OK 45112]
Tweedy Brothers (2 vlns & pno) ca March 1928 Richmond [Gnt 6529]
Reeves White County Ramblers (vcl by Lloyd Reaves w/vln, gtr & organ) ca March 1928 Chicago [Vo 5218]
W.H. Hinton (bjo solo) 31 January 1931 San Antonio [Vi unissued]
Cherokee Ramblers (vln, gtr, bjo, hca, jug & wshbd) on 10 July 1935 NYC [De 5162]
Clayton McMichen (vln & gtr) on 1 June 1939 NYC [De 2647]
The Kessinger Brothers (vln & gtr) made a recording under the title 'Shortening Bread' in NYC on 25 June 1929 for Brunswick but it was unissued. It does not appear on the Document 3-CD coverage of their complete recorded works. Meade Spottswood &M also list a recording by the Crook Brothers String Band (2 hca, 2 gtr & bjo) under the title 'Job in Getting There' on 5 October 1928 Nashville [Vi V40020]
"Shortenin' Bread" by Fiddling Doc Roberts Trio (rec. unknown; issued March 1932) which is not on the Country Music Sources list, and "Shortening Bread" by Dykes Magic City Trio [Realaudio] can be heard online at Honkingduck. Fiddlin' Doc Roberts and Edgar Boaz recorded the tune as 'My Baby Loves Shortenin' Bread' (vln & gtr) on 1 October 1925 in Richmond [Gnt 3162]. The Fiddling Doc Roberts Trio (vln & 2 gtr) recorded the tune in NYC on 5 March 1931 [Ba 32309 inter alia]. The former (Roberts and Boaz) has been reissued on CD - Document DOCD 8042 - and the latter on DOCD 8044, vols 1 and 3 respectively of Document's 3-CD reissue of Roberts' recorded works.
African-Americans who recorded it are: Emma Jane Davis (26 July 1942), Ora Dell Graham (24 Oct. 1940), George James (14 March 1937), Billie James Levi (10 Aug. 1942), Celina Lewis (29 May 1939), Tom McKinney (10 April 1936), Piney Woods School (6-9 May 1938), Ruby Smith (11 Aug. 1942), Henry Truvillion (18 May 1939), and Bobby Leecan (5 April 1927). (Blues and Gospel Records 1890-1943, 4th ed., Oxford, 1997)
RECORDINGS Ballad index: Cherokee Ramblers, "Shortenin' Bread" (Decca 5162, 1935)
Emma Jane Davis, "Shortenin' Bread" (AFS 6644 A1, 1942)
Dykes Magic City Trio, "Shortening Bread" (Brunswick 125, 1927)
Ora Dell Graham, "Shortenin' Bread" (AFS, 1940; on LCTreas)
Earl Johnson & his Dixie Entertainers, "Shortenin' Bread" (OKeh 45112, 1927)
Bobby Leecan's Need-More Band, "Shortnin' Bread" (Victor 20853, 1927)
Reaves White County Ramblers, "Shortening Bread" (Vocalion 5218, 1928; on TimesAint05)
Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers, "Shortening Bread" (Columbia 15123-D, 1927; rec. 1926)
Conrad Thibaud, "Shortnin' Bread" (Victor 24404, 1933)
Sonny Terry [pseud., Saunders Terrell], "Shortnin' Bread" (on Terry 01)
Tweedy Brothers, "Shortenin' Bread" (Supertone 9174, 1928)
Henry Whitter, "Hop Light Ladies and Shortenin' Bread" (OKeh 40064, 1924)
Kuntz- recording info: See also related tune "Three Little *Children Layin' in Bed" (Pa.). Krassen (Masters of Old Time Fiddling), 1973; pg. 15. Reiner (Anthology of Fiddle Styles), 1979; pg. 12. County 519, Reaves White County Ramblers - "Echoes of the Ozarks, Vol. 2." County 526, "The Skillet Lickers, Vol. 2" (1973). Gennett 6529 (78 RPM), 1928, Tweedy Brothers (W.Va. brothers Henry, Charles and George playing two fiddles and a piano). Mountain 310, Tommy Jarrell - "Joke on the Puppy" (1976. Learned from his father). Old Homestead OHCSS 191, "Dykes Magic City Trio" (east Tenn.). Rounder 0035, Fuzzy Mountain String Band - "Summer Oaks and Porch" (1973. Learned from Dan Tate, Fancy Gap, Va.). Rounder 0057, Fred Clifton - "Old Originals, Vol. 1" (1978). Rounder 0089, Oscar & Eugene Wright - "Old-Time Fiddle and Guitar Music from West Virginia." Rounder 0320, Bob Carlin & John Hartford - "The Fun of Open Discussion." Voyager VRLP 328-S, "Kenny Hall and the Long Haul String Band" (learned from a Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers recording).
NOTES: Fuld reports that this tune appeared in 1915 (but was collected in 1912 by E. C. Perrow and appears in print in the April-June 1915 JAF) under the title "Shortened Bread." Words and music appear together in Talley (1922) and Scarborough (1925) but are probably older.
The song certainly dates back to the 1800s; it's refered to as an old plantation song in various books (including Lomax) without corroboration. A version appears in the 1913 book "The complete works of James Whitcomb Riley" By James Whitcomb Riley, Edmund Henry Eitel:
"Putt on de oven and putt on de lid;
Mammy's gwineter cook some shotnin bread."
Notes from Andrew Kuntz: A Major: D Major (Fuzzy Mountain String Band). Standard, ADAD (Reaves White County Ramblers) or AEAE. AABB. The melody has wide currency in the South, and appears in many traditional song collections starting with Perrow (1915). Perrow's version was collected from East Tennessee white singers, and has been called an "east Tennessee favorite" by musicologist Charles Wolfe. Mattie Cole Stanford, in her 1963 book Sourwood Tonic and Sassafras Tea, listed it as one of the tunes played at the turn of the century by fiddler George Cole of Etowah County, Alabama (Cauthen, 1990). It was one of the first tunes recorded by Kentucky fiddler Doc Roberts in the 1920's and was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, from the playing of Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's.
African-American collector Thomas Talley, in his book Negro Folk Rhymes (1922, a new edition 1991 edited by Charles Wolfe), prints a unique version of the song as "Salt Rising Bread," which goes:
***
I loves saltin', saltin' bread,
I loves saltin', saltin' bread.
Put on dat skillet, nev' mind de lead,
Caze I'se gwinter cook dat saltin' bread;
Yes, ever since my mammy's been dead,
I'se been makin' an' cookin' dat saltin' bread.
***
'Saltin' bread' seems to refer to bread made from water-ground corn meal, remarks Charles Wolfe, while the more common 'shortenin' bread' is bread mixed with bacon bits or bacon gravy, sometimes called 'cracklin' bread.'
"SHORTENED BREAD"
SONGS AND RHYMES FROM THE SOUTH BY E. C. PERROW. VII. SONGS OF THE PLANTATION.
(From East Tennessee; mountain whites; from memory; 1912.)
Run hyeur, mammy, run hyeur quick!
Shord'n bread made baby sick!
CHORUS: My! don't 'e love shord'n, shord'n, shord'n
Don't 'e love shord'n, shord'n bread!
Oh, give me sump'n, I don't kyeur what,
Tuh cyore this awful pain I got!
My! don't 'e love, etc.
Two little *chillun layin' in bed;
One turned over, en the tother one said,
"My! don't yer love," etc.
Two little *chillun layin' in bed;
They sent fer the doctor, en the doctor said,
"Feed them children on shord'n," etc.
Two little chillun black ez tar
Tried ter go ter heaven on a 'lectric car.
Two little chillun dressed in black
Tried to go to heaven on a railroad-track.
Two little chillun dressed in white
Tried to go to heaven on the tail of a kite.
Two little chillun black ez hell
Tried ter go ter heaven in a peanut-shell.
Two little chillun in a peanut-shell
Tried to go to heaven, but they went to hell.
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