For many years--even from before "modern western" square dance substantially
diverged from its traditional roots--square dance music producers have
sometimes released recordings of traditional tunes under new names. I'm not
sure of the reason. Perhaps the idea was to get callers to buy multiple
recordings of the same tune. Or perhaps the producers thought the new names
would help them claim copyrights. I dunno. Anyway, this page from Vic and
Debbie Ceder's square dance record database
https://www.ceder.net/recorddb/viewsingle.php?RecordId=9791&SqlId=249698
includes sound clips from the A and B sides of Sets In Order record 69 / 70,
identified with the titles "Dusty Roads" and "Rubber Dolly" respectively. I
suspect that these tunes may have other, more common/familiar/traditional
titles, and I'm wondering whether any of you can help me identify them.
"Dusty Roads" is the one I'm more curious about. It sure seems familiar, but I
can't place it.
I've read that "Rubber Dolly" is an alternate title for "Back Up And Push".
After listening to a few versions of "Back Up And Push" that I found on the
intertubes, I find that I can just maybe possibly imagine the version of
"Rubber Dolly" cited above as a variant of the same tune. But I'm not at all
sure someone mightn't identify a different traditional title that wouldn't
require so much of a reach.
A search for "Rubber Dolly" in the Ceder database turns up a number of other
cuts under that title that seem like closer matches to the Youtube videos I've
found of "Back Up And Push," at least in the A part. Some of those "Back Up
And Push" videos have the B part played in a very ornamented style (derived
from bluegrass and/or contest fiddling?) that makes it hard for my musical
muggle brain even to discern the underlying melody. There don't seem to be any
versions of "Dusty Roads" in the database besides the one I've cited--at least
not under that title.
If you identify traditional titles for either of these tunes, it would be
helpful if you could also supply links to recordings (e.g., mp3 files or
Youtube videos) under those titles that illustrate the resemblance to the clips
I've asked about. I say that because whatever tune(s) you mention might exist
in widely different versions, and the titles might even be associated with
other, unrelated tunes.
I also realize that some MWSD releases may be mishmashes stitched together
using fragments of multiple traditional tunes, but I have no idea whether
either "Dusty Roads" or "Rubber Dolly" is such a frankenstune.
Thanks.
--Jim
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