"Jinny in the Lowlands" is an American reel from western Pennsylvania. It is played in the uncommon key of C Lydian mode. It is usually written in C major with accidental F#'s, but since all the F's are sharps except for three harmonizing F naturals, I have written it in the Lydian key. The parts are played AB.
Bayard notes in Hill Country Tunes:
"This is the air known elsewhere in western Pennsylvania and in southern regions as 'Billy in the Lowground' (or 'Billy in the Low Lands')."
Bayard collected it in 1943 from Emery Martin who began the B part with a measure of 6/4 which Bayard considered to be a corruption of some original.
He notes:
"Such irregularities are fairly frequent in versions played by western Pennsylvania folk musicians".
A regional distinction was made between the 'Billy' and 'Jinny' tunes and they were considered separate, although the similarity in title and the melodic material of the first several bars made for some confusion. Bayard does not conclude the tunes are cognate, and considers that the resemblance may or may not be fortuitous.
The source for this notated version is Irvin Yaugher (Fayette County, Pa., 1946; learned from his great-uncle Uriah). Both versions were collected by Samuel Bayard.
It was printed in Bayard's Hill Country Tunes (1944) and Dance to the Fiddle (1981).