The Miller's Reel
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Miller's Reel", also known as "The Dawn", "The Dawning of the Day", "Dusty Miller",<br> "The Spirit of 1880", "The Twenty-Eighth of January", "The Twenty-Second of February" or<br> "The Miller" is an American, Irish and British reel in A Major. The parts are played AB<br> (Bayard, Silberberg), AABB (most versions) or AA'BB' (Phillips).<br> "Miller's Reel" is a fairly common and widely known fiddle tune in America, although it is<br> also heard in Scotland ("The Miller") and Ireland ("The Dawn" or "The Dawning of the Day").<br> There seems no particular antiquity to Irish versions, however, and the provenance may be<br> American. The melody is very similar to "The Spirit of 1880" and in modern times is also<br> known as "The Twenty-Eighth of January". The reel appears<br> as "The Twenty-Second of February" in George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels, volume II (1839).<br> The composition is credited to New England bandleader and tune composer Zeke Backus in<br> Coes' Album of Jigs and Reels (1876) and in Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883), published by<br> Elias Howe in Boston.<br> Little is known of Backus, who seems to have been a sometime minstrel performer and apparently<br> spent at least some time in San Francisco. "Miller's Reel" was published earlier in another of<br> Elias Howe's publications, 1000 Jigs and Reels (c. 1867) as an untitled 'reel' included in the<br> section of schottisches and it may be that Howe's source for the tune in that publication was<br> also Backus. <br> It was printed in Bayard's Dance to the Fiddle (1981)(appears as untitled reel),<br> Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983),<br> R.P. Christeson's Old Time Fiddler's Repertory, vol. 2 (1984),<br> George H. Coes' Coes Album of Jigs and Reels, something new, for professional and amateur violinists,<br> leaders of orchestras, quadrille bands, and clog, reel and jig dancers; consisting of a Grand Collection<br> of entirely New and Original Clog-Hornpipes, Reels, jigs, Scotch Reels, Irish Reels and Jigs, Waltzes,<br> Walk-Arounds, etc. (1876),<br> Cole's 1000 Fiddle Tunes (1940),<br> "Byron Berline: the Fiddle" Frets Magazine (February 1986),<br> Howe's 1000 Jigs and Reels (c. 1867)(appears as an untitled "Reel"),<br> Jarman's The Cornhuskers Book of Square Dance Tunes (1944),<br> Jarman and Hansen (Old Time Dance Tunes (1951),<br> Johnson's Kitchen Musician No. 20: A Twenty Year Anniversary Collection (2003)(appears as "The Miller"),<br> Messer's Way Down East Fiddlin' Tunes, No. 13,<br> Miller & Perron's New England Fiddler's Repertoire (1983),<br> O'Malley & Atwood's Seventy Good Old Dances (1919),<br> Phillips' Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1 (1994),<br> Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883),<br> Silberberg's Fiddle Tunes I Learned at the Tractor Tavern (2002),<br> Songer's Portland Collection (1997) and<br> Sweet's Fifer's Delight (1964/1981).<br> It was recorded by Lonnie Robertson (Mo.), 1965-66,<br> Norman Solomon on Texas Fiddle Favorites,<br> F&W String Band on F&W String Band 2,<br> Red Clay Ramblers (1974). The Campbell Family on Champion Fiddlers,<br> Alister Anderson on Traditional Tunes,<br> Byron Berline on Dad's Favorites and<br> Rodney Miller on Airplane II (1987).<br> <br>
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