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"Shoot that Turkey Buzzard", also known as "Turkey Buzzard" is an American reel in cut time and G Major.
The parts are played AB (Silberberg) or AABB (most versions).
"Shoot that Turkey Buzzard" has been identified as an east Tennessee tune name, however, while it may be strongly identified with that region, both tune and title can be found in other areas of the South and MidWest. Rosenbaum (1989) believes it to have been widespread in the Georgia Blue Ridge and the piece was in the repertoire of Montecello, Ky. fiddler Clyde Davenport, who learned it from his father, a Tennessee fiddler. The title appears in a list of traditional Ozarks Mountains fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. A tune by this title was in the repertoire of fiddler Munsey Gaultney, originally from Ashe County, North Carolina, remembered for his shuffle bowing and timing. John Hartford (2001) says it is “damn near the same as ‘Georgia Boys’, ‘Seneca Square Dance’ and Seneca Square Dance, Raccoon Tail’”. The latter was a tune in the repertoire of Dr. Jimmy Gray, a fiddler from Missouri who played in many of the contests back in the heyday of the great Jefferson City radio fiddle conventions. "Shoot that Turkey Buzzard" is closely related to the tunes "Davy Dugger", "Engine on a Mogull", Greasy String, Old Coon Dog, and "Higher Up the Monkey Climbs". It was printed in Brody's Fiddler’s Fakebook (1983), Stephen F. Davis's The Devil's Box vol. 25, No. 4, (Winter 1991), Kuntz's Ragged but Right (1987), Phillips' Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1 (1994), Rosenbaum's Folk Visions and Voices: Traditional Music and Song in North Georgia (1989), Silberberg's Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern (2002) and Spadaro's 10 Cents a Dance (1980). It was recorded by the Any Old Time String Band on Any Old Time String Band (1978), Ebenezer on Tell it to Me (appears as "Turkey Buzzard"), Roger Sprung on Ragtime Bluegrass 2 (1968), Doc Roberts (Ky.) (78 RPM) (1928), J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers (78 rpm) (1949), John Hartford on Hamilton Ironworks (2001) and Fiddlin Van Kidwell on Midnight Ride (1975). |