Anthology of American Folk Music
Volume 1: Ballads, Track 9

OLD SHOES AND LEGGINS
Uncle Eck Dunford

Recorded Bristol, TN: October 31, 1927
Uncle Eck Dunford- vocal and fiddle, The Stoneman Family- mandolin, harmonica, and banjo.
Originally released on Victor 40060B

(alternate titles: Auld Carle; Auld Man He Courted Me)


Uncle Eck Dunford was an associate and frequent collaborator of Ernest "Pop" Stoneman (track 64). Galax, Virginia, where Dunford is from, is an area still known for the many fine old time musicians who hail from it and is also home to one of the most famous fiddler's conventions in the United States. A member of the legandary Galax string band the Bogtrotters, Dunford was well known among the musicians around Galax as a source of songs and off-beat instrumental tunings. A colorful character, he reportedly wore an overcoat and boots even during the summer (with the occasional addition of pink earmuffs and a hat decorated with ornaments in colder weather). Even thought he had no formal education, he could expound on topics such as the writings of Robert Burns or Shakespeare (Richard Nevins, from the liner notes to Biograph 6003).


FOR ADDITIONAL RECORDINGS BY DUNFORD: 
See the collections, The Bristol Sessions (CMH 011c); Rural String Bands of Virginia (CTY 3502c); Round the Heart of Old Galax, Vols. 1 and 2 (CTY 533/4a); Songs of Love, Courtship and Marriage (LC LBC 2a), Songs of Migration and Immigration  (LC LBC 6a); Virginia Traditions: Ballads from British Tradition (BRI 002a); and with the Bogtrotters, The Bogtrotters (BIO 6003a)

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON DUNFORD:
See Old Time Music 2 (Autumn 1971); Journal of American Folklore Vol. 28, pg. 158, and Richard Nevins' notes to Biograph 6003.

OTHER RECORDED VERSIONS INCLUDE:
Folksong revival: as Old Shoes and Leggins: Mike and Peggy Seeger (ARG 80a); as Old Gum Boots and Leggins: Betty Garland (FW 2307c).