Walk Along John to Kansas

Key of A or G. Two parts. 

• Played on stage [utoob] by the duet called Cut the Shuffle. (G)

• Video recording of an outdoor jam [utoob] at a festival called Stone Mountain Village in Georgia. (G)

• Dan Levinson plays two takes on solo banjo [utoob] after stating some history of the tune and the banjo. (A)

• We have a very pretty version on the CD "Who'll Rock the Cradle?" by Prarie Acre [clip at CD baby]. (A)

• Sound recording of a jam by Haymount Hilltoppers [utoob]. (A)

• Fancy fiddle solo by New Tune A Day (Katie Henderson) [utoob]. Her first part is Dan Levinson's second part. (A)

• Sung by Wolfe Bros [clip at Amazon]

• Gravy Soppers jam at Clifftop 2013 [utoob]

• Teenage Quinlan at Clifftop 2013 [utoob]. There's George on uke!

• Bruce Molsky and Alison deGroot [utoob].

The two parts are asymmetrical; the part that starts higher ends with a tag similar to the lower part. In key of A, fiddle can tune AEAE (open A cross tuning) or AEAC# (Calico tuning). In G, GDAE (standard tuning) works fine. Many people alternate high and low, one octave apart. The tune was reportedly written by the Frontier Fiddler: Kenner "K.C." Kartchner from Arizona [book at Amazon].

Not to be confused with...

John walked to places besides Kansas. The Phillips' Collection lists three tunes called Walk Along John. You can find one of them on the Stony Brook site. The Phillips' Collection says Walk Along John to Kansas is also known as Rabbit Where's Your Mammy but it lists two other songs also known as Rabbit Where's Your Mammy. Those are not to be confused with our favorite tune, Little Rabbit Where's Your Mammy.