Apple Blossom (Kentucky)

A traditional old-time breakdown in D major, played in high bass tuning (ADae), associated with the Cumberland Plateau region of south-central Kentucky and northern Tennessee. Multiple 19th-century-born fiddlers were recorded playing it, among them John Lusk (fiddle, with Murph Gribble on banjo and Albert York on guitar, recorded 1949 and released on Altamont: Black Stringband Music from the Library of Congress, Rounder CD 0238), Isham Monday (1879–1964, recorded by D.K. Wilgus in Monroe County, Kentucky, 1959), and Jim Bowles (b. 1903, on Railroading Through the Rocky Mountains, Marimac 9060). The melody has a vocal counterpart; Bruce Greene found it sung with banjo accompaniment as “Fished in the Pond” or “Never Catched a Nibble.”