Horses in the Canebrake

A traditional Old Time breakdown in G major, documented from William Lee “Jake” Phelps (1875–1977) of Pea Ridge, Todd County, Kentucky, recorded with Street Butler by D.K. Wilgus and Yvonne Gregory in 1965. Jeff Titon’s Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes identifies it as a local tune unrelated to the similarly-named “Cattle in the Cane”; the title refers to the practice of using naturally occurring stands of river cane as livestock enclosures. James Bryan recorded an influential version on The First of May (Rounder 0215, 1986), later also recorded with Bob Carlin on Banging and Sawing.