BILLY IN THE LOW GROUND
Played by: Joe Pat

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(Dr. Wolf: "Joe, what do you call that tune?"
Mr. Pat: "That's 'Billy in the Low Ground.'"
Wolf: "'Billy in the Low Ground.'"
Pat: "That's right. That's 'Billy in the Low Ground.'"
Wolf: "Where did you hear the tune, learn to play it?"
Pat: "This here . . . Robinson's show, you know, used to come through here way long time, when I was a boy, you know. He played that on a steam piano."
Wolf: "Steam piano."
Pat: "That's right. 'Billy in the Low Ground.'"
Wolf: "Whose show was that?"
Pat: "That was the old . . . Robinson show."
Wolf: "Robinson show?"
Pat: "That's right."
Wolf: "What was that, like a sort of a carnival show?"
Pat: "Yeah."
Wolf: "Your dad used to play that, too?"
Pat: "Yeah. You know . . . five reeds. Before that, I started with two reeds. Pa had . . . I used to want to blow them like him, you know?"
Wolf: "He had five, did he?"
Pat: "Yeah, Pa, you know, he . . ."

All Songs Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., unless otherwise noted

The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection
Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas
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