A friend shared a version of "Pretty Little Cat" that I enjoyed working out on banjo this morning (fiddle is next). It's the Foghorn Duo version [1]. That led me to a rabbit hole, of course, where I came across the one on Slippery Hill from Wilson Douglas [2] and the Traditional Tune Archive annotation connecting it to "Pretty Little Dog" and "Henry Reed's Breakdown" [3]. Oddly enough, earlier today I was watching a video with Alan Jabbour and Ken Pearlman where they play "Henry Reed's Breakdown" [4], which I had never heard either.
The tune's similarities to "Kitchen Girl" (at least that Foghorn version), "June Apple" (the Douglas version), Dwight Diller's "Muddy Roads", and so many others are pretty fascinating, but none of these really seem to match up with the Foghorn one quite right. I'm curious, are there well worn (or lesser known) stories about these distinctions? I like the one my friend shared best, in part because it's a bit different than and has a nice groove when slow. I'm interested to know where these folks got their version, or if it just came out of messing around with others.
Thanks for any help!
[1 Foghorn Duo]: youtu.be/G6FdUkSeokU
[2 Wilson Douglas]: slippery-hill.com/content/pret...ittle-cat
[3 TTA]: tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:P...ittle_Cat
[4 Jabbour's Henry Reed's Breakdown]: youtu.be/ifRZ47BItts?si=mgE5VT...0LP&t=385
Not sure where name came from... but heard lots of folks play essentially similar to that Foghorn version, also called as Pretty Little Cat, back in the 80s.
The tune is similar to others with different names; I think of as in Lonesome John family. Clinch Mountain Backstep is also similar.
Yeah, that's my sense, too. I think of a different tune with a similar shape or turn each time I play it. Two days ago I was sharing it at a friend's place when a pretty little cat came walking by. So maybe I should have asked her...
No insight into the tune family, but I'm familiar with the very similar Pretty Little Dog, which my band used to play in a medley, in between Stoney Point and Green Willis. Great tune on the banjo. The fiddle player used the bottom octave. In Lee Triplett's rendition he alternated low and high octaves and played it ABAB.
Then there is Pretty Little Shoes... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOqrS6QQTwg
Yep! This recording might be the closest I've seen to the Foghorn "Pretty Little Cat," more so than other cat recordings.
And to an uneducated Brit.... The Elephant in the room... "Old Joe Clarke"
I feel like there's an opportunity here for a game where you match the last part of one tune to the beginning of the next... Maybe "As and Bs"
Funny how so many of these tunes feel connected once start digging into them. Now I’m probably gonna hear bits of Old Joe Clark in half the tunes I play tonight.
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