Appalachian music. Shelving Rock [music transcription]. Note sheet.

Meter: 4/4
Transcribed by Alan Jabbour, from a performance by Henry Reed.
Key: C
Strains: 2 (low-high, 4-4)
Compass: 16
Title change: The title appears on the transcription as "Shelvin' Rock."
Rendition: 1-2r-1r-2r-1r-2
Phrase Structure: ABA'C QRQ'C (abcd ab'ef qrst qref)
Stylistic features: Slurs predominate in bowing.
Related Tune(s): Braes of Auchentyre
Handwritten: Recorded 3 times thru (2nd str. not repeated 3rd time). Transcription from 2nd time thru. Some notable variations:
This is a well-known and widely circulated American reel that usually goes by the title "Billy in the Low Ground" or "Billy in the Low Land"; see, for example, Bayard, Hill Country Tunes, #5; Thomas, Devil's Ditties, p. 130; Ford, Traditional Music of America, p. 65; Adam, Old Time Fiddlers' Favorite Barn Dance Tunes, #42; Morris, Old Time Violin Melodies, #37. The published and recorded versions seem to cluster in a broad swath from Pennsylvania and Virginia through Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. By the later twentieth century it had moved into the general American fiddling repertory and can be heard in contests and jam sessions from coast to coast. It is similar and perhaps related to British instrumental tunes such as the reel "Braes of Auchentyre." The title appears elsewhere in the Appalachian South and refers to the shelf rocks or sheltered outcroppings in the Appalachian mountains that local people often use as campsites and as markers for finding one's way in the forest.