This has always been one of my favorite old-time recordings. Bate was an actual physician, and played harmonica on this recording, and, I assume, provided the vocal as well. The group was the first to perform on what became WSM Radio’s Grand Ole Opry.

The group’s original moniker was ‘Dr. Humphrey Bate and his string quartet of old-time musicians’. Their rechristening as the ‘Possum Hunters’ was part of a much larger trend of rebranding this music as hillbilly music. This rebranding has been the subject of many unreadable academic monographs, and will get no further mention here.

The tune itself is quite simple, comprised of a fiddle tune and sung verses. The fiddle tune portion is a conventional AABB form in the key of ‘C’. The sung verses follow the same harmonic pattern as the ‘A’ and ‘B’ strains, but break up the AABB form. The key, ‘C’, is relatively uncommon in traditional fiddle tunes.

My Wife Died Saturday Night (MP3)

Courtesy of the excellent site Juneberry78s.com