Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#85 (Arkansas Traveler)
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 32 | AABB | D Major |
Arkansas Traveler / The Arkansas Traveller (also in C) [This tune is not (yet?) part of the Irish tradition, but belongs rather to American Old-Time music.]
Discography
Here are all recordings of this tune considering only the indexed recordings. I have discovered by careful listening that these sources are in fact musically the same tune, regardless of the tune titles they use, key changes, retuning, etc.
Click 
to hear the first 12 seconds.
to hear the first 12 seconds.| Year Recorded |
Track #Tune? |
[Album code] Artist. Title. Performers (instruments). |
|---|---|---|
| 1928 | 7#3 | [FBros] The Flanagan Brothers. The Tunes We Like to Play on Paddy's Day. Joe Flanagan (accordion), Louis Flanagan (guitar, banjo), Mike Flanagan (banjo, vocals, mandolin). |
| ~1990 | 6#2 | [SK 2] Seán Keane. Jig It in Style. Seán Keane (fiddle). |
Bibliography
Here are all transcriptions of this tune considering only the indexed books, listed in chronological order. I have discovered by careful comparison that these are very similar to this tune as played on the recordings listed above.
| On page 52 of [RW] Robin Williamson. The Penny Whistle Book. |
| On page 7 of [Ba] Betty M. Barlow. Fiddle Tunes for the Violinist. |
| On pages 25-26 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. |
If you are considering using the above transcriptions to help you learn this tune, I invite you to check these practical Tips for Learning Irish Traditional Music. See also: So why do you bother indexing books and abc?
Year of the oldest source for this tune, considering the recordings and transcriptions listed above (note that I concentrate on sources after 1900): 1928