Alabama gals

musical bowsReel 427, Item 1 Collected by Hubert Charles Peterson Played by Benson Fox, For M.C.Palmer Leslie, Arkansas. December 20, 1962. The first three songs of side # 1 of the magnetic tape is played by Benson Fox on the Picking Bow. A picking bow is very similar to the bow used by archers. The player places one end of the bow (including string and bow), the mouth serving as the amplifier. He then picks on the string while altering the mouth cavity to obtain the different notes. The three songs Mr. Fox plays are: (a) Alabama Gals (b) Shootin' Creek and (3) The Roving Gambler. After using the Picking Bow, he then makes rhythm on the neck of a gourd by rubbing a stick across notches cut on the neck of the gourd. Following this, he makes rhythm with two table spoons. This is done by placing the spoons back-to- back and beating them, intact, on his knees. Rhythm is then created by using a somewhat different instrument in much the same manner as was used in playing the gourd. This instrument is the jawbone of a mule. Notches are cut along the rear portion of the bone, behind the teeth, on the top side of the bone.Funding for digitization provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council and the Happy Hollow Foundation