Lyr. Add: Molly Put the Kettle On

(Played on the banjo by Calvin Cole at his home near Hillsville, Carroll County, VA.) Far in the Mountains : Volumes 1 & 2 of Mike Yates' 1979-83 Appalachian Collection;

This locally well-known piece is named after the nursery rhyme Molly/Polly Put the Kettle On and Appalachian players often sing this verse to the tune:

Molly put the kettle on,
Jenny blow the dinner horn.
Molly put the kettle on
We'll all take tea.

Although on the album Close to Home (Smithsonian Folkways SF CD 40097) Wade Ward of Independence, VA, sings/says the following words at the end of his performance:

Head like a coffee pot,
Nose like a spout.
Handle on the other side,
To pour the coffee out.

The Skillet-Lickers recorded a boisterous version in 1931 (reissued on both County CD-3509 and Document DOCD-8060) that deserves to be heard.

Mike Yeats: Calvin and Viola Cole lived in a mobile home across from Howard Hall's home. They were an extremely friendly couple, only too willing to let me listen to their music. During my first visits I recorded Calvin's banjo-playing. But had to wait until the following summer before I could persuade Viola to let me record some of the ballads that she had learnt from her mother. Calvin, a small, wiry man, was one of the people who taught me to play clawhammer-banjo. Like Dan Tate, who only lived a mile or so from Calvin & Viola's home, he was also recorded for the Library of Congress by Professor Fletcher Collins.

Richie