Keep The Old Ark Rolling reel

This one is played very fast: about 280 beats/minute for a quarter note.

This isn’t a slide…

Using this notation with adjustments ~

X: 1
T: Keep The Old Ark Rolling ~ & other names
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
R: ~
K: Cmaj
|: G2 G>A G>FE>F | G>cc>B c2 c>d |
e>gg>e d>fe>d |[1 c>ed>c A>Bc>A |[2 c4 c4 :|
g>ec>e g>eg>e | f>ef>g a2 g>f |
e>gg>e d>fe>d | c>ed>c A>Bc>A |
G2 G>A G>FE>F | G>cc>B c2 c>d |
e>gg>e d>fe>d | c2 c>B c4 |]

https://thesession.org/tunes/651
I quite like it, but it’s a duplication , for sure.

Yes, the American breakdown version of "The Boys of Bluehill", but not a slide… Thanks Kenny. I was getting there. I was just trying to find a transcription of the breakdown. Considering it follows "The Tennessee Waltz" on the album is it any wonder…

X: 1
T: Keep the Old Ark Rolling
T: Keep the Ark Moving
T: Keep the Ark a Movin’
T: Old Ark’s a Movin’, The
T: Twin Sisters, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: breakdown
K: DMaj
|: B |\
AFDF A3 A | BABd e2 de | fedf e2 fe | dfed B2 dB |
AFDF AA-AA | BABd e2 de | fe d2- de fe | d2 dc B3 :|
|: f |\
a2 af a2 a/a/a | fe-ef a2- ad | faaf e2 fe | dfed B3 f |
affg a2 ad | feef a2 ag | faaf e/e/e fe | d2 dc d3 :|

"Fiddle Tunes I Learned at the Tractor Tavern"
Gene Silberberg , 2002; pg. 160, as "Twin Sisters"…

X: 1
T: Keep The Old Ark Rolling ~ & other names
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
R: breakdown
K: Cmaj
G2 GA GFEF | GccB c2 cd | egge dfed | c>ed>c A>Bc>A |
G2 GA GFEF | GccB c2 cd | egge dfed | c4 c4 |
G2 GA GFEF | GccB c2 cd | egge dfed | c>ed>c A>Bc>A |
G2 GA GFEF | GccB c2 cd | egge dfed | c2 CB cdef ||
gece gege | fefg a2 gf | egge dfed | cedc ABcA |
G2 GA GFEF | GccB c2 cd | egge dfed | c2 cB cdef |
gece gege | fefg a2 gf | egge dfed | cedc ABcA |
G2 GA GFEF | GccB c2 cd | egge dfed | c4 c4 |]

X: 1
T: Keep The Old Ark Rolling ~ & other names
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
R: breakdown
K: Cmaj
|: G2 GA GFEF | GccB c2 cd | egge dfed | cedc ABcA |
G2 GA GFEF | GccB c2 cd | egge dfed |[1 c4 c4 :|[2 c2 cB cdef ||
|: gece gege | fefg a2 gf | egge dfed | cedc ABcA |
G2 GA GFEF | GccB c2 cd | egge dfed |[1 c2 cB cdef :|[2 c4 c4 |]

K: DMaj
|: A2 AB AGFG | Addc d2 de | faaf egfe | dfed BcdB |
A2 AB AGFG | Addc d2 de | faaf egfe |[1 d4 d4 :|[2 d2 dc defg ||
|: afdf afaf | gfga b2 ag | faaf egfe | dfed BcdB |
A2 AB AGFG | Addc d2 de | faaf egfe |[1 d2 dc defg :|[2 d4 d4 |]

Mea culpa for seeing potential flings behind every flutter of curtain or skirt. 😉

That last version is much better than mine, indeed… sorry, I’l still a beginner :D

It seems that I’m the one responsible for putting together this version of the tune and giving it its name. In 1972 I shared a house and played in a band with Bertram Levy, who taught me the Taylor Kimble version of the tune, called Old Ark’s a Movin’. By the time I moved to Ireland in 1973 I had conflated this version with the standard version of Boys of Bluehill, which I had learned years earlier, and misremembered the title as Keep the Old Ark Rolling. I was playing the tune often at this time and apparently passed it on to Matt Cranitch, as we got together from time to time in session and onstage. I’ve read that Padraic Mac Mathuna said he got it from Matt.

Last month I attended the Celtic Roots of Southern Music conference in Atlanta, where I met with Alan Jabbour, former director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Alan is the one who made the field recording of Taylor Kimble playing Old Ark’s a Movin’, and he was also a bandmate of Bertram Levy. When I asked Alan about the tune, he confirmed that there is no evidence in America of a tune titled Keep the Old Ark Rolling.

As played by New Road on their album, "Stone Walls and Street Lights".