- Style
- Old-time
- Tradition
- African American, Appalachian
- Form
- Song
- Key
- D
- Level
- 2
- Played on
- Voice, Fiddle, and Banjo
In the public domain. Source
Music
Click any note to start from there
Chord chart
History
The song tells of a Black steel driver who raced a steam drill while cutting a railroad tunnel, won, and died with his hammer in his hand. Big Bend Tunnel in West Virginia, built for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway around 1870 to 1872, Lewis Tunnel in Virginia and Coosa Mountain Tunnel in Alabama have all been named as the place. Sociologist Guy Benton Johnson looked into the Big Bend claim in the 1920s and found the case could be argued either way.
Fiddlers and banjo players all over the upland South play it, and it is a local favorite around Galax, Virginia, and Mount Airy, North Carolina. Versions run from bluesy to modal, and fiddlers play it in several tunings.