This week's volunteer was unable to post, so I am doing a quick emergency back-up tune. That tune is Johnny Walk Along With Your Paper Collar On, which comes to us from Texas fiddler Duck Wootan.
Duck Wootan
I haven't yet learned much about Duck Wootan, other than that he was from the central Texas town of Junction. His grandson Tim Wooten is a member of the FiddleHangout, and in 2011 he posted this in a thread about his grandfather:
Thomas Jefferson (Duck) Wootan was born in 1882 and died in 1964. Some of my earliest memories are of him playing his fiddle (which I play now). My last name is spelled differently because the US army got my father's name wrong in WWII and it was too much trouble to change it back. My father had the foresight to record a few of his tunes and later gave the recording to me.
If I discover more about Duck I will add it to this post.
The Tune
It is in the key of G. As far as I know, Duck Wootan is our only source for Johnny Walk Along With Your Paper Collar On, and it is thus it is considered a Texas tune. According to various sources (the Traditional Tune Archive, etc.), it is a alternate title for, a version of, or related to the more well known Missouri tune Walk Along John.
The tune has various floating lyrics associated with it, such as:
What you gonna do when your works all done
Johnny walk along with your paper collar on
What you gonna do when you had your fun
Johnny walk along with your paper collar on
Walk along John in the setting sun
Johnny walk along with your paper collar on
Paper Collars
In 1956, The Harvard Crimson ran an article about the last paper collar factory in the country: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1956/11/30/the-last-paper-collar-factory-in/
Audio and Video
Solo fiddle by FiddleHangout member Modon: http://www.fiddlehangout.com/myhangout/media-player/audio_player2.asp?musicid=10413&archived=true
Twin fiddle version from Howard Rains and friend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwu9qxwnIAc
The tune is available on the recent album from Tricia Spencer & Howard Rains "The Old Texas Fiddle, Volume 2: Weird Old Tunes From Texas": http://www.amazon.com/Johnny-Walk-Along-Paper-Collar/dp/B00TQTEIYK
Video of Tricia and Howard playing the tune: http://videos.carryonharry.com/video/lPa2RQCDDOs/Howard-Rains-Tricia-Spencer-Johnny-Walk-Along-With-Your-Paper-Collar-On.html
Tablature
Tab from Ken Torke: http://taterjoes.com/banjo/JohnnyWalkAlongWithYourPaperCollarOn.pdf