First well-known rendition by Ed Haley (1946) collected in Ashland, KY
Often confused with another old Traditional--"Blackberry Blossom." Perhaps originating with John Hartford, “Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom” was to distinguish it from the Arthur Smith tune (a related, later tune).
A story about the origin of the Garfield title comes from Jean Thomas’s book Ballad Makin’ in the Mountains of Kentucky, collected perhaps from several sources. It seems that a General Garfield named the tune during the Civil War after hearing a soldier playing it on the harmonica. He remarked to the musician that it was his favorite tune but said he couldn’t remember the title, whereupon he expectorated a stream of tobacco juice onto a white blackberry bush blossom; this was noticed and the tune named.
As improbable as that story sounds, the tradition of General Garfield’s liking for the tune was insisted on by Fiddlin’ Ed Morrison on his Library of Congress recording (an influential version); he says Garfield used to whistle the tune frequently and it was Morrison’s harmonica-playing father who as a boy picked it up from the General.
SONG INFO
Traditional (Kentucky Origin)
First well-known rendition by Ed Haley (1946) collected in Ashland, KY
Often confused with another old Traditional--"Blackberry Blossom." Perhaps originating with John Hartford, “Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom” was to distinguish it from the Arthur Smith tune (a related, later tune).
A story about the origin of the Garfield title comes from Jean Thomas’s book Ballad Makin’ in the Mountains of Kentucky, collected perhaps from several sources. It seems that a General Garfield named the tune during the Civil War after hearing a soldier playing it on the harmonica. He remarked to the musician that it was his favorite tune but said he couldn’t remember the title, whereupon he expectorated a stream of tobacco juice onto a white blackberry bush blossom; this was noticed and the tune named.
As improbable as that story sounds, the tradition of General Garfield’s liking for the tune was insisted on by Fiddlin’ Ed Morrison on his Library of Congress recording (an influential version); he says Garfield used to whistle the tune frequently and it was Morrison’s harmonica-playing father who as a boy picked it up from the General.
