Pretty Polly by B. F. Shelton on banjo

From Folktunes

Pretty Polly played by B. F. Shelton on banjo on July 29th, 1927.

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From: http://www.archive.org/audio/audio-details-db.php?collection=opensource_audio&collectionid=Shelton

Recorded on July 29 1927 at Bristol, Tennessee during the famous Bristol Sessions where Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family made their first recordings. This version of "Pretty Polly" is just one of the many turns on the "murdered girlfriend" ballad. Banjo players who play these sordid little tunes tend to tune their instrument to a modal tuning. Some researchers have held the belief that "Pretty Polly" is a shortened variation of another ballad called "The Gosport Tragedy."