Old Shoes and Leggins by Uncle Eck Dunford [Anthology Revisited - Song 9]
TL;DR -- A peculiar man with an odd name sings a weird song about a strange old man with zero game. Artist is related by marriage to other artists on the Anthology. Instrumentation uncertain.
Welcome back to the ninth installment of Anthology Revisited, our song-by-song journey through Harry Smith’s 1952 collection, the Anthology of American Folk Music. This time around we’ve got a full band doing a song about a weird old dude who tried (and failed) to woo young women.
This is our first full-band number, and the first since song number 2, “Fatal Flower Garden”, to feature more than one instrumentalist. The song itself has roots in the early 1700’s in England and Scotland, but it’s a timeless tale of courtship that could have been written in almost any era or society. Here’s the story of an older man who is utterly uncool in everything he says and does, and his bizarre (and failed) efforts to pick up younger women.
Before we get all into the story, here’s Harry’s headline for the song.
MOTHER HOSPITABLE, BUT GIRLS FIND SHODDY OLDSTER’S ACTIONS PERVERSE
This is another of those understated headlines that really nails the ballad in a sentence. Harry puts the entire song in one sentence, with highly descriptive, economical phrasing. The words “shoddy oldster” alone paint a full picture.
Like “King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O” that preceded it, “Old Shoes and Leggins” is an amusing tale of courtship that is a few hundred years old. We’re going to get into the history of the song, and talk about Uncle Eck, but let’s give it a quick listen. Recorded on Halloween 1928, here’s “Old Shoes and Leggins” by Uncle Eck Dunford.
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
A man that was old come a-courting one day
And the girls wouldn't have him
He come down the lane on a walking cane
With his overshoes on and his leggins[Verse 2]
My mother she told me to give him a chair
For the girls wouldn't have him
I give him a chair and he looked mighty queer
With his overshoes on and his leggins[Verse 3]
My mother she told me to hang up his hat
For the girls wouldn't have him
I hung up his hat and he kicked at the cat
With his overshoes on and his leggins[Verse 4]
My mother she told me to give him some meat
For the girls wouldn't have him
I give him some meat, and oh how he did eat
With his overshoes on and his leggins[Verse 5]
My mother she told me to give him the hoe
For the girls wouldn't have him
I give him the hoe and he jumped Jim Crow
With his overshoes on and his leggins[Verse 6]
My mother she told me to give him the saw
For the girls wouldn't have him
I give him the saw and he played "Rye Straw"
With his overshoes on and his leggins[Verse 7]
My mother she told me to put him to bed
For the girls wouldn't have him
I put him to bed and he stood on his head
With his overshoes on and his leggins[Verse 8]
My mother she told me to send him away
For the girls wouldn't have him
I sent him away and he left Christmas Day
With his overshoes on and his leggins
The Song
“Old Shoes and Leggins” first appeared in Scotland in the early 1700s, and has borne many names over the years, such as “The Baillie of Berwick”, "An Old Man Came O'er The Lea", “An Old Man Came O’er the Sea” or "With His Grey Beard Newly Shaven."
The song tells the story is of an old man who’s come a-courting. The lyrics fundamentally consist of a younger woman mocking an old man for his dress and odd behavior. In older versions of the song, the old man is wealthy and in search of a young bride, but Dunford’s old man isn’t wealthy at all. In fact, he’s a shoddy oldster, but we’ll get into that in a moment. First, let’s see where the song came from.
The Robin (1749)
The earliest printing referenced by Smith was 1730’s Musical Miscellany Volume 111. I was unable to locate the full text of that work online. I did find the version printed in “The Robin” in 1749. An image of the page is below.
Most readers (including this author) may not entirely grasp every word of the old English, and it’s not terribly important that one do so. The main thing here is to notice that (as in “Old Shoes and Leggins”), there’s a weird old dude who’s trying to get with the woman singing the song. The woman wants none of it, and repeatedly states the lines:
Howt away, I winna hae him!
Na forfooth, I winna hae him!
“I winna hae him!” translates to “I will not have him”. “Howt” is an old term used to express contempt. (Similar to “Bah”, it’s used to preface an enthusiastically negative statement). While “Na forfooth” directly translates to “No, forsooth”, which is an archaic form of “For truth” or “indeed” that was typically used in a sarcastic or derisive manner.
These contempt-laden refrains are the ancestors of the lines “for the girls wouldn’t have him” that appear in “Old Shoes and Leggins”. Here is an image of the 1749 text which I found via the Wayback Machine.
The Baillie of Berwick (circa 1842-46)
A little under 100 years later, the following version of the song was printed in a The Local Historian’s Table-book Volume 2, published in Newcastle-upon-Tyne somewhere between 1842 and 1846. It bears the title The Bailie of Berwick or There Was an Old Man Came over the Lea, and in this version, the story begins to slowly move towards “Old Shoes and Leggins”.
The full text of this version is available, but for the sake of space, the text with minimal redundancies is below. This version’s verse structure is quite closely aligned with that of Dunford’s recording. We don’t have any information on the tune for the ballad, but it seems to me that the version below could easily be sung to the tune of “Old Shoes and Leggins”.
The Bailie of Berwick
or There Was an Old Man Came over the Lea
There was an old man came over the lea,
Heigho! But I wont have him --
Came over the lea
A-courtin to me,
Wi’ his old grey beard just newly shavenMy mother bid me go ask his name,
Ballie Greig was his name,
And from Berwick he came
My mother bid me go ask him to stay
I asked him to stay,
But I wished him away
My mother bid me go fetch him a stool,
I fetched him a stool,
And he sat like a foolMy mother bid me go fetch him a chair
I fetched him a chair,
And he did girn and stare,My mother bid me go spread him the cloth
I spread him the cloth
And he kissed me -- the Goth!
My mother bid me go fetch him some pie
I fetched him some pie
And he cut it awrye
My mother bid me go fetch him some bread
I fetched him some bread
And he waggled his head
My mother bid me go draw him some ale
I drew him some ale
And he supped like a whale
My mother bid me go get him a light
I got him a light,
But he could not walk straight
My mother bid me go shew him to bed
I shewed him to bed,
And he asked me to wed
My mother tells me he has plenty of brass
Old Nick take his brass
I will ne’er be his lass
There Was an Old Man Came Over the Lea (1857)
This final version is referenced in Smith’s liner notes from Robert Bell’s 1857 publication Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry. The scanned text is on the Internet Archive, and the lyrics are below. While the specific events of the song aren’t identical to those in Dunford’s version, it’s clear that this is the ancestor of “Old Shoes and Leggins”, both because of the general content of the verses and the verse structure (which Bell kindly truncated for easier reading).
THERE was an old man came over the Lea,
Ha-ha-ha-ha! but I won't have him.
He came over the Lea, A-courting to me,
With his grey beard newly-shaven.My mother she bid me open the door :
I opened the door,
And he fell on the floor.My mother she bid me set him a stool :
I set him a stool,
And he looked like a fool.My mother she bid me give him some beer :
I gave him some beer,
And he thought it good cheer.My mother she bid me cut him some bread :
I cut him some bread,
And I threw't at his head.My mother she bid me light him to bed :
I lit him to bed,
And wished he were dead. »My mother she bid me tell him to rise :
I told him to rise,
And he opened his eyes.My mother she bid me take him to church :
I took him to church,
And left him in the lurch;
With his grey beard newly-shaven.
The Performance
The song, as performed by Uncle Eck Dunford, is a bit different from its ancestors, but not dramatically so. It’s still a bit archaic, and some lyrics don’t make much sense. What follows is a bit of information that may help in interpreting the song, and in explaining why the old man is described as a “shoddy oldster”.
Leggins, Overshoes, “Jump Jim Crow”, and “Rye Straw”
Leggins. “Leggings” are skin-tight leg coverings most frequently worn by women, and the mental image of some old man walking down the street in a pair of leggings is way more cringe than I want to write about. Fortunately, leggins aren’t leggings. Leggins were worn below the knee, on the outside of one’s trousers to protect them from being soiled or damaged. They’re not very common now, but they were commonly used when people regularly traveled on foot down less-than-ideal roads in less-than-ideal weather conditions.
Overshoes. As the name implies, overshoes are shoes worn over one’s shoes. These days they’re called galoshes (a funny little word, no?). NOTE: I’ve listened to this song for decades, and to my ear, Dunford sings “overshoes” at the end of every single verse. I am aware of the song’s title, but I just don’t hear him singing “old shoes”. Consequently, the transcribed lyrics above say “overshoes” and not “old shoes”.
So, the song starts with an old man who lacks personal transport wearing extra layers to protect his garments from the elements. He’s walking down the lane. Nothing too weird about that, right? No. The weird part is that once he’s indoors, he doesn’t remove the overshoes or leggins. He just walks in the house, rain gear and all, never shedding the extra layers, not even in the bed. “Shoddy oldster”, anyone?
Then, it gets weirder.
It was bad enough that the guy came in, took off his hat, and kicked the cat, but a few verses later, they tried to get the guy to do a little bit of work by handing him a hoe. What does he do? He dances. The dance? “Jump Jim Crow”, a song and dance number written by minstrel performer Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice in 1828. For the song, Rice wore blackface and mimicked a Black man named Daddy Pops Jim Crow, who may or may not have been based on a real person.
“Jump Jim Crow” started as a single song. Rice continued to add verses, and it became the cornerstone of his minstrel revue. Published versions of the song from the period contained as many as 66 verses, and the longest published version of the song (assembled after Rice’s death) contains 150 verses.
Back to the old man’s weird shenanigans… Seeing as how he couldn’t use a hoe, the lady of the house handed the man a saw, hoping he might use it to transform pieces of wood into smaller pieces of wood. That didn’t happen. The old man used the saw as a musical instrument and began to sing and play. The song? “Rye Straw”, a scatological song about a dog whose lyrics I shan’t type. Shoddy oldster, indeed!
I searched for old recordings of “Rye Straw”, and found mostly instrumental performances. I found one recording by Clayton McMichen and Riley Puckett from 1929 that contains a few (very sanitized) lyrics.
After the old man delivers a raunchy saw solo, he is put to bed. Once in bed, the old man, still in his rain gear, stands on his head. Why? We will never know. All we know is that after this particular stunt, the old guy was sent away, on Christmas Day.
Who Played What?
Recorded on October 31, 1928, for Victor Records in Bristol, Tennessee, “Old Shoes and Leggins” is the first full-band performance to appear on The Anthology of American Folk Music. The performers names are all known, but the instruments that each person played are a little bit cloudy, and we’ve got three different versions of the instrumentation to sift through.
Smith’s liner notes don’t state personnel, but they indicate the presence of an autoharp. I don’t hear an autoharp, and no other source suggests that one was used in the recording. Sorry, Harry, I’m throwing the autoharp out the window and sticking with the four-piece string band. Now we just need to figure out which of our sources is accurate.
The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) states that the performers were Uncle Eck Dunford (guitar and vocals), Ernest V. Stoneman (harmonica), Hattie Stoneman (violin), and Bolen Frost (banjo).
The liner notes for the 1997 reissue of The Anthology of American Folk Music list the same personnel, but the instrumentation is listed as Dunford (violin and vocals), Ernest V. Stoneman (harmonica), Hattie Stoneman (mandolin), and Bolen Frost (banjo).
To get to the bottom of this, I used StudioOne (digital audio workstation (DAW) software) to separate the vocals from the rest of the song so we can hear just the instrumental components.
Here is “Old Shoes and Leggins” without no vocals and a few text notes from me on-screen. The entire song is there, but if you press play on the clip below, it should start things at around 2:02 into the recording. At that point, you’ll hear Stoneman’s harmonica break, then the music for the final verse. I’ve got a couple of notes on screen to point out what I’m hearing. I apologize for the lack of engaging visuals, I am but one man working on a deadline and I must stop somewhere.
So here’s what I heard…
Stoneman’s harmonica is loud and proud during the instrumental breaks.
A violin is played during the verses while Dunford sings.
Singing while playing violin is very difficult, and entirely unnecessary if there’s another violin player in the band. (Hattie Stoneman played several instruments, including violin).
If Eck simultaneously sang and played violin, I suspect it would have been damned near impossible to cleanly capture the sound of the vocal AND the violin in a 1928 recording studio.
Because of these two factors, I’m pretty sure Eck didn’t play violin.
The low notes in the rundowns sound like a guitar to me. The notes are too low and rich to have come from a banjo or a mandolin.
The banjo is in there, but it’s hard to pick out at times.
Based on all of this, it seems to me that the DAHR listing of personnel is accurate with Eck Dunford on guitar and vocals, Ernest Stoneman on harmonica, Hattie Stoneman on violin, and Bolen Frost on banjo. You can judge for yourself, but I think this is an accurate analysis. Uncle Eck Dunford also played guitar on “Angeline, the Baker”, the B-side of “Old Shoes and Leggins”.
The Performer
Alexander “Eck” Dunford was born in 1878 in Piper’s Gap, an unincorporated hamlet in Carroll County, Virginia. In 1908, he married Callie Frost, and came to know her cousins, Bolen Frost and Harriet Frost. Hattie married Ernest Stoneman in 1918, (we’ll discuss the Stonemans in a minute, then again in much greater detail on songs 64 and 65 of the Anthology).
The Dunfords lived in Piper’s Gap when the 1910 census was taken, and Aleck Dunford’s occupation was listed as photographer. The couple had moved to the Old Town area of Grayson County, Virginia by the time the 1920 census was taken, but sadly, Callie Dunford died in 1921.
Dunford, the Stonemans, and the Frosts made music together, but never performed publicly. All this changed in 1924 when Ernest Stoneman heard a recording by Henry Whitter (who was also from the area), and decided to try his hand as a professional musician. He went to New York City and made a couple of recordings for Okeh Records in September 1924, but those records were shelved. In January 1925, Stoneman returned to the studio once again, and produced “The Titanic”. It sold over two million copies.
Stoneman’s work got the attention of Ralph Peer, who led him through several recording sessions for Okeh and Victor. In 1927, when Ralph Peer went to Bristol, Tennessee for a series of recording sessions, he reached out to Stoneman for assistance. These Bristol sessions are widely known as the “Big Bang of Country Music”, as it was during these sessions that the Carter Family and Jimmy Rodgers (among other artists) made their first recordings.
On July 25, 1927, Ernest Stoneman was the first artist Peer recorded in the Bristol sessions. He played guitar and sang “Dying Girl’s Farewell” and ”Tell Mother I Will Meet Her” with additional vocal accompaniment by Kahle Brewer and Walter Mooney on July 25, 1927.
Once those two sides were complete, Stoneman played guitar, harmonica and sang baritone vocals on “The Mountaineer’s Courtship”, (song 64 on the Anthology) while Uncle Eck Dunford and Irma Frost tackled the song’s lead vocals.
Stoneman and Irma Frost recorded another side, “Midnight on the Stormy Deep”, then, Ernest Stoneman pulled out all the stops and brought his Dixie Mountaineers into the studio to record six sides, all of which featured Eck Dunford on violin. In addition to Dunford on violin and Stoneman on guitar, the lineup included Irma Frost on organ and Kahle Brewer on violin, and had Stoneman, Frost, Brewer, Walter Mooney, Tom Leonard, Hattie Stoneman, and Edna Brewer on vocals.
Here’s the group’s first recording, “Sweeping Through the Gates”.
Two days later, on July 27, 1927, Uncle Eck Dunford returned to the Bristol studio. During this session, he played guitar on two sides that would be released under his own name The Whip-poor-will's Song and Skip to Ma Lou, My Darling (the first recorded version of that well-known song).
On these tracks, Dunford played guitar and was accompanied by Hattie Stoneman on violin, Iver Edwards on ukulele, and either Iver Edwards or Ernest Stoneman on harmonica. Dunford recorded two additional vocal duets, What Will I Do, for My Money’s All Gone? (with Hattie Stoneman on violin and vocal, Iver Edwards on ukulele, and Edwards or Ernest Stoneman on harmonica) and Barney McCoy (with Ernest Stoneman on vocals and harmonica, Hattie Stoneman on violin, Iver Edwards on ukulele).
The session ended with two sides credited to the Blue Ridge Corn Shuckers. The sides “Old Time Corn Shuckin’ Parts 1 and 2”, are listed on the record label as a “rural scene”, and feature an unidentified narrator introducing several performers who play brief musical segments. Here are the performers and the pieces played, in order of appearance:
“Mississippi Sawyer” Kahle Brewer (violin)
“Home, Sweet Home” George Stoneman (banjo)
“Roving Gambler” Ernest V. Stoneman (guitar, harmonica, Jew’s harp) and Bolen Frost (banjo)
“Ragged Orphan” Uncle Eck Dunford (guitar) and Iver Edwards (harmonica)
“Ship that Never Returned” (ensemble with Dunford calling the dance)
During the Bristol sessions, something about Dunford’s style made an impression on Ralph Peer, and in October 1927, Peer had Dunford record four humorous monologues on which Ernest V. Stoneman played the banjo. These are fascinating pieces, (much more so than the “Old Time Corn Shuckin’”), and were among the first old timey comedy recordings ever made.
“The Savingest Man on Earth” (Recorded on October 22, 1927 in Atlanta Georgia for Victor records).
My First Bicycle Ride (recorded on the same day and issued on the flip side of “The Savingest Man on Earth”)
On February 22, 1928, Stoneman and Dunford returned to the Atlanta studios with the rest of the Stoneman/Frost entourage. In these sessions, Dunford played violin on 7 sides with the Blue Ridge Corn Shuckers.
This time, the Corn Shuckers did a pair of two-part tracks. “Possum Trot School Exhibition” and “A Serenade in the Mountains”, plus three additional sides “The Two Little Orphans”, “Once I Had a Fortune”, and “The Raging Sea, How it Roars”, all of which were released except for “Once I Had a Fortune”. After the Corn Shuckers recordings, Dunford recorded four more songs with Stoneman, but only one, “Sweet Summer Has Gone Away”, was released.
From October 30 through November 1, 1928, Dunford participated in his final recording sessions in Bristol, Tennessee. During these sessions, Dunford recorded two solo songs (one of which is the topic of this article), two sides with the Dixie Mountaineers, and 12 sides with the Stoneman Family, only 4 of which were ever released.
After 1928, Eck never made another commercial recording. The Stonemans left the Galax area in 1932, but Dunford remained active in the Galax, Virginia music scene. During the 1930’s Dunford started playing with Wade Ward, another Galax musician. They formed a group called the Ballard Branch Bogtrotters, which included Wade Ward on banjo, his brother Crockett Ward on fiddle, Eck Dunford on fiddle, W.P. Davis on autoharp, and Fields Ward (Wade’s son) on guitar and vocals. In 1935, at the inaugural Fiddlers’ Convention in Galax, VA, the Bogtrotters won best band, Fields Ward (of the Bogtrotters) won best guitarist, and Alex Dunford won best Folk Story.
https://www.oldfiddlersconvention.com/1935win.htm
Two years later, John Lomax “discovered” the Bogtrotters at the Galax Fiddlers’ Convention, and recorded them for the Library of Congress. These field recordings were eventually released commercially, and two songs from the recording, “Western Country” and “Who Broke the Lock?” are available on YouTube.
So, we’ve talked a lot about what Uncle Eck Dunford did, and we have plenty of evidence to show he was a talented musician, vocalist, and comedian, but what kind of person was he?
Biographical sources suggest that Dunford was a peculiar individual with a strange manner of speaking and dressing. Very little is known about Dunford’s childhood, and there is no information whatsoever about his father, and it is suggested that Dunford may have never known his father. He spoke with a peculiar drawl that may have been derived from a Scots-Irish dialect, and was also known to quote Shakespeare and Burns with seeming authority, leading many to believe he’d attained more education than his local contemporaries. Dunford reportedly wore an overcoat and overshoes throughout the year, adding pink earmuffs to the mix in winter months.
Uncle Eck never remarried after the death of his wife in 1921, and he lived alone in the same shack where he and Callie lived until his death in 1953 at the age of 78. In his later years, Eck was no longer able to make a living off of music or photography, and according to Kahle Brewer, Dunford sold pencils on the street to make ends meet.
Dunford died in June 1953 and was buried in the Old Quaker Cemetery in Piper’s Gap, Virginia. He was a well-respected musician in the area, and in August 1953 at the Galax Fiddlers’ Convention, a moment of silence was observed in Dunford’s honor.
Connections
Like almost all the songs that precede it, themes of courting and relationship issues emerge in “Old Shoes and Leggins”. Like “King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O” before it, this is a silly song, (although it doesn’t contain any nonsense syllables).
Musically, this is the first true ensemble recording to appear on the Anthology. The only prior recording to feature multiple instrumentalists was song 2, “Fatal Flower Garden”. The musical ensemble will appear more frequently from here on out, and will feature several variations of the string band.
As you can see, this song doesn’t have too many connections to the songs that precede it. But, many of the people and places that appeared in this article will show up again. So while “Old Shoes and Leggins” doesn’t seem very connected to the other songs in the collection, the connections will emerge in time.
Other Interpretations
Smith didn’t offer any discography entries for this song, all we have to go on is the songs that came after it, and there aren’t a whole lot of those out there.
Peggy and Mike Seeger - “Old Shoes and Leggings” - Here’s one version from Peggy and Mike Seeger from 1967. It’s not wildly different from Dunford’s recording.
Lankum - The Old Man from Over the Sea - When I discussed the variants of the song, I mentioned that the song went by the name “There Was An Old Man Came Over the Lea”, and that a nautical variation existed as “There Was An Old Man Came Over the Sea”. Here’s a version of the latter variant as performed by Irish band Lankum in 2014. There are some obvious differences between this and Uncle Eck Dunford’s rendition, but there are a plenty of similarities to examine.
Clifton Hicks - “Boots and Leggings” - yet another variation on the song, which is worth checking out if for no other reason than the banjo he's playing.
Tom Paley - “Old Shoes and Leggings “ - Lastly, here’s the late, great Tom Paley (once of the New Lost City Ramblers) performing ”Old Shoes and Leggins” live in 2016. There are a few variations in the lyrics to listen for.
Conclusion
We’re a mere 9 songs into the journey, but the size and scope of the Anthology is starting to emerge. Here, we have an artist and a recording location with connections to multiple artists who’ll appear later in the Anthology. We have our first true ensemble performance. We have the first string band performance. We have our first performer from the Galax, Virginia area.
A lot of groundwork has been laid, and as we move forward, the picture will become even clearer. We’re exploring an intricate interweaving of threads that connect songs, performers, and performances, and the journey is only just beginning. We’ve got all sorts of interesting characters (in song and reality) ahead.
Next up, we hit the double digits with song 10. It’s (another) tale of courtship called “Willie Moore”. It’s performed by Dick Burnett and Leonard Rutherford, a couple of fellas whose names really should be more commonly known.
As always, I end with a reminder that I didn’t do any of this alone. All these words came out of my fingers, but the knowledge didn’t spill exclusively from my brain. I’m simply building upon work that others have done. If you’d like to know more about “Old Shoes and Leggins” or Uncle Eck Dunford, the sources I used when composing this article are below.
Sources
Song 158
The robin. A collection of six hundred and eighty of the most celebrated English and Scotch songs none of which are contain'd in the other collections of the same size call'd The linnet and Thrush with a glossary explaining the Scotch words. 1749 - p. 90
https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_the-robin-a-collection-_1749/page/n91/mode/2up
“The Baillie of Berwick”
The local historian’s table book, of remarkable occurences [sic], historical facts, traditions,
legendary and descriptive ballads - Volume 2
Richardson, Moses Aaron
Published Newcastle-upon-Tyne circa 1842-46
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4103579&seq=341&q1=Baillie+of+Berwick
Ancient poems, ballads and songs of the peasantry of England, taken down from oral recitation and transcribed from private manuscripts, rare broadsides and scarce publications
By Bell, Robert and Dixon, James Henry
Published in London, 1857 by J.W. Parker and son
https://archive.org/details/ancientpoemsball00bell/page/237/mode/1up
Jump Jim Crow - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_Jim_Crow
Thomas D. Rice - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_D._Rice
Jim Crow complete in 150 verses
Originally published at https://www.loc.gov/resource/amss.as106700.0/?st=text
Archived version available at
https://web.archive.org/web/20210914082803/https://www.loc.gov/resource/amss.as106700.0/?st=text Retrieved via Wayback Machine May 13, 2025
Annotation:Rye Straw (1) - The Traditional Tune Archive
https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Rye_Straw_(1)
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Victor matrix BVE-47255. Old shoes and leggin's / Uncle Eck Dunford," accessed May 13, 2025, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/800021184/BVE-47255-Old_shoes_and_leggins.
Old Songs: OLD SHOES AND LEGGINGS
https://www.lizlyle.lofgrens.org/RmOlSngs/RTOS-OldShoes.html
FindAGrave - Alexander Dunford
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69198065/alexander-dunford
FamilySearch - Alexander Dunford
http://familysearch.org/en/tree/person/about/GS9M-3M7
CountryWorks - Alexander Dunford
https://web.archive.org/web/20090207064156/https://www.countryworks.com/artist_full.asp?KEY=DUNFORD
“Old Shoes and Leggins" - Uncle Eck Dunford - Where Dead Voices Gather at 78RPM
https://theanthologyofamericanfolkmusic.blogspot.com/2009/11/old-shoes-and-leggins-uncle-eck-dunford.html
9 “Old Shoes & Leggins” by Uncle Eck Dunford | My Old Weird America
https://oldweirdamerica.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/9-old-shoes-leggins-by-uncle-eck-dunford/
Old Fiddlers’ Convention - Galax, VA - 1935 Winners
https://www.oldfiddlersconvention.com/1935win.htm