In America of the early 1800s, nonsense songs were frequently written about larger than life characters. This tune, written by Dan Emmett and published in 1843 by Charles Keith Company of Boston, Mass. is a great example. The song was popularized by Emmett’s band, the “Virginia Minstrels,” and is one of the most frequently found tunes in minstrel playbills from 1843 to 1847.

Emmett was born in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, then America’s frontier, in 1815. He evidently inherited his musical abilities from his mother, teaching himself to play violin, fife and drum at an early age. On the Fourth of July, in his fifteenth year, he performed his first composition, “Old Dan Tucker”, on the Mt. Vernon village green. Legend has it that he named ‘Old Dan’ after his dog, “Tucker.”

Twenty eight years after its first publication, “Old Dan Tucker” was still in print from seven different publishers. Today this song’s popularity continues and it has become a standard of country and bluegrass music.