“Lost Girl” is an old-time reel, now known mainly as a Magoffin County, Kentucky, tune associated with the fiddler John Salyer. It is thought to have reached Kentucky from Virginia, where older fiddlers around Galax also played versions of it.
An uncommon tune even in its home country, “Lost Girl” was played at the Berea fiddlers’ contests as early as 1919. Usually set in G, it has the spare, archaic character of older Kentucky fiddling.
The tune has been revived by modern old-time string bands.
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