Level: 2/3
Tuning: Standard

In searching for footage for the Vestapol DVD "Shady Grove - Old Time Music from North Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia" I came upon the music of Kilby Snow. Kilby was a virtuoso Autoharpist. He was awarded the title of Autoharp Champion of North Carolina at the age of 5. He recorded only a single album for Folkways Records in the 1960s. But his family has now put together a box set of his playing that is very worthwhile getting.

He was known for his "drag note" playing style, a technique that relied on his left-handedness to produce slurred notes that would be impossible for a right-handed player to recreate due to the reversed relationship between thumb and finger.

One of the films I found had Kilby performing "Troubles". The combination of his voice and autoharp was beautiful. I couldn't get the sound out of my head so I decided to try and arrange it for guitar. John Miller has written: "I don't know the origin of 'Troubles', it may be Kilby's own number, but it seems to combine elements of the song Dock Boggs did as 'Sugar Baby', 'Red Rocking Chair', and 'Walking Boss'. Kilby sure was a soulful singer, and what an amazing autoharp player he was."

I play it in the key of C in Standard tuning.