Hoedown


A hoedown is a type of American folk dance or square dance in duple meter, and also the musical form associated with it.

Overview

The most popular sense of the term is associated with Americans in rural or southeastern parts of the country, particularly Appalachia. It is a dance in quick movement most likely related to the jig, reel or clog dance. In contest fiddling, a hoedown is a tune in fast 2/4 time. In many contests, fiddlers are required to play a waltz, a hoedown, and a "tune of choice," which must not be a waltz or a hoedown.
In modern Western square dance, a hoedown is a piece of music used for a patter call, or the recording that contains this piece of music. In the early days of the Western square dance revival, most hoedowns were traditional fiddle tunes; since the late 1950s, recordings of simple chord progressions, with no discernible melody, have also been sold to callers under the name "hoedown." In the 1940s and early 1950s, the term "hoedown" was sometimes used to mean a call made up of parts of other calls. "Hoedown" was, and occasionally still is, also used to mean a dance jointly sponsored by several dance clubs or by a federation of clubs.