Mrs. Ross's
Reel was the title used in the composer's 1781
collection. Half a century later Marshall apparently
forgot he had already published it and in 1822 it
appeared again in another collection of his tunes where
he called an identical setting Mrs. Colonel Gordon of
Leitchieston.
In the 1970s, Cape
Breton fiddler Joe
MacLean played
this melody on a recording which was later released on
CD. Above, trying to remain true to both written and
aural sources, I have altered Marshall's original melody
by adding one of Joe's endings to the final bar of each
turn.
A transcription of
Joe's recorded setting is given in The
Cape Breton Scottish
Collection.
Note at the time of publication, I didn't recognize the
tune as a setting of the Marshall's reel so I called it
Visits with Joe MacLean. After publication John
Donald Cameron made me aware of the similarity to
Marshall's composition.
