Notes by Alan Jabbour, from the Library of Congress: The tune appears to be an instrumental version of a song known in older Appalachian tradition (see Sharp, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, vol. 2, 6, #75-A, "If You Want to Go A-Courting") and recorded on early hillbilly records. Though Henry Reed gave the tune no title, the Hollow Rock String Band recorded it as "West Virginia Gals" (Rounder 0024), the title which is adopted here. The song typically repeats the final phrase, making a five-phrase tune. The high strain of the fiddle tune corresponds to the song, though it eliminates the repeated fourth phrase, and the low strain is a kind of arpeggiated filler.