Old Dan Tucker is a song/tune from early tune from the American minstrel show repertoire. It may be an actual African-American melody. It appears in a number of banjo instruntion tutors from the mid-19th century (including Brigg's Banjo Instructor - 1855) and has remained well-known into the 21st century This is the first tune of a set of "Serenaders' Quadrilles" minstrel-era American tunes arranged for use in a set of quadrilles (square dances). The word "Serenaders" formed part of the name of a number of famous American blackface minstrel troupes including The Ethiopian Serenaders, Buckleys Serenaders, and the Virginia Serenaders. Groups like these often toured in Ontario and spawned local imitators in larger cities and rural areas alike.