I do not believe that Sharp encountered people playing 6/8 time jig tunes at dances in Kentucky. He, like many others of his time, used the term “jig” simply to indicate a fast and lively tune, and as you point out, none of the Appalachian “jigs” that appear in his later English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians (published posthumously in 1932) are in 6/8 time. His instructions for patting in 6/8 time were likely a suggestion of how English dancers might accompany the “small-pipe airs of Northumberland” that he proposed substituting for the “not very good . . . far inferior” dance tunes that he encountered in Kentucky. He was not averse to tinkering with (improving?) the traditions. He likewise recommended a modification of the form of the dances. Even though he initially described the dances as “a very strenuous dance for six couples,” he suggested that they were “most effective when the number of dancers is limited to four couples.” Hence the four-couple set became the “correct” form of the dance he called the “Running Set.” (Even the name was made up.)

Phil Jamison