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6.13.8 "Kaw-liga" Chords: Parallel Keys; How the Chord Progression Works
The chord map below (Figure 111) reveals that the chord progression for “Kaw-liga” begins much like the one for “Jambalaya”: just two chords, the tonic and the dominant seventh (Dm and A7 in this example). The only difference is that “Kaw-liga” is in a minor key. (Hank Williams Sr. recorded the tune in the key of E minor/E major, so to play along with the recording using the chords below, put your capo on the second fret.)
However, in the chorus, the tonic chord switches from minor to major with the same root note. The song modulates from the key of D minor to the key of D major, a parallel key modulation.
FIGURE 111: Chord Map of “Kaw-liga” (Words and Music by Hank Williams, Sr. and Fred Rose, 1952)
Parallel key modulations can sound remarkably smooth (as in the example of "Kaw-liga") because the tonic chords of two keys share two out of three notes:
D minor = D, F, A
D major = D, F♯, A
Also, both keys share the same dominant seventh chord, the natural chord to use to pivot between the two keys. In the above example, the dominant seventh chord for both keys is A7. This is the chord Hank uses to get back to the key of D minor at the end of the chorus.