I wonder if the confusion is that so many fiddle tunes are written with mostly eighth notes. If you just listen to the tune, you might think each note is a beat, but in reality its 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, and in that case (i.e. in 4/4), the 1,2,3,4 are all downbeats, but since the tune is mostly eighth notes, you would chop on the "and".
Does that make sense?
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