Annotation:Missouri Mud (The)

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MISSOURI MUD, THE. AKA and see “Hell in the Mud,” "Stuck in the Mud." Old Time, Breakdown. USA; Missouri, Nebraska. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. “Missouri Mud” is one of ‘100 essential Missouri tunes’ listed by Missouri fiddler Charlie Walden. It was one of the first tunes that collector R.P. Christeson recorded from Nebraska fiddler Uncle Bob Walters (d. 1960), in November, 1949. According to Mark Wilson (in the liner notes to Dwight Lamb’s 2005 release) the original name for the tune was “Hell in the Mud,” and that Dwight Lamb though the name might have been altered for radio broadcast purposes. Wilson thinks Walters learned the tune from Missouri fiddler Casey Jones, who moved to Iowa later in life and came into contact with Walters.

Sources for notated versions: Bob Walters (Burt County, Nebraska) [Christeson, Phillips]; Bob Holt (1930-2004, Ava, Missouri) [Beisswenger & McCann].

Printed sources: Beisswenger & McCann (Ozarks Fiddle Music), 2008; p. 64. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, vol. 1), 1973; No. 76, p. 57. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 154.

Recorded sources: Rounder Records CDROUN0529, Dwight Lamb – “Hell Agin the Barn Door: More Fiddle and Accordion Tunes from the Great Plains” (2005. Learned from a radio broadcast of fiddler Bob Walters). Bob Holt – “The Way I Heard It” (1997).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]

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