SNOWSHOER'S REEL [1]. Canadian, New England; Reel. F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Messer, Miller & Perron): AA'BB' (Phillips). The tune was recorded under the "Snow Shoer's Reel" title by Canadian radio and TV fiddler Don Messer (1909-1973). Lisa Ornstein finds this tune a variant of O’Neill’s “Blue Garters (The),” perhaps via Quebec fiddler Joseph Allard (1873-1947), who recorded it as “Reel de la tuque bleue” in 1930.
Additional notes Source for notated version : - Don Commo [Phillips].
Printed sources : - Corfield (Tunes from New Brunswick), 2024; p. 118. Messer (Way Down East), 1948; No. 40 (appears as the "The Snow Shoers"). Messer (Anthology of Favorite Fiddle Tunes), 1980; No. 60, p. 36. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertory), 1983; No. 152. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 226.
Recorded sources : - Falcon FP 187, "Old Native And Métis Fiddling in Manitoba, Vol. 1" (1987). Calvin Vollrath - "Tunes from My Past" (2010).