Annotation:Indian Eat the Woodpecker

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INDIAN EAT THE WOODPECKER. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Mississippi. C Major/Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'AA'BB. While this melody has not been printed, the coarse part is similar to Arizona fiddler Kenneth Kartchner's "Tom Wagner" (though removed from most modern Eck Robertson influenced "Texas Wagoner" versions ), and the fine part recalls "Billy in the Lowground (1)". Gus Meade (2002) links a tune by this title to the "Dubuque" family of tunes. "Injun Et a Woodchuck (1)" is a similar title. Ed Hayley's similaly titled tune "Indian Ate the Woodchuck (2) is a different melody.

Source for notated version: Stephen B. Tucker (b. 1859, Meridian, Mississippi) [Milliner & Koken]. Tucker was recorded in 1939 by Herbert Halpert, a WPS folklorist who recorded some 24 tunes by the elderly fiddler. Tucker learned many of his tunes from his older brothers, Civil War veterans (one of whom was a well-respected fiddler), when he was eight or nine years of age. Other tunes he learned from older fiddlers soon after the war.

Printed sources: Milliner & Koken (Milliner-Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes), 2011; p. 318.

Recorded sources: Mississippi Department of Archives and History AH-002, Stephen B. Tucker - "Great Big Yam Potatoes: Anglo-American Fiddle Music from Mississippi" (1985).

See also listing at:
Hear Stephen B. Tucker's field recording at Slippery Hill [1]

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