Annotation:Footprints in the Snow
Tune properties and standard notation
FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW. Bluegrass, Song. "Footprints in the Snow" was popularized by mandolin player Bill Monroe and band; it has been a bluegrass standard for years. Christopher C. King, in his notes to "Old-Time Music in West Virginia, vol. 2" (County CD 3519), reports that the first recording of "Footprints in the Snow" was under the title "Little Foot Prints," by the West Virginia Ramblers in June, 1931 (the Ramblers were guitarist Roy Harvey, fiddler Jess Johnson, fiddler Bernice Coleman, and banjo player and singer Ernest Branch). Cliff Carlisle covered the song in 1939, and finally Bill Monroe recorded it with the altered title "Footprints in the Snow." The tune is similar, especially in the beginning, to "Little Stream of Whiskey."
Source for notated version:
Printed sources:
Recorded sources: Columbia CS 1065, Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys - "16 All-Time Greatest Hits" (197?). Folkways FA 2355, Clint Howard & Fred Price - "Old-Time Music at Clarence Ashley's" (1961). Old Homestead OHCS 141, Bernice Coleman & the West Virginia Ramblers - "West Virginia Hills: Early Recordings from West Virginia" (1982. Reissue). Old Homestead OHCS 314, "Bradley Kincaid, Vol. 1" (1984. Reissue). Vanguard 107/8, Doc Watson, Clint Howard & Fred Price - "Old Timey Concert" (1987).