'The Snouts and Ears of America'

Both a PDF file of the music and a MIDI file of that lovely old fiddle tune "The Snouts and Ears of America" on the website "Old-Time Fiddle Tunes" ... a collection of, well, fiddle tunes from old recordings and workshops, transcribed by John Lamancusa of Pennsylvania State University.

Lancusa, who teaches biology at Penn State, also has PDF files of Sam Bayard's Hill Country Tunes (1944) on his website. Index at http://www.mne.psu.edu/lamancusa/tunes/hct/index.htm ... "Snouts and Ears" is at No. 58.

This from The Fiddler's Companion by Andrew Kuntz:

SNOUTS AND EARS OF AMERICA, THE. American, Reel. USA, Pennsylvania. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. Bayard (1944) knew of only this version of the tune but noted that it was possible it was a derivative of the familiar jig "The Irish Washerwoman" recast in 4/4 time, and with the order of parts reversed. Editorializing, he thought it made a distinct improvement on the suspected original melody. Breathnach (1976) also noted the similarity. Source for notated version: Mrs. Sarah Armstrong, 1943 (Derry, Pennsylvania) [Bayard]. Bayard (Hill Country Tunes), 1944; No. 58.

March 2009. It's now on YouTube in a nice, slow fiddle version by Linda Vik.