Mississippi Sawyer (traditional fiddle tune)

'Mississippi Sawyer' is an old American fiddle tune with an interesting title. The Library of Congress explains: "The title refers to a frightening phenomenon during floods on the Mississippi. Great trees would be wrenched from the bank by flood waters and would be dragged underwater in the raging torrent, only to impale themselves in the bottom and rise like monsters from the deep to threaten the paths of boats struggling to navigate the flood. This was the dread Mississippi sawyer."

This 1967 recording is from the Library of Congress and was remastered by Marine Café Blog. it features American fiddler James Reed (1884–1968). (492 KiB, MP3, 1:27 minutes)

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