Shove the Pig’s Foot a Little Further Into the Fire – Fiddle Tune a Day – Day 141

It’s a great day for a new fiddle tune. With about 1 minute of learning/rehearsal time, I played Shove the Pig’s Foot a Little Further Into the Fire with Brittany Haas and Lauren Rioux.  I thoroughly enjoyed getting to jam with those lovely ladies even for such a short time. Next time, we will have to jam for longer.

This might be a new record for me playing 2 old-time fiddle tunes in a row. 🙂

By the way, Brittany and Lauren were headlining for the CROMA Oldtime Music Festival Fundraiser.

Learn to play this tune on Fiddle here

Shove that Pig’s Foot according to Fiddler’s Companion

SHOVE THAT PIG’S FOOT A LITTLE FARTHER IN THE FIRE. Old-Time, Breakdown. G Major. Standard tuning. AB (Silberberg): AABB (Phillips, Songer). A ‘pig’s foot’ is a blacksmith’s tool that somewhat resembles a crowbar or poker, used to manipulate pieces of pig iron in a forge. The tune was originally recorded by western North Carolina fiddler Martin Marcus on an LP where he played it as a duet with his son Wayne. Marcus also recorded for the Library of Congress in the 1940’s. Joel Shimberg (who says “Surely it’s a barbecue song”) learned the following verse to the (low part of the) tune from Mike Seegar:

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Shove that pig’s foot into the fire,

 Do it now, Miss Liza,

 Shove that pig’s foot into the fire,

 Do it now, Miss Liza.

***

The melody can be heard in the film Cold Mountain, albeit the producers saw fit to rename it “Ruby with Eyes that Sparkle.” Sources for notated versions: fiddler and violin maker Armin Barnett and Jere Canote (Seattle, Washington) [Phillips, Songer]; Tony Mates [Silberberg]. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 1, 1994; pg. 222. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Taven), 2002; pg. 145. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; pg. 185. Rounder CD0421, Bruce Molsky – “Big Hoedown” (1997).