Spotted Pony

A traditional American reel in D major, known to older Midwestern and Western fiddlers by its earlier name, Snowshoes. Its signature phrase is a shuffled ascent up the D scale, which makes the tune recognizable from its opening bars. The Spotted Pony title originates in a labeling error: Missouri fiddler Pete McMahan’s jam-session performance, recorded at the National Old Time Fiddlers Contest in Weiser, Idaho, was issued under that name on a Voyager Recordings LP, McMahan never having announced the tune and Vivian Williams, who edited the tape, having taken the title from a remark she overheard. Nashville session fiddler Tommy Jackson recorded it as “Snow Shoes” on Dot DLP-3454, Swing Your Partner (1962). Bob Carlin recorded it as Spotted Pony on Fiddle Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo (Rounder 0132, 1980), and guitarist Dudley Hill arranged it on his Voyager album From a Northern Family (1976).Note: At least three tunes carry the Spotted Pony title (this one in D, Christeson’s B flat tune from Tony Gilmore that is otherwise “Oklahoma Redbird,” and an A major Missouri tune.