The Catfish jig

A friend of mine learned this nice jig in a workshop with Siobhan Kennedy. I searched for it in Tunepal, TheSession and abctunesearch by name, with ABC-Code, by playing the tune and couldn’t find it. So here it is.

Thanks to TheSession, wich matched the tunetitle immediatly with a recording, i have a bit more of information. Iontach writes on the Sleevenote of there recording: The Catfish is an Old Time Tune, that we found in a Collection of tunes from Ontario and Michigan.

My friend, Bob Hubbach, attends the fiddle festival in the Ottawa Valley, he refers to it as just Pembroke (Ontario) He brought this tune back several years ago. It’s a real favorite & in many Michigan tune lists. I transcribed this version from Bob’s playing, which is never the same version twice, and I’ve added the chords we play. Sometimes we use an A7 instead of Am in the 2nd & 6th full measure of the second part which gives it a different flavor. I would have included it in the music but I’m not that well versed in ABC & haven’t figured out how to include chords in parentheses.

BTW, we call the tune, Catfish Jig.