Hello
"Indian Squaw" is tune I've been messing around with on the banjo for the past couple of weeks, though it's been a favorite tune of mine for a few years. It comes from the playing of fiddler Ed Haley. Here's the page from the Fiddler's Hall of Fame, and here is some of the information that John Hartford compiled.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find an online version of Mr Haley playing the tune, but here is one from Bobby Taylor that I think hews pretty closely to Haley's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAvaTdLeKQE
"Indian Squaw" was released on the Rounder re-issue (called "Forked Deer") of Mr Haley's material, but it's out of print (as is the second volume of material, Grey Eagle"). The liner notes are available here (you'll have to scroll down to the "DIsc 2" area for "Indian Squaw").
Here's what the Fiddler's Companion has to say about the tune:
INDIAN SQUAW [1]. AKA - "Indian Girl." Old‑Time, Breakdown. G Major. GDad. AB (Titon/Greene): ABC (Titon/Haley). Source Alva Greene’s version is a simplified version of Ed Haley’s “Indian Squaw,” and Greene may have learned it directly from him. There is some discrepancy: Titon believes Greene’s piece is a version of Haley’s “Indian Squaw” tune, while John Hartford and Mark Wilson independently write that it is more similar to Haley’s “Indian Nation.” This opinion may also be the result of listening to two different field recordings of Greene playing the tune—Wilson himself recorded Greene for Rounder 0376, while Titon’s version was notated from Chris Delaney’s 1973 field recording. It was a showcase piece for Haley (born in Hart’s Creek, W.Va, lived near Ashland, Ky.), who was the only fiddler to record the ‘C’ part, probably original with him. Sources for notated versions: Alva Greene (Sandy Hook, Elliot County, Ky., 1973) [Titon]; Ed Haley (Ashland, Boyd County, Ky., 1946) [Titon]. Titon (Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; Nos. 69A & 69B, pg. 98. Rounder 0361, Bruce Molsky - “Lost Boy” (1996). Rounder 0376, Alva Greene (et al) – “Traditional Fiddle Music of Kentucky, vol. 1: Up the Ohio and Licking Rivers” (1997). Yodel-Ay-Hee 003, “Dirk Powell and John Hermann” (1992). Reed Island Rounders – “Goin’ Home” (2002).
INDIAN SQUAW [2]. Old-Time, Breakdown. G Major. GDad tuning. AB. Some similarities to Alva Greene’s version, although Stamper’s apparently was derived from a song. Stamper whistled to the ‘B’ part of the tune, and sang to the ‘A’ part:
***
Way down yonder on the Arkansas,
Two old Indians and one old squaw,
Sitting on the banks of the Arkansas.
***
Jeff Titon (2001) finds nearly the same lyric in a song called “The Bank of the Arkansas” printed in Lomax and Lomax’s Our Singing Country (1941, pgs. 68-69), although Titon says tune that appears with that song is the same as that of Clyde Davenport’s “Cornstalk Fiddle and a Shoestring Bow.” Source for notated version: Hiram Stamper (Hindman, Knott County, Ky., 1986) [Titon]. Titon (Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 69C, pg. 99.
Here are a couple of other versions from the DLA that are mentioned above (I'm guessing that Art Stamper's version is based on his father's).
Lastly, I humbly submit my own version: