Hey, Webb. A few weeks back at your Moonlight on the Mountain gig in Birmingham, I mentioned that I'd heard a Muddy Waters song with a lyric very similar to your mother's saying about "a whistling girl and a crowing hen ..." Turns out, it's "Jealous Hearted Man," (Track 4 on Muddy's album HARD AGAIN). His lyric is something like: "Down in the country I had only two friends, a whistling woman and a crowing hen." The saying is actually pretty old, at least according to various folklore websites. Just thought I'd share the proper citation on the Muddy Waters tune.

Man, that really does bear it out. Thanks. Muddy, my mother and me are all from Mississippi. My daddy, too for that matter. Both sides for generations back but, Muddy was from the Delta. Don't know that any of my folks were. Musta been somethin' folks said back in the day.