Fox on the Run

9/11/26

“Fox on the Run – Now!”

Most traditional bluegrass songs are made up of major triad chords. Yes, you can throw in a seventh chord sometimes but even that’s optional. You might want to argue, saying “What about Foggy Mountain Breakdown?” Yes, there are exceptions, but if you listen carefully to the first recording of that one, there’s nary a minor.

Conversely, most rock songs are loaded with minor chords. I don’t think there’ll be much argument there. So, when folks who grew up listening to rock music discover bluegrass, some of them miss those minor chords and want to add them to songs that were written before the originators of bluegrass knew any better. Those chord junkies are addicted to minor chords and can’t break the habit. Sadly, they have a minor chord dependency problem. My friend Nick and I were wondering who first added the minor chord to “Sittin’ on Top of the World.” If you know, please tell. Sorry about all that, I had better get to the point.

“Fox on the Run,” originally a rock song, is the perfect song for bluegrass devotees, no matter how they came to love the music. The choruses have a couple of minor chords, and the verses are strictly major. Its bluegrass debut in 1970 by Emerson & Waldron featured Cliff Waldron’s lead vocal, shaped by his mountain upbringing, and the tight harmonies that delighted old-school bluegrass fans. The unconventional chord progression and the lyrical content, devoid of mountains, mothers, and murders, pleased the newcomers. The instrumental pizzazz provided by Bill Emerson and Mike Auldridge made adherents of both camps happy. The Country Gentlemen covered the song and arrangement in ’71, bringing it to a much wider audience. The ‘Fox’ is now a bluegrass anthem.

Everywhere bluegrass music is played, there are multiple requests for the ‘Fox.’ And I do mean everywhere. Even at revivals, funerals, weddings, you name it, they want “Fox on the Run.” Folks who have never even heard the song or any bluegrass music somehow know that when they see a banjo, they’re supposed to holler “Fox on the Run.” So, you can likely see why a lot of us have grown tired of playing it. But sometimes we must play what the audience craves if we want to work at a venue more than once.

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The Friendly Inn in West Friendship, Maryland, was one of the joints all the bands around DC and Baltimore played. It was owned and operated by German immigrant Gisela Woelper. Small but tough, Gisela could oust a rowdy drunk with a smile and a joke that was so inoffensive that he was back again the next night. Her business was selling beer. She wouldn’t kick anyone out unless he was so unruly that her other customers started leaving. So, there were often patrons present who were not quite beyond Gisela’s tolerance threshold but very close to it.

On one occasion, an inebriated music lover approached the corner where we were playing, got right in my face, and hollered “Fox on the Run” at the top of his voice. I told him we were in the wrong key, at present, but that I’d sing it for him in a few minutes. Even louder, he said, “I want fox on the [expletive deleted] run, and I want it right [same expletive deleted] now!” I said, “You know what?” The Drunk: “What?” Me: “I’m not gonna play ‘Fox on the Run.’ How do you like that?” I may have inserted the expletive, but I don’t remember. The man gave me the finger, stormed out of the Friendly Inn, got in his truck, and peeled out, spraying gravel from the parking lot on the other cars. The other patrons and my bandmates were suddenly silent and staring at me. Gisela was not pleased. Banjo player Mark Delaney read the situation and kicked off “Fox on the Run.” Genius! We got a standing ovation before the first chorus began. The band survived to play at the Friendly Inn another day.

Tom Mindte

September 2026

The Friendly Inn

Patuxent Partners at the Friendly Inn – Jack Leiderman, Tom Mindte, Victoria McMullen, Bryan Deere, Mark Delaney

Gisela at work

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