Grateful Dead Family Discography: Pig In A Pen

Pig In A Pen

Composer: Traditional

Pig In A Pen was performed by Old & In The Way in 1973. Pig In A Pen was also played by pre-Dead groups featuring Jerry Garcia. It occurs on a tape of a Hart Valley Drifters performance from the College of San Mateo in San Mateo on November 10th 1962 and on a tape of a Black Mountain Boys show on the 7th March 1964.

The song was also played by Phil Lesh & Friends with Peter, Chris and Lorin Rowan in May 2015.

The title used on recordings varies. It often occurs as Pig In The Pen but also as Pig At Home In A Pen and I've Got A Pig At Home In A Pen. It is usually listed as a traditional song but sometimes writing credit are given as Arthur Smith or Stanley Brothers.

Jerry Garcia recordings

Old & In The Way, Old & In The Way, 1975
Breakdown, Old & In The Way, 1997
Acoustic Disc 100% Handmade Music, Vol. 4, Various Artists (Jerry Garcia/David Grisman), 1998
Grateful Dawg Soundtrack, David Grisman / Jerry Garcia / Various Artists, 2001
Sugar Hill Records: A Retrospective, Various Artists, 2006
10/8/73 The Boarding House, San Francisco, Old & In The Way, 2008
Live At The Boarding House: The Complete Shows, Old & In The Way, 2013
Folk Time, Hart Valley Drifters, 2016
Before The Dead, Jerry Garcia, 2018
Live At Sonoma State 11/4/73, Old & In The Way, 2023

Pig In A Pen was included in the
Old & In The Way Banjo Songbook

Black Mountain Boys lyrics

The lyrics used by the Black Mountain Boys in March 1964 are as follows;

Dark clouds are rising
Sure sign of rain
Get your old gray bonnet on
Sweet little Liza Jane

I got a pig, home in a pen
Corn to feed him on
All I need is a pretty little girl
To feed him when I'm gone

Make them biscuits baby
Make 'em good and brown
When we get the biscuits baby
We're Alabama bound

I got a pig, home in a pen
Corn to feed him on
All I need is a pretty little girl
To feed him when I'm gone

Going on a mountain
Sow a little cane
Raise a barrel of sorghum
For sweet little Liza Jane

I got a pig, home in a pen
Corn to feed him on
All I need is a pretty little girl
To feed him when I'm gone

I got a pig, home in a pen
Corn to feed him on
All I need is a pretty little girl
To feed him when I'm gone.

Other recordings

no info Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, 1937
no info Single (Back Up And Push - Cindy / Stay A Little Longer - Pig In The Pen), Buddy Durham, 1961
Long Journey Home, The Stanley Brothers, 1961
no info Folk Concert, Stanley Brothers, 1963
no info American Banjo, Smiley Hobbs, 1966
no info Ballads and Songs of the Blue Ridge Mountains:Persistence and Change, Various Artists (Spud Gravely and Glen Smith), 1968
no info Milk 'Em in the Evenin' Blues, McGee Brothers & Arthur Smith, 1968
no info Old Time Mountain Music, Ernest East and The Pine Ridge Boys, 1969
no info An Old Time Southern Mountain String Band, Iron Mountain String Band, 1973
no info Outback, Pine River Boys With Maybelle, 1974
no info Music From South Turkey Creek, George Pegram and Red Parham, 1976
no info Fiddlin' Arthur Smith and His Dixieliners, Vol. 2, Fiddlin' Arthur Smith and His Dixieliners, 1978
Old Time Bluegrass from Grayson and Carroll Counties, Virginia (Vol. 3), Virginia Mountain Boys, 1980
Live In Japan, Spectrum, 1981
R.D. Breakdown, Rural Delivery, 1982
no info Clawhammer Banjo, David Johnson, 1983
Bluegrass With Family And Friends, Tom Morgan, 1983
American Banjo: Three Finger and Scruggs Style, Various Artists (Smiley Hobbs, Pete Kuykendall, Mike Seeger), 1990
A Fish That's a Song, Various Artists (Smiley Hobbs), 1991
On The Radio, Stanley Brothers, 1991
no info Tennessee Jubilee, Benny Martin w/John Hartford and Lester Flatt and many more, 1993
no info 20 Bluegrass Originals, Various Artists (Stanley Brothers), 1994
Rhythm of the Mountains, Various Artists (Fiddlin' Arthur Smith), 1994
The Vanguard Years, Doc Watson, 1995
Nashville At Newport, Various Artists (Arthur Smith, Sam McGee, Kirk McGee), 1995
no info Classic Stanley, Ralph Stanley/Keith Whitley/Ricky Skaggs, 1995
no info Mountain Music Collection, Vol. 4: Farm & Home Hour, Various Artists (Fiddlin' Arthur Smith), 1995
no info Classic Mountain Music, Ralph Stanley, 1996
Clinch Mountain Country, Ralph Stanley & Friends, 1998
Live At Oasis, Rollin' In the Hay, 1998
Ancient Tones, Ricky Skaggs, 1999
Tribute To Jerry Garcia, John McEuen and Phil Salazar, 1999
Mule To Ride, Tara Nevins, 1999
no info Slightly North of Dixie, Buddy Griffin, 1999
no info The Dismembered Tennesseans, The Dismembered Tennesseans, 1999
Blind Dog Thumpin' on the Porch, The Homegrown String Band, 2000
no info Icy Roads, Hickory Project, 2000
no info The Story That the Crow Told Me, Vol. 2: Early American Rural Children's, Songs Classic, Various Artists (Fiddlin' Arthur Smith), 2000
Oxford Depot, Oxford Depot, 2002
The King Years 1961-1965, The Stanley Brothers, 2003
Live at the Charleston Music Hall, Ricky Skaggs, 2003
no info Authentic Frontier Gibberish, Fat Man Squeeze, 2004
no info Long Journey Home: The Best Of Bluegrass, Various Artists (Stanley Brothers), 2004
On the Road: March 13, 2004, Denver CO, String Cheese Incident, 2004
On The Road: March 28, 2004, Cologne, Germany, String Cheese Incident, 2004
Traditional Bluegrass, Vern Williams Band, 2004
Bruce Hornsby Live: August 2, 2002, Asheville, NC, Bruce Hornsby, 2005
Bruce Hornsby Live: October 9, 2004, Charlotte NC, Bruce Hornsby, 2005
Bruce Hornsby Live: December 6, 2004, Madison, WI, Bruce Hornsby, 2005
no info Live in Vermont, Kent Gustavson/Micah Schonberg, 2006
no info Ghost Town, The .357 String Band, 2006
Bruce Hornsby Live: February 16, 2005, Montgomery, AL, Bruce Hornsby, 2006
Bruce Hornsby Live: August 20, 2005, Asheville, NC, Bruce Hornsby, 2006
Bruce Hornsby Live: December 3, 2005, Williamsburg, VA, Bruce Hornsby, 2006
The Definitive Collection 1947-1966, The Stanley Brothers, 2007
no info The Best of the Flatt & Scruggs TV Show, Vol. 1, Flatt & Scruggs, 2007
At The Roxy, Phish, 2008
no info Yarn Sessions, Tobasco Donkeys, 2008
All Access, Vol. 1, Greensky Bluegrass, 2009
This Is Cabinet: Covers, Cabinet, 2011
November 30, 2013, Stroudsburg, PA, Railroad Earth, 2013
12/19/2014, F.M. Kirby Center, Cabinet, 2014
On The Road: July 31, 2015, Gathering of the Vibes, String Cheese Incident, 2015
12/19/15, F.M. Kirby Center, Cabinet, 2015
The Yarn Sessions, The Tobasco Donkeys, 2021
The Gasoline Brothers, David Grisman & Tony Rice, 2021