I play with what we call a Mini-Jam. There are five or six of us. We sing Cruel Willie in G for our voice ranges. I know it's traditionally in D. The cool thing about playing it in G is that the fiddle and mandolin (I'm mandolin) can play the high part on the A and E strings. I start with my second finger on the A string note D. The only time the tune in the high part uses the D string at all, is the 5th fret G.

I have made very small alterations in the lyrics so that they fit the actual tune of Cruel Willie. The sung version I heard had virtually no similarity to the regular tune -- but somehow I was able to figure out the lyric rhythms and tune from that version anyway. One really helpful word I changed to fit the beat is, changing "sad" to "saddened."

Does anyone have the chords for Cruel Willie?