I'd posted a very ordinary version of Kid Ory's "Muskrat Ramble" a week or three ago on YouTube for a bit of fun, and mentioned in passing that the tune had obviously been adapted by Country Joe McDonald for his "Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag".

Well, I got a comment yesterday which said,

Merci Will, My dad's first instruments were Guitar/Banjo in 1896 and by 13 he had his first not handmade Banjo. Peace. Babette Ory

Well, I suspected a bit of a hoax here because Kid Ory was born in 1886 and died in 1973 but, after some more investigation, it turns out that Babette Ory is indeed Kid Ory's daughter and that she sued Joe MacDonald in 2001 for plagiarising "Muskrat Ramble". She lost both case and the appeal - mainly because she'd left a too-long gap before pursuing the issue. She also lost the contents of a storage unit containing memorabilia because, through some oversight, the rent hadn't been paid and the stuff was sold to pay the back rent. An unlucky lady... Anyway, she runs a catering company in LA now.

The internet, eh? How could any of us have made that sort of connection even a few years ago? In spite of constant use of the 'net for various purposes, it never ceases to surprise...