Mountain Dog and Barry Finn - Thank you. I put the question to my storytellers' listserve and also went out to some Northern Exposure sites and now have a little more info. It was called "snake dance" in NX's 25th episode of the 4th season. All the other songs for that episode were written for the show, but not that one. The NX source said the song was not original and that the story was a traditional one, but didn't mention who (if anyone) might have recorded it. Storytellers remember it being around in the 60's and being associated with Rosalie Sorrels (present day) and maybe Johnny Rivers and/or Utah Phillips. Now you've given me more to go on. There's hope!