Catspaw, I am sorry to say I have never visited the Museum of Appalachia. Hope to do so some day. For anyone interested, the Museum is in Norris, TN and puts on a big festival once a year with lots of traditional music. John Rice Irwin has published a book on his music collection with about five pages devoted to mouth bows. The informant who discusses the origins of the mouth bow attributes it to Indians. Since the Cherokee have lived in east Tennessee for a number of years, this would support what Catspaw said earlier.