DESCRIPTION:
Go to 15:40 if you want to hear the uninterrupted tune first.

I uploaded a video several years ago with me playing it... here I teach it. Going lick-by-lick, line-by-line through this wonderful banjo tune. Tab snippets are provided at the bottom of the screen as you go. Full tab is available on my website.

"Fireball Mail" (written by Floyd Jenkins) – Recorded by Roy Acuff, Wanda Jackson, and a host of others. Earl Scruggs made it into a popular banjo instrumental on the Foggy Mountain Banjo album in 1959. One reviewer on Amazon said of that album (and I agree): "Despite a painfully short running time of 25 minutes, this 1961 landmark remains one of the most important and influential banjo albums ever made. Released at the height of the folk boom, these 12 instrumentals inspired countless college kids to pick up a five-string banjo and try to emulate the great Earl Scruggs's spectacular three-finger attack. Paul Warren's fiddle and Josh Graves's Dobro keep pace with the master, who creates a template for bluegrass banjo. Although there are more definitive and comprehensive Flatt & Scruggs collections available, Foggy Mountain Banjo will always be a perennial favorite thanks to its original timely release and, of course, the timeless music within." --Marc Greilsamer

I'm sure there are many banjo players (myself, until recently) who are unfamiliar with the lyrics:

Here she comes, look at her roll
There she goes, eatin' that coal
Watch her fly, huggin' the rail,
Let her by, by, by, the Fireball Mail

Let her go, look at her steam,
Hear her blow, whistle and scream
Like a hound wagging its tail,
Dallas bound, bound, bound, the Fireball Mail

Engineer, making up time,
Tracks are clear, look at her climb
See that freight, clearing the rail,
Betcha she's late, late, late, the Fireball Mail

Watch her swerve, look at her sway,
Get that curve out of the way
Watch her fly, look at her sail,
Let her by, by, by, the Fireball Mail

(Repeat 1st verse)

This is a transcription of the original recording.