"Muddy Creek" is an American reel in cut time and G Major. The parts are played one part, AAB (Titon) or AABB' (Phillips). When two parts are played, the parts are very similar. This repetitive melody is sometimes played slower than a standard breakdown tempo, but source John Salyer and his sons keep it at a moderately danceable speed. The banjo tablature is by John Letscher who learned it from the Foghorn String Band. It was printed in Phillips' Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 2 (1995), Titon's Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes (2001) and Lamancusa's The Gettysburg Collection of Old-Time Fiddle Tunes (2021). It was recorded John Salyer on John M. Salyer: Home Recordings 1940-41, vol. 2 (1993), Scott Nygaard on Dreamer's Waltz (1996) and Foghorn String Band on Boombox Squaredance (2007).