"Muddy Roads" is an American reel in cut time and G Major ('A' part) & D Major ('B' part). The parts are played AB (Frets, Phillips, Silberberg), ABB (Johnson) or AABB (Brody, Kaufman, Spadaro). Kaufman (1977) credits Gaither Carlton (1901–1972, Deep Gap, N.C.) with popularizing the melody. Carlton was a member of the Watson family, which included famous guitarist Doc Watson, his son-in-law. The family was recorded in the early 1960's by folklorist Ralph Rinzler. According to Jeff Place (liner notes to the 1990 reissue of the Folkways recording The Watson Family), Doc's uncle, Ben Miller, used to play the song around the house when Doc was a child. It was printed in Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983), "Mike Seeger: Traditional Music", Frets Magazine, July 1987, Johnson's Kitchen Musician No. 2: Old-Timey Fiddle Tunes (1982), Phillips' Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1 (1994), Silberberg's Fiddle Tunes I Learned at the Tractor Tavern (2002) and Spadaro's 10 Cents a Dance (1980). It was recorded by The Watson Family on The Watson Family (1963. Reissued 1990), Roger Sprung on Grassy Licks, Mac Benford and the Woodshed All-Stars on Willow (1996) and Gaither Carlton with Doc Watson on Classic Old-Time Fiddle (2007).