“Little Pine Siskin” is an original composition by John Reischman, Canadian bluegrass mandolinist and founder of John Reischman and the Jaybirds (Vancouver, BC). Reischman named the tune for a pine siskin — a small, streaky finch related to the goldfinch — that frequented the feeder at his home. The title fits a long tradition of Appalachian and bluegrass instrumental naming after small wildlife, and the tune’s compact, melodic character suits the gesture: it moves with the quick, purposeful energy of its namesake and settles into memorable phrases that stick after a single hearing.
The piece was released on Walk Along John (2013), Reischman’s first solo instrumental album in thirteen years, with former Lonesome River Band guitarist Kenny Smith among the collaborators. Despite being a recent original composition, it spread quickly through bluegrass and old-time jam circles, where it has been described as having an “old-timey feel” that disguises its 21st-century authorship. Reischman has featured it in instructional content on Peghead Nation and performed it at IBMA, both of which accelerated its reach beyond the Canadian bluegrass community where it first circulated.
The D-major setting and the tune’s accessible two-part structure make it comfortable for pickers of varied experience, and it has become one of the cleaner examples of how a contemporary original composition can enter the jam-session vocabulary that traditionally belonged only to older pieces.
