During the 2022 Will McLean Festival, five-year-old Emeline made her first major stage appearance singing the Will McLean song, “Cryin’ Bird.” It’s a song about Florida’s Limpkin, a bird that has disappeared from many areas of the state because of the loss of the apple snails that they depend on. Emeline has loved this song since she was an infant. She is joined on the Magnolia Stage by her Aunt Jessie Armstrong and a family friend Andy .

A favorite Will McLean song is “Cryin’ Bird” about the Florida Limpkin….a bird that has disappeared from many areas of the state because of the loss of the apple snails that they depend on. In this rendition of the song are Emeline Floyd, Jessie Armstrong and Lee Townsend who are helping to keep alive the music of the Father of Florida Folk, Will McLean.

Here are the lyrics to Will McLean’s Cryin’ Bird:

Cryin’ bird, your sad cry

in the night, is a cry of a lost child in fright

Cryin’ bird, are the apple snails gone

from the Wakulla River, from your home

You are sad, soon you’ll fly

far away, from the river you love

where you stay

Cryin’ Bird, as you go

fill the swamp,

with your sweet Limpkin song, Cryin’ Bird

Will McLean wrote hundreds of songs, poems and stories about Florida including, Hold Back the Waters, Seminole, Osceola, The Ballad of the Green Turtle (Conch Island), Tate’s Hell, and many others. Learn more about the Black Hat Troubadour at willmclean.com