What’s going on in bill Monroe’s “mule skinner blues”? I’m having trouble with the structure of the song

It feels like a twelve bar blues but everything’s sort of played early? I can follow along well enough with the recording but am struggling playing it in time when I’m playing solo.

Anyone play it and can help me out with the song structure?

Here’s a video for reference https://youtu.be/tiRu03RgSWw

I struggle finding the downbeat at times. It reminds me of orange blossom special in a way