In gCGce. I've been obsessed with this tune played on the banjo, since playing with my friend Barbara last summer. I have played the tune on the fiddle, for years, but not on the banjo. Influenced by the recording of the Mississippi Possum Hunters https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/last-shot-got-him
A multitrack recording using a Tascam multitrack recorder, a very slow, lazy and very simplified version of Larry Unger's tune "Elkins." Enoch 12" Tradesman (stuffed with a small towel at neck joint) playing lead in Double D, Martin HD-28 guitar on rhythm, Cloud Nine Marimbula on bass (use headphones/earbuds/other good speakers to pick up the sound), H. Luger CV-300 fiddle also playing some lead. This is certainly not a note-for-note accurate banjo version of Larry Unger's excellent tune, nor as...
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 4/13/18, Snake wrote this tune during a recording session and it was was recorded and kept for posterity with this title that was reminiscent of his experience as a child of being knocked down by an angry hornet.
For the old-time Tune of the Week, March 23, 2018. Susannah Gal goes by other titles. This one comes from the duet CD of Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham, both from the Round Peak, NC region. Their B part is unique, but they play it together and so it sounds great. Fred adds slides which I attempted to include, too. They must have had lots of fun playing together!
Made this banjo duet recording with Ed Britt back in November, 2014. We still play it when we go busking in Harvard Square.
Banjo tuned aDADE.
A good ol' Oscar Wright tune that I first learned from Miles Krassen's Clawhammer Banjo book, but I have set here in the Half Shaved tuning (f#DADE).
Clyde Davenport, Kentucky fiddler and banjo player from Kentucky, still must be alive today, in his 90's because I can't find anything otherwise. There's a youtube of him playing at his birthday concert at 91 years old six years ago. I think the tune he plays like this one are enchanting and engaging.
CH take of Grub Springs in A tuning. Long.
This old-time Tune of the Week for 8/11/17 reminds us in melody of some other traditional songs, such as Gotta Travel On and even Worried Man Blues. The Monroe Brothers recorded this as their first ever recording in 1936 and Bill said that it was commonly sung in Kentucky at the time.
My Long Journey Home - G tuning
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 6/2/17, this is R.D. Lunceford's recording from his seminal CD Drop-Thumb, 21 Clawhammer Banjo Solos. He graciously gave permission to upload it here and his tab will be included in the discussion forum for TOTW.
Jake Phelps was a Kentucky fiddler who is known for the "unusual tunes" he played. This recording is multi-tracked with cello banjo accompaniment. I find Across the Plains enchanting and think of the Westward Ho pioneers beginning their journey, before the problems set in....
For the old-time Tune of the Week, Green Willis is named for a fiddler from Willis, Virginia. It's also called The Raw Recruit. When it's played in slow jig time, it's called Chapel Hill March. Go back far enough to Scotland and it was called Da New Rigged Ship. Lots to think about here on this cheerful tune that reminds me of a new soldier marching enthusiastically.
Ric Hollander - My arrangement of Kitchen Girl. Played on the Romero with Nylgut strings. Arrangement: Copyright 2012 Ric Hollander - All Rights Reserved
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 11/26/16, this old minstrel tune comes from Thomas F. Briggs' Banjo Instructor of 1855. I'm playing on a Gold Tone cello banjo in order to play in the key of G, but tuned down five steps to put it in the key of D. It's Thanksgiving weekend and, though we didn't "kick up the devil," we had a very pleasant holiday. Hope you did, too.
First Published in 1840. Vocal, Early Banjo, Castanets, and Donkey Jawbone
Early Banjo by James Hartel, Sweeney Model Belle Breezing was born in 1860 and was a nationally known Madam in Lexington, Kentucky. Belle's first job began when she was 19 years old, in a brothel house maintained by Jenny Hill, which had the distinction of being the former residence of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. Her final and most elaborate "Gentleman's Club" was located at 153 Megowan Street. Belle also wrote poetry. This tune, named after Belle, was first recorded in 1925 by fiddler Emmett ...
1843. a very popular song in the Antebellum Minstrel shows. Played here with a copy of a banjo made by Joel Walker Sweeney circa 1840. The banjo was reconstructed by Luthier James Hartel. Percussion is played on a Donkey's Jawbone. The sound you hear is the teeth rattling when the jawbone is struck with the palm of the hand.
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 6/24/16, Josie Girl was learned by Tennessee fiddler Charlie Acuff (b. 1919) from his grandfather. A josie is said to be a lady's overcoat with a cape. Art Stamper called the tune Josie-O.
Ric Hollander - My arrangement of Cumberland Gap, played on the Rettberg and Lang with Nylgut strings. Recorded in 2013. Arrangement and performance copyright 2016 Ric Hollander - All Rights Reserved
Another rearrangement of the handful of notes I know how to play. In Double C.
Edden Hammons
From an excellent jam in Tucson. Dan Levenson on fiddle, Dave Firestine on mandolin, Jerry Weinert on bass, George Flink on banjo uke, Greg Smith and Jennifer Levenson on banjo, Pete Bowers and me on guitar.
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 11/20/15, this version comes from West Virginia fiddler French Carpenter, grandson of Solomon Carpenter who played a tune he called Camp Chase when he was a prisoner-of-war at that location in Ohio during the Civil War. It's said that by playing the tune best Sol actually won his freedom. Check out the TOTW for more info.
A tune learned from the playing of North Carolina fiddler Marcus Martin (1881 - 1974). I hear a sad and serious melody.
As played by North Carolina fiddler Marion Reece (1874 - 1941). I can hear the scolding in the A part very clearly!
