In this tutorial I explain how traditional banjo players tune the banjo to match their natural singing voice. By following these simple instructions, many who presently believe that they "can't sing" will discover that they CAN sing.
2021-02-19 16:31:00 +0000 UTC View Post
f♯DF♯AD - I learned "Old Reuben" (aka Reuben's Train, Train 45, 500 Miles, 800 Miles, or just Reuben) from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky.
Old Reuben had a train ran from Hell to Betsy Layne
And I'd like to have been a driver on that line
The longest train I ever saw ran down that Brown Cove Line
The fastest train I ever saw carried away that woman of mine
Me and my woman had a little falling out she bundle...
2021-02-12 16:30:59 +0000 UTC View Post
(f♯DF♯AD) "Old Reuben," "Reuben's Train," "Train 45," "500 Miles," etc. I first saw it played by George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky, who called it simple "Reuben." My version borrows heavily from Gibson and a 1950s tape recording of William "Banjo Bill" Cornett.
Old Reuben old Reuben
Old Reuben you must have drunk,
You must have been drunk when you pawned off your trunk
Just to get your woman out of jail
Me and ...
2021-02-05 12:48:30 +0000 UTC View Post
In 1913 Lyon & Healy introduced the "Improved George Washburn" banjo featuring their new and improved tone ring. This tone ring was likely intended as a cheaper knock-off of Fairbanks' "Electric" design. The instrument in this video is a 525 model, serial # 8160.
Several knowledgeable collectors have told me that these banjos were actually made by Rettberg & Lange in New York, who then shipped them to Lyon & Healy in Chicago for distribution.
This ex...
2021-01-29 16:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post
The Truth About Banjo History: https://youtu.be/KK7So0x3t4Q
The Truth About "Racist" Folk Songs: https://youtu.be/oIIeu3ii6jM
The Truth About Old-Time Music: https://youtu.be/at8UhyeAQJU
The Truth About Hillbilly Stereotypes: 2021-01-25 20:30:23 +0000 UTC View Post
This tutorial demonstrates two traditional approaches (in two traditional tunings) to the early banjo song, "Love Somebody," which is mostly known today as "Soldier's Joy." I learned it originally in gCGCD from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. Recently, however, I came up with a new two-finger arrangement in gCGCE.
According to Gibson, "Love Somebody" was once the preferred title of this tune, especially among black musicians in southeastern Kentucky.
2021-01-22 16:30:01 +0000 UTC
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gCGCE relative (fB♭FB♭D actual). I learned "Soldier's Joy" from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. George told me that this is a very old piece of music, and that among black banjo players and fiddlers it was commonly known as "Love Somebody."
Love somebody, yes I do (x3)
Love somebody but I won't say who
Love somebody, yes I do (x3)
Between sixteen and thirty-two
Love somebody, yes I do (x3)
Love somebody with eyes of...
2021-01-15 16:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post
f#DGAD relative (eCFGC actual). I arranged this version of "Death and the Lady" after hearing a recording of Norma Waterson & Martin Carthy. In this lesson, I demonstrate how the song is played on the banjo using traditional two-finger (thumb lead) and overhand (clawhammer) styles.
gCGCD relative (fB♭FB♭C actual). I learned this song from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. George learned it from his father, Mal Gibson, who played it for him one time, laid the banjo down, and declared, "Son, that was Clay Collins' favorite song."
Hand me down my old suitcase
And all of my dirty clothes,
Policeman comes around here tonight
Tell him I'm sleeping out of doors!
If you see my brother
Take him a letter from me,
Tel...
2021-01-01 16:30:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Late 1890s S.S. Stewart "Special Thoroughbred" banjo with 10-5/8" pot.
2020-12-24 15:16:58 +0000 UTC
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f#DGAD. I learned "Death and the Lady" (Roud 1031) from a recording of Norma Waterson & Martin Carthy. It's earliest entry in The Roud Folk Song Index is 1778.
As I walked out one winter day
I met a man along the way
His head was bald his beard was grey
His clothing made of the cold red clay (x2)
I said old man what happened to you
What country did you belong unto
My name is Death I've come fo...
2020-12-21 05:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
gCGCD relative (fB♭FB♭C actual). I learned "Last Gold Dollar" (Mole In the Ground) from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. Gibson learned it from Orgus "Grandpa" Hudson, a prolific banjo songster born in 1911.
Hudson was known as Gran or Grandpa from a very early age, and it's not known how he acquired the nickname. George once tried to mail a banjo to him via the local post office, but even they had no knowledge of an Orgus Hudson in the area--they only knew him as "Gra...
2020-12-18 17:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
This 1920s Supertone "Dixie Wonder" banjo was made by Rettburg & Lange, and distributed by Sears & Roebuck. Dock Boggs is said to have used one of these when he was recorded in New York City during 1927 and '28.
Good, cheap banjos like this one always give me a thrill. Working people's hopes and dreams were invested in these old instruments.
2020-12-11 17:01:01 +0000 UTC
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The Arts Fuse is an online arts magazine covering events in the New England area. They asked me to submit three songs for this fundraiser video, and I did. There's a couple of other musicians on it whom you might also appreciate.
Last month they did a short music review and interview with me, which you can read here:
2020-12-05 16:12:10 +0000 UTC View Post
f B♭ F B♭ B♭ (gCGCC "Darling Cora" tuning) I composed this song in November 2004 after learning that a close friend had been killed in Ramadi, Iraq.
When I was a boy my momma used to say Don't you the ever let them see you run away I tried to obey the words she said that day But now I'm running and I just can't get away My father drifted away my mother's dead and gone My sister die...
2020-12-04 17:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
gCGCD relative (fB♭FB♭C actual). I learned "She's on the Road Somewhere" from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. Gibson learned it from Knott County songster, Orgus "Grandpa" Hudson, circa 1950. Carter and Ralph Stanley recorded a different version under the title, "I've Got a Mule to Ride."
In this video I'll demonstrate how to play the song using traditional two-finger (thumb lead) and overhand (clawhammer) banjo styles.
2020-11-28 05:01:00 +0000 UTC
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gCGCD relative (fB♭FB♭C actual). This is my original arrangement from old recording of Bill Bill Broonzy, Lightnin' Hopkins, Mississippi John Hurt, and others.
gCGCC. I composed this song in November of 2004 after learning that one of my closest friends had been killed in Ramadi, Iraq. He was 21 years old.
"PFC Dennis J. Miller, 21, was killed Wednesday in Ramadi when a rocket propelled grenade hit his M1A1 Abrams tank, the Pentagon said. Miller was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 72nd Armor Regiment, which deployed from Camp Casey, South Korea."
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ERIE, Michigan — Soldier and Young ...
2020-11-20 21:13:31 +0000 UTC View Post
gDGBD "Big Eyed Rabbit" (Rockin' in a Weary Land or Rock in a Weary Land) I learned this song from Josh Hayes of Watauga County, North Carolina. It was, however, most famously recorded by Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham in Surry County, North Carolina.
Isaiah 32:2
"A man will be as a hiding place from the wind, And a cover from the tempest, As rivers of water in a dry place, As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Thanks to Josh Sullivan for pointing out the reference to th...
fDGCD - I learned this song from a recording of Virgil Anderson made at Berea, Kentucky in on 30 March 1985. Link to original: https://youtu.be/xNzuHOZJJEY
I'm a poor boy and a long old ways from home (x2)
I'm a poor boy I got nowhere to go
My clothes is so ragged I got no winter shoes (x2)
I'm going where them chilly winds don't blow
I...
2020-11-12 15:48:11 +0000 UTC View Post
gCGCD relative (fB♭FB♭C actual). I learned "Sammie, Where Have You Been So Long" from the 1927 recording of Dock Boggs. This alternate version of Mole In the Ground (Last Gold Dollar) appears on The Harry Smith B-Sides compilation released by Dust-to-Digital in 2020. Dock played the song using his usual three-finger picking style; however, I worked out this original arrangement using my own two-finger technique.
2020-11-08 05:01:07 +0000 UTC
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I learned "Sammie, Where Have you Been So Long" from the 1927 recording of Dock Boggs on Brunswick Records # 131. A newly remastered recording of this appears on The Harry Smith B-Sides compilation released by Dust-to-Digital in 2020.
Halfway through the original recording (which is an alternate version of Last Gold Dollar/Mole In the Ground) Boggs transitions from a heavy, juke joint style accompaniment to his more characteristically intricate three-finger picking. The first ver...
2020-11-07 05:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
gCGCE relative (fB♭FB♭D actual, "One-Finger C"). This is my original arrangement of the classic minstrel ballad "Oh! Susanna" by Stephen Foster (1826–1864). The playing style used here is typically referred to as 2-Finger, Thumb Lead (Index Lead/Finger Lead/Mixed Lead). This style is traditional, and likely predates both the "classic banjo" Guitar Style and the minstrel Stroke Style. This song hints at a variety of musical traditions.
Glenn Weiser points out that the m...
2020-11-05 15:27:26 +0000 UTC View Post
I learned to sing "Oh! Susanna" from my grandfather, Aaron Mayo Moore, when I was four or five years old. This is my own original banjo arrangement in gCGCE relative, fB♭FB♭D actual (Eddie Haggard called this tuning, "One-Finger C").
I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee
I'm going to Louisiana my true love for to see,
It rained all night the day I left the weather it was dry
The sun was so hot I froze to death Susanna don't you cry! &n...
2020-11-05 00:13:11 +0000 UTC View Post
f#CGAD relative (eB♭FGC actual). "O Death" (Conversation With Death) was composed by Lloyd Chandler in 1916. It was later recorded by Dock Boggs, Nimrod Workman, and Ralph Stanley. In this lesson, I'll teach you how to play it using both the overhand (clawhammer) and two-finger (thumb-lead) traditional banjo styles.
DOWNLOAD LINK 👇👇
I learned "O Death" (Conversation With Death) from a Smithsonian Folkways recording of Dock Boggs. It's also been recorded by Lloyd Chandler, Nimrod Workman, and Ralph Stanley. Although it has been claimed that Chandler, or even Stanley, composed "O Death," it appears on printed broadsides (see below) in Britain dating to the 19th century.
f#CGAD relative (eB♭FGC actual).
Oh Death oh D...
2020-10-30 22:50:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's a fine 1920s banjo marked "Slingerland 209" on the dowel. Original calfskin head, original patent friction tuners, vintage waverly tailpiece, birdseye maple neck & pot, a loud tone ring, and a Clifford Essex bridge make for a banjo that is a joy to play, hear, and see.
Slingerland started in Chicago around 1915. By 1920 they were making a wide range of instruments at # 1815 Orchard St in Chicago. The name is still around today, but it's now owned by Gibson Brands...
2020-10-27 16:31:16 +0000 UTC View Post
[gCGBD] I learned "Saint James Infirmary Blues" from a 1960s recording of Dock Boggs titled "Old Joe's Barroom." My instrument is an 1888 Luscomb banjo by Thompson & Odell of Boston. Eddie Haggard called this tuning "Two-Finger C."
I work in these old coal mines
Sunday's and all night long,
Trying to provide for my wife and my baby
But now she done took ...
2020-10-23 20:28:24 +0000 UTC View Post
In November, 2018 I attended the annual Banjo Collectors' Gathering with George Gibson, Justin Hoffman, and many others at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, TN. All film clips courtesy of Justin Hoffman:
00:00 Clifton Hicks - Old Blue (1860s Jacobs minstrel banjo)
01:16 Clif...
2020-10-15 10:31:37 +0000 UTC View Post
[fDGCD] I learned "I'm Dying, Mother" from the recording of Bert Hare on Art Rosenbaum's "Art of Field Recording Sampler" album (Dust To Digital, 2006): https://dust-digital.com/shop/art-of-field-recording-sampler
"I was in East Kentucky, in this little town called Asher. I went to the g...
2020-10-14 04:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post