There’s a fiddle tune called Rachel. In some places and by some players it’s also known as The Texas Quickstep, but everyone I know who plays it just calls it Rachel. I don’t know who Rachel was though. It’s just one of life’s mysteries. I… Read More
There are two Cairos. One of course is in Egypt. The other (the one referred to in the song) is at the southern end of Illinois in the United States, the place where the Ohio River spills into the Mississippi. This is an old tune.… Read More
I’ve been playing some of those dark “modal” tunes lately. Here’s one, called The Clinch Mountain Backstep. I believe this one comes to us from the late great Ralph Stanley, who played it with bluegrass picks rather than clawhammer (although he was a mighty clawhammer… Read More
This tune is attributed to West Virginia fiddler Lee Triplett.
The river is the Scioto River in Ohio, but the source for the tune is apparently Burl Hammons from West Virginia. I’ve just learned from a banjo player in Ohio that the river is spelled Scioto and pronounced Sciota, but the tune is pronounced Scioty. … Read More
I know this tune as a French Canadian reel, but I think it’s also played in Scotland as The Grand Chain. I don’t now who had it first. I learned it at Midwest Banjo Camp from Cathy Barton Para. It’s curious that a guy from… Read More
I learned this tune at Midwest Banjo Camp at the beginning of June this year, from Cathy Barton Para. It was in a class about tunes played by Ramona Jones, but I think she got this one from Jimmy Driftwood. This tune is played in… Read More
This is me trying to play two ‘A’ tunes strung together: Lady (or is it Ladies) on the Green and Devilish Mary. I learned them both recently at Midwest Banjo Camp from Cathy Barton Para. One of the things that happens after banjo camp is… Read More
This is the group photo from the 2017 Midwest Banjo Camp. I’m in there somewhere.
Here are Joe Newberry and Brad Leftwich performing Backstep Cindy. I was at this concert. This performance was at one of the two faculty concerts at the 2016 Midwest Banjo Camp. MBC is quite an event. Banjo freaks abound, along with various fiddle players, guitar… Read More
27th Street 