There are two different tunes that I know called Diamond Joe. I first heard this one performed by Ian Tyson… Here’s another version, by Sam Bush.. This tune is apparently fairly young, written in the 1950s, possibly by Cisco Houston. Now much later I heard… Read More
I was surfing about, watching Old Time music videos this evening and chanced upon this delightful story by Roy Book Binder about taking guitar lessons from Rev. Gary Davis… The way these things happen, that led me to another little story about the same legendary… Read More
go together like toast and jam…. This video features Frank Fairfield on fiddle. I’ve only recently stumbled across Mr. Fairfield’s music. He also plays guitar and banjo. Here at 27th Street, we love his playing. I hope one day he comes up to play Toronto!
Tommy Jarrell performing Cumberland Gap. I love this video, shot by Alan Lomax and crew in 1983. Who says I don’t like “80s” music.
Let’s start off with Benton Flippen and the Smokey Valley Boys performing the Old Time standard, John Brown’s Dream Then let’s slide into Series of Dreams. Somehow or another this fantastic song never made it onto the Oh Mercy recording and was only released later… Read More
I don’t know any history on this tune or if there really was a Little Billy Wilson or not. It sounds like once upon a time it lived in Ireland. Here are The Knuckle Dusters
Keep my Skillet Greasy has to be among my fave song titles. Keep my skillet greasy all the time. That’s what I’m talkin’ about. Here’s Frank Fairfield with a killer performance. Mr. Fairfield is a dangerous banjo picker. Keep my skillet greasy all the time… Read More
In folk music, it’s expected that songs get retreaded in all kinds of ways. Melodies get recycled with different lyrics, and similar bits of lyrics find their way into a host of different tunes. How many tunes share “six white horses in a line” or… Read More
One of my fave Old Time tunes is Susananah Gal, also known as Western Country and Fly around my pretty little miss. I hope you like this one as much as I do. Here’s a version by the Whiskey Bent Valley Boys… Here is the… Read More
Here’s Aubrey Atwater clogging and playing banjo at the same time. As discussed in an earlier post, Johnny can’t dance, so the clogging part is a challenge even without the banjo…..
27th Street 