Here’s another tune from our practice session yesterday, this one with a special guest appearance towards the end from our Newfoundland dog George. I know this tune as Rachel, but it’s apparently also known in some places as the Texas Quickstep, the St. Louis Quickstep,… Read More
Here’s an attempt at Cathy Barton’s arrangement of the Ramona Jones/Jimmie Driftwood version of Valley Forge.
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
A lot of the tunes we play in old time music are in fact really, really old – but not all of them. There have been many great tunes written over the past 50 years which have become standards for old time players. I met… 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
Wish I was a June apple hanging on a tree. Every time my true love pass, take a bite of me. Take a bite of me, my love, take a bite of me, Every time my true love pass, take a little bite of me.… Read More
My friend Chris, the sax player (etc. etc.) across the street, gave me a John Deere cap, an accoutrement which I figure ought to instantly make me a better banjo player. I say this because any old fool knows that old time banjo players need… Read More
I’m playing this on my Dogwood banjo.
I learned this tune from Cathy Barton Para at Midwest Banjo Camp earlier this year. I learned it in standard D tuning (aDAC#E) but somewhere along the way I started messing around with it in DD tuning (aDADE) instead, and I just kept playing it… Read More
Back in 1850, Stephen Foster published a song called Angelina Baker. Somewhere along the way it morphed into a fiddle tune known as Angeline the Baker. It’s a tune about regret: I bought Angeline a brand new dress Neither black nor brown It was the… Read More
27th Street 