This is the weekend of the Midwest Banjo Camp for 2015, an event down in Michigan I had planned to attend again this year. After messing up my ankle, though, my surgeon advised me that it would be too early for me to make the… Read More
A few days ago I shared some different versions of the old time tune, Buffalo Gals. As is often the case, I was listening to various versions of the tune because I was learning to play it myself. At a recent practice session I recorded… Read More
Head for the hills, it’s banjo practice time. Here’s me attempting to play a fiddle tune known as The Forky Deer, or Forked Deer (say fork-kid).
I mentioned the other day I was working on the tune Sandy River Belle on clawhammer banjo. Learning this tune is my first experience playing in the Sandy River Belle, or Old G tuning (gDGDE). I like the tuning and I’m going to figure out… Read More
Unlike Bluegrass banjo, which is played with metal thumb and finger picks, Old Time clawhammer banjo is most often played without picks. I say most often because there are players, and good players too who do use specialized clawhammer picks, sometimes of their own devising… Read More
Here’s Cathy Barton and Dave Para. I had a chance to hear them play quite a bit at Midwest Banjo Camp last June. They sound great together, and I really enjoy Cathy’s banjo style on that wonderful old Ode resinator banjo of hers.
Me again, practicing Angeline the Baker.
Here’s a great Old Time song called Waterbound. It’s also known as Down in North Carolina. Here’s the Last Chance Stringband….
I’m learning this tune on banjo now, so I’ve been listening to various performances of it….let’s start with Heat Box And Dan Levenson… Here’s Mark Gilston playing it on mountain dulcimer… Finally, Mr. Nonouke with a uke version
Continuing our exploration of old time banjo and fiddle music, let’s look at a song called Barlow Knife. A Barlow knife is a style of folding pocket knife, invented in the UK and popularized in North America in the 18th and 19th centuries. Tom Sawyer… Read More
27th Street 