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
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
Me again, practicing Angeline the Baker.
….on banjo, I came across this video featuring the amazing Jens Kruger, which makes me seriously consider chopping up my banjo to use as kindling for a blazing accordion fire. I am so looking forward to seeing the Kruger Brothers at Hugh’s Room here in… Read More
The musical focus of this blog has shifted somewhat this year. Although it has long reflected my general interest in what I jokingly call folky-dolky music, I had been focusing on the button accordion, because that is the instrument I was playing. Somehow or another… Read More
This is an old tune, going back at least to the 1880s in America. What does cotton-eyed mean? One story is that bad moonshine cause a drinker’s eyes to turn milky white. Another story says someone is cotton-eyed if his eyes turned milky from any… Read More
This is Christopher Plock blowing two horns at once, as special guest of The Meteors this afternoon at Timothy’s. Chris is not only an amazing sax player and a great singer, he’s also a great neighbour!
Every now and again, I remember that I used to listen to a lot of rock ‘n’ roll and some of it was fantastically good. Let me just get it out of my system. There, I’m OK now. Pass the banjo over here…
It’s important to me to not stop learning. Music is one activity I started really flirting with after I turned 40 and I started playing the button accordion. How hard could it be, I reasoned. There are only 31 buttons on the right side of… Read More
I heard today that Peter Appleyard died, at 84. Do you know his work? He was a great vibraphone player who lived and played in the Toronto area for many years. Here’s another video I’ve shared before in which Mr. Appleyard has an opportunity to… Read More
27th Street 