Regular visitors to this page might be wondering where I’ve been over the past week, since I haven’t been posting. Well, I did a road-trip down to Buena Vista, Virginia (I was told it is pronounced Byoona Vista) for the Rockbridge Mountain Music and Dance… Read More
Music for a Saturday morning. Here’s Chubby Parker and his Old Time Banjo… Chubby Parker was born in 1876 and passed in 1940. He had an interesting life. He had a degree in electrical engineering, worked for the circus, and along the way became a… Read More
Two recordings which were released in 2017 have been getting a lot of play at home and in the car lately: Going Home by April Verch and Joe Newberry and Carp Fishing in Missouri by Cathy Barton and Dave Para. April Verch is a super-fine… Read More
I could listen to Jimmy Driftwood all day…
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
Just because it’s so much fun: Dan Gellert… Whitetop Mountain Band…
I first heard Black Mountain Rag as played by Doc Watson, so I think of it as a flat-picking guitar showpiece kind of tune. Doc really moves on this one. Before that it was known primarily as a fiddle tune. Here’s Patti Kusturok’s take… Read More
Here’s some wonderful Ramona Jones fiddling for a Sunday morning. It’s called Chinquapin on Crooked Stovepipe. Is chinquapin a word in your vocabulary? I only know it from old time music. I think a chinquapin is another word for a chestnut. Is that how you… Read More
I’m fascinated with fiddle music, but the fiddle scares me. Having heard some mighty fine fiddle players close up, I know there is only one possible explanation for how they do it. Obviously, they’ve made a deal with the devil. I mean, humans can’t… Read More
27th Street 