Editor's note: this article originally ran in Banjo Newsletter's October 1976 edition. It is re-published here by permission from the author and the Banjo Newsletter.
I first learned this traditional fiddle tune from someone else's tablature. It was a fine arrangement but scored in the G tuning, and did me no good the first time I had a chance to play it with a fiddler. I know I could have capoed up to the 7th fret but I felt there had to be a better way. Since there are so many fiddle tunes written in D it is wise for the banjo player to be able to play them out of C and then only have to capo up two frets to match the fiddler.
In 1971, while working as a high school librarian, Hubbard Nitchie began compiling information on the 5-string banjo. He called it "The Banjo Clearinghouse," and that, along with a banjo tablature service he also offered called "Tab of the Month," eventually became The Banjo Newsletter.
Hub played 3-finger style, and was especially partial to the melodic style; his own columns in "BNL", Exploring the Fingerboard, concentrated on that style. In September ,1992, Hub received the Personality of the Year in Print Media award from the IBMA. In October 1992 he passed away in Greensboro, Maryland.
In 1988, Hub wrote: "Whatever objective you have with your interest in the banjo—to play for yourself or for others, or whatever musical style you prefer—our goal at Banjo Newsletter is to celebrate the banjo."
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