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www.banjr.com
Playing Since: 1967
Experience Level: Purty Good
Don Borchelt has made 241 recent additions to Banjo Hangout 
Occupation: Retired, and picking more banjo
Gender: Male
Age: 62
My Instruments:
Vega tubaphone, semi fretless neck;
Paramount, semi-fretless neck, short-scale;
Paramount, semi-fretless neck, standard scale;
Fairbanks Whyte Laydie;
Gibson Mastertone 1928 TB-3 with Liberty conversion neck;
two other Mastertone clones and another Tubaphone.
Favorite Bands/Musicians:
Flatt & Scruggs, Stanley Brothers, Don Reno and Red Smiley, Roy Acuff and the Smokey Mountain Boys, Mississippi John Hurt, Dave Akeman, Tommy Jarrell, Tommy Jackson, Howdy Forrester, Carroll Best, Bill Keith, Alan Munde, and of course, my pals Ed Britt, Jim Reed, and Don Couchie.
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Profile Info:
Visible to: Public
Created 11/4/2005
Last Visit 5/23/2013
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
35 people like this
Play count: 2642
Size: 1,443kb, uploaded 1/7/2010 5:14:41 PM
Genre: Old Time
Ed Britt and I recorded this a couple of nights ago, after a long hiatus, so that I could post it for this week's Tune of the Week. My tubaphone is sounding a little punky, but as a famous American once said, you go to war with the weapons you got, not the weapons you want. I'm in Open D, Ed is in Double C up 2.
9 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
29 people like this
Play count: 2129
Size: 4,500kb, uploaded 8/9/2010 2:31:45 PM
Genre: Old Time
Made this recording at Clifftop, 2010, with my pals Don Couchie and Jim Reed. They are two phenomenal pickers. Jim is playing his 1925 ball-bearing Mastertone, Don is playing Chip Arnold's 1969 Baldwin. I'm using my 1964 Ode. Jim and I are playing three-finger style, while Don is playing clawhammer style.
11 comments
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by Don Borchelt
[download]
73 people like this
Play count: 5225
Size: 4,241kb, uploaded 2/25/2007 10:26:21 PM
Genre: Old Time
This was my first attempt with my new Tascam US-122 USB audio interface, and I'm still learning how to use the software and all. The clawhammer picker is my long time buddy Ed Britt. He and I always wander around on this one. I'm picking three finger style in open D tuning, Ed is playing clawhammer style in double C, up 2.
24 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
36 people like this
Play count: 2853
Size: 4,366kb, uploaded 5/16/2009 5:47:13 AM
Genre: Old Time
Another recording with Brian Clancey and Tom Speth, made about ten or twelve years ago. We experimented a lot with blending three-finger style banjo with finger style guitar picking, all pretty spontaneous interweaving of the two sounds. Brian had his guitar in an open tuning, as I recall, really sweet.
9 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
18 people like this
Play count: 1082
Size: 1,758kb, uploaded 7/20/2011 4:05:23 AM
Genre: Old Time
In topics:
TOTW - Arkansas Traveler 4/26/13
Another tune from my jam with mouth harp player Marty Lebenson, from the 2010 Harry Smith Frolic, an old time gathering in Greenfield, out in the hill country of western Massachusetts. Marty really rips it up on this one. I'm playing my Fairbanks Whyte Laydie in open D tuning, without picks.
3 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
47 people like this
Play count: 3738
Size: 3,865kb, uploaded 6/13/2009 10:00:59 AM
Genre: Old Time
This is another recording of the Wry Whiskey amalgamation with Richie Chaisson on resophonic guitar and the late Gene Ketelhohn on guitar, recorded in early 1999. I am playing my semi-fretless Paramount in open D tuning.
14 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
20 people like this
Play count: 1886
Size: 1,301kb, uploaded 9/7/2009 8:19:10 PM
Genre: Old Time
Another recording from Clifftop 2009, with my BHO pal Don Couchie. Don is picking banjo on this one, clawhammer style, and I am picking my tubaphone in Open D tuning, three finger style.
9 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
5 people like this
Play count: 298
Size: 1,393kb, uploaded 9/5/2011 11:41:58 AM
Genre: Old Time
I recorded this with fiddler Matt McConeghy, from Providence, Rhode Island, and clawhammer picker Pete Comply, from Springfield, Pennsylvania, at the Fiddlin' Bear Old-Time Musicians' Gathering at Lake Genero Park, in Hamlin, Pennsylvania, this Labor Day weekend. We picked a few tunes together on Sunday afternoon, just before the rain moved in, and we all packed up for home.
4 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
5 people like this
Play count: 137
Size: 2,461kb, uploaded 6/3/2012 7:12:40 AM
Genre: Old Time
The recording was made around 1975, at a concert at the First Unitarian Church in Harvard Square. We called ourselves the Beaumont String Band. The mandolin
player was Rose Zak, a young lady from Buffalo who had learned mandolin, guitar, and classic banjo from an old Vaudeville circuit string man. The guitar player was Merrill "Mickey" Levine, who now lives out on the West Coast and plays keyboard. The lap steel player was the late Robert Gear, who could play like Sol Hoopi, and was also a great country blues guitar player.
2 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
4 people like this
Play count: 222
Size: 1,712kb, uploaded 8/23/2011 8:18:03 AM
Genre: Old Time
This is another recording from the relaxed jam session with Don Couchie the last morning of Clifftop, 2011. This intricate tune comes from the repertoire of famed West Virginia fiddler Edden Hammons. Don, I believe, is fiddling in cross tuning; I am using my short-scale, semi-fretless Paramount, tuned aEABE.
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
10 people like this
Play count: 592
Size: 1,626kb, uploaded 6/4/2011 1:46:11 PM
Genre: Old Time
I ran across this recording on my hard drive a couple of days ago, forgot I had it. Don Couchie came to Boston for a visit back in March, 2010, and this is one of the tunes we played in my living room, recorded on my hand-held Tascam DR-1. This tune comes originally from the repertoire of West Virginia fiddler Burl Hammons. Apparently, every time Hammons recorded it, he varied the melody a bit, which helps explain all the variations floating around. Don is on fiddle; I'm playing three-finger style banjo, key of G, banjo tuned gDGAD.
5 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
19 people like this
Play count: 1800
Size: 2,387kb, uploaded 7/14/2009 3:41:30 AM
Genre: Old Time
This is a tape I made back in the mid-80s. The guitar player is Jim Murphy, who at the time was a graduate student at MIT. I've lost touch with Jim, last I heard he was working at Hannaford. The banjo is tuned in double C, gCGCD.
6 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
4 people like this
Play count: 349
Size: 876kb, uploaded 5/24/2011 6:50:12 AM
Genre: Old Time
This is the only recording I can recall from my brief days as a clawhammer picker. This is from the album produced for the Seventh Annual Banjo Contest, held in Craftsbury Common, Vermont, in 1974. I didn't win the contest, but at least I made it onto the album. I think this was basically Art Rosenbaum's setting from his Oak publication.
5 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
41 people like this
Play count: 3187
Size: 1,409kb, uploaded 5/8/2009 4:05:51 AM
Genre: Old Time
This is a practice tape from a decade ago, made with my friends Brian Clancey and Tom Speth; we called ourselves Wry Whiskey. Brian now performs with fiddler Robin Warren as Spirit Fiddle. The banjo is tuned in open D, aDF#AD.
16 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
6 people like this
Play count: 139
Size: 1,323kb, uploaded 2/11/2013 7:26:33 AM
Genre: Old Time
In topics:
TOTW February 8, 2013: Bells March
This tune comes from fiddler Harvey "Pappy" Taylor (1894-1987), of Effingham, Illinois, collected by the late Gary Harrison. I made this practice tape in 2011, playing my 1964 Ode Model 42, in a G variant tuning (gDGAD), capoed on the 2nd fret.
2 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
26 people like this
Play count: 1453
Size: 3,395kb, uploaded 8/10/2012 5:18:33 AM
Genre: Old Time
Another tune from my first jam Don Couchie, sitting around our campsite one quiet morning at Clifftop, up on Geezer Hill. This is the classic western version of the tune which inspired Pee Wee King's 1950 C&W hit, complete with the third part, often called the "Little Egypt" part, that is sort of frowned upon in some old time circles. Don is playing the fiddle with those deep, gut wrenching drones, I am three finger picking on my semi-fretless Tubaphone, in open D tuning (aDF#AD).
7 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
18 people like this
Play count: 1508
Size: 2,556kb, uploaded 12/19/2009 7:08:24 AM
Genre: Old Time
After hearing Gabe Hirshfeld (banjo1930) play a terrific version of this the other night on the Chat, I remembered I had a Wry Whiskey recording of this around somewhere. This was recorded in 1998, with Brian Clancey on guitar. The banjo is tuned to open D (aDF#AD). I liked Gabe's version better, but I still like this one, too.
7 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
31 people like this
Play count: 1785
Size: 1,912kb, uploaded 8/8/2011 4:31:40 PM
Genre: Old Time
I look forward all year to Clifftop, to be able to pick with my Banjo Hell friends and campmates Jim Reed and Don Couchie. This is a recording Don and I made on Sunday morning, after we had eaten the last of the biscuits and gravy at the Lodge, and packed up to head out in our separate directions. Don is playing some real lonesome fiddle, and I am playing three-finger style banjo, on my semi-fretless short scale Paramount.
5 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt, written by Gary Harrison
[download]
7 people like this
Play count: 280
Size: 1,362kb, uploaded 8/8/2011 4:18:12 PM
Genre: Old Time
I had a nice jam session early on at Clifftop this year with my good friend Tim Rowell (clawhammertim here on the Hangout and on YouTube). Tim has established and now runs the Traditional Music Program at the Real School of Music in Burlington, Massachusetts. We see each other a lot at jams around the Boston area, but had to travel 800 miles to West Virginia to find some quiet time to do play some nice double banjo togrther, clawhammer and three-finger style. This is our take on Gary Harrison's fine twisty fiddle tune.
6 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
21 people like this
Play count: 1221
Size: 1,962kb, uploaded 8/19/2011 6:23:55 AM
Genre: Old Time
This is the last of three recordings I made with my friend Tim Rowell at Clifftop 2011. The tune comes from Art Stamper, who learned it from his father. His father reportedly learned it from a Civil War veteran, who said that it was composed at the end of the war to commemorate one of the last engagements, in Pike County, Kentucky. So to borrow on of my mother's favorite expressions, this tune is "old, old, old. Tim is playing clawhammer style, I am picking behind him in three-finger style.
5 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
16 people like this
Play count: 2344
Size: 1,411kb, uploaded 7/1/2009 4:33:40 AM
Genre: Bluegrass
Okay, chicken pickin' lovers, I dug up this ten year old recording of this poultry classic, from the time I was playing with a group called Wry Whiskey. The reso picker assisting with the cackling part is Richie Chaisson, who now plays with the Boston area group The Pine Hill Ramblers. I was picking my semi-fretless Paramount, which had a neck that I made myself. Genuine barnyard bluegrass, to whet your appetite. Let's cook that hen!
6 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
18 people like this
Play count: 1014
Size: 2,192kb, uploaded 9/17/2012 6:08:12 AM
Genre: Old Time
The last night of Clifftop, Don Couchie and I sat down to pick some tunes with Ralph Roberts, an old time West Virginia fiddler who lives near the festival. Ralph knows a whole bunch of tunes that are old, old, that you rarely or never hear anyone else play. This tune, Cherry River Line, is an example of an old mountain song that has evolved into a fiddle tune. I am playing three finger style banjo, winging it as best I can, and Don is playing rhythm guitar.
4 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
12 people like this
Play count: 696
Size: 2,410kb, uploaded 8/21/2012 7:45:57 AM
Genre: Old Time
According to the Fiddler's Companion, Joe Coleman was a shoemaker from Adair County in south central Kentucky, who in 1899 was convicted of murdering his wife. Claiming his innocence to the last, he reportedly played this tune while riding in the cart, sitting on his coffin on the way to the gallows. Don Couchie and I played it at our first jam session on Geezer Hill. Don is playing fiddle, I am three finger picking in open D on my semi-fretless Tubaphone.
2 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
16 people like this
Play count: 1161
Size: 1,358kb, uploaded 8/29/2010 7:37:43 AM
Genre: Old Time
Early Sunday morning, it was time to pack up and leave, after a full week of good Clifftop picking. Don Couchie was heading down to Galax, and I was starting the long drive back to Boston. Jim Reed had already gotten up very early and headed back home before either of us had woken up. As the last of the gear got stowed away, Don and I sat down for one last tune, Cookhouse Joe, an old-time fiddle tune from Southeastern Kentucky. On the way out, we stopped at the Lodge to eat up the last of the biscuits and gravy. Until next year...
1 comment
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
6 people like this
Play count: 169
Size: 1,528kb, uploaded 3/28/2013 5:46:32 AM
Genre: Old Time
In topics:
Cotton Eye Joe remix RedNex (1994) reactions at the time?
I made this recording of the old mountain hoedown version of the tune Cotten Eyed Joe in my living room back in 1997, with my friend Brian Clancey, who now backs up fiddler Robin Warren. They go by the name Spirit Fiddle. I was playing a Paramount banjo with a semi-fretless neck I made myself, tuned in G Variant tuning (gDGAD).
1 comment
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
46 people like this
Play count: 3557
Size: 1,903kb, uploaded 9/11/2008 10:29:30 PM
Genre: Old Time
As long as I can still hold a banjo in my tired old hands, if I can still play this tune, I will be okay with it. This is the tune that got me hooked on picking, and it is still the best banjo tune there is, and I'm not afraid to say so. This is our take on it, Ed Britt and me, and we hope you like it. I'm playing my new old Ode, and Ed is picking his Ome, and we are both in open G tuning. Recorded on my Tascam DR-1, no fancy microphones, nothing.
14 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
8 people like this
Play count: 430
Size: 945kb, uploaded 10/7/2012 3:44:42 PM
Genre: Old Time
Another tune from our Clifftop jam with Ralph Roberts. Ralph knows a lot of rare old tunes, but he plays the chesnuts with equal enthusiam; this is his version of Cumberland Gap. Don Couchie is playing rhythm guitar, and I am trying to get straight with some three finger style old time banjo.
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
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20 people like this
Play count: 1103
Size: 2,376kb, uploaded 6/3/2012 5:38:19 AM
Genre: Old Time
This was one of Doc Watson's signature tunes, which he elegantly fingerpicked on guitar. It was originally recorded by the Delmore Brothers in 1933 as Big River Blues. Ed Britt is playing clawhammer style in double C, capoed on the 2nd fret, and doing the singing, while I'm fingerpicking in open D.
9 comments
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by Don Borchelt
[download]
17 people like this
Play count: 976
Size: 1,850kb, uploaded 8/24/2012 9:16:18 PM
Genre: Old Time
Dry and Dusty is a Missouri/Arkansas fiddle tune that comes from the repertoire of twin brothers Apsie (1876-1964) and Abbie Morrison (1876-1965), both fiddlers from Searcy County, Arkansas. This is another recording from one of my jams with Don Couchie up on Geezer Hill. Don is fiddling, I am three finger picking my semi-fretless Tubaphone in open D tuning.
7 comments
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by Don Borchelt
[download]
5 people like this
Play count: 318
Size: 1,943kb, uploaded 8/14/2011 9:46:50 AM
Genre: Old Time
This is another recording made with Don Couchie on Sunday morning at Clifftop 2011, after we had packed our gear to leave. This is from the repertoire of the legendary West Virginia fiddler Edden Hammons. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the title of the tune refers to a baby being born. That would explain the lyric "Fine times at our house, Katie’s got a little one, bless its little soul, it’s another little pretty one." That's just how I always felt about it, I remember those moments like it was yesterday. Key of A, sort of mixolydian; Don is playing fiddle, I am playing three finger style banjo on my short-scale, semi-fretless Paramount.
3 comments
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by Don Borchelt, written by Fred Rose
[download]
33 people like this
Play count: 2413
Size: 2,970kb, uploaded 5/28/2009 4:17:20 PM
Genre: Old Time
Well, since you all tolerated my singing on that last one, I thought I'd post another from my days some ten years ago picking with Brian Clancey and Tom Speth. This is not your 'grass Fireball Mail, I'm afraid. Brian is playing finger style guitar here, a sound I really like with three-finger style banjo. Banjo is a semi-fretless Paramount in open D.
11 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
12 people like this
Play count: 771
Size: 1,609kb, uploaded 7/1/2011 4:44:10 AM
Genre: Old Time
I first heard this tune a few years ago at a the old time music jam at Sandy’s Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Jon Gersh and Kathy Fletcher, who have led the jam for quite a few years now, were kind enough to record this with me in their basement studio. Kathy is playing fiddle, Jon is playing banjo clawhammer style, and I am playing three finger style, in open D tuning. Jon and Kathy are known around Boston as Planet Banjo, and have an old time group called the Dixie Butterhounds.
6 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
29 people like this
Play count: 1827
Size: 2,621kb, uploaded 8/9/2010 2:28:53 PM
Genre: Old Time
Made this recording at Clifftop, 2010, with my pals Don Couchie and Jim Reed. They are two phenomenal pickers. Jim is playing his 1925 ball-bearing Mastertone, Don is playing Chip Arnold's 1969 Baldwin. I'm using my 1964 Ode. Jim just picked this up a few minutes before I recorded the session. Jim and I are playing three-finger style, while Don is playing clawhammer style.
6 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt, written by Ed Haley
[download]
19 people like this
Play count: 791
Size: 2,243kb, uploaded 1/25/2013 6:18:49 PM
Genre: Old Time
In topics:
TOTW 1.24.13: Half Past Four
This tune comes from the repertoire of famed Kentucky fiddler Ed Haley (1883-1951). Ed Britt and I recorded this for the Tune of the Week for January 25, 2013. Ed is picking clawhammer style on his OME Columbine, in open G tuning, capoed on the second fret. I am three finger picking my semi-fretless short scale Paramount, in an A variant tuning (aEABE). This is the first recording we've made in quite awhile.
6 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
19 people like this
Play count: 1744
Size: 3,172kb, uploaded 9/7/2008 6:52:20 AM
Genre: Old Time
Ed Britt and I went up to the Lowell Fiddle and Banjo Contest yesterday, and brought the remnants of hurricane Hannah with us. The contest was driven inside the high school, which cut down on the jamming. We did have a nice session with fiddler Barkev Kaligian, from Lexington, Mass. This is us playing in a hallway between the lockers and water bubblers. The recording is a little "boomy" as a result, but I hope still fun to listen to. This is the Stephen Foster Hard Times, recorded on my Tascam DR-1. I am playing my "new" 1964 Ode that Ed uncovered for me. I haven't put a semi-fretless plate on it- yet.
5 comments
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by Don Borchelt
[download]
9 people like this
Play count: 238
Size: 1,614kb, uploaded 10/6/2012 6:51:31 AM
Genre: Old Time
For a region that has seen generations of young people move away to find work in far away auto plants and steel mills, and in uniform, the song Home Sweet Home has a deep meaning lost on most of us today. The song has been around since before the Civil War, and you will find it in the repertoire of most musicians whose roots are in Appalachia. It is most often played as an instrumental; the song is so familiar, the singing of it is unnecessary. This is from our Clifftop jam with West Virginia fiddler Ralph Roberts. Don Couchie is playing rhythm guitar, and I am following along with some three finger style old time banjo.
1 comment
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
16 people like this
Play count: 934
Size: 1,425kb, uploaded 8/11/2011 10:48:36 AM
Genre: Old Time
This tune comes from fiddler Art Stamper. It feels like A Dorian, but it does not use the third degree of the scale, so it is hard to say for sure. My friend Tim Rowell recorded this tune with me at Clifftop 2011 one afternoon, at his campsite. He is playing clawhammer, while I am picking three-finger style. We both first heard this on Adam Hurt's inspiring Earthtones CD (engineered by BHO's own Paul Roberts), but ended up going back to Stamper to learn it.
3 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
20 people like this
Play count: 1080
Size: 1,775kb, uploaded 9/28/2012 7:08:46 AM
Genre: Old Time
The very best fiddle tunes are often the plain and simple ones that you just can't get out of your head. Weeks after the jam that Don Couchie and I had at Clifftop with fiddler Ralph Roberts, I find myself humming John's Tune, an old time melody that Ralph learned from his grandfather. Don and I both felt that the moment spent picking that tune with Ralph was for us the best two minutes of the whole festival. Don Couchie is backing up on guitar, I am picking three finger style on my semi-fretless Tubaphone in open G.
3 comments
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by Don Borchelt
[download]
47 people like this
Play count: 2279
Size: 4,202kb, uploaded 3/24/2012 2:45:11 AM
Genre: Old Time
Ed Britt and I recorded this double banjo performance of the classic banjo/fiddle tune about five years ago. Ed is playing clawhammer style on his Ome, in open G tuning, capoed on the second fret; I am three-finger picking on my short scale semi-fretless Paramount, in my G Variant tuning, but tuned up a whole step (aEABE).
7 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
14 people like this
Play count: 1090
Size: 3,010kb, uploaded 8/2/2009 5:29:48 PM
Genre: Old Time
I just returned from Clifftop, where I had the honor and pleasure of camping next to BHO member Don Couchie, from North Bay, Ontario. We swapped tunes for most of the week. Don is an extremely talented picker, and can pick up a new tune far faster and better than I can. He had only played Last Chance on the fiddle for just a few minutes of warm up before I turned on the recorder. Just plain amazing. My Paramount semi-fretless is tuned aEABE.
2 comments
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by Don Borchelt
[download]
10 people like this
Play count: 607
Size: 3,828kb, uploaded 6/10/2012 8:14:15 AM
Genre: Old Time
This recording was made in my living room in 1998. The guitar player was Brian Clancey, who now plays in a duet with fiddler Robin Warren as Spirit Fiddle. We experimented a lot with the mixing together of finger picked banjo and finger picked guitar, a sound I really like.
2 comments
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by Don Borchelt
[download]
17 people like this
Play count: 1555
Size: 2,874kb, uploaded 10/31/2009 1:57:18 PM
Genre: Bluegrass
Well, there are some Richie Chaisson fans lurking out there, I just found out, so I rooted around my old digital files and found this recording of Liza Jane that Wry Whiskey recorded off the PA system, playing at a street fair one summer evening around 1999. Richie is on resophonic guitar, the late Gene Ketelhohn is picking guitar, and Tom Speth is on bass. I am playing my semi-fretless Paramount in open D tuning.
6 comments
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by Don Borchelt
[download]
14 people like this
Play count: 803
Size: 2,806kb, uploaded 11/9/2012 8:16:05 AM
Genre: Old Time
This is a tune from western Pennsylvania fiddler Sarah Armstrong, as transcribed by musicologist Samuel Bayard in his Hill Country Tunes collection, published in 1944. This recording comes from the Clifftop jam I had this past August with Don Couchie and Tim Rowell. Don is playing the fiddle, Tim is doing that neat low, growley clawhammer picking, and I am doing the three-finger picking on my semi-fretless Tubaphone in open D tuning.
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
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8 people like this
Play count: 153
Size: 2,314kb, uploaded 9/9/2012 9:00:48 AM
Genre: Old Time
Martha Campbell is a tune from the repertoire of Doc Roberts (1897-1978), a Kentucky fiddler who was one of the first to make records in the mid-1920s. This recording comes from my Clifftop jam with Don Couchie and Tim Rowell. Don is fiddling, Tim is playing clawhammer style in double C, capoed on 2. I am three finger picking in open D on my semi-fretless Tubaphone.
2 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt, written by Luke Thomasson
[download]
11 people like this
Play count: 635
Size: 3,105kb, uploaded 9/13/2012 7:55:39 AM
Genre: Old Time
This old time waltz is generally credited to Texas fiddler Luke Thomasson. This comes from my jam this week with Ed Britt and Chris Muriel, who was in Boston on business and stopped by to pick a few tunes.
2 comments
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by Don Borchelt
[download]
45 people like this
Play count: 3163
Size: 3,620kb, uploaded 1/29/2009 8:51:51 PM
Genre: Old Time
Ed Britt and I try our hand at this old Texas waltz. I am playing my semi-fretless Tubaphone, in open D tuning, Ed is playing his Ome, in double C, capoed on the second fret.
14 comments
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by Don Borchelt
[download]
25 people like this
Play count: 1996
Size: 2,678kb, uploaded 1/24/2009 5:23:45 AM
Genre: Old Time
I ran across this recording on my hard drive, from a jam Ed Britt and I had at Clifftop 2008 with fiddler/banjo picker Jim Costa, who is best known for his excellent Uncle Dave repertoire. You can really hear Ed's clawhammer picking on this one. This was outdoors under a tree, so you will have to forgive the occasional car driving by, and the conversations in the background. Ed had to surrender his natural VII chord on this one in favor of the old-timey V chord. When in Rome...
6 comments
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by Don Borchelt
[download]
7 people like this
Play count: 239
Size: 2,510kb, uploaded 10/13/2012 5:25:31 AM
Genre: Old Time
This is the last recording from the jam that Don Couchie and I had with West Virginia old time fiddler Ralph Roberts, the last night of Clifftop, at Ralph's camp up on Geezer Hill. There are a lot of reasons people come to the Clifftop festival, that's for sure, but I can tell you that Ralph comes to play music. Ralph plays the tunes he learned from his grandfather, the music of the working people of the West Virginia hills. It is our job to keep it going. I am playing three finger style banjo on this old warhorse, following as best I can, and Don is playing rhythm guitar.
4 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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5 people like this
Play count: 340
Size: 1,820kb, uploaded 4/10/2010 6:08:51 AM
Genre: Old Time
Don Couchie and I recorded this one evening at Clifftop last year, sitting around at our campsite. I didn't post it before this, because Don's elegant clawhammer picking, just perfect in person, didn't come through with enough volume on my little Tascam DR-1 for some reason. I have played with the levels a little bit to bring it out front more, and have uploaded it now for my contribution to the Tune of the Week for 4/9/10. I am playing in open D tuning on my Tubaphone; and I believe Don was in double C tuning capoed on 2, playing the metal rimmed banjo he borrowed from Reed Martin.
3 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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11 people like this
Play count: 612
Size: 1,399kb, uploaded 10/3/2012 6:03:22 AM
Genre: Old Time
Another good tune from our jam with West Virginia fiddler Ralph Roberts, at his camp on Geezer Hill. Ralph plays this the real old time way, with the fifth below the tonic instead of the natural seventh in the B part, and so do I. I guess that's why we got along so well. I am playing three finger style banjo, and Don Couchie is playing rhythm guitar.
2 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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17 people like this
Play count: 1004
Size: 3,321kb, uploaded 5/16/2010 6:09:37 AM
Genre: Old Time
The full title is Old Yeller Dog Came Trottiin' Through the Meeting House. Best I can tell, this tune comes from Charlie Acuff. The A part's similarity to Old Gray Mare is not coincidental. Anyway, this was recorded on my DR1 at the Monday night old time jam session at Sandy's Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The fiddle player is Mike Roguska. Mike first turned me onto this tune at the jam session a week or two before. The guitar player's name is George; I don't remember his last name, but I enjoyed picking with him. This is usually fiddled in G, but Mike plays it in A, so I used my short-scale, semi-fretless Paramount, tuned aEABE, which is a G variant tuning (gDGAD) tuned up a whole step.
3 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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28 people like this
Play count: 2015
Size: 1,868kb, uploaded 8/16/2010 4:27:13 AM
Genre: Old Time
Another tune from the marathon Clifftop banjo jam session involving Jim Reed, Don Couchie, and myself. Jim and I are both playing three finger style banjo, and Don C is playing clawhammer.
1 comment
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by Don Borchelt
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19 people like this
Play count: 1668
Size: 3,012kb, uploaded 6/7/2009 8:36:46 PM
Genre: Bluegrass
This tune is from a later version of Wry Whiskey, with Richie Chaisson playing reso-guitar, and Gene Ketelhohn playing guitar. Tom Speth is on bass, and I am playing my semi-fretless Paramount, in open D tuning. We were playing on stage somewhere, around 1999, I would guess, but I don't remember where.
10 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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27 people like this
Play count: 1551
Size: 1,852kb, uploaded 6/18/2011 5:40:41 AM
Genre: Old Time
This is the first recording Ed Britt and I have done in over a year. He has been suggesting this tune off and on for over a decade, but I never got around to working it up until BHO member BanjoJudy made it the Tune of the Week! I worked it up late Friday afternoon after reading her post, and Ed came over after dinner to record it with me. What a pal!
3 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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12 people like this
Play count: 173
Size: 2,136kb, uploaded 9/26/2012 8:25:10 AM
Genre: Old Time
Like many old time West Virginia fiddlers, Ralph Roberts is often inclined to play a song melody as an instrumental, particulary a sacred song. This is another recording from the jam that Don Couchie and I had with him on that last night at Clifftop. Purple Robe is a spiritual recorded by the Stanley Brothers for King Records in 1960. Don Couchie is backing up on guitar, I am picking three finger style on my semi-fretless Tubaphone in open G. "False accused and there condemned yet they found no fault with Him, the man who wore the scarlet purple robe."
4 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
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9 people like this
Play count: 172
Size: 1,879kb, uploaded 9/21/2012 7:04:45 AM
Genre: Old Time
This is another tune from the jam that Don Couchie and I had with old time West Virginia fiddler Ralph Roberts, up on Geezer Hill. I've not heard too many people play this, it seems to have been played mostly around southeastern West Virginia. The way Ralph plays it, it sounds sort of like a major version of Boatin' Up Sandy. Don Couchie is backing up on guitar, I am picking three finger style on my semi-fretless Tubaphone in open G.
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by Don Borchelt
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7 people like this
Play count: 361
Size: 1,909kb, uploaded 11/24/2010 7:52:22 AM
Genre: Bluegrass
I taped this recording of Ragtime Annie about twenty years ago. The guitar picker is Jim Murphy. I was working for the City of Somerville, Massachusetts at the time, and Jim was a graduate student at MIT. We used to meet at lunchtime at Sandy's Music in Cambridge, and jam for an hour. The banjo is tuned to open D (aDF#AD).
1 comment
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by Don Borchelt
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8 people like this
Play count: 128
Size: 2,613kb, uploaded 9/21/2012 9:50:55 AM
Genre: Bluegrass
This is a recording from my brief stint as a bluegrass banjo picker with the Boston area band Adam Dewey and Crazy Creek, back in the mid-90s. Adam was on mandolin, the great Lincoln Meyers is picking guitar, and Brad Wheeler is on bass. I've uploaded this as my contribution to the old time TOTW for 9/21/12.
3 comments
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by Don Borchelt, written by Kerry Mills
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18 people like this
Play count: 1500
Size: 1,983kb, uploaded 8/13/2010 4:41:47 AM
Genre: Bluegrass
Another recording from my West Virginia sleep over with Don Couchie and Jim Reed. Jim is doing the picking front and center on his 25 ball-bearing, a real killer banjo. This was tons of fun, even if the rest of the festival began calling our campsite "banjo hell."
4 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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11 people like this
Play count: 820
Size: 1,996kb, uploaded 6/19/2009 5:14:19 AM
Genre: Bluegrass
I ran across this MP3 on my harddrive, looking for something else. It's a recording from my brief stint as a bluegrass banjo picker with the Boston area band Adam Dewey and Crazy Creek. Adam was on mandolin, the great Lincoln Meyers is the astonishing guitar picker, and Brad Wheeler is on base. This was taped around 1995, I think it was a radio appearance.
4 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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9 people like this
Play count: 412
Size: 2,220kb, uploaded 3/14/2010 7:52:40 PM
Genre: Old Time
BHO member Don Couchie came to Boston for a visit, and we sat right down and started picking. This is the first thing we recorded, with my little Tascam DR-1. I am playing my Tubaphone, and the other Don is on the fiddle. This is a pretty Kentucky fiddle tune attributed to John Sayler. My arrangement is inspired by Adam Hurt's wonderful version.
7 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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16 people like this
Play count: 2128
Size: 3,101kb, uploaded 5/11/2009 8:21:07 PM
Genre: Old Time
Well, rummaging around some of my old files, I came across this practice recording that I made ten or twelve years ago with Brian Clancey and Tom Speth. I don't claim to be a good singer, but there are some pleasant moments in this that I thought were worth sharing. The banjo is tuned to open D, what else is new.
7 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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22 people like this
Play count: 1856
Size: 2,713kb, uploaded 8/21/2010 11:57:22 AM
Genre: Bluegrass
Taped at our Clifftop campsite, Jim Reed, Don Couchie, and myself. At the end of this, Jim says "I ain't played that damn thing in a year's time," but he sure fooled me. Jim is balling the jack on this, I'm seconding his lead, trying to keep up with that 25 ball bearing cannonball! On this one, Couchie is definitely on guitar. I think...
6 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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17 people like this
Play count: 977
Size: 3,063kb, uploaded 9/12/2012 10:04:36 AM
Genre: Old Time
My BHO Chat pal Chris Muriel (g3zdm), from Manchester, England, was in Boston this week on business, and came over the house to pick a few tunes. We were joined by Ed Britt, my long time friend and street music partner, not enough to play bridge, but enough for a banjo trio! Here is one of the tunes we played, recorded on my hand-held Tascam DR-1.
2 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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12 people like this
Play count: 704
Size: 1,811kb, uploaded 7/15/2011 5:17:14 AM
Genre: Old Time
Another tune from my jam session with harmonica wizard Marty Lebenson, at the end of the 2011 Harry Smith Frolic, in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Saint Anne's Reel is undoubtedly the most popular French Canadian tune among fiddlers here in the lower 48. Marty, who has been playing harmonica since the early 60s, manifests his complete unity with the instrument. I am playing my 1902 Fairbanks Whyte Laydie, three-finger style without picks.
6 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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10 people like this
Play count: 841
Size: 2,431kb, uploaded 8/19/2010 11:55:41 AM
Genre: Old Time
I first learned this tune at the Clifftop festival in 2009, from Robyn Treatman and Mike Burns, two wonderful fiddlers from Oregon. The I went and forgot most of it, but I learned it again from a bunch of folks at this years Clifftop. I showed it to Don Couchie, who picked it up on fiddle in no time.
4 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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18 people like this
Play count: 1691
Size: 2,097kb, uploaded 5/26/2008 9:07:53 AM
Genre: Old Time
I still think of this as the quintessential old time fiddle tune. I'm picking this on my short scale Paramount, tunes aEAC#E (open G up 2), and Ed is picking his OME, open G up 2. Ragged but mostly right.
4 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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9 people like this
Play count: 250
Size: 2,581kb, uploaded 8/7/2012 7:34:58 PM
Genre: Old Time
I first learned this tune from a Library of Congress recording of the western Virginia fiddler Henry Reed (1884-1968). Reed, who died in 1968 at the age of 83, learned the tune from his neighbor and mentor, Quince Dillon, who had been a fifer during the Mexican War. This recording is from a Clifftop jam with my pal Don Couchie, who is playing the fiddle. I am three finger picking on my short scale, semi-fretless Paramount, tuned aEABE.
5 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
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28 people like this
Play count: 1606
Size: 5,541kb, uploaded 1/30/2012 11:53:31 AM
Genre: Old Time
Ed Britt and I recorded this for the Tune of the Week for 1/27/12. I am three finger picking on my semi-fretless Tubaphone, Ed is playng clawhammer style on his OME. Both of us are in open G tuning.
6 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
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8 people like this
Play count: 294
Size: 1,807kb, uploaded 8/28/2012 10:23:48 AM
Genre: Old Time
This tune comes originally from North Carolina fiddler Martin Marcus (1881-1974), who recorded it for the Library of Congress in the early 40s. The rather obtuse title makes sense once you know that a pig's foot is a blacksmithing tool. Another recording from one of our campsite jams on Geezer Hill. Don Couchie is doing the fiddling, I am three finger picking in open G tuning on my semi-fretless Tubaphone.
1 comment
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
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8 people like this
Play count: 187
Size: 3,029kb, uploaded 6/3/2012 7:16:27 AM
Genre: Old Time
This recording was made in my living room in 1998; we called our trio Wry Whiskey. I'm picking banjo and singing, such as it is. The guitar player was Brian Clancey, who now plays in a duet with fiddler Robin Warren as Spirit Fiddle. Brian is the best back-up guitar player I ever heard, bar none. Here he is fingerpicking; we experimented a lot with the mixing together of finger style banjo and guitar. Tom Speth was the bass player; his knees have given out, and so he doesn't play much music anymore, but we've gone fishing together a few times over the last several years, which is almost as much fun.
6 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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11 people like this
Play count: 678
Size: 1,794kb, uploaded 8/17/2010 9:18:20 AM
Genre: Old Time
Another recording on my Tascam DR-1 from Banjo Hell Road, Geezer Hill, Clifftop, West Virginia, with Don Couchie and Jim Reed. This recording really features Don Couchie, who is clawhammering the heck out of Chip Arnold's 69 Baldwin at breakneck speed. I didn't think this was humanly possible. Awesome playing, Don. Jim and I are playing three-finger style; Jim is on that tremendous 25 ball-bearing of his, and I'm picking my demure little 64 Ode.
1 comment
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
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4 people like this
Play count: 262
Size: 4,328kb, uploaded 2/27/2010 5:14:49 AM
Genre: Old Time
I've uploaded this as part of my contribution to the TOTW for 2/26/10. This is a recording from an outdoor jam session at the 2008 Clifftop festival, made with my little hand held Tascam DR-1. Please forgive the wind noise and static, and the fact that the banjo is just slightly out of tune. Sometimes you just have to do the best you can and jump in with what you got. Ed Britt and I were jamming with Jimmy Costa, who is just an all around terrific musician, and a truly authentic Uncle Dave interpreter. I was playing my Fairbanks Whyte Laydie in Open D tuning.
2 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
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5 people like this
Play count: 237
Size: 1,220kb, uploaded 2/27/2010 5:09:50 AM
Genre: Old Time
I've uploaded this also as part of my contribution to the TOTW for 2/26/10. This is a tape I made around 1985, one of my first experiments in overdubbing. Back then, I played the tune in Standard C tuning (gCGBD), and capoed on the 2nd fret when I wanted to play with a fiddler.
3 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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17 people like this
Play count: 1462
Size: 2,735kb, uploaded 8/7/2009 3:34:57 PM
Genre: Old Time
Another tune from my Clifftop picking with BHO member Don Couchie, who plays just the kind of fiddle playing I like to hear. This was just plain great fun. The Paramount semi-fretless banjo is tuned to open A tuning (aEAC#E).
3 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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7 people like this
Play count: 171
Size: 1,517kb, uploaded 8/27/2011 5:41:25 AM
Genre: Old Time
I've uploaded this as my contribution for the TOTW for 8/26/11. This is a practice recording I made back in the early-80s, playing both the three-finger lead and the frailing style back-up. This was my first experiment with three-finger/clawhammer duets, even before I got together with Ed Britt.
2 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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8 people like this
Play count: 175
Size: 1,728kb, uploaded 9/24/2012 10:59:18 AM
Genre: Old Time
This is another unusual tune from our Geezer Hill jam with Ralph Roberts. Ralph called this tune Sugar Hill, but it doesn't bear any resemblance to the tune I know by that name. It's a sprightly, bouncing little tune that sounds more like a distant cousin to Cripple Creek, one that Ralph fiddles with a lot of playfulness. Don Couchie is playing rhythm guitar, and I am three finger picking in open G tuning.
1 comment
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
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39 people like this
Play count: 1386
Size: 1,787kb, uploaded 3/29/2013 10:55:07 AM
Genre: Old Time
In topics:
TOTW 3/29/13 Sugar Hill
Ed Britt and I recorded this in my living room back in January, 2009. I had just worked this up after listening to a fine version by West Virginia fiddler Jack Krack. Ed is playing clawhammer stytle on his Ome, in double C tuning, capoed on the 2nd fret, I'm three-finger picking on my semi-fretless Vega Tubaphone, in open D tuning.
6 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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8 people like this
Play count: 259
Size: 2,161kb, uploaded 10/28/2011 8:33:17 AM
Genre: Old Time
This is my contribution to the Old Time Tune of the Week for October 28, 2011. This is a recording I made at Clifftop with my pal Don Couchie. Don is on fiddle, leaning on those double stops just the way I like it; I am three-finger picking on my short scale, semi-fretless Paramount, in open A tuning.
3 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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10 people like this
Play count: 592
Size: 1,952kb, uploaded 7/11/2011 2:24:20 PM
Genre: Old Time
A tune preserved from a magical early morning jam I had with Marty Lebenson of Jamaica, New York, at the 2011 Harry Smith Frollic, an old time festival held in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Marty is a master of the harmonica, I've never heard old-time music played on the mouth fiddle with more skill and spirit.
3 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
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6 people like this
Play count: 244
Size: 4,562kb, uploaded 8/6/2012 6:18:16 PM
Genre: Old Time
This great old Melvin Wine tune has some fine nonsense in the chorus, "The old coon’s tail has rings all around, but the possum’s tail is bare." My friend Tim Rowell joined Don Couchie and I for some tunes near the end of Clifftop 2012, and this is one we played. Don is playing fiddle, Tim is clawhammering, and I am picking three finger style.
2 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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29 people like this
Play count: 2473
Size: 3,740kb, uploaded 9/26/2008 5:34:00 AM
Genre: Old Time
This old time tune was composed by California clawhammer picker Curt Bouterse. I learned it from Ed, who is playing his Ome. capoed up 2 in double C tuning. I am using my new Ode, in open D.
12 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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13 people like this
Play count: 1046
Size: 2,243kb, uploaded 7/2/2010 6:56:41 AM
Genre: Old Time
This is my contribution to the TOTW for 6/26/10, just a week late. I am playing my 64 Ode, without fingerpicks. The banjo is tuned gDGAD, capoed on the second fret. I just learned this a few weeks ago from Stephen Bland, a fine fiddle and banjo player from Rochester, New York, at the Black Creek Fiddler's Reunion. I recorded it on my Tascam DR-1.
7 comments
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by Don Borchelt
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11 people like this
Play count: 633
Size: 2,922kb, uploaded 9/4/2012 7:33:24 AM
Genre: Old Time
This tune comes originally from Hazard, Kentucky fiddler Luther Strong (1892-1963), when he was recorded in 1937 for the Library of Congress by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax. This recording is from the Geezer Hill jam session that Don Couchie and I had with Tim Rowell (clawhammertim). Don is playing the fiddle, Tim is playing clawhammer style, I think in double C, capoed on 2, and I am three finger picking in open D tuning, on my semi-fretless Tubaphone.
3 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
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15 people like this
Play count: 595
Size: 1,869kb, uploaded 9/7/2011 10:04:17 AM
Genre: Old Time
In topics:
TOTW for 4/19/2013: West Fork Gals
This is another tune I recorded with fiddler Matt McConeghy, from Providence, Rhode Island, at the Fiddlin' Bear Old-Time Musicians' Gathering at Lake Genero Park, in Hamlin, Pennsylvania over Labor Day weekend. This is a West Virginia fiddle tune that comes from Wilson Douglas, among others. The banjo is tuned to open D.
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
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24 people like this
Play count: 2346
Size: 1,748kb, uploaded 8/30/2009 6:48:17 AM
Genre: Old Time
Another old Wry Whiskey recording, with Brian Clancey on guitar and Tom Speth on bass. This would have been recorded around 1997 or 1998. The banjo is tuned in double C (gCGCD), a tuning that I used a lot more back then than I do now. I gotta do something about that.
9 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
[download]
14 people like this
Play count: 1774
Size: 1,208kb, uploaded 9/26/2009 4:43:40 PM
Genre: Fiddle/Celtic/Irish
My contribution to the BHO "tune of the week" for 9/26/09. This was recorded in 1998 by Wry Whiskey, a trio I was in then with Brian Clancey on guitar and Tom Speth on bass. The banjo is my semi-fretless Paramount, tuned to open D (aDF#AD).
4 comments
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Posted
by Don Borchelt
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17 people like this
Play count: 1585
Size: 2,452kb, uploaded 7/9/2010 4:29:05 AM
Genre: Bluegrass
This is another living room recording from around 1998, with the trio we called Wry Whiskey. I ran across this recording of the old Carter Family/Flatt & Scruggs standard when I was looking for something else. The guitar player is Brian Clancey, and the bass player is Tom Speth. It takes a brave boy to play You Are My Flower on banjo. Okay, I don't exactly sing like Lester, neither.
9 comments
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