ndlxs - Posted - 04/23/2010:  08:55:36

The tune of the week is Tater Patch. I probably learned it from my vinyl copy of Charlie Lowe playing it on the County Records trilogy Clawhammer Banjo. This has been re-released on CD after being out of print for many years and the entire set of 3 CDs should be considered a must buy.

It is a fairly simple but hypnotic tune in A in sawmill tuning. The fiddlers companion quotes Tommy Jarrell telling this to Mike Seeger:

***
There was a fellow by the name of Ike Leonard...he was a working
in the potato patch and this tune come in his mind. And he just
throwed down what ever he was a doing and went to the house
and got his banjo and played it. It must have happened about
1910...before 1920. I got it through (his uncle) Charlie Barnett
Lowe...along in the '20's. Charlie Barnett's brother married Ike
Leonard's widow so I got the straight story to 'The Tater Patch
Tune'...the way it was told to me now.
***

I guess that all makes sense. If he had been cleaning out the garbage can or mowing the lawn, I guess it would have a different name.

I play it with my band Off to California. We pair it with Kitchen Girl as a tribute to the hard-working women who ran the boarding houses up in the mines during the gold rush. You can hear a stinket of it here (a stinket is a small bite size piece of something):
cdbaby.com/cd/offtocalifornia

The only thing we do different that I don't think anyone else does is that we make the second part crooked by only doing the melodic figure three times, rather than the four times one normally would play.

You can also get my tab for both tunes here:
pineycreekweasels.net/off/musi...ngirl.tef

I have recordings of Highwoods Stringband playing it, Mark Graham and Tom Sauber, Mt Diablo String Band (hi Carl!), Reed Martin, Rick Sims (hi Rick!), and many others.

Youtube has a lot of good versions too: listen to Hunter Robinson's great grumbly six string, Cathy Fink of course, and a version with accordion and bass by Prison Love.

omiimii - Posted - 04/23/2010:  10:07:56

Of course someone needs to mention the incredible version of Tater Patch played by Hunter Robertson on his six string banjo (not a banjo guitar it has five strings and the short drone). His playing of it is phenomenal! I've learned a bit of the beginning and will try to learn the rest of the tune before this week is over.

Here's the link to Hunter's version:
youtube.com/watch?v=PZM25znqzmY

J-Walk - Posted - 04/23/2010:  19:46:08

Weird... there seems to be two Tunes o' The Week this week.

So I'll chime in here (since I''m not at all familiar with the other ToTW).

Coincidentally, last night I played Tater Patch for the first time with other people. Simple little tune, but that B part makes it all worthwhile.

Andy, I downloaded your recording from Amazon and I really like it. Why do you play it in sawmill tuning? Is it just because it's part of a medley with Kitchen Girl? As far as I can tell, it works fine in standard A tuning.

banjo_brad - Posted - 04/23/2010:  21:33:31

I play it in sawmill, myself. It fits right in as a great medley with "Sally In The Garden," which I also learned in sawmill. I call my version "Sally In The Tater Patch." This was recorded several years ago when I was still pretty much learning to play the banjo.

Tater Patch is stuck in the middle of the tune.

I find it easier to play out of sawmill because it puts most of the fretting on the same fret up and down the strings, also you get a nice modal sound with the strums.

ndlxs - Posted - 04/24/2010:  06:59:48

It's a Tune of the Week Twofer! As I understand, banjoJudy's master list got trashed so I think the lines got crossed.

It's true, Tater Patch does work fine in Standard tuning, and I do it that way sometimes. Sawmill is good for the medley for Chicken Girl...oops, I mean Kitchen Girl. (I think I will name one of my originals Chicken Girl!)

Come to think of it, one good tuning for it would be the one I do Falls of Richmond in:
aEAAE.

JWalk, I enjoy youg blog and your wit.

Hunter Robertson - Posted - 04/25/2010:  16:34:25

Great tune! (And thanks for the enthusiasm Omiimii!) There's another Youtube video with Ray Alden on banjo: youtube.com/watch?v=7-QTxamHwY...e=related

There's a recording on Legacy of Tommy Jarrell Vol. 4 too, Tommy playing fiddle.

Hunter

BANJOJUDY - Posted - 04/27/2010:  08:01:31

Thanks for the twofer this week. I appreciate getting 2 tunes - but now I have to learn them, and where does the time go?

I did have a little crash - and the one file that had the banjo names on them was munged a bit - so there was an error, after all.

We all gained by my loss, though, and I still need volunteers - always need them - step up to the plate and email me at inquiry@siliconheights.com for a date - PLEASE!