RG - Posted - 10/26/2012:  00:12:33

Although one of my favorite things in the banjo world is to jam fiddle tunes all night (and I am blessed to be able to do that weekly with some awesome OT fiddlers & guitarists), I am still a huge fan of those banjo specific songs that are just fun to play; tunes like Oscar Wright's "Let Old Drunkard's Be"; Pete Steele's "Cold Creek March"; Hobart Smith's "Last Chance", Frank Proffitt's "Pretty Crowing Chicken" & of course Gaither Carlton's "Rambling Hobo" ("...it's always been a banjo tune..."), and while I am in no way, shape or form a singer, I find myself playing these tunes (the ones that have lyrics), and singing them...badly (more on that later).

For those who may not know (I'm sure everyone does...this is an OT forum after all), Mr. Clyde Davenport is an honest to God amazing, living, brilliant OT music legend; to me he is one of the most underrated and unrecognized banjo players out there (of course everyone is aware of his mastery of the fiddle...right?  I sure hope so...), and his tune "Polecat's Den" is an absolute masterpiece of solo mountain banjo.  Although polecat's in Europe are ferret related, Mr. Davenport's tune undoubtedly refers to the good ole American polecat...the skunk.  This tune is rhythmically infectious, and a heck of a lot of fun to play, so this is my TOTW offering, a solo banjo tune, single source, no fiddlers companion history, no story or historical reference (although that is a major interest of the music for me, don't get me wrong), just straight Monticello Kentucky style OT clawhammer banjo.  Mr. Davenport was very particular about the use of drop thumb in this tune, and it's a good one to DT to.  It's also a good one to learn by ear.  I play it in gCGCD, start off on the 1st string 3rd fret to the 1st string 2nd fret and them it's all hammer on's, drop thumbs and pull off's on the 2nd fret 1st, 2nd and 3rd strings...except for that 4th string slide and pull off/drop thumb...and watch out for the tune structure...it sounds crooked, but it comes back around, you'll hear that in the sections after the brush stroke...and at this time I would like to officially apologize for my singing (or lack thereof), this is my first recorded vocal and after listening to it more than likely my last... I highly recommend listening to (and seeing) Mr. Davenport play it on Bobby Fulcher's DVD "Shades of Clyde" available from County Sales (and Amazon etc.) to see how this tune should be played and sung...

countysales.com/products.php?p...-Clyde%27

I know of no other source for this tune, nor have I heard of another recorded version.  For what it is worth, Mr. Davenport plays CH, 2 finger, 3 finger and any other way of playing banjo under the sun...his musicianship is astounding and he is truly an American musical treasure (and he is also a decorated WWII veteran).  Mr. Davenport fieldrecorder.com/docs/notes/davenport.htm is one of the last of his kind, a musician who learned tunes from his father and others that date back to before the Civil War...if you are the least bit interested in OT music, well...you need to listen to his tunes and the way he approaches his music.  I've included a mp3 of Clyde playing his version of "Sugar in the Gourd" on fiddle, an awesome tune no doubt, but if you really want to play OT music, please listen to what he says after he plays the tune (starting at the 0:40 mark)...I am in complete agreement with his expressions regarding the way this music should be approached and played...

Anyway, enough talk, here's my version of "Polecat's Den", complete with horrible vocals (if you can figure out the words to the second verse please let me know, I don't warble them here), hope you like this tune and for those of who who may not know about Mr. Clyde Davenport, I hope that you discover, listen to and enjoy this amazing man and his wonderful tunes...happy playing...

I went down to the polecat's den

Never been there before

Feed me out of an old slop jar

And I ain't going back no more

Ain't going back no more

Ain't going back no more

Poor boy, ain't going back no more

Edited by - RG on 10/26/2012 00:26:48

Sugar in the Gourd performed by Clyde Davenport

Polecat's Den

Hunter Robertson - Posted - 10/26/2012:  01:20:12

Clyde Davenport is a great musician. One of the first fiddle tunes that really grabbed me was his "Jenny in the Cotton Patch".

There is another place to get a recording of him playing "Polecat's Den", on Cydeoscope (County). The beginning of the tune reminds me a bit of "Did You Ever See the Devil Uncle Joe".

I like your recording of it, and the vocals sound fine, they just need to be louder! A professor of English, William Strunk, said that "If you don't know how to pronounce a word, say it loud! Why compound ignorance with inaudibility?" I think there's something similar to singing.

Hunter

plunknplinkntwang - Posted - 10/26/2012:  01:57:42

RG as ever you've found an exemplar of OT music and once again with a Live artist that hasn't sacrificed the tunes soul to mammon; that's not an easy task most of the good ones seem to be dead!

Good choice of tune, your analysis is really insightfull, I hadn't considered the similarity of style between Clyde Davenport & Frank Proffitt before, but they do sit very well together. 

Your playing as ever was without fault and your vocals are too; the two are supposed to be supportively intertwined. Personally, my feeling is that there's a fine line in traditional/folk music where there is a balance between feeling real & feeling synthetic; there are many modern representations that IMHO feel synthetic. Meaning that the artist has erred towards technical excellence or self promotion at the tunes expense. Possibly this is what Clyde Davenport was conveying through his comments.

My introduction to Mr Davenports music was through an out of reproduction collection of Clyde Davenports fiddle & banjo music titled 'Cydeoscope' Polecat's den is one of the tracks on this album also there's a lot of material in repository on the Digital Library of Appalachia, try this link

dla.acaweb.org/cdm/search/searchterm/clyde%20davenport/mode/all/order/nosort/page/1

Back to Polecat's Den the second verse lyrics [to my ear] are

Sixteen years Holy,

Sixty more to come

(I) Ain't no more a married man, than I was before it begun,

than I was before it begun,

than I was before it begun, oh boy

than I was before it begun

regards

Chris

RG - Posted - 10/26/2012:  07:21:49

Thanks Hunter & Chris, and thanks for pointing out "Clydeosocpe", the out of print County album (which you can readily find available for download if you search the internet enough)...in addition to the DLA link that Chris provided, there are also in print CD's from the Field Recorders Collective and County Sales (2 great CD's featuring Clyde playing banjo behind the fiddling of W.L. Gregory), OT compilations featuring Mr. Davenport, as well as LOTS of field recordings...you can never have enough Clyde if you're into OT... 

Hunter, you're right on, I play "Jenny in the Cotton Patch" as much as I can on the fiddle (as well as about a dozen more Clyde fiddle tunes that I learned from David Bragger)...it's a great tune!

Part of the fun of this music (to me anyway) is the search for it...I have become quite addicted to ferreting out (another polecat reference) the large body of field recordings that exist out there and discovering the hidden gems of OT music that make it so interesting...to quote Mulder (or was it Scully)...."the truth is out there"...if you put in a little detective work, you'll be highly rewarded...

Chris, I like your take on the second verse, it sounds close, I always thought it started out as "Sixteen years of marriage..." and then kind  followed what you hear...it will be interesting to see what other folks hear in this regard..we might collectively solve the mystery together...and your statement is very insightful...

"Personally, my feeling is that there's a fine line in traditional/folk music where there is a balance between feeling real & feeling synthetic; there are many modern representations that IMHO feel synthetic. Meaning that the artist has erred towards technical excellence or self promotion at the tunes expense. Possibly this is what Clyde Davenport was conveying through his comments."

I feel this way about a lot of the "modern" OT groups and musicians out there today....it's just not what the older folks would recognize as "OT"...and that's not a "bad" or negative thing in any regard...but given a choice, I'll go with the "old OT" vs. the "new OT" approach anytime...

Edited by - RG on 10/26/2012 07:35:52

ScottK - Posted - 10/26/2012:  09:30:58

Great TOTW choice and great picking, RG! 

Thanks for that pointer to "Shades of Clyde; I just ordered it.  You're probably aware that the Field Recorders Collective also has a Clyde Davenport DVD (FRC 1004).    I have that one and really enjoy it.  Clyde and his music are pretty popular up here in the northwest, partly due to his visiting Fiddle Tunes in years past.  Unfortunately, that was before I discovered Fiddle Tunes.  I think I first got exposed to Clyde's music when I attended a clawhammer banjo workshop at Dusty Strings in Seattle where Candy Goldman led a session devoted to tunes Clyde plays.  I got hooked on "Jenny in the Cotton Patch" right away.

As an aside, I put up a bunch of young musicians at my place during the Portland Old Time Music Gathering this year.  There was great music going on pretty much 18x5.  (Folk stayed for about five days and took time out to sleep from about 6am-11am each day.  :-)   About a month after the Gathering I received a home-made thank-you gift from some of them:

The enclosed note said that it's a Clyde Davenport action figure.  :-)

Cheers, Scott

blockader - Posted - 10/26/2012:  10:18:30

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hunter Robertson

Clyde Davenport is a great musician. One of the first fiddle tunes that really grabbed me was his "Jenny in the Cotton Patch".

There is another place to get a recording of him playing "Polecat's Den", on Cydeoscope (County). The beginning of the tune reminds me a bit of "Did You Ever See the Devil Uncle Joe".

Hunter

---

i learned a lot from the Clyde Davenport field recorder's collective page you linked to, very interesting. i haven't encountered a lot of those tunes down here, hopefully i do eventually. gotta agree with Hunter that the first phrase is pretty similar to "Did You Ever See the Devil Uncle Joe," although in Georgia i've mostly heard it called "Did You Ever Go To Meeting Uncle Joe" or "Hop High Ladies."

Great rendition, RG, need to holler those words out though!

-Justin

RG - Posted - 10/26/2012:  11:44:58

Scott-that picture cracked me up...awesome!  I want a Clyde Davenport action figure!  The Gathering sounds like a big time, always like your posts regarding it, I've got to get up there for that one of these days...

Blockader-Dan Gellert makes a very convincing argument that the minstrel tune "It'll Never Do To Give It Up So" by Dan Emmett is the source for the "Did You Ever See the Devil Uncle Joe" family of tunes, the name becoming fractured along the way.  If you ever get a chance to see Dan, he usually will play this song and you can see the obvious similarities between the two, pretty cool..."Polecat's Den" does sound very similar in the beginning.  Regarding my voice, it's pretty loud usually (as my friends will readily attest to), I recorded the tune on my Zoom and was surprised at how loud my banjo was and my voice wasn't...but I was too lazy to re-record it. 

Thanks for the kind comments...

Mtngoat - Posted - 10/26/2012:  14:35:11

I've always considered this to be a version of the eastern Kentucky tune "Hawks Got a Chicken and Gone", with a few of Clyde's trademark touches of course. 

Grandpa Jones, also a Kentucky boy, recorded this similar tune in 1951 Jenny Get Your Hoe Cake Done .

Edited by - Mtngoat on 10/26/2012 14:50:41

Gadaya - Posted - 10/28/2012:  11:00:10

Here's the link for Clyde's lp "Clydeoscope" on my blog "Cornbread Molasses and sassafras tea" :longplayingrecords.wordpress.c...it=Search where you can hear "Polecat's Den" and other great tunes on the fiddle and banjo.

To me, the melody of "Polecat's Den" sounds very similar to another great banjo tune called "Down the river I go" as played by The Double Decker String Band.

Clyde is also one of my favorite old-time fiddler and banjo player. I saw on Facebook that he celebrated recently his 91th birthday on stage and played fine.

MrManners - Posted - 10/29/2012:  04:40:41

cdm15131.contentdm.oclc.org/cd...uppress/0

this site has some of Clyde's playing,i actually try his Flatwoods 3 finger,it seems to not be the same as other flatwoods

RG - Posted - 10/29/2012:  11:39:55

Yes Tom, Clyde's "Flatwoods" is a different tune, he starts that off on the fiddle with a 5 note downbow slur followed by a 3 note upbow slur...Clyde the Glide indeed!  "Flatwoods" is another unique tune that he learned from his father Will...thanks for sharing that link...

And thanks Gael for sharing your link to Clydeoscope...anyone who loves OT music should have that album in their collection...

Edited by - RG on 10/29/2012 11:42:35

JanetB - Posted - 10/29/2012:  20:27:24

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gadaya

Here's the link for Clyde's lp "Clydeoscope" on my blog "Cornbread Molasses and sassafras tea" :longplayingrecords.wordpress.c...it=Search where you can hear "Polecat's Den" and other great tunes on the fiddle and banjo. 

---

 Thanks much.  I was able to download the entire album and can now listen to Clyde Davenport.  Great TOTW and information!

plunknplinkntwang - Posted - 10/31/2012:  20:51:48

This comment is in no way any critique of RG's singing!  But I'm simply not convinced that vocals always need to be prominently loud and possessive of clarity; there's interplay between the two rhythmic sounds that adds another texture to a lot of tunes.  Often in OT music the words themselves seem to be meaningless or tangential and are inserted into phrases just because they fit and have an interesting phonetic cadence.  Amplifying these phrases can leave the listener looking for a story or an ending that has either been lost or probably never existed which detracts from the simple beauty of the [for the lack of descriptive ability] "just because it is".   IMHO this style of lyric is a wonderful display that exposes some of the Banjo's multicultural heritage; phrases are mixed with music simply because they make a pleasing sound by peoples adapting to and adopting new cultural flavours.

regards

Chris