UncleClawhammer - Posted - 12/28/2014:  19:09:16

Before I start this topic proper, I realize that Grandpa Jones is not everyone's cup of tea. I respect this. However, I feel that his music is rooted firmly in the old-time music tradition and would like to discuss it.

Old-time music is, at bottom, a home music, and not really intended for the stage. As such, sometimes old-time banjo isn't that great for stage work or entertainments if we consider the ordinary listener. Probably the most common old-time way to accompany a song on the banjo is to play the melody as you go along. Sometimes, this gets a little distracting, a little boring, or both. BUT it is usually incredibly boring to just chuck out chords on the banjo during the vocal.

This is one of the things that I admire so much about Grandpa Jones' playing; during his singing he's pretty much just chording, but it never becomes boring or monotonous the way it seems to when I'm just playing chords. So I want to ask the Hangout: how do you think he achieves this? It's something I've never been able to master. Players that sound similar to me are Ola Belle Reed or of course Stringbean.

Edited by - UncleClawhammer on 12/28/2014 19:13:36

Big Doug - Posted - 12/28/2014:  19:57:44

I love Grandpa Jones and Stringbean style playing. It sounded good to me. I just heard them on T.V. I don't know if that is what you call on stage or not?

Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 12/28/2014:  20:32:35

I'm not an admirer of the Grandpa Jones/String Bean approach to comedy - but that having been said, I would have to disagree with your premise about Grandpa Jones just chunking chords. I just picked out one video (at random) and what I see is a terrific sense of timing, and a whole lot of variety in his playing, even with the limited pallet of tools that he uses. There are stops and starts, driving (really driving) rhythms, little flourishes like well placed slides, foot stomping, really up front singing, elementary but snappy soloing - there's plenty going on to hold your interest here:

UncleClawhammer - Posted - 12/28/2014:  20:36:37

That's pretty much what I was saying, Marc. I wasn't accusing him of "just chucking chords"; he's chording, but it's never monotonous or boring. He's one of my favorites. I'm wondering if my original post isn't clear enough...

Sadly all most people seem to remember is the comedy; I think Grandpa had some genuinely funny bits and I even use a few of them in my own act but the Hee Haw show was never very funny and you never got to see him doing what he could really do on there.

Edited by - UncleClawhammer on 12/28/2014 20:40:22

bornold - Posted - 12/28/2014:  20:38:37

Grandpa Jones was a great player and I thoroughly enjoy his music. I think the enthusiasm he put's into is basic techniques really makes the tune shine. Also, his way of playing probably sounds good because he has a whole band behind him.

Regardless, who can possible resist not loving this song:

youtube.com/watch?v=HpKgWc7cwp0

Blackjaxe47 - Posted - 12/28/2014:  21:27:26

I totally agree with Bornold, he could have played the Spoons and the song would have lost nothing, his enthusiasm he put into the song is what made whatever he sang sound great....truly a gifted stage performer.

pastorharry - Posted - 12/28/2014:  21:40:41

I would have to at this point ask, What is wrong with comedy?,or even specifically Grandpa's comedy?Alot of comedy falls flat on TV, including Hee Haw's version of "Country Corn", but alot of it is very funny, much has roots in Vaudeville where you had to be funny to hold the crowd. Folks from the country loved Hee Haw, folks from the city never did get it. It is simply spoofing a wonderfully simple way of life. I say 3 cheers for comedy.BTW; I listen to grandpa Jones and I'm not afraid to admit it in public. 

UncleClawhammer - Posted - 12/28/2014:  22:02:58

quote:

---

Originally posted by pastorharry

I would have to at this point ask, What is wrong with comedy?,or even specifically Grandpa's comedy?Alot of comedy falls flat on TV, including Hee Haw's version of "Country Corn", but alot of it is very funny, much has roots in Vaudeville where you had to be funny to hold the crowd. Folks from the country loved Hee Haw, folks from the city never did get it. It is simply spoofing a wonderfully simple way of life. I say 3 cheers for comedy.BTW; I listen to grandpa Jones and I'm not afraid to admit it in public. 

---

This is a can of worms I was trying not to open. Believe me, I have nothing against comedy. Grandpa Jones had some very funny bits in his act and some not so funny bits in his act, but his playing interests me more than his comedy ever will. If it hadn't been for Grandpa Jones and Pete Seeger, I wouldn't be playing the banjo. The comedic aspects of old-time banjo playing go way back and are for me epitomized in Uncle Dave Macon, who of course was a much better musician than either Grandpa or Stringbean but they owe a lot of their stage presence to him.

Hee Haw and I have a love/hate relationship that I won't go into. Pastor Harry, you might be interested in 'Pa's autobiography, Everbody's Grandpa. He talks quite a bit about how he develops the bits that he used in one chapter. Good read.

Edited by - UncleClawhammer on 12/28/2014 22:05:50

Brooklynbanjoboy - Posted - 12/29/2014:  02:43:20

I’ve had several recent conversations with Dwight Diller on his first forays into banjo playing in the late 1960s.  In 1968 Dwight sought out Hamp Carpenter in Pocahontas County, West Virginia.  In those days Hamp played an old Gretsch banjo, an open back.  The first tune he played for Dwight was “Old Rattler,” a tune that resonated with Dwight from the first time he heard the old time country and gospel music singer Louis Marshall “Grandpa” Jones sing and play a rendition of it sometime between 1967 and the summer of 1968, for a Trail Blazer Dog Food advertisement:

lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/0027...0276.html

and

fayfare.blogspot.com/2013/04/m...ghts.html

Dwight remembered Grandpa Jones as having played a robust down picking style, and he remembered just how that little commercial had grabbed him:

"I didn’t have access to any music.I had seen Grandpa Jones playing “Here, Rattler” for a dog food commercial. I instantly knew that’s what I wanted, even though I’d never heard any [of this banjo style] growing up.All I had heard was three finger bluegrass style on the juke box in the beer joint.It was like my spirit, not my mind but my spirit, leapt inside of me the instant I heard Grandpa Jones.My spirit knew that that’s who I was.It wouldn’t have mattered what the tune was, it was the way he played it.If you listen close to my playing you’ll hear that [way] that Grandpa Jones played.Grandpa Jones, his style, his approach brought me to the point where I found life."

Dwight hadn’t asked Hamp Carpenter to start off with the tune "Old Rattler".  It just happened that way, and it just happened to be a tune that had such a strong impact on Dwight. 

charliea - Posted - 12/29/2014:  02:46:04

Grandpa Jones was a player/singer/comedian.  The instrument was just a part of his package.  His intent (I believe) was not to be a virtuoso player, operatic singer or world-class standup comedian, rather to offer a balanced act that suited both his skills and his venue.  The fact that his act was successful for many, many years attests to its appeal.    A lot of guys only play the banjo, without singing or other embellishments.  To them, the instrumental is the point.  As you add vocals, storytelling, comedy or whatever, the banjo's part diminishes.  He was, by the way, an accomplished down-picker with a really effective dropped thumb.  Had a strong rhythm.  I certainly wouldn't have tried to correct his playing, or tell him how to improve it.   

Blackjaxe47 - Posted - 12/29/2014:  07:57:37

I was around 13 years old when I first heard Earl Scruggs on Banjo, I am now 67..... my father had received a Xmas gift of Flatt & Scruggs LP .... I was hooked right then and there. So for myself personally it was about the instrument. Do not misunderstand me, I respect Grand Pa Jones and the drive he was able to put out with his singing and playing but the comedy aspect of both HeeHaw and Stringbean made city folks think Banjo Players were all country bumpkins and redneck hicks......the movie "Deliverance" reinforced that thinking. I absolutely refuse to play Dueling Banjo's because of that movie even though I can play it not to badly.....I have worked hard at trying to play this instrument and never want to bet dragged into what some think is the realm of clowns and mentally challenged people.....this is my OWN OPINION

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 12/29/2014:  09:51:13

I saw Granpa Jones and Stringbean on tv a few times when I was a kid.

If I didn't have access to my mother's Pete Seeger records I would not have anything to do with the banjo today.

But then I have always found clowns kinda creepy. And I don't appreciate city people making fun of rural people. G Jones, Stringbean, The Beverly Hillbillies - all were the equivalent of blackface so far as I was concerned. 

Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 12/29/2014:  10:45:13

quote:

---

Originally posted by oldwoodchuckb

I saw Granpa Jones and Stringbean on tv a few times when I was a kid.

If I didn't have access to my mother's Pete Seeger records I would not have anything to do with the banjo today.

But then I have always found clowns kinda creepy. And I don't appreciate city people making fun of rural people. G Jones, Stringbean, The Beverly Hillbillies - all were the equivalent of blackface so far as I was concerned. 

---

I should probably just leave this alone - but foolishly I step in to point out that this thread is about what's good about Grandpa Jones' music, and not about what's bad about his comedy. I think those of us (myself included) that don't like his comedy have made that abundantly clear in enough other threads that we should refrain from turning this thread into one that bashes Grandpa Jones, and let people discuss what they like about his music.

twelvefret - Posted - 12/29/2014:  14:44:09

quote:

---

Originally posted by oldwoodchuckb

I saw Granpa Jones and Stringbean on tv a few times when I was a kid.

If I didn't have access to my mother's Pete Seeger records I would not have anything to do with the banjo today.

But then I have always found clowns kinda creepy. And I don't appreciate city people making fun of rural people. G Jones, Stringbean, The Beverly Hillbillies - all were the equivalent of blackface so far as I was concerned. 

---

I never cared for Seeger or his music, but I do appreciate his contributions in keeping some musical genres in the public attention.

Jones and Stringbean are no different that Uncle Dave, the Skillet Lickers, or a lot of what was recorded and considered today to be "old time" . Once people stopped dancing, you had to get their attention.

The reason rural people liked Jones and SB was because they could relate. Archie Campbell and the others were from the area just like the rest of us. When they told a joke about rural life, we knew they had had the experience. In other words, if you've ever lived in a trailer like I have, you can talk about trailer trash and get by with it.  That's why people love Dolly Parton. She is exactly what she is and doesn't mind to let you know.

When Seeger tried to look country/OT he just couldn't pull it off. He was Northern elite through and through.

Bufo Bill - Posted - 12/29/2014:  14:55:57

To give an outsiders view: here in England we have our own Mason Dixon line although it is perhaps more notional than historical. It is the North/South Divide, a political economic and even philosophical difference between the rich highly populated South and the more industrial "working class" (or blue collar) population. In the same period as Grandpa Jones was making a name with his banjo and comedy, in the UK we had a ukulele player, actor, and entertainer called George Formby. He was a huge star and made appearances on stage and Silver screen. His comedy is all about being a good hearted but naive northerner ( but very subversively so) but his character loves nothing more than playing the ukulele. And what a player he was! Look him up and you will see a virtuoso at his craft. Today a whole generation of uke players find his playing inspiring, he was one of the best, maybe the very best. But his humour is mostly out of date to many Britons. See any parallels here? Some still love his humour but long after his death his playing is remembered.

Whatever you think of Grandpa's act (good fun? Twee? Racist?) he was a man of his time and did not intend to belittle the people he imitated. Above all his music is what will be remembered ultimately, long after his humour and his acting pale into the background.

I had a book of jokes from ancient Rome some made me laugh, some I didn't even understand. Humour will last or fade, but the cream always comes up to the top of the churn.

All the best from Bill. :D

Edited by - Bufo Bill on 12/29/2014 14:57:56

Shmockiebaby - Posted - 12/29/2014:  15:05:02

Well put, Bill. Great comparison too.

Ron Stanfield - Posted - 12/29/2014:  15:24:43

Grandpa Jones, Stringbean, Uncle Dave Macon, ...these folks in particular were entertainers. Banjo playing was their passion. They would play anytime, anywhere, for anybody. They knew how to project and don't recall of anyone telling them how that should play. Grandpa Jones played like Grandpa Jones.

ancient tones - Posted - 12/29/2014:  15:28:23

Grandpa Jones had a lot of enthusiasm and enthusiasm goes a long way in enhancing many endeavors.

pastorharry - Posted - 12/29/2014:  15:30:27

quote:

---

Originally posted by oldwoodchuckb

 

 And I don't appreciate city people making fun of rural people. G Jones, Stringbean, The Beverly Hillbillies - all were the equivalent of blackface so far as I was concerned.

I don't understand this logic.String, Grandpa, (and Earl & Lester), were as rural as they come. As has been mentioned, a hillbilly can call someone else a hillbilly and it's fine, but when a city slicker uses the term it comes off as derogatory.

Hee Haw and the Beverly Hillbillys spoofed a culture using it's own people and customs , blackface spoofed a race of people by a different people group altogether ..quite a difference.

Supertone - Posted - 12/29/2014:  17:27:58

Jones was much more than a "clown".

Add Everybody's Grandpa: Fifty Years Behind The Mike to your 2015 Old Time Music reading list.

amazon.com/Everybodys-Grandpa-...870494392

Since you mentioned blackface, which is much more important, interesting and complicated than many realize (or than you insinuate), I'd suggest Doug Seroff and Lynn Abbot's Ragged But Right as # 2 for your 2015 Old Time Music reading list.

amazon.com/Ragged-but-Right-Tr...y_b_img_y

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by oldwoodchuckb

I saw Granpa Jones and Stringbean on tv a few times when I was a kid.

If I didn't have access to my mother's Pete Seeger records I would not have anything to do with the banjo today.

But then I have always found clowns kinda creepy. And I don't appreciate city people making fun of rural people. G Jones, Stringbean, The Beverly Hillbillies - all were the equivalent of blackface so far as I was concerned. 

---

Edited by - Supertone on 12/29/2014 17:33:55

chip arnold - Posted - 12/29/2014:  18:12:04

"When Seeger tried to look country/OT he just couldn't pull it off. He was Northern elite through and through."

Complete and utter B.S.

We each have our loads to carry and Pete Seeger carried his through thick and thin. It is not a requirement of genuineness that one has lived in a trailer. 

Edited by - chip arnold on 12/29/2014 18:17:21

Lew H - Posted - 12/29/2014:  19:00:27

What Jones did on banjo, he did very well, with impeccable tone and timing.  He often did an call-and response between his voice and the banjo, singing "Dibby, dibby-do." or some such thing mimicking a drop thumb melody line.  He played enough melody for it to be recognizable, but not flashy.  He mixed chords and single notes in playing tunes or turn-arounds. The visual aspect of his presentation was flashy.  His right hand came far up off the strings between bum-dittys in a very exaggerated, theatrical way. .All of these things made his performances on banjo more interesting.  I  tried for a while to mimic his right hand style, but decided just to try to play in time  and to hit the right notes instead--for I lost a lot of precision with the exaggerated right hand motion. 

I saw Jones do a concert in Arkansas  in about 1963 when I was first trying to learn banjo but was clueless..  I talked to him after the show, asking about how to learn to play banjo.  He said that he had an instruction book but brought no copies with him. I bought his songbook instead since he brought copies along. Unfortunately, I never did get hold of his instruction book.  If anyone in BHO has it, that could have some useful info for this forum.

UncleClawhammer - Posted - 12/29/2014:  19:04:38

I guess I should have known better than to think we could have some reasonable discussion of a musician's technique without it degenerating into this one smearing Grandpa and that one smearing Pete. This is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to avoid with my first post. Suffice it to say I think people from the country are allowed to decide what they find offensive their own selves - we don't all have to like the same things - and that Pete Seeger could be accused of a lot of things but never elitism, or trying to "look/act country."

Lew, the book is available from Mel Bay both in its original form (I think) and in an updated version overhauled by Grandpa's son, Mark, who also teaches, and apparently teaches well. The book is not very useful. Cathy Barton Para used to do a workshop on 'Pa's style. I wish I knew of some way to contact her.

Edited by - UncleClawhammer on 12/29/2014 19:09:22

twelvefret - Posted - 12/29/2014:  19:25:17

quote:

---

Originally posted by UncleClawhammer

I guess I should have known better than to think we could have some reasonable discussion of a musician's technique without it degenerating into this one smearing Grandpa and that one smearing Pete. This is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to avoid with my first post. Suffice it to say I think people from the country are allowed to decide what they find offensive their own selves - we don't all have to like the same things - and that Pete Seeger could be accused of a lot of things but never elitism, or trying to "look/act country."

Lew, the book is available from Mel Bay both in its original form (I think) and in an updated version overhauled by Grandpa's son, Mark, who also teaches, and apparently teaches well. The book is not very useful. Cathy Barton Para used to do a workshop on 'Pa's style. I wish I knew of some way to contact her.

---

I think you started out well, but when know it alls make inaccurate comparisons, negative depictions,  and then introduce others who were not a part of the culture as their mentors, as the OP , you need to be informed of the history accurately. Mr. Seeger had no reason to have ever been mentioned. While he is much beloved by many, he had nothing to do with your thread.

kingglen33 - Posted - 12/29/2014:  20:20:42

Just please remember what we call comedy these days differs a lot from fourth years ago.

banjopogo - Posted - 12/29/2014:  20:47:56

quote:

---

Originally posted by UncleClawhammer

quote:

---

Originally posted by pastorharry

I would have to at this point ask, What is wrong with comedy?,or even specifically Grandpa's comedy?Alot of comedy falls flat on TV, including Hee Haw's version of "Country Corn", but alot of it is very funny, much has roots in Vaudeville where you had to be funny to hold the crowd. Folks from the country loved Hee Haw, folks from the city never did get it. It is simply spoofing a wonderfully simple way of life. I say 3 cheers for comedy.BTW; I listen to grandpa Jones and I'm not afraid to admit it in public. 

---

This is a can of worms I was trying not to open. Believe me, I have nothing against comedy. Grandpa Jones had some very funny bits in his act and some not so funny bits in his act, but his playing interests me more than his comedy ever will. If it hadn't been for Grandpa Jones and Pete Seeger, I wouldn't be playing the banjo. The comedic aspects of old-time banjo playing go way back and are for me epitomized in Uncle Dave Macon, who of course was a much better musician than either Grandpa or Stringbean but they owe a lot of their stage presence to him.

Hee Haw and I have a love/hate relationship that I won't go into. Pastor Harry, you might be interested in 'Pa's autobiography, Everbody's Grandpa. He talks quite a bit about how he develops the bits that he used in one chapter. Good read.

---

I'm glad you mentioned Uncle Dave Macon.... really what Grandpa Jones was doing was riding on Dave Macon's legacy and extending it for another generation.

It's ROOTED in the tradition perhaps, but there IS a performance orientation there that owes more to minstrel playing.  It's intended to evoke memories of back porch banjo pickin' while at the same time being more flashy, dramatic, and entertaining than most back porch banjo pickin'.

I'm also glad you are familiar with Pete Seeger's banjo playing- I think he was also heavily influenced by Uncle Dave Macon early on, and felt that that style was something he could adapt for what he wanted to do.   In terms of who they were and the audiences they were aiming for, they could hardly be more different, but in terms of banjo style, they were close kin.

I agree it would be good if it were possible to just consider Pete Seeger as a banjo player apart from everything else.  I don't know if that's possible.  He was not afraid of taking controversial stands, and the controversy follows him even now.

However I do know a banjo player from the mountains who liked Pete Seeger's PLAYING enough that he attended Seeger concerts and got inspired to take up banjo in his 30's (he'd played other instruments as a boy)... even though Seeger and he couldn't have been farther apart as far as views on topics that could get this thread locked.  So SOME PEOPLE CAN separate the two!!!  I'm pretty sure he views Seeger's banjo playing as being essentially mountain banjo playing.

Edited by - banjopogo on 12/29/2014 21:03:06

Bufo Bill - Posted - 12/30/2014:  07:46:48

To go back to the points raised by the OP, I think what makes grandpa's playing so special lies in that right arm of his as a poster above says. The fabulously meticulous action on the frail makes his playing sound dead right and his precision is what makes the whole thing carry you along. Grandpas ending lick is always the same sort of notes but it always takes my breath away.
It's all about that driving rhythm, it's the element of the music that makes us dance, whether listening to Fred Cockerham and Kyle Creed or Sun-Ra.
All the best from Bill. :D

RatLer - Posted - 12/30/2014:  08:04:42

Grandpa Jones and a very close old friend, whose arthritic hands were far beyond being able to play anymore, were my first introductions into clawhammer style. The song my friend taught me was "Old Rattler"....he played in C-tuning with a drop-thumb style....he did the best he could with his stiff fingers....but I got the jist of it, along with listening to "Grandpa". I've always loved the 'drive' that Grandpa put into his banjo pickin'. The timing, the brushes, just everything he puts into it....well, that's just Grandpa, and he certainly caught my attention way back when...!!!

Edited by - RatLer on 12/30/2014 08:10:19

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 12/30/2014:  08:08:38

Granpa Jones and Stringbean may have been reaised in the rural south but they settled into the Nashville scene and Grand Old Opry where rural accents and a denigrading of rural-intelligence was the basis of the humour. Uncle Dave Macon never lampooned his life - in fact he celebrated it, while Stringbean and Jones simply took the City version of rural people (dumb hicks from out in the sticks) and turned it into their personas.

This is little different from the Minstrel Show mentality, and indeed many people who actually were black participated in that vile slur on their own race.

Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 12/30/2014:  10:52:46

quote:

---

Originally posted by oldwoodchuckb

Granpa Jones and Stringbean may have been reaised in the rural south but they settled into the Nashville scene and Grand Old Opry where rural accents and a denigrading of rural-intelligence was the basis of the humour. Uncle Dave Macon never lampooned his life - in fact he celebrated it, while Stringbean and Jones simply took the City version of rural people (dumb hicks from out in the sticks) and turned it into their personas.

This is little different from the Minstrel Show mentality, and indeed many people who actually were black participated in that vile slur on their own race.

---

Off topic posts, that keep reiterating your own off-topic point of view on a subject that the original poster has very explicitly said he was trying to avoid having side-track his thread, are really the classic definition of "trolling". It would be ever so nice if you would stop trolling this thread.

charliea - Posted - 12/30/2014:  12:41:55

I just wish I could do  "Are You from Dixie" as well as he could youtube.com/watch?v=z7qnUtqKsP4 .

OldPappy - Posted - 12/30/2014:  12:49:28

I grew up in the rural South and when I was a kid everyone I knew watched the "Opry", and Grandpa Jones was a clear favorite, both for his comedy and his music, but mostly his music.

I remember hearing my grandparents talk about how they liked the old time banjo playing he did a lot better than the "new" kind of banjo playing of folks like Earl Scruggs. They said it was something you could dance to.

"Style" is certainly the appropriate word when talking about Grandpa Jones, for he sure had some style.

All this nonsense about his stage persona, or that of Dave Akeman (Stringbean), being offensive is pure hogwash.

The people who made up their primary audience were mostly rural, and most of us, despite the stereotypes, are indeed smart enough to see it for what it really was.

What it really was is called "entertainment", and those ole boys were damn good at it.

UncleClawhammer - Posted - 12/30/2014:  13:18:22

quote:

---

Originally posted by charliea

I just wish I could do  "Are You from Dixie" as well as he could youtube.com/watch?v=z7qnUtqKsP4 .

---

He's playing that one in D. I've only ever heard him play banjo in two keys - A and D. He uses regular G tuning tuned up to A most of the time but for a tune in D he'd lower the bass string, so it's standard C tuned up a whole key - gCGBD becomes aDAC#E. I heard one banjo player on some TV show play a tune in sawmill that he said Grandpa had taught him, but I have never heard 'Pa play a song in sawmill tuning.

Joel Hooks - Posted - 12/30/2014:  17:47:05

I second the notion to read Grandpa Jones' book.  I got a copy used cheap.  It is ghost written and he actually discusses the process in the intro.  He did write some of it.  He also provided his scrap books and journals.  He wrote that he narrated a lot of it on tape too (if I remember correctly).

He gave a pretty detailed account about the banjos he used and how he got them.

It is short, but I really enjoyed reading it.  He kept good records of his career and tells many a funny story.

Say what you will about him but he made a good living on stage and that takes a lot of work.  His stage work had tons of pep and his playing was clearly crafted for stage.  He played loud and hard.  He also comes off as a decent fellow.

I've read (and heard) that when playing "clawhammer" (or whatever he called it) he wore two Hawaiian guitar picks backwards on his first and second fingers and struck with them in unison.  Leroy Troy does this too as he has said in interviews. 

UncleClawhammer - Posted - 12/30/2014:  19:20:37

quote:

---

Originally posted by Joel Hooks

 

I've read (and heard) that when playing "clawhammer" (or whatever he called it) he wore two Hawaiian guitar picks backwards on his first and second fingers and struck with them in unison.  Leroy Troy does this too as he has said in interviews. 

---

I've seen 'Pa a lot on TV and videos and he always uses his middle finger as a frailer, with his index stuck out not doing anything. I've never noticed a pick but maybe I haven't paid that much attention.

Bufo Bill - Posted - 12/31/2014:  03:19:37

Joel, that's fascinating, I have never heard of that before, thanks for posting!
All the best from Bill. :D

squirrel - Posted - 12/31/2014:  07:07:57

His grand nephew Phillip is probably the best banjo resource on grandpa, he is very personable and overflowing with history of grandpa and his playing facebook.com/pages/Phillip-Ste...373419937

squirrel - Posted - 12/31/2014:  08:30:22

Phillip owns one of grandpas banjos, along with his little gallagher guitar him and romona always used, and still plays them regularly, he also owns uncle dave macons banjo, "THE" banjo! He has alot of fascinating stories about grandpa, and is very accomplished in sam and kirk mcghees stuff even more than grandpas, (i think he used snowdrop to win uncle dave macon days one year, and he was a judge last year) He plays with Kirks grandson jimmy reguraly who is a treat also. I played a couple festivals with Phillip a few years back and we were shade tree picking before the show, we were playing great old tunes, not recognizable to the typical "bluegrass" fans, and he told me " I love playing these old tunes, but when I get up there, I know what the audience wants, they want ol rattler and the such, not that they wouldnt appreciate it, it just wouldnt have the same entertainment effect." Leroy Troy is a fine example of someone whos talent could be underated by those that only see him on marty stuart, I know him personally, and what you see on stage, and what troy spends time picking around the fire , are alot different, most of these "showman" are much more talented and rich in banjo licks and tunes than percieved by those that only see them on a stage or on T.V. so to me , these fellas can hold their own instrumentaly with the best, and are wonderful entertainers at the same time, and in being such, they are able to read the audience and balance the two appropriately.

squirrel - Posted - 12/31/2014:  08:36:05

Leroy has a book of folk songs that is from the mid 19th century and about six inches thick that grandpa willed to him and after just a quick browse through it, it was definitely one of his "dipping pots" for music.

UncleClawhammer - Posted - 01/05/2015:  12:13:12

I e-mailed Cathy Barton Para, who confirmed that he did always use a fingerpick and frailed with second finger and thumb. She said his playing and singing both were very aggressive, as he was working in the early days of country music and used to poor amplification systems. She said her advice was, "To use those chords and don't be shy."

"He described his own playing as fairly simple, but I can tell you he was a real master."

Edited by - UncleClawhammer on 01/05/2015 12:25:07

squirrel - Posted - 01/12/2015:  10:58:56

banjohangout.org/myhangout/hom...?id=47653

jasonbeers - Posted - 01/12/2015:  18:52:28

Lots of vitality in his playing...

LEUllman - Posted - 01/15/2015:  11:02:18

All I know is, thanks in large part to Grandpa Jones, The Banjo Am the Instrument for Me!