R Buck - Posted - 06/05/2019:  13:08:34

Has anyone seen/read this book? Is it worth $40? I have admired Tommy's playing from the first time I heard him nearly 50 years ago but the price tag seems kind of high for a paperback. Just curious to know if it would really be worth the price. Come on you who may have it, tell us what is in it!

Brian Murphy - Posted - 06/05/2019:  14:16:02

You can preview a fair amount here:  Google Books link    I think it's a good book.  Discusses his life in depth, but also gives the context of the styles of music and why what he did is interesting.

R Buck - Posted - 06/05/2019:  15:24:03

Thanks Brian!

paco0909 - Posted - 06/05/2019:  17:23:02

If you admire Tommy Thompson and the Red Clay Ramblers (as I do), it's a must read book. And there is a companion Kindle book about Tommy's playing, along with a lot of Tabs. Note that these tabs are not from the Red Clay Ramblers but are a variety of arrangements Tommy played and Pat Couton tabbed out, and then updated by David Brooks. It's called "He Could Make a Banjo Talk" by David Brooks and Lew Stern. Check it out on Amazon. Highly recommended.

Bill Rogers - Posted - 06/05/2019:  18:35:32

Seems to me that Tommy tended to use standard C (capoed), not double-C, for d tunes. Anyone know about that?

R Buck - Posted - 06/05/2019:  19:23:38

Bill, there is a tab book of 109 tunes supposedly as he played them on Amazon. Lew Stern and David Brooks did the tab. I think they probably got them right but I haven't seen the book yet. I learned that as the first tuning I ever used. It works great for a lot of stuff and I thought of it as standard tuning for the first couple of years of playing a l-o-n-g time ago.

dbrooks - Posted - 06/06/2019:  04:36:14

The tab book ("He Could Surely Make A Banjo Talk") that I worked on with Lew Stern has scans of the tabs handwritten by Patrick Couton under Tommy Thompson's guidance. These tabs indicated no tunings or guidance on left-hand moves (hammers, pull-offs, slides) or right-hand drop-thumb licks. Since the scans are there, readers can make their own decisions how to play the tunes. I created tabs in an effort to add these details to help others. My decisions were based on how the tabs sounded in various tunings tp determine the "correct" tuning. I also used recordings where they were available and the book of Henry Reed fiddle transcriptions by Alan Jabbour. I expect there are some mistakes in my tabs though I did my best to avoid them. Others may prefer a different tuning for some tunes. I'm OK with that.

I think the scans of Tommy's arrangements offer the primary value in the book as "source material" from the early days of the old-time revival. Lew's introductory chapters also set the stage very well.

David

P.S. I forgot to add that I have started reading Lew's book, "Tommy Thompson: New-Timey String Band Musician." In my work with Lew, I had read portions of the book and some articles related to his work on the book, but this is my first time through the book itself. Lew has done detailed research consulting with a host of musicians who knew Tommy and made music with him. Many of these people are new to me. Nonetheless, Lew has pulled these details together into a coherent picture of Tommy and his peers during this period.

Edited by - dbrooks on 06/06/2019 04:46:08

R Buck - Posted - 06/06/2019:  05:23:30

Thanks David for your insight and description of the tab book. While I rarely use tabs myself I find them interesting reading to get into the mind of the person doing the tab. Tabs for me are a memory tool or teaching tool and research tool. They can reveal interesting approaches to the banjo and I know from seeing some of your tabs David that you did a thorough job.