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aschweigert - Posted - 05/06/2022: 09:11:12
Hey everybody!
It is once again my turn to do the tune of the week. I've been revisiting some dance tunes and thought it would be fun to this one by Melvin Wine. It's a pretty straight-forward tune but fun to play. I've usually played it in G but on the source recording he's playing in cross A so you might need to slap a capo on if you play this with a fiddler.
It's in the Milliner-Koken book for folks who have that. And there's a recording of Melvin Wine playing it on the August Heritage "Hannah at the Springhouse" album: slippery-hill.com/content/gree...k-dolly-o
There's a transcription of that recording here: tunearch.org/wiki/Greenback_Dolly-O
And I tabbed out a basic version of the melody for you that I'll upload here.
I've been getting used to a new banjo (a six string by Will Seeders that I got a couple weeks ago) so it's been a lot of fun to revisit some tunes and figure out some new arrangements. Here's a video of the basic version and then a few ideas for variations: youtube.com/watch?v=a2G0eUyDqTw.
Hope you all have a great week and enjoy learning this tune if you don't play it already!
Edited by - aschweigert on 05/08/2022 07:46:57
aschweigert - Posted - 05/06/2022: 09:24:38
If anyone has that tape/cd I'd be curious to see the liner notes (I don't have and wasn't able to find a copy!)
mandobanjolibrarian - Posted - 05/06/2022: 10:54:57
aschweigert This isn't the actual insert, but this listing on Discogs at least has the back panel with some additional information:
discogs.com/release/14735015-M...ringhouse
Click on the "More Images" link below the cover image.
Randy
Edited by - mandobanjolibrarian on 05/06/2022 10:55:58
aschweigert - Posted - 05/06/2022: 11:39:36
Thanks! I always forget you can sometimes click on that link to get more photos. I wonder if there were more notes or just that insert...
mandobanjolibrarian - Posted - 05/06/2022: 12:26:24
Yep -- sometimes those inserts are a veritable treasure trove of information, and other times . . . nada.
carlb - Posted - 05/06/2022: 13:18:52
quote:
Originally posted by aschweigert
If anyone has that tape/cd I'd be curious to see the liner notes (I don't have and wasn't able to find a copy!)
Another great tune from Bob Wine, Melvin's father. "He always told me to play loud and clear. Never kill a string."
m06 - Posted - 05/07/2022: 00:36:58
Great tune choice.
It sounds reminiscent of the reels played for country dances here in the West Country 150+ years ago.
JanetB - Posted - 05/07/2022: 22:36:01
Another fine tune by Melvin Wine. He played confidently, briskly and fluidly. Was he a challenge to keep up with, carlb?
I liked the D7 in your tab, Aaron (E7 if capoed two frets for the key of A). I used it for my tab, too, but played a partial D for the mp3, just out of habit. There's also a slide in the A part to imitate the fiddle. The enjoyable banjo player Dick Kimmel recorded Greenback Dolly-O, basing it on Melvin Wine's playing, too.
carlb - Posted - 05/08/2022: 06:46:50
quote:
Originally posted by JanetB
Another fine tune by Melvin Wine. He played confidently, briskly and fluidly. Was he a challenge to keep up with, carlb?
I guess when I'm playing banjo with a fiddler, I always try to adjust my setting to work with their version of a tune. Now, when I first met Melvin, I didn't play the banjo, only guitar, though I didn't play guitar with him. However, my approach to guitar accompaniment is the same as I do with banjo, once I started playing the banjo, which was that same year I met Melvin (1973). So Melvin became one of my tune mentors, as I was in the process of learning old time tunes (While I knew about old time music, I didn't get deeply involved until I moved from Denver to Charlottesville in 1972. I started playing banjo as my method of getting tunes into my head, as I needed to play the tune to remember it; guitar doesn't play the melody in an old time band. At that time, I was playing guitar in a band with Armin Barnett, fiddle and Mark Campbell and Connie Barnett, banjos.).
So getting back to the original question, I just worked at playing with Melvin and didn't feel it was a difficult challenge, as my main challenge was just to learn how to play the banjo. However, I think what has happened since I started playing fiddle, that my versions of his tunes reflect my banjo settings, a lot.
