RG - Posted - 06/15/2023:  21:22:42

Won't have internet service tomorrow, so am posting this TOTW early, once more it's a tune that is undoubtedly my favorite banjo tune, Rambling Hobo. Whether know as Davenport (Dock Boggs), Dead Man's Piece (Dwight Diller), Ramblin' Hobo (Gaither Carlton, Doc Watson) or Harlan County Farewell Tune (Pete Steele) this is what I consider the quintessential banjo tune of the Southern Mountains.  It's origins?  Who knows.  As Gaither Carlton said, "It's always been a banjo tune." I guess it's best left at that.



This version has distilled over the course of a couple decades from the playing of Jont Blevins, in my mind one of the giants of old-time banjo that few people know about. Hailing from the Whitetop Virginia area in musically rich Grayson County (Grayson & Whitter, Wade Ward, Vestor Jones, Albert Hash, Thornton & Emily Spencer, Munsey Galtney, Ed Spencer to name a few).  Jont had an amazing touch and unique sound on the banjo. I first heard him play the tune back in 1976 on the Rounder Records compilation, "Old Originals, Vol. 2", recorded by Blanton Owen and Tom Carter. There's some truly fantastic performances on both Vols 1 & 2, but Mr. Blevin's playing of the tune is truly a revelation; it's funky and bluesy, and dang near perfect. The album has been out of print for years, but I've included an mp3 of his performance below. If you can find recordings of both albums, I highly recommend picking them up.  Field Recorders Collective has also a great CD of Mr. Blevin's tunes, and is WELL worth the purchase.

The scant biographical information on Jont Blevin's is mostly from the liner notes to the Old Original's album. 

"Jont Blevins, born 1n 1900, had little to do with music until he was about 18, at which time he began to play the banjo. He says that Emmett Long was the man who "mostly learnt me". Later on he began to learn to fiddle, mostly from G B. Grayson records, and played school breaking and such with his first cousin Ike Blevins who played banjo. When he was learning his music, Jont remembers there used to be a lot of unaccompanied singing as well as some accompanied with banjo, mouth bow or dulcimer.  He was about 20 before he saw his first guitar and considers guitar accompaniment to banjo or fiddle music a recent development. The fact then his music is primarily solo music is supported by the number of tunings he uses winch are different from the standard aEAC#E, and aDADE.  He also uses gDGDE (RAMBLING HOBO) aAAC#E (TRAIN 45), g#EG#BE (REUBEN) and g#C#F#BE (CUMBERLAND GAP and lHONEY BABE)  Jont says he learned RAMBLING HOBO from Emmett Long and that he "plays it straight" - just as Long played it."

I would say that Jont's versions of "Rambling Hobo" on the FRC CD (there are 2), are much different than on the Old Originals album.  When I heard the FRC versions, they are much less "funky" (for lack of a better word), but just as amazing as performances.

Jont played the tune in gDGDE, but I play it in fCFCD because I was too lazy to retune.  Hadn't played this for a while, so kind of threw it together.  If Jont played it "straight", I wonder if he was joking; in each of the three recorded versions, he freely adds measures to the tune, leaves out notes, adds them back in and plays in a free form style that truly befits the tunes name.  In my mind I guess I've straightened it out a bit, but it's still a great trance kind of tune and I do try to mix it up a bit.

Hope you enjoy the tune, and hope you'll dig deeper into the playing of Mr. Blevin's, it is some of the best old-time banjo you'll hear.  Take care! 

EDIT:  Added a quick recording based on the first Rambling Hobo version that Jont Blevins played on the FRC release for comparison to the earlier version.

Edited by - RG on 06/16/2023 14:29:52

Rambling Hobo #2

Rambling Hobo - Jont Blevins

Rambling Hobo

 

Jimmy Sutton - Posted - 06/16/2023:  08:31:34

I have an article on Albert Hash that was published in Old Time Music, an interview from the eighties where he talks about Jont Blevins including the track on Rounder.
Albert thought that the recording didn't show Jont very well stating that Jont was unaware that the recording was going to issued, he had not played the banjo for a long while and in fact did not own a banjo at the time.
Flurry Dowe banjo player at the time of the Albert Hash interview had moved to the Whitetop area from Alabama to improve his playing and he chose to learn from Jont.

Peg Leg - Posted - 06/16/2023:  11:57:22

Isn't it also what Hobart calls
Last Chance?

RG - Posted - 06/16/2023:  14:36:57

quote:

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Originally posted by Jimmy Sutton

I have an article on Albert Hash that was published in Old Time Music, an interview from the eighties where he talks about Jont Blevins including the track on Rounder.

Albert thought that the recording didn't show Jont very well stating that Jont was unaware that the recording was going to issued, he had not played the banjo for a long while and in fact did not own a banjo at the time.

Flurry Dowe banjo player at the time of the Albert Hash interview had moved to the Whitetop area from Alabama to improve his playing and he chose to learn from Jont.

---

Yes, there was controversy at the time of the Rounder "Old Original" recordings regarding their eventual release, although having been a Rounder Records distributor at the time, sales didn't amount to a whole lot.  A lot of the earlier field recordings on Rounder were also viewed in the same light.  I do find the tunes on the "Old Original's" volumes to be excellent, but them I'm not much into homogenized old-time.  Jont Blevins was a powerful player, and that version I posted I'll put up against any old-time banjoist.  He may have (and probably did) feel differently, but it's an amazing performance, especially that bluesy low part.

Edited by - RG on 06/16/2023 14:40:05

RG - Posted - 06/16/2023:  14:38:40

quote:

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Originally posted by Peg Leg

Isn't it also what Hobart calls

Last Chance?

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Yep, last chance is close as well, but uses a different tuning. Still crooked, and anything Hobart Smith plays is WELL worth the listen.

Jimmy Sutton - Posted - 06/16/2023:  14:59:27

Like you I am not a fan of homogenized old-time but I can understand why Albert felt that way.
Co-incidentally I worked for a time with Rounder Records distributor here in the UK.

One good thing that those recordings did was allow us to hear two tracks by fiddle player Munsey Gaultney. The only tracks he ever had issued. He did however pass on some of his tunes to Thornton and Emily Spencer before he died.
The current issue of the Old Time Herald has an article on fiddle and banjo player Munsey Gaultney written Josh Beckworth who wrote the excellent biography of Grayson & Whitter.

RG - Posted - 06/16/2023:  20:51:34

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jimmy Sutton

Like you I am not a fan of homogenized old-time but I can understand why Albert felt that way.

Co-incidentally I worked for a time with Rounder Records distributor here in the UK.



One good thing that those recordings did was allow us to hear two tracks by fiddle player Munsey Gaultney. The only tracks he ever had issued. He did however pass on some of his tunes to Thornton and Emily Spencer before he died.

The current issue of the Old Time Herald has an article on fiddle and banjo player Munsey Gaultney written Josh Beckworth who wrote the excellent biography of Grayson & Whitter.

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SO agreed... those tunes are priceless!

JanetB - Posted - 06/16/2023:  22:35:03

This is an interesting choice, RG, and I thank you, as there are other Rambling Hobo versions I've learned (my favorite is Doc Watson's).  Originally I'd heard of the Blevins family via the tune Nancy Blevins, covered as a TOTW  several years ago.  Perhaps someone knows how she was related to Jont Blevins.

I began working on the tune earlier before you posted Jont's other version and found the result to be trancelike and fun to play. Using the same tuning you used, it playing right along with the recording.  BTW, it's the same tuning used  with the Doc Watson's version.

VIDEO: Rambling Hobo
(click to view)

Rambling Hobo (Jont Blevins) (CH) tab

Jimmy Sutton - Posted - 06/17/2023:  02:43:44

Janet,

Re Nancy Blevins, have you read the book by Josh Blevins "Always Been a Rambler" which is a biography of Grayson & Whitter? In it Josh through diligent research discovered that Nancy Blevins was "related" to Albert Hash (his grandfather's cousin), a relationship which was sometimes mentioned by Albert when he played the tune but had never been clarified previously.
Regarding a connection between Nancy Blevins and Jont it is quite possible of course but there were and are numerous Blevins families in that area and I guess it would be a time consuming business.
It was through Munsey Gaultney and a statement that he had made in an unpublished interview that confirmed Josh's research. Munsey and fellow musician Glen Neaves in their youth had seen Nancy playing at the Shatley Springs resort where they bottled the spring water.

Jimmy Sutton - Posted - 06/17/2023:  03:04:26

Just a P.S to the above.

Jont Blevins in the Rounder notes as mentioned in the O.P says that it was "Emmet Long who mostly learned me". Emmet Long was Albert Hash's uncle

s_ou_b - Posted - 06/20/2023:  13:36:10

the tune nancy blevins also seems to have a very similar a part.