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Posted by JanetB, written by Jim and Jesse McReynolds
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- Play count: 739
Size: 781kb, uploaded 10/2/2011 5:37:38 PM
Genre: Bluegrass / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Listening to a David Grisman collection called Mandolin Extravaganza, this one caught my attention.
2 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 228
Size: 1,017kb, uploaded 1/29/2017 7:31:10 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 1-28-17, I listened to an Illinois fiddler John Ray "Doc" Corn recording, made on his birthday in 1976. The tune was also recorded by Lynn Chirps Smith, a fiddler whose work I respect and enjoy. There's not much other information yet on this tune other than it had another title that isn't so nice.
4 commentsPosted by JanetB, written by Graham Townsend
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- Play count: 104
Size: 1,528kb, uploaded 9/6/2021 9:02:33 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Graham Townsend, Canadian winning dance fiddler and prolific tunester till his death in 1998, wrote this reel and played it rapidly and notes. I simplified the A part, but not as much the B part, and slowed it down here.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 224
Size: 968kb, uploaded 12/2/2016 10:52:20 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 12/2/16, from the playing of Virginia fiddler Taylor Kimble (1892 - 1979). I wouldn't know much at all about this kind of corn, so I'm sure this version won't "set your head on fire," as the lyrics said.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 714
Size: 1,640kb, uploaded 11/14/2017 10:17:22 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 11/12/17, Double File was recorded by Gaither Carlton. Anything that brings me closer to Doc Watson's family makes me hapy. I added a bit of cello banjo accompaniment.
1 commentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 823
Size: 877kb, uploaded 12/27/2013 10:56:25 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
From the fiddling of WV fiddler French Carpenter. I also heard Gerry Milnes play this, learned from Wilson Douglas' fiddling. It was a Tune of the Week a while back. I like the slide in the B part--it gives it a swing feel.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 950
Size: 875kb, uploaded 1/23/2013 6:36:37 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Comparing this song to another I came to record it with the tuning f#DADE. I remember Doc Watson's singing of it best.
5 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 142
Size: 1,204kb, uploaded 3/6/2021 3:56:04 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Also known as Rose Conley and Rosin the Bow, the melody is so nice, but the lyrics aren't, so I'd rather just play the instrumental. It's a song we all seem to learn, but why a murder ballad -- ugh!
Add CommentPosted by JanetB, written by Sarah Armstrong
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- Play count: 811
Size: 1,651kb, uploaded 10/24/2017 4:44:25 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Sarah Armstrong came from a large family in southwestern Pennsylvania and learned fiddling at the age of 5. Her favorite mentor was her Uncle Laney and her Dream Song came to her in a dream about him. She woke up and learned it. Samuel Bayard listened and transcribed many of her tunes in 1943 and 1944. You can see these transcriptions in an 80-page book called Hill Country Tunes. I'll post the pdf file in the discussion thread with another one of her tunes.
2 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 1068
Size: 1,040kb, uploaded 10/28/2012 8:14:09 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
I really liked how Don Courchie fiddled this with Don Borchelt's banjo at their Clifftop jams, so I've learned it listening to their playing. Don's fiddle certainly had embellishments to challenge me.
1 commentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 256
Size: 1,267kb, uploaded 10/30/2012 6:11:19 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Classical
After posting a fast version of Dry and Dusty, here's a slowed up one on the little gourd banjo. The title insinuates struggles, perhaps relating to the Dust Bowl era, since the Morrison brothers most credited with this tune came from Arkansas.
1 commentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 139
Size: 857kb, uploaded 1/7/2022 3:17:47 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
The modern recordings of Ducks on the Millpond are great listening, and my first round through comes from them, in particular Rayna Gellert. Going back to the older for this week's Tune of the Week was also interesting. Virginia fiddler Emmett Lundy always portrayed tunes uniquely in both his rhythmic nuances and note choices. You'll hear the next three parts as he played them, arranged here for clawhammer banjo.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 1094
Size: 1,436kb, uploaded 7/24/2015 11:59:20 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
This nice modal tune is usually attributed to West Virginian fiddler Henry Reed, but I learned it from the fiddling of West Virginian Dwight Diller. It was a BHO old-time Tune of the Week in 2010 with lots of information in this TOTW link: http://www.banjohangout.org/archive/187542.
2 commentsPosted by JanetB, written by Garry Harrison
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- Play count: 752
Size: 1,388kb, uploaded 8/14/2015 12:00:06 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 8/14/15, this one was actually written by the great collector of the Dear Old Illinois compilation (soon to be released again), Garry Harrison. The fine part expresses a bit of the over-exertion needed if your chisel needs sharpening.
4 commentsPosted by JanetB, written by Ed Haley
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- Play count: 1064
Size: 2,198kb, uploaded 2/23/2017 2:12:45 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
All of Ed Haley's fiddle pieces are a good challenge. Dunbar is a little town in West Virginia though Haley had moved to nearby Kentucky.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 608
Size: 1,137kb, uploaded 8/7/2014 8:00:17 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 8-8-14, the first version is from Bruce Molsky, the second from Kentucky fiddler Jake Phelps (1885 - 1977), and the third from Donald Zepp.
1 commentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 823
Size: 1,455kb, uploaded 8/7/2014 7:58:07 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 8-8-14. I learned this from Adam Hurt who learned it from Jarred Nutter, who learned it from Bobby Taylor, who learned it from Clark Kessinger. Adam calls this the "folk process in action." It's the only 3-part Durang's Hornpipe I've heard and Adam plays it with lots more intricate variations.
8 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 49
Size: 2,984kb, uploaded 9/9/2024 3:46:14 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
In topics:
TOTW 09/06/2024 - Eadle Alley
From the fiddling of West Virginia Melvin Wine, Eadle Alley remains a mystery as far as a real place. Playing his tunes is always an experience with a squared off, traditional fiddle tune that make good square and contra dance music.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB, written by Kit & Janet Burton
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- Play count: 396
Size: 732kb, uploaded 2/18/2012 2:42:08 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Kit and I wrote this over the phone years ago. It sounds like a hornpipe. He wrote the A part and I wrote the B part. He always wondered how my part ended in a chord other than the tonic, but then the song goes back to his A part and ends right on the tonic note. Maybe my part was a bridge, not a B part. This goes to show how tabbing (or recording) something as you create it is wise. I tabbed it, but never really learned it until today, played on my Gold Tone Cripple Creek mini openback.
2 commentsPosted by JanetB, written by Plinky & Plunky
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- Play count: 895
Size: 2,850kb, uploaded 3/18/2012 12:41:25 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
This is the song Kit and I wrote over the phone. John "the KIDD" Kuhn added guitar. What a nice difference!
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