Posted by JanetB
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- Play count: 75
Size: 1,898kb, uploaded 9/7/2018 8:02:03 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the old-time TOTW, 9/7/18, Shaking Off the Acorns comes from the playing of West Virginian fiddler Edden Hammons, who would have been 113 years old today. Most everybody else records it as Shaking Down the Acorns and it's definitely one of my favorite tunes of all time. It's modal and the first part has 12 measures with three 4-measure phrases.
2 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 99
Size: 1,284kb, uploaded 5/27/2023 12:28:42 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
A song recorded in the 20's with wholesome lyrics. I'm playing the words as sung by the duet Burnett and Rutherford. It also goes along with the singing in the key of C on a recording by Clyde Davenport, one of my favorite old-time musicians. Check out the Tune of the Week for more.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 139
Size: 1,196kb, uploaded 12/12/2020 7:19:58 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
The Tune of the Week goes by several titles. I chose two variations, especially since Take Me Back to Tulsa was a fun piece to sing with the Rough and Ready Fruit Jar Pickers. Shear 'Em had a much older resource than Bob Wills, but I liked how and learned from Gail Gillepsie's group, Happy Valley Band, played it like a real dance tune.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB, written by Turlough O'Carolan
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- Play count: 2033
Size: 1,581kb, uploaded 10/10/2011 8:58:18 PM
Genre: Fiddle/Celtic/Irish / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
This was Carolan's first composition at age 21, blinded since 18 years old, and embarking for the first time on his journey as an itinerant harper. The squire at his first stop suggested he compose a song about two neighboring hills where two fairy hosts had battled. Carolan's genius for writing was thus born.
4 commentsPosted by JanetB, written by Turlough O'Carolan
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- Play count: 2379
Size: 2,214kb, uploaded 6/18/2013 12:21:55 PM
Genre: Fiddle/Celtic/Irish / Playing Style: Classical
When I originally learned this I used clawhammer tuned to double D. Then I learned it in open G 3-finger picking style. Now I'm trying it again with clawhammer after more than 30 years. It's coming back to me and I still think it's amongst the prettiest tunes ever written. The story goes that Sheebeg, Sheemore was the blind harpist's first composition in 1691. It's meaning is "Little Mountain, Big Mountain" and was named for a location where a battle between fairy peoples allegedly took place.
9 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 254
Size: 1,065kb, uploaded 2/21/2016 6:12:27 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 2/20/16, this comes from the fiddling of Emmett Lundy, whose mentor, Greenberry Leonard, was born in the early 1800's and died in 1892. Thus it probably harkens back to before the Civil War. Sheep Shell Corn is recorded as a poem in a 1920's publication called Negro Folk Rhymes, so I can imagine perhaps slaves sang this song as they shelled corn (a tedious job) or as they danced to their own music. I used some of the verses from the TOTW discussion: http://www.banjohangout.org/topic/315336.
1 commentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 139
Size: 1,089kb, uploaded 11/30/2018 11:42:22 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Sounding much like Barlow Knife, Sheep's in the Meadow is this week's TOTW for 11/30/18 and is really old-timey. It's from a recording of Gaither Carlton by Alice Gerrard. Gaither was Doc Watson's talented, gentle father-in-law.
4 commentsPosted by JanetB, written by Jeremiah Carpenter
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- Play count: 1628
Size: 1,096kb, uploaded 8/18/2012 2:41:50 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
This old West Virginia tune commemorates the place where Solomon Carpenter was born in the early 1790's under a rock ledge where his parents were hiding from Indians. His father, Jeremiah, later avenged the death of his brother Benjamin during the Indian raid. This version comes from West Virginians Burl Hammons and Dwight Diller. It's played on a small scale fretless gourd banjo made by BHO member Robert Browder.
12 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 308
Size: 1,388kb, uploaded 9/4/2012 5:39:25 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
A cheerful tune in A with a Bm sound in the B part. My mother still says at 91 years old that good songs always have a minor.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 152
Size: 1,372kb, uploaded 3/10/2020 10:20:21 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
I've loved this tune ever since hearing Mary Z Cox play it. I don't know where Iearned my unique B part, but with Shenandoah Falls as the Tune of the Week for 3/6/20, I decided to learn the more traditional B part, played the second time through here.
2 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 785
Size: 843kb, uploaded 3/8/2012 6:20:53 AM
Genre: Traditional / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Two songs expressing a western theme.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 248
Size: 2,366kb, uploaded 2/1/2015 9:14:12 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 1-30-15, this old dance tune is named for an old Virginia family home. The fiddler, John Ashby, played with a group he called the Free State Ramblers. It's quite a bit of interesting history I'll continue to learn about from the current TOTW.
1 commentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 160
Size: 3,371kb, uploaded 10/8/2022 10:49:05 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Taylor Kimble, fiddler from Virginia, recorded Ship in the Clouds for the Library of Congress when Alan Lomax was actively collecting tunes. In this clawhammer arrangement I added 2-finger cello banjo accompaniment. The melodic movement of the tune matches the title, in my opinion. It appears to modulate, but not for long -- a ship floating in clouds is a good metaphor IMO.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 100
Size: 1,551kb, uploaded 10/23/2022 4:03:50 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Three related tunes make for an interesting Tune of the Week. They're from Darley Fulks (Shoe Heels Crackin' on the Floor) and Melvin Wine and Dwight Diller (both playing Boatin' Up Sandy, but differently).
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 1112
Size: 682kb, uploaded 2/5/2012 2:31:41 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Thought I'd give Mark Johnson's great tune of the week a try. Anything he and Henry Reed do are great learning tools. I do it in open G tuning, 5th string spiked to an A, in the key of A. As challenging as a first grader learning to tie his shoes......
1 commentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 570
Size: 1,087kb, uploaded 12/9/2014 6:26:29 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
This is from Kentucky fiddler Buddy Thomas' playing. The title refers to a small subdivision in Vanceburg, KY built in around 1910 and was learned from Joe Stamper of Lewis County, according to the liner notes in "Traditional Fiddle Music of Kentucky, Up the Ohio and Licking Rivers." The tune reminds me of Woodchoppers Reel. I always like to learn something by listening to Buddy, the great fiddler who died rather young.
6 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 88
Size: 1,679kb, uploaded 4/12/2023 12:33:21 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
From a combination of sources, here's my take on this classic old song, enjoyed by children, too.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 822
Size: 1,171kb, uploaded 6/11/2016 2:04:40 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 6/10/16 this is a combination of Ralph Stanley and Rufus Crisp. Ralph says it was the first tune his mother ever taught him. Rufus turns out to be the first person to ever teach Pete Seeger frailing (see page 10 of How to Play the 5-String Banjo by Pete Seeger).
6 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 810
Size: 725kb, uploaded 7/1/2014 10:27:03 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the old-time TOTW, 6/27/14, from Kentucky fiddler Wilson Mabe--a happy song he learned from his father.
1 commentPosted by JanetB, written by Jim Reed
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- Play count: 1107
Size: 630kb, uploaded 9/21/2011 6:04:42 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Jim surprised me with a song! Learning it lets me see into his magic and genius. He gave me permission to name it, so I did.
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