Posted by JanetB
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- Play count: 282
Size: 957kb, uploaded 5/21/2016 12:20:55 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
This Tune of the Week, 5/19/20, is from the fiddling of West Virginian's Scott Prouty via Harvey Sampson's earlier recording with the Big Possum String Band. My playing's probably not too sour and it's actually a rather pretty tune if played slowly. It has a tense driving rhythm which I think comes from its syncopation.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB, written by Bill Monroe
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- Play count: 323
Size: 807kb, uploaded 7/5/2011 8:16:23 AM
Genre: Bluegrass / Playing Style: Bluegrass (Scruggs)
Bill Monroe said he wrote tunes out of the air because he heard them first! He was an incredible composer. I've come to appreciate the South more lately and this tune brings it to my mind.
4 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 1412
Size: 1,998kb, uploaded 1/1/2013 2:59:56 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
A title with a good wish for the new year, also known as God Speed the Plough.
10 commentsPosted by JanetB, written by Kenny Baker
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- Play count: 124
Size: 1,436kb, uploaded 4/8/2017 9:31:23 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Favorite fiddler of mine from Kentucky (and of course Bill Monroe's best fiddling Blue Grass Boy ever), Kenny Baker, wrote this tune but stated that the title was just a title and didn't have meaning. The CD cover of Kenny's fiddling, however, called Spider Bit the Baby, sure showed a scary painting! A shout-out to Don Huber for introducing me to the song and to Linda Gunderson who -- quite coincidentally -- loaned me that very CD at the same time. It's the first tune I've learned from it and continue to joyfully pursue Kenny Baker's many musical offerings.
1 commentPosted by JanetB, written by Ian Burns
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- Play count: 63
Size: 2,983kb, uploaded 10/5/2024 11:21:24 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
A fairly modern (1980) Shetland Islands tune for TOTW. The composer lived at a ranch with this name and it turns out that a few players actually do know it. Our presenter, Andy Taylor, often gives us an exotic tune, but always a delightful one.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 395
Size: 3,441kb, uploaded 6/15/2011 5:13:57 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Unknown/None Chosen
A happy song, fun to play, with images of little Appaloosas kicking up their heels. Mine was named Cookie. When I sold her, I was able to buy my Bart Reiter Whyte Laydie, so my banjo is named Cookie, too. Honestly.
2 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 579
Size: 857kb, uploaded 7/20/2011 7:49:22 AM
Genre: Traditional / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Per request, you'll hear 3 different banjos--2 resonators (Gibson RB250 and Deering Calico) and 1 open back (Bart Reiter Whyte Ladye). Can you tell? Which one do you like best?
4 commentsPosted by JanetB, written by Tom McCleesh
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- Play count: 140
Size: 3,104kb, uploaded 9/8/2023 3:03:13 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
An contemporary (1970's) Ohio tune named for a town there. I thought it pretty to slow it down at times.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB, written by Turlough O'Carolan
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- Play count: 216
Size: 2,286kb, uploaded 7/6/2015 11:37:37 AM
Genre: Fiddle/Celtic/Irish / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
This is the 213th and last tune of O'Carolan notated in his lengthy biography Carolan, The Life, Times, and Music of an Irish Harper. I keep coming back to this great book. However, I learned the music from the wonderful playing of Joemy Wilson, who plays hammer dulcimer -- highly recommended for good listening. She also wrote a story about young Turlough, equally enjoyable listening on a CD with accompanying music. Squire Wood had a copper mine and was contracted to mint copper coins for Ireland. The merchants and public refused to use his coins, so the lamentation title is tongue-in-cheek. But the composition is beautiful, as is so much of O'Carolan's work and I keep wanting to learn more of them.
1 commentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 527
Size: 1,364kb, uploaded 10/22/2012 5:33:59 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
John Hartford credits this to Samuel Bayard. I'm playing the small scale white oak fretless gourd made by Robert Crowder.
3 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 343
Size: 717kb, uploaded 10/24/2012 6:06:17 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
This is the better recording I made after playing around with the Zoom 4Hn recorder. The first post was the thumpy one whose sound wasn't optimal.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 125
Size: 1,342kb, uploaded 12/21/2018 8:16:42 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 12/21/18, this 1800's hymn from William Walker's Southern Harmony book (first published in 1835) has beautiful lyrics that makes it perfect for Christmas. I tuned down the 5th string to an "e" note and played Star of the East in Am.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB, written by John Hartford
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- Play count: 1923
Size: 683kb, uploaded 4/17/2014 9:40:59 AM
Genre: Other / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
A clawhammered, chordal approach to this light-hearted song John claimed in his lyrics that he dreamt about. I've heard this on BHO several times and am a great fan of John Hartford, though I have much, much more to learn about his music. I think the genre is considered Newgrass, but you can correct me.
12 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 203
Size: 1,484kb, uploaded 6/23/2013 7:42:07 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the Tune of the Week 6/23/13. This arrangement is based on Alabama fiddler James Bryan who recorded it on his 1986 solo album Lookout Blues. It has differences from Bob Walter's fiddled version, sited as one of the original sources for the TOTW, and I'm not quite sure how James came to interpret it the way he did, with more Em sounds. Still, James Bryan being a favorite fiddler of mine, I thought it was a good exercise to attempt it.
2 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 304
Size: 1,260kb, uploaded 2/29/2020 12:20:22 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Any time I can learn another tune from the immense Samuel Bayard collection, that's a good day. This jig, recorded in 1948 by fiddler Albert Stear, is a challenge. Clawhammering in 6/8 time is another genre in itself.
2 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 251
Size: 1,316kb, uploaded 9/1/2017 4:13:16 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 9-1-17, from the mandolin playing of Alabaman Sam Taylor. I played this a bit differently than usual, avoiding extra notes and bass notes that seemed to slap, and also used more slides than I usually do. Johnny was laid-back, I guess, probably due to overworking in the excessive heat.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 206
Size: 1,448kb, uploaded 8/22/2015 2:02:01 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
From the fiddling of Nebraskan fiddler Bob Walters and the current old-time Tune of the Week for 8/21/15. This make a great dance tune. You can hear and read more at: http://www.banjohangout.org/topic/307971.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB, written by Tony Ellis
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- Play count: 91
Size: 1,723kb, uploaded 1/3/2018 7:22:12 PM
Genre: Unknown/None Chosen / Playing Style: Unknown/None Chosen
Tony Ellis and Stephen Wade are good friends, with Stephen having produced at least one of Tony's CDs. The tune "Stephen" I understand was written for him by Tony. It's another beauty. It uses syncopation in the last parts, which is something I understand Tony learned about from Earl Scruggs. I hope to learn more from Tony himself about these tunes and am researching one for a future old-time Tune of the Week. The tuning I used isn't the one Tony composed with, as I hear a higher 5th string than I'm using. Soon I'll have Tony's tab book and perhaps will see first hand how he arranged Stephen, as well as several others I've worked on. I think it's okay to adapt a tune in an inventive way and it's more fun than memorizing somebody else's playing. Do you agree?
4 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 152
Size: 1,340kb, uploaded 5/3/2022 11:33:00 AM
Genre: Ragtime / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Having heard Doc Watson's version, I was familiar with Stone's Rag. But only having Vernon Spencer's version from the Field Recorders Collections, I used that one for a clawhammer arrangement. Usually in the key of C, I tuned on the cello banjo to what is equivalent to open G tuning on a regular banjo. It was easier and more fun to do the runs in the A part.
2 commentsPosted by JanetB, written by William Sydney Mount
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- Play count: 115
Size: 1,627kb, uploaded 8/28/2018 4:09:08 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
One of several tunes we can hear based on the fiddle playing of the famous American painter William Sydney Mount of Stony Brook, NY. Notated on January 11, 1859 and played not long ago by contemporary fiddler, Gilbert Ross, Stony Brook Moonshine was recorded on one of Mount's three patented Cradle of Harmony fiddles. Perhaps you're familiar with Mount's painting The Banjo Player, which was the example for the modern minstrel banjo building of George Wunderlich and other luthiers. I wonder about the title of this tune, Stony Brook Moonshine.
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