The Scale (or Dance with Me, Kenny)

Posted by JanetB, written by Kenny Baker

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- Play count: 198

Size: 2,581kb, uploaded 6/20/2017 6:09:11 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

It's always a challenge to arrange a Kenny Baker tune for clawhammer banjo, but his music is so good that it's fun to try. The cello banjo chimes in a bit, too.

The Snouts and Ears of America--TOTW 4/25/14

Posted by JanetB

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- Play count: 227

Size: 826kb, uploaded 4/27/2014 1:48:38 PM
Genre: Unknown/None Chosen / Playing Style: Unknown/None Chosen

For the Tune of the Week, 4/25/14, this tune is one of Samuel Bayard's Hill Country Tune collection, available on line. It feels like a hornpipe to me. Check out this week's old-time TOTW. Learned from the fiddle and harmonica recording of Pennsylvanians Mark Tamsula and Richard Withers who have specialized in making recordings from Samuel Bayard's extensive work.

The South Wind

Posted by JanetB, written by Donall MacConmara

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- Play count: 2236

Size: 993kb, uploaded 1/23/2012 6:15:28 AM
Genre: Fiddle/Celtic/Irish / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

An Irish waltz included in the early 1800's harp collections of Edward Bunting, who also collected many of O'Carolan's pieces.

The Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home

Posted by JanetB, written by Greg Brown

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- Play count: 277

Size: 838kb, uploaded 7/22/2011 10:22:52 AM
Genre: Other / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

Jimmie Rodgers had an effect on lots of people back then. We can still appreciate him now.

The Wild Geese

Posted by JanetB

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- Play count: 846

Size: 2,686kb, uploaded 5/31/2017 8:42:26 AM
Genre: Fiddle/Celtic/Irish / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

This traditional air honors the Irish soldiers who left Ireland to fight for France. The last time they left marked the 1691 Treaty of Limerick , a momentous time in Ireland's history which ended the Williamite war and the reign of King James, who left, too, after the Battle of the Boyne (which has a namesake tune as well). When the Chieftains recorded The Wild Geese they were picturing women singing on shore while the soldiers sailed off forevermore to fight elsewhere. At the end of my recording listen for the geese flying off...

Three Forks of Sandy

Posted by JanetB

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- Play count: 750

Size: 1,316kb, uploaded 4/5/2014 5:01:10 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

Listening to Ed Haley, it's hard to clearly hear his fiddling. This was Tune of the Week for 3/28/14 and has 3 parts instead of 2 in the other examples of historic recordings for this tune. After looking at a map we found there are actually three forks of the Big Sandy River, so it makes sense to have three parts. I wonder if Ed Haley performed on that river and wish the John Hartford book about his life would be published, even if unfinished.

Three Thin Dimes (TOTW)

Posted by JanetB

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- Play count: 167

Size: 2,106kb, uploaded 1/13/2018 3:37:31 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

For the old-time Tune of the Week, this is a three part tune from Ohio which reminds me a bit of Devil's Dream. I play it clawhammer style melodically and can see it eventually becoming more rhythmic and less notey. But here it is for now, from the original recording on Slippery Hill by Ohio fiddler John Hutchison who learned it from his father who learned it from another fiddler.

Tink Queer's Special (CB)

Posted by JanetB

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- Play count: 74

Size: 2,797kb, uploaded 1/3/2026 10:50:55 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

In topics:
TOTW 01/02/26 - Tink Queer's Special

From the collection of Samuel Bayard of Pennsylvania around the 1930's, Harry "Tink" Queer liked "tinkering" with his father's fiddle at a young age and grew to be a capable fiddler. The A part of this tune sounds unique and the B part reminds us of Little Billy Wilson's part A. The cello banjo's lower tuning allowed me to arrange this tune in equivalent to a double C tuning. Because the original tune is in A, open G tuning would work, too. Here it goes from the low fourth string up to the 10th fret on the first string. I had to memorize my tab's part B to accurately get up there. (Normally for Tune of the Week, I arrange and tab a tune after slowing the fiddle down to hear what is played and don't make an effort to memorize it.) I like imitating the fiddle on banjo and often have said my banjo thinks it's a fiddle. :) I get the melody best from a fiddle, and for me it's melody that makes the tune, with the clawhammer rhythmic style giving it body.

Tippin' Back the Corn (TOTW)

Posted by JanetB, written by Jordan Wankoff

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- Play count: 487

Size: 1,328kb, uploaded 10/2/2015 11:18:16 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

For the old-time Tune of the Week, 10/2/2015, Tippin' Back the Corn was written by a Chicago fiddler, Jordan Wankoff. This version comes from Lynn Chirp Smith's fiddling. I wouldn't be tipping back the corn, but I do feel its joyfulness!

Tippy Get Your Hair Cut (Melvin Wine)

Posted by JanetB

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- Play count: 97

Size: 2,928kb, uploaded 10/24/2025 5:13:51 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

A fun little tune where I keep singing the more common B part in my head, "Johnny, get your hair cut, hair cut, hair cut..."

Tippy Get Your Hair Cut (w/chordal accompaniment)

Posted by JanetB

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- Play count: 47

Size: 3,661kb, uploaded 10/25/2025 1:50:50 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

Using cello banjo, this recording adds chordal accompaniment to the previous solo banjo posted for Tune of the Week.

Tombigbee Waltz/Gum Tree Canoe

Posted by JanetB

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- Play count: 1010

Size: 815kb, uploaded 11/22/2011 5:45:29 PM
Genre: Unknown/None Chosen / Playing Style: Unknown/None Chosen

Played on my Deering Calico, learned from James Bryan's fiddling of Tombigbee Waltz and John Hartford's version of Gum Tree Canoe.

Too Many Goats (CB)(TOTW)

Posted by JanetB, written by John Goodin

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- Play count: 121

Size: 1,372kb, uploaded 5/28/2022 3:47:13 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

Our Tune of the Week doesn't have the familiar sound of a fiddle tune, and indeed, it was written by a mandolinist, John Goodin, of the group Contratopia, who sadly passed away last year. To get his notes I reverted to cello banjo. I understood the banjo player of the group played Too Many Goats with a capo on the seventh fret -- not me. Now that would be climbing as high as any mountain goat. :)

Tralee Gaol (CB)

Posted by JanetB

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- Play count: 50

Size: 2,808kb, uploaded 12/28/2025 4:17:45 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

In topics:
TOTW 12/26/25 Tralee Gaol

An Irish polka with a long history and various titles. I'm curious how the cello banjo would sound with regular banjo chordal accompaniment. Perhaps I can try that later for this Tune of the Week.

Trouble on My Mind (TOTW)

Posted by JanetB

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- Play count: 536

Size: 1,627kb, uploaded 6/8/2018 10:33:10 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

For the old-time Tune of the Week, 6/8/18, Trouble on My Mind was recorded by Kentucky fiddler John Salyer's sons at home. Salyer never recorded commercially, but was an excellent fiddler. This tune is crooked in the last measure when it repeats and is unusual in having six measures in the A part and eight in the B part.

Tucker's Barn

Posted by JanetB

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- Play count: 892

Size: 981kb, uploaded 4/2/2013 9:00:27 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

Played by Doc Watson, this tune was popularized at the same name in Lenoir, North Carolina--not that far from Deep Gap where Doc lived. It's an interesting piece and makes quite a left hand banjo workout.

Turkey Foot (TOTW)

Posted by JanetB

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- Play count: 89

Size: 3,120kb, uploaded 8/9/2025 1:02:48 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

Here's a 4-part Alabama tune from fiddler Ralph Whited. I guess my favorite part was his slide in the A part. We have wild turkeys every day at our place -- big birds who use their feet to scratch, scratch, scratch the dirt, and also in ash and weed piles.

Turkey in the Pea Patch

Posted by JanetB

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- Play count: 91

Size: 2,944kb, uploaded 11/12/2024 11:41:58 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

A seasonal title with two versions by Kentucky fiddlers who knew each other -- Buddy Thomas and Jimmy Wheeler.

Twin Sisters

Posted by JanetB, written by Sidna Myers

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- Play count: 510

Size: 1,064kb, uploaded 7/16/2012 9:30:46 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

Learned for the Tune of the Week, 7-13-12. This song gives me deja vu!

Uncle Ben's Favorite

Posted by JanetB

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- Play count: 140

Size: 2,322kb, uploaded 4/3/2015 8:55:27 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time

This tune is notated by William Sydney Mount, dated in 1848. It has a rhythmic sound called "Scottish snaps," which I had to look up in Ken Perlman resources to define. You'll hear them. I'm enjoying learning more about this famous painter of The Banjo Player.