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Posted by JanetB
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- Play count: 384
Size: 1,208kb, uploaded 6/28/2019 10:10:47 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 6/28/19, Kentucky fiddler Clyde Davenport (still alive and able to play in his 90's) played the banjo for a tune his father, Will, taught him. The source I found for Will Davenport's Tune (actually the title isn't known) is in an excellent DVD called Shades of Clyde. The key is F in the unusual tuning of fFGCD. I don't find many tunes hypnotic, but this one qualifies.
3 commentsPosted by JanetB, written by Carter Family
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- Play count: 1508
Size: 945kb, uploaded 5/25/2012 6:08:40 AM
Genre: Traditional / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
A signature Carter Family song.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 110
Size: 1,376kb, uploaded 1/25/2020 1:17:08 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
From Lee Stoneking, Missouri fiddler (1907 - 1989) for the old-time Tune of the Week, 1/24/20.
1 commentPosted by JanetB, written by Rayna Gellert
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- Play count: 966
Size: 902kb, uploaded 1/9/2014 7:05:36 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
In Rayna's CD "Ways of the World" I kept listening to two songs over and over--both turned out to be her own compositions. She's an amazing fiddler--one of my all-time favorites.
5 commentsPosted by JanetB, written by Tony Ellis
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- Play count: 254
Size: 2,198kb, uploaded 11/3/2017 2:28:39 PM
Genre: Other / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Here's one of Tony Ellis' pretty 3/4 time original tunes. He said he and his son Bill wrote this after visiting Japanese families in Colorado and wanting to remember the special occasion. Tony wrote it in double C tuning for his gentle, sparse 3-finger picking, but I found it easier in open G for my clawhammer arrangement. The wind chimes at the end are real!
2 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 1802
Size: 650kb, uploaded 9/6/2011 8:51:48 PM
Genre: Fiddle/Celtic/Irish / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Originally learned clawhammer from John Burke's Book of Old Time Fiddle Tunes for Banjo, now picked 3-finger style.
7 commentsPosted by JanetB, written by Joe LaRose
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- Play count: 616
Size: 1,171kb, uploaded 7/21/2012 4:19:06 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
A beautiful tune played by Bruce Molsky and Rayna Gellert. I'm comparing 3-finger picking to clawhammer in my other version.
2 commentsPosted by JanetB, written by Joe LaRose
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- Play count: 1212
Size: 1,184kb, uploaded 7/21/2012 4:17:18 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
A beautiful tune played by Bruce Molsky and Rayna Gellert. I'm comparing clawhammer to 3-finger picking.
7 commentsPosted by JanetB, written by J.P. Fraley
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- Play count: 547
Size: 1,268kb, uploaded 8/7/2017 2:18:46 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
J.P. Fraley is one of my favorite fiddlers and this is one of his few original compositions. I learned Winds of Shiloh last year and am re-visiting now, thinking it reminded me of another original Kentucky tune recently learned called Foxfire, by Owen "Snake" Chapman. Both melodies sound like there's Native American influence -- I think of the many Cherokees who used to live in those mountains and wonder how much musical interaction occurred. Kentucky tune writers have often amazed me in the delicacy and musical beauty they create. BHO member Jim Reed comes to mind. He'd write a tune at the drop of a hat and they'd all be winners to my ears, worth pursuing on my banjo.
2 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 989
Size: 1,567kb, uploaded 10/8/2015 9:49:50 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Learned from Art Galbraith and Lonnie Robertson, two great Missouri fiddlers and included in R.P. Christeson's book The Old-Time Fiddler's Repertory, Vol. 2, #132. The tune has a long history as a popular song of the late 1800's and is still played today. I prefer the music to the lyrics!
2 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 1402
Size: 543kb, uploaded 7/20/2011 11:41:23 AM
Genre: Traditional / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
I like how Pete Wernick did this in D. The lyrics can be pretty sad and his version caught some of that with a minor sound. The high G is tuned down to an F#, which sort of fits my unwritten rule about only changing the tune of one string for any given song. Not that re-tuning doesn't produce a great sound...
5 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 473
Size: 1,328kb, uploaded 3/13/2020 2:51:18 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
This version of Wolf Creek is from Harvey "Pappy" Taylor (b.1894), recorded in 1974. Slowed down from the original, it makes a pretty piece in fDGCD tuning. DOI stands for Dear Old Illinois, a compilation of songs and fiddle tunes by Garry and Steve Harrison and Jo Burgess. Wolf Creek is the old-time Tune of the Week for 3/13/20.
2 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 1881
Size: 1,364kb, uploaded 7/13/2015 8:50:29 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
While exploring the Slippery Hill site I came across four versions of Wolves A-Howling. Two were Bruce Molsky's source, too. I used the one by John A. Brown. His photo is a classic one for the LP Great Big Yam Potatoes. See it in the Sound Off thread, as well as the complete liner notes for this rare album from Mississippi. Do you think the wolves are literal or figurative? I was thinking they could be creditors or the bank wanting their money you don't have....
6 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 246
Size: 1,053kb, uploaded 10/15/2016 12:24:21 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Earl Collins played this tune and it's the old-time Tune of the Week for Oct. 14, 2016. Earl was the one who came to my guitar teacher's home for a jam when I was a fledgling banjo player and I remember him well, smiling and encouraging me. The title is appropriate for the wrestling I'm doing with my 95 year-old mother to convince her that she needs more help at home or to move into a retirement home. She's a fierce, independent wildcat! My playing here is a little tame, as are my efforts to be forceful with my mother...
3 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 180
Size: 715kb, uploaded 1/5/2012 3:26:53 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
I heard Bill Monroe's version and learned it. It's a fun one.
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 184
Size: 790kb, uploaded 1/19/2020 11:07:51 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For this week's Tune of the Week for 1/17/20 here's an old song that is actually a Missouri battalion's motto with a dog on their emblem. The write-up is real thorough and in good humor, too. Check it out!
Add CommentPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 214
Size: 1,328kb, uploaded 12/11/2015 4:18:02 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 12/10/15, the other titles for this song are Kingdom Coming and Lincoln's Gunboats, which I found very interesting. I'm playing on a George Wunderlich minstrel banjo.
4 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 341
Size: 495kb, uploaded 3/6/2014 6:39:19 AM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Just one time through, as a study of Buddy Thomas' fiddling.
3 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 184
Size: 1,616kb, uploaded 2/24/2018 5:10:16 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
For the old-time Tune of the Week, 2/23/18, this version comes from Earl Collins, Missouri fiddler who moved to LA. He was at my guitar teacher's house one night for a jam and he encouraged me greatly as a budding banjo playing college student. My guitar teacher really got around -- Mary Ellen Clark just turned 90 and still plays and dances a bit. She taught me The Cat Came Back, which was about a yellow cat.
5 commentsPosted by JanetB
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- Play count: 973
Size: 863kb, uploaded 6/12/2014 5:58:41 PM
Genre: Old Time / Playing Style: Clawhammer and Old-Time
Learned from Alabama fiddler James Bryan. Anything he plays is golden melody in my ears.
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