An irresistible tune this week comes from the playing of the likes of Art Stamper and Adam Hurt, posted by the talented banjukebox, Pat Lyons.  Played fast or slow, the movement of the melody in its E minor key pulls you in, and the ending on a D chord sound makes you want to play it yet one more time. Hope a few of us give it a try this week as you listen to BHO banjo pickers and historic bluegrass players sharing this old-timey tune, TOTW, 9/13/24, John Riley the Shepherd.

An old-timey tune with prominence in the bluegrass world, this week's presentation will be familiar to many.  If you don't know it, it's time to listen and learn! Thanks to presenter and BHO moderator,Bill Rogers, we can enjoy a piece which many of us connect to legendary banjo picker Ralph Stanley.  There's more than one tuning to play it in and they can all let it sound like the mountain music of Stanley's home.  Here's the TOTW, 9/20/24, Clinch Mountain Backstep.

Mark Gentry has given us a fine presentation of a tune with a wide old-time presence.  It has a multiple versions, including an oldest version said to have come from the whistling of a Civil War colonel, James Garfield. Mark takes us through its history and offers both a "sweet" and "sour" version, in other words, with regular and modal flavor.  He has samples from well-known players and teachers, and also plays it in three versions with tabs to help.  Let's get started on TOTW, 9/27/24, Garfield's Blackberry Blossom.

Our friend from across the pond, Andy Taylor, has found a tune with a strange-sounding Scottish title from the Shetland Islands.  The title almost sounds spooky and scary, but the tune is cheerful.  Andy does another fine job of portraying the tune clawhammer style  and offers a tab and instructional video as well.  Travel a bit with us this week and enjoy the TOTW, 10/4/24, Spootiskerry.

An old children's folk tune apparently morphed into various fiddle tunes.  Publication goes back as far as an 1841 version of a nursery rhyme.  Thoughtful and talented player and luthier Noah Cline explores the modal setting for this tune, whose title sometimes begins with Molly and sometimes with Polly.  The source goes back to Marcus Martin of North Carolina who learned it from J.D. Harris, a fiddler from Tennessee and then North Carolina.  Noah shares observations of the notes, key, mode and even the microtones in our current TOTW, 10/11/24, Polly Put the Kettle On (from Marcus Martin).

Mtngoat has found an archaic tune from the Galax fiddler Roscoe Parish, who learned it from his father who learned it from a neighbor, Charlie Barnett Lowe, who just happened to be Tommy Jarrell's father-in-law.  The simple but rich melody, said to be related to the Dry and Dusty family of tunes, is in the key of D and will be a nice addition to our old-time repertoire.  If you've kept up with Alice Gerrard's career -- having turned 90 this year and having learned tunes directly from Roscoe, you're listening to music with a documented continuous life going back to the 1800's.  There are lots more links to hear on the TOTW, 10/17/24, Charlie Barnett Lowe's Tune.

It's always refreshing to hear another James Bryan tune.  Alabama native Porter Branch offers us one composed by another Alabama fiddler, Ralph Whited, who was given his own page on the Slippery Hill site. There it says: "The story behind the tune name is that Ralph's friend Roy Sanders, who was a fiddler as was Roy's father, had the habit of saying, when he saw someone coming, 'Who in the Sam Hill is that?' - Joyce Cauthen"  Enjoy this crooked tune with its 5-measure A part repeated 3X, TOTW, 10/25/24, Sam Hill.

Jim from Virginia has given us a tune this week associated with a river tributary.  He'd like help understanding its title.  The tune itself is from the playing of James W. Day, recorded in Kentucky by John Lomax in 1937.  It's a fun one to hear and looks to be a bit of a challenge in the B part to play, but Jim does a nice job showing us in his video.  Plus he includes a link to a fiddle duet including the talented newcomer from New Zealand, George Jackson, who is making a remarkable contribution in the old-time music world. TOTW, 11/1/24, No Corn on Tygart.

Here's a tune with the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday in mind.   Shared and played by long-time Tune of the Week presenter Adam Schweigert, he says the tune is "simple", but provides a good opportunity to use ASPOs to get more of the melody.  The fiddling of Jimmy Wheeler of Portsmouth, Ohio is show-cased here. There's also an opportunity to study the tune as played by Jimmy's friend, Kentucky fiddler Buddy Thomas.  Hope you enjoy this week's TOTW, 10/8/24, Turkey in the Pea Patch (Jimmy Wheeler) .

I've presented a tune from the Black stringband tradition, recorded in the 1940's. There's a decent current internet presence of the tune and each has a unique take.  My two versions came from separately recorded solos by the banjo and fiddle players, Murph Gribble and John York.  The genre itself was underrepresented during the 1920's and 1930's heyday of country music, blues, and hillbilly recordings, but beginning in the 40's this was corrected. So tune in and catch TOTW, Altamont, 11/15/24.

Carl Baron has shared a tune he learned from a Mississippi fiddle tune collection published in the 70's, but recorded in 1935.  If you are familiar with the Milliner-Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes, it's also there.  The tune is a three part tune recorded by the Nations Brothers and Carl has worked on transposing it from his fiddling to his banjo.  He includes two mp3s -- one of the tune itself and one breaking it down phrase by phrase in order to teach it, which he calls an "audio tab."  Another thing to explore is what is meant by "one-step" in the title. Tune in to the TOTW, 11/22/24, Magnolia One-Step.

West Virginia tunes are a bedrock for old-time music. Here Mtngoat presents one such tune as played by fiddler Wilson Douglas. The lyrics name a place, the town of Lynchburg, and the reason for traveling there. Mtngoat relates personal boyhood experience to the song and offers fine examples. Tune in today to TOTW, 11/29/24, Going Down Town.

Pat Lyons, alias banjukebox because of his many fine clawhammer videos, has given us a tune from the Bluegrass genre.  It was composed by Bill Monroe, the "father" of Bluegrass, and his eminent Kentucky fiddler Kenny Baker.  Kenny had good old-time fiddling under his belt before becoming a Bluegrass Boy.  A 4-part stunning tune, it hasn't had a lot of clawhammer presence, but perhaps we can change that.  If you're up to a challenge, try learning the new TOTW, 12-6-24, Jerusalem Ridge.

We need more Midwest tunes for Tune of the Week, so here's Lyle K's offering.  His detailed history of the tune mentions several well-known fiddlers such as Bob Walter, Dwight Lamb, Howard Marshall, and Charlie Walden.  It feels like a dance tune and sounds a bit challenging for banjo.  You can hear Lyle playing along with a string band and he provides tab that makes it easy to play.  So let's give it a try and bring this tune out for more banjo players to share: TOTW, 12/13/24, Decatur Reel. 

This special week of Christmas brings us an old English carol with banjo picking and singing delightfully portrayed by Mark Gentry.  He shares some history of the song as it traveled to the USA and provides several links with folk singers' samples.  You're bound to have heard of some of them and one from North Carolina shares Mark's last name.  Enjoy this week's treat: TOTW, 12/20/24, The Cherry Tree Carol.

Today's presenter, Tom Harleman, is offering his first Tune of the Week.  Tom chose a Kentucky fiddler's tune and has tab for learning in double C as well as links to pursue the older resources.  We welcome him and look forward to hearing and learning this lively tune, TOTW, 12/27/24, Bumblebee in a Jug.

We have a delightful tune this week from John D.  He quoted a source telling us "this tune was supposedly written by Henry Thorne (1841-1928), a part-Indian Civil War veteran who played for Henry Ford…. around Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, it was the real ‘local’ tune.”  It's good to have links to Native Americans in our repertoire, as is sensed in its very title, TOTW, 1/3/25, Whitefish in the Rapids.

An Ozark tune comes to our discussion thread today, presented by Mtngoat, whose original resource is from Oklahoma fiddler Dick Hutchison.  The title's namesake was a real person who was notorious as a judge with many hanging convictions.  In fact, the 1969 recording of Hutchison has "Take These Shackles Off of Me" added to the title.  It's a lively, simple-enough-to-play tune (we hope), that feels like a dance tune.  Enjoy TOTW, 1/10/24, Judge Parker.

Long-time presenter Jan Olov Sundqvist has made good use of recuperating time from knee surgery.  His research into this old song goes in depth and offers more than one 1800's source, which has been recorded by many famous musicians, past and present.  Though it's a murder ballad, the lyrics  cast blame on the man murdered, who "did her wrong."  Jan has a multitude of tabs from various sources, so this can be an interesting comparison for us all.  Take a look at the TOTW, 1/17/25, Frankie Baker (Frankie and Johnny).

This week's tune is familiarly known to many of us as Texas or as New Castle.  Presenter Carl Baron heard it played by West Virginian fiddler Melvin Wine with a different title, but similar melody.  Its history goes back to the time of slavery, which may be older than the tune known by its other common names. Carl offers many links and his own delicate portrayal of the tune.  If you haven't learned this one yet, it's a popular one you'd be glad to know -- TOTW, 1/24/25, Charleston Girls/Gals.

I finally got to post this tune whose research I'd begun but never quite finished, having posted the mp3 eleven years ago.  Maybe we'll learn more during this Tune of the Week discussion thread.  One thing I learned is that its title's namesake is for a man's hat, not a woman's.  And here I went and bought one just because of the title!  There's an archaic sound to the tune, kind of like Bill Monroe would describe a tune having a "high, lonesome sound."  That's a fascinating concept.  See if you hear that sound, too, in this week's TOTW, 1/31/25, Old Blue Bonnet.

This is beautiful and the blue hood looks good on you too!

Unfortunately I have a problem understanding the tap, may I ask how you play bar 1? 
I could imagine a drop thumb, at least that seems to work well for me in bar 5, but I have difficulties realizing it in the first bar.

Drop thump and hammer on string 1?

Do I see that correctly written in the notes, that the first ones are dotted?

If I'm right about the drop thump and hammer on string 1, I'll probably have to practise more :)

If this question doesn't belong here, I apologize and ask you to delete it.

quote:

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Originally posted by Tuedelband

Unfortunately I have a problem understanding the tap, may I ask how you play bar 1? 
I could imagine a drop thumb, at least that seems to work well for me in bar 5, but I have difficulties realizing it in the first bar.

 

 

If this question doesn't belong here, I apologize and ask you to delete it.

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Good question! I'll answer it in the discussion thread itself later today. Basically, brush the first two strings with your middle or index finger. Then wait an eighth note before hammering on. 

That helps me already, I have to practice more with the metronome!

I can't thank you enough for your commitment here!

This week's tune is rich in folk music history.  Bill Rogers offers a song we're familiar with, but surprisingly we hear it played on fiddle by American folk hero Woody Guthrie, accompanied by Cisco Houston and Pete Seeger.  Another recording is with Mike and Pete Seeger.  With many other recordings to explore this week, including some with floating lyrics, let's share our favorites on the TOTW, 2/7/25, 900 Miles.