Banjo Hangout Newest 100 Clawhammer and Old-Time Songs

From the fiddling of Alabama fiddler James Bryan in 1983, he learned from Mack Blalock, a Georgia fiddler, and the tune is older yet. I tuned to an open C tuning, something only done occasionally, so it changed the fingering from the better-known ways.

A tune I wrote and decided should be named after my wife, as a reward for putting up with my banjo playing!

Arranged from the O'Neill's Music of Ireland source. My son is a farrier and does blacksmithing ALL the time. Sometimes he's merry!

Lucy Farr (1911-2003) was Irish, but lived in England. She played the tune in the key of D, but here in jam sessions it's being played in the key of G. Lucy recorded an album at the age of 80!

Reference recording for the tab posted--view my tabs here.

Thanks to Brendan Doyle for uploading the source recording for this week's Tune of the Week, Grey-Haired Dancin' Gal. I gave the tune another try. This version has a more Cajun swing flavor than the one I learned from, and Brendan shared with us the composer's background, so I thought it was worth another try. It's played slowly here and wants to be speeded up, but, oh well....

Jumahl, fiddle; Maxine Gerber, banjo; Dan Warrick, guitar.

Recorded by Brendan Doyle in Oakland, CA in November 2001.

Learned from the fiddling of Mark Tamsula, a fiddler I respect a lot. Grey Haired Dancing Girl, however, is not one Mark learned from the collections of Pennsylvania's Samuel Bayard. The original source of the tune is still a mystery, but a 1990's jam in Maryland was Mark's source.