Banjo Hangout Newest 100 Clawhammer and Old-Time Songs

Listening to Joni Mitchell and Carl Baron's vocals, I came up with this banjo solo in sawmill tuning, like Carl plays it for this week's Tune of the Week called Me and My Uncle -- a kind of modern-day cowboy ballad.

This is a fun little tune, happily re-discovered by Uncle Dave Sturgill years ago after he remembered it as a boy in Piney Creek, North Carolina, then heard it no more until it re-surfaced with an old fiddler in Seattle, Washington. Our TOTW presenter, Andy Alexis, tells us it was a favorite song of his predecessor Piney Creek Weasels banjo player, Rick Abrams, and that Rick had excitedly learned it at the Mt. Airy contests.

Here's Benton Flippen and The Smokey Valley Boys version of Polecat Blues. The fiddler seemed to be leading the bandmates on quite a chase and I could scarcely keep up.

At the end of the "Ancient Sounds and Wild Orchids" video (Augusta Heritage)

2010 on Jason Burns #3

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. :)

A combination of learning Mike Seeger's version via W.A. Hinton's 1930 Okey recording, plus my own attempt at playing Francis O'Neill's Music of Ireland notation for Leather Britches -- a fascinating comparison.

Played on hybrid banjo. Old pot and new neck. Key of G

Known by other titles, this arrangement comes from the legendary WV fiddler Ed Haley. I played it on a short-scale Gold Tone Plucky travel banjo, ending up in the key of F and on a short-scale Doc's Banjo in the key of C --just a fun diversion to hear the difference. To play with a fiddler you'd need it in the key of D. Listen to Stephen Rapp with Paul Kirk, Jr. -- great duet!