Banjo Hangout Top 100 Clawhammer and Old-Time Songs

TOTW......played in Open C

A great American folk hero song, the Tune of the Week for February 14, 2014, played on a Gold Tone cello banjo.

Virginia fiddler Emmett Lundy (born 1864) recorded this in 1941 for the Library of Congress. He mistakenly called it Richmond Cotillion, another tune. I've arranged three of his tunes as encouraged by my Skype lessons with Adam Hurt. This tune appears to be played more straightforward than the others I've done, which stand out more in the unique style of Mr. Lundy. In this cotillion I can picture the costumed folk dancers.

I'm playing on a Gold Tone cello banjo, re-strung with nylon strings. In my continuing Skype lessons with Adam Hurt, he encouraged me to listen to Emmett Lundy's fiddling and arrange a tune for clawhammer. Mr. Lundy, from Grayson County, Virginia, born in 1864, is one of many highly-regarded fiddlers from that region. He learned from an elderly fiddler, Greenberry Leonard, born in 1812. Mr. Leonard was said to be one of the very best fiddlers from that region, so studying Lundy's style takes me way back in history. I find that the syncopated and slurred notes of this well-known tune make it stand out as unique and pretty.

I'm playing on a Gold Tone cello banjo, re-strung with nylon strings. In my continuing Skype lessons with Adam Hurt, he encouraged me to listen to Emmett Lundy's fiddling and arrange a tune for clawhammer. Mr. Lundy, from Grayson County, Virginia, born in 1864, is one of many highly-regarded fiddlers from that region. He learned from an elderly fiddler, Greenberry Leonard, born in 1812. Mr. Leonard was said to be one of the very best fiddlers from that region, so studying Lundy's style takes me way back in history. I find that the syncopated and slurred notes of this well-known tune make it stand out as unique and pretty.

Thanks for listenin'!

Thanks for listenin'!

This version of Sugar Hill comes from the fiddling of Grayson County, Virginia fiddler, Emmett Lundy, born in 1864. Adam Hurt's Skype lessons provided the vehicle by which I've been encouraged to listen to, learn, and attempt my own arrangement of Mr. Lundy's tunes. I'm playing on a Gold Tone cello banjo.

From the playing of the Lewis Brothers.

Tom Schaefer on fiddle, Bob Douglas on mando, and I'm on the banjo. Collectively we're known as the Tune Jerks.