Banjo Hangout Top 100 Old Time Songs

Made this banjo duet recording with Ed Britt back in November, 2014. We still play it when we go busking in Harvard Square.

From the CD "The Old Texas Fiddle, Vol. II", with Howard Rains and Tricia Spencer, fiddles; Brendan Doyle, banjo; Nancy Hartness, guitar; Charlie Hartness, ukulele; Virginia Musser, bass. Recorded in December, 2014 by Mike West at the 9th Ward Pickin' Parlor, Lawrence, KS.

This old-time Tune of the Week for 8/11/17 reminds us in melody of some other traditional songs, such as Gotta Travel On and even Worried Man Blues. The Monroe Brothers recorded this as their first ever recording in 1936 and Bill said that it was commonly sung in Kentucky at the time.

A happy song, fun to play, with images of little Appaloosas kicking up their heels. Mine was named Cookie. When I sold her, I was able to buy my Bart Reiter Whyte Laydie, so my banjo is named Cookie, too. Honestly.

This is the Luther Davis version of Sail Away Ladies, or at least my interpretation of it. Presented for Tune Of The Week for August 2nd, 2018. In any case a fine tune!

BHO member Don Couchie came to Boston for a visit, and we sat right down and started picking. This is the first thing we recorded, with my little Tascam DR-1. I am playing my Tubaphone, and the other Don is on the fiddle. This is a pretty Kentucky fiddle tune attributed to John Sayler. My arrangement is inspired by Adam Hurt's wonderful version.

Rose for Polly is a pretty, 3-part song in a minor key. Perhaps it makes for a good love story -- a hopeful suitor gives her a rose, she responds sweetly, but with a bit of reservation, though continuing to offer hope.

2010 on Jason Burns #3

Tradesman fretless~

Roscoe's version of the old ballad in f#ADAD

A multitrack recording using a Tascam multitrack recorder, a very slow, lazy and very simplified version of Larry Unger's tune "Elkins." Enoch 12" Tradesman (stuffed with a small towel at neck joint) playing lead in Double D, Martin HD-28 guitar on rhythm, Cloud Nine Marimbula on bass (use headphones/earbuds/other good speakers to pick up the sound), H. Luger CV-300 fiddle also playing some lead. This is certainly not a note-for-note accurate banjo version of Larry Unger's excellent tune, nor as good a version as Jason White's on YouTube (which is outstanding as he compares it being played on five different banjos), but I have attempted to capture much of the essence of the tune as I hear it.

Frosty Morn is the old-time Tune of the Week, 8/24/18. Related to Cold Frosty Morning in some of its melody and chordal movement, here's a medley of the two. The first was learned from the guitar flat-picking of Doc Watson, who I idolize. The second was learned from Miles Krassen's Clawhammer Banjo book. He used Henry Reed's version which he had published previously in his Appalachia Fiddle book. Sawmill tuning, playing on my Doc's Banjo.

I learned this C tune from a 1931 Okeh recording of the Mississippi old time string bad the Newton County Hillbillies, featuring Alvis Massengale on fiddle. It's a practice recording from a few years ago, uploaded for the 11/11/22 Old Time TOTW. I am three finger picking my 1928 Vega Tubaphone with a semi-fretless conversion neck, in double C tuning (gCGCD)

For the old-time Tune of the Week, 11/26/16, this old minstrel tune comes from Thomas F. Briggs' Banjo Instructor of 1855. I'm playing on a Gold Tone cello banjo in order to play in the key of G, but tuned down five steps to put it in the key of D. It's Thanksgiving weekend and, though we didn't "kick up the devil," we had a very pleasant holiday. Hope you did, too.

My take on Roscoe Holcomb's (Rosko Halcomb's) classic 2ftl version of "Single Girl" in open D tuning (f#DF#AD)

For the old-time Tune of the Week, 6/24/16, Josie Girl was learned by Tennessee fiddler Charlie Acuff (b. 1919) from his grandfather. A josie is said to be a lady's overcoat with a cape. Art Stamper called the tune Josie-O.

Probably another one of the very first tunes I learned from John Corzine in So. Cal. My friend and I still can't resist the affectionate name "Sally in the Garbage."

A bit of Prohibition and Depression era history here, the poor farmer couldn't make enough money raising cotton. Four Cent Cotton led to raising corn instead for whiskey. Times haven't changed so much, sad to say. This arrangement comes from the early recording of fiddler Lowe Stokes.

A G tune from the playing of fiddler Jim Reed. Played on my Menzies tackhead in standard tuning, but tuned down to C.

For the old-time Tune of the Week, 12/14/18, this sentimental song plays out in clawhammer rather than the Scruggs picking style I originally learned it in.

aDAde - derived from Melvin Wine's fiddling. Not exactly as in my Banjo Newsletter tab of 31 years ago (February, 1984).

Sad song. From Cousin Emmy, Roscoe Holcomb, and Frank Proffitt. G tuning, two-finger thumb lead. Rose Maddox recorded a lighthearted version.

My Long Journey Home - G tuning

CH take of Grub Springs in A tuning. Long.

For the old-time Tune of the Week, 4/13/18, Snake wrote this tune during a recording session and it was was recorded and kept for posterity with this title that was reminiscent of his experience as a child of being knocked down by an angry hornet.

For the old-time Tune of the Week, 6/8/18, Trouble on My Mind was recorded by Kentucky fiddler John Salyer's sons at home. Salyer never recorded commercially, but was an excellent fiddler. This tune is crooked in the last measure when it repeats and is unusual in having six measures in the A part and eight in the B part.

James Bryan, the smoothest, greatest fiddler, learned this from Jim Cauthen and recorded it on his recent CD with Carl Jones, Cricket's Lullaby. Another crooked song.

The old-time Tune of the Week for 1/16/15 allowed me to look at many sources. I ended up learning from Kentucky fiddler Emmett Lundy, Virginia banjo player Wade Ward, and traditional children's nursery songs. Check out more information on the tune: http://www.banjohangout.org/topic/297815

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.

Clawhammer style, gDGCD (relative). 1964 Gibson RB-175.

Two finger thumb lead. Banjo tuned fDGCD.

A wonderful champion fiddler, Tatiana Hargreaves, plays the Tune of the Week and bases it upon the older fiddler Emma Lee Dickerson. In an interview Tatiana claims that's her doppelg?nger, a new word for me. They look alike in photos. The tune is very familiar to me, but Emma Lee's is unique, so I also include the more traditional one in this recording.

For the old-time Tune of the Week, March 23, 2018. Susannah Gal goes by other titles. This one comes from the duet CD of Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham, both from the Round Peak, NC region. Their B part is unique, but they play it together and so it sounds great. Fred adds slides which I attempted to include, too. They must have had lots of fun playing together!

Elizabeth Cotten learned this tune in 1910 from a man aged about 50. She added the words.

For the old-time Tune of the Week, Green Willis is named for a fiddler from Willis, Virginia. It's also called The Raw Recruit. When it's played in slow jig time, it's called Chapel Hill March. Go back far enough to Scotland and it was called Da New Rigged Ship. Lots to think about here on this cheerful tune that reminds me of a new soldier marching enthusiastically.

For the old-time Tune of the Week, Sweet Nell is the title name of a CD by a Washington-based group who wrote the tunes. The tune is named for Nell, the daughter of Paul Newman, partners in a charity-based organic snack company. It's a sweet tune.

A fine Tune of the Week from North Carolina with a crooked part that suits the title Green River.

From an excellent jam in Tucson. Dan Levenson on fiddle, Dave Firestine on mandolin, Jerry Weinert on bass, George Flink on banjo uke, Greg Smith and Jennifer Levenson on banjo, Pete Bowers and me on guitar.

Unleashing the latest wanderings of my mind and fingers on the unsuspecting banjo public. In Double C.

Based on Doc Watson's banjo playing, he learned this as a child from his uncle Jake Miller and said it was a courting song. It was a pleasure to look at the video, hear his banjo and vocals, and learn his solo, as well as see him performing with his son Merle. The video is an entire live performance if you're interested. Nice TOTW choice by Neill Connor!

From a late night session at Rich Hartness's house in Greensboro, North Carolina in August of 2002. Rich Hartness, fiddle; Tolly Tollefson, guitar, Brendan Doyle, banjo. Complete with Rich hollering square dance calls, inspired by Asa Martin on the 1932 recording of Charlie Wilson and His Hayloft Boys.

Rose Conley, 2 finger thumb lead, based on Grayson & Whittier's 1927 version, tuned a half step or so low out of standard "G"

This style of clawhammer I really only use on stage. Very little melody is played except in the break. I got this song from my dad, who got it from my grandma, who probably got it from the Osborne Brothers.

Such a compelling old time tune handed down to us from the great Hobart Smith. I prefer to play it at this slow groove tempo.

I'm uploading this Marcus Martin tune as my contribution to the 1/29/21 old time Tune of the Week. The fiddler is my good friend John Maguire. We recorded it exactly one year ago, today.

I've played this one for a few years now and it has evolved into this. Good ol tune, fune to play and I like it where it is.

Upload for the Old Time TOTW for December 4, 2020. The tune is generally called Too Young to Marry, but the fiddler I learned it from called it Buffalo Nickel.

This recording was made in my living room in 1998; we called our trio Wry Whiskey. I'm picking banjo and singing, such as it is. The guitar player was Brian Clancey, who now plays in a duet with fiddler Robin Warren as Spirit Fiddle. Brian is the best back-up guitar player I ever heard, bar none. Here he is fingerpicking; we experimented a lot with the mixing together of finger style banjo and guitar. Tom Speth was the bass player; his knees have given out, and so he doesn't play much music anymore, but we've gone fishing together a few times over the last several years, which is almost as much fun.

This tune comes from fiddler Harvey "Pappy" Taylor (1894-1987), of Effingham, Illinois, collected by the late Gary Harrison. I made this practice tape in 2011, playing my 1964 Ode Model 42, in a G variant tuning (gDGAD), capoed on the 2nd fret.

The recording was made around 1975, at a concert at the First Unitarian Church in Harvard Square. We called ourselves the Beaumont String Band. The mandolin player was Rose Zak, a young lady from Buffalo who had learned mandolin, guitar, and classic banjo from an old Vaudeville circuit string man. The guitar player was Merrill "Mickey" Levine, who now lives out on the West Coast and plays keyboard. The lap steel player was the late Robert Gear, who could play like Sol Hoopi, and was also a great country blues guitar player.

For a region that has seen generations of young people move away to find work in far away auto plants and steel mills, and in uniform, the song Home Sweet Home has a deep meaning lost on most of us today. The song has been around since before the Civil War, and you will find it in the repertoire of most musicians whose roots are in Appalachia. It is most often played as an instrumental; the song is so familiar, the singing of it is unnecessary. This is from our Clifftop jam with West Virginia fiddler Ralph Roberts. Don Couchie is playing rhythm guitar, and I am following along with some three finger style old time banjo.

I had a nice jam session early on at Clifftop this year with my good friend Tim Rowell (clawhammertim here on the Hangout and on YouTube). Tim has established and now runs the Traditional Music Program at the Real School of Music in Burlington, Massachusetts. We see each other a lot at jams around the Boston area, but had to travel 800 miles to West Virginia to find some quiet time to do play some nice double banjo togrther, clawhammer and three-finger style. This is our take on Gary Harrison's fine twisty fiddle tune.

By Peter David Quinn Boettcher. This is another on the 1850's Jacobs banjo.

Tunaday #100 - In G Modal-f (fDGCD).

As played by North Carolina fiddler Marion Reece (1874 - 1941). I can hear the scolding in the A part very clearly!

a quick recording I made to demonstrate some of the techniques I use to create variations of a tune. A tab and lesson are available on my website, dropthumb.com played in open D tuning (f#DF#AD) on my Fielding Catamount banjo (12" rolled brass ring up on risers)

Dock Boggs' Country Blues/Hustling Gambler in f#CGAD tuned a half step or so low...

For the old-time Tune of the Week, 6/2/17, this is R.D. Lunceford's recording from his seminal CD Drop-Thumb, 21 Clawhammer Banjo Solos. He graciously gave permission to upload it here and his tab will be included in the discussion forum for TOTW.

This is the one of the versions for the old-time Tune of the Week, differing from the famous Uncle Dave Macon song. My arrangement comes from Erich Schroeder (BHO's vrteach). I wish he was still active here and I really enjoyed learning a tune from his recording. The title, as we learn in the discussion thread, is probably not the real one. But if it were to be, I'm reminded of Old Sacramento where you walk on the historic old plank road as you visit the shops and museums and go on the old Delta King steamboat on the Sacramento River. At least, I nostalgically hope we can still do that....

Finger picked on a newly crafted 11"walnut and pecan open back banjo in open D tuning d a f# d f#.

2 finger picking my Pisgah longneck tubaphone. Double c tuning (3 steps down because it's a longneck)

Clyde Davenport, Kentucky fiddler and banjo player from Kentucky, still must be alive today, in his 90's because I can't find anything otherwise. There's a youtube of him playing at his birthday concert at 91 years old six years ago. I think the tune he plays like this one are enchanting and engaging.

A good ol' Oscar Wright tune that I first learned from Miles Krassen's Clawhammer Banjo book, but I have set here in the Half Shaved tuning (f#DADE).

Flying Indian as based on the playing of Bruce Molsky and the Shelor Family, banjo tuned to fCFCD...

Learned from a Mike Compton mandolin lesson. Its minor key makes it sound different from other versions.

A tune I learned while playing banjo to Melvin Wine's fiddling. aDAde

Hills of Mexico - mix of Rosko Halcomb and Bye Hutchins lyrics, banjo tuned eC#F#BC# (fDGCD tuned down a step)

Edden Hammons

Been awhile since I've posted something. Composed this in CH but liked the way it sounded fingerpicked better. In Double C.

Old English ballad... but here i'm playing behind Hobart's high-octane fiddle... lot's o' fun! Playin' a Romero in G modal tuning... and thanks for listening.

Played in the key of A using the "John Brown's Dream" or Low Bass tuning--a A(low) A C# E. Banjo is a Fairbanks Whyte Laydie #2.

played on new walnut and maple 11" open back in double C tuning

For the old-time Tune of the Week, 11/20/15, this version comes from West Virginia fiddler French Carpenter, grandson of Solomon Carpenter who played a tune he called Camp Chase when he was a prisoner-of-war at that location in Ohio during the Civil War. It's said that by playing the tune best Sol actually won his freedom. Check out the TOTW for more info.

aEAC#E with autoharp

This fantastic little tune comes from Illinois fiddler Mel Durham, and his family got the tune from an ex-slave named Alonzo Janes. The original name of the tune eluded Mel, so it's now named after the man who taught it to him. This is just a quick short recording to demonstrate the sound of my fretless slothead banjo made by Dan Pennington.

This tune comes originally from North Carolina fiddler Martin Marcus (1881-1974), who recorded it for the Library of Congress in the early 40s. The rather obtuse title makes sense once you know that a pig's foot is a blacksmithing tool. Another recording from one of our campsite jams on Geezer Hill. Don Couchie is doing the fiddling, I am three finger picking in open G tuning on my semi-fretless Tubaphone.

Tunaday #163 - G/D tuning (gDGAD)

For a ToTW post. Dan Levenson on fiddle, Jerry Weinert on bass, me on guitar. No banjo.

In gCGce. I've been obsessed with this tune played on the banjo, since playing with my friend Barbara last summer. I have played the tune on the fiddle, for years, but not on the banjo. Influenced by the recording of the Mississippi Possum Hunters https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/last-shot-got-him

Banjo tuned aDADE.

Early Banjo by James Hartel, Sweeney Model Belle Breezing was born in 1860 and was a nationally known Madam in Lexington, Kentucky. Belle's first job began when she was 19 years old, in a brothel house maintained by Jenny Hill, which had the distinction of being the former residence of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. Her final and most elaborate "Gentleman's Club" was located at 153 Megowan Street. Belle also wrote poetry. This tune, named after Belle, was first recorded in 1925 by fiddler Emmett Lundy who was born in Grayson County, Virginia on May 9, 1864

First Published in 1840. Vocal, Early Banjo, Castanets, and Donkey Jawbone

1843. a very popular song in the Antebellum Minstrel shows. Played here with a copy of a banjo made by Joel Walker Sweeney circa 1840. The banjo was reconstructed by Luthier James Hartel. Percussion is played on a Donkey's Jawbone. The sound you hear is the teeth rattling when the jawbone is struck with the palm of the hand.

Ric Hollander - My arrangement of Kitchen Girl. Played on the Romero with Nylgut strings. Arrangement: Copyright 2012 Ric Hollander - All Rights Reserved

Ric Hollander - My arrangement of Cumberland Gap, played on the Rettberg and Lang with Nylgut strings. Recorded in 2013. Arrangement and performance copyright 2016 Ric Hollander - All Rights Reserved