August 2009
3 posts
Some radio podcasts / mp3 →
Here are some radio shows about folklorists, amongst others one I believe about Alan Lomax. I haven’t given them a listen yet but I think they sound pretty good…
5 tags
(Lights, cameras) Action!
Before going away on holiday I left my guitar with the nice people at the Birmingham Hobgoblin shop (even though I think it then gets sent off elsewhere) to have the action adjusted on my new Blue Moon concert acoustic guitar. I was advised the action was quite high, with the strings taking a good old press just to clamp down a chord, especially higher up the neck. It was a problem I had with my...
July 2009
12 posts
Away for a few days
I’m away from the interwebs for a few days now, going on holiday to rural France. So that will be until August 12th. You’d think all that time sitting in the country would be great for playing banjo, guitar etc but we can’t take anything this time so I’m going to have to settle for my harmonicas - I’ll be stashing a C and a G blues harp in the luggage. I know it...
Cath and Phil Tyler - something of the old time →
Cath and Phil Tyler play old timey tinged sparse folk music. I’ve seen them at Supersonic Festival in Birmingham, which to those in the know might show they’re not your average folk fare. I guess you might bundle them into an ‘alternative folk’ or ‘freak folk’ bracket, like Bonnie Prince Billy or Joanna Newsom… but they do actually cover a lot of old folk...
Balmorhea →
It’s not often you hear new, hip bands that use old time instruments played ‘properly’. I know that sounds very, very snobby but I recently went to see PJ Harvey and John Parrish doinjg a gig together and John Parrish came on at one point with an open back banjo and then proceeded to play with a plectrum, strumming it like a guitar. He looked so pleased with himself to be playing...
7 tags
Banjo barbecue
I was supposed to be going to what I think of as a banjo barbecue today but is actually for all kinds of instruments. My teacher did one last year, various of his friends and students turnign up with instrumnets and playing together.
But, it’s raining so I’m staying at home instead. Didn’t fancy trying to keep a guitar, banjo, wife and baby dry (in that order), as well as...
4 tags
Second guitar lesson
I bought a guitar on the 3rd March, a nice acoustic concert size from Hobgoblin in Birmingham. I had one lesson at the time, which was good enough to get me started with something to practice in terms of left hand (new chard shapes!) and right hand, some finger picking, walking bass, etc.
Anyway a month later and I had my second lesson the other day. I often forget how much I get out of lessons,...
Okay, don't panic...
I just changed the theme of this blog, it’s still the same site! I am very much enjoying tumblr, if for no other reason that the templates you’re given to use are very nice indeed. But maybe I’ll make my own at one stage…
8 tags
Anthology project up and running
The Anthology Project (that’s going to be the new short title I’m afraid) is off and running with two songs down. Just 82 left to go. Hmm. One of them is my version of The Waggoner’s Lad, the other is a version of Stackalee.If you have a Youtube version of any of the other songs, get the link emailed to me…
Anthology of American Folk Music - A Youtube...
Here’s an idea I just had for a bit of a project. The Anthology, popular as it is, has many songs that have been covered by various people. But I wonder if I can get together the entire thing, in Youtube covers?
I’m thinking it would be nice to have people record their versions of these songs fresh for the project, so they can type up the details alongside the Youtube vid, and link...
4 tags
Uplifting old timey songs?
My question is maybe a little facetious and intended to jumpstart people into announcing ‘Of course there are uplifting old time songs!’ Seriously, if you know of any, let me know.
Most of the songs I’m aware of, or at least the ones I know or have an inkling of the lyrics to, seem to involve death, murder, lost love, drinking or fighting. Even Keep on the Sunny Side is...
2 tags
You want autoharp?
You got it! More autoharp than you can shake a stick (or dulcimer hammer) at. I keep looking at Autoharps on ebay.co.uk then seeing they’re going for around £200+ and backing away slowly. Does anyone have experience of playing these? A friend of mine said they used to have them in his school (middle school in the UK I think) because it was so easy for children to hold down the chords and...
June 2009
12 posts
Joseph's first guitar
So today I bought one of those ukuleles I was talking about the other day, and presented it to Joseph. I was quite impressed by how long he managed to resist the urge to eat it or grab at the tuning pegs. I should point out at this stage that Joseph is my eight month old son.
I decided to get him the ukelele after realising that he liked my banjo playing very much, but if I sat too close, as with...
1 tag
John Ten-ry
Okay, terrible pun, but I have collected 10 covers of John Henry from Spotify (you can now search Spotify by track name y’see). It’s interesting to see the range of approaches to the song.
Listen here - you’ll need to download Spotify to listen to it I think, but it’s well worth it.
4 tags
Dock Boggs: Turkey in the Straw →
Here is that tabbed version I said I’d written of Turkey in the Straw as played by Dock Boggs. Or it’s as near as it needs to be. Hopefully if you play it you’ll appreciate it proves the point that a lot of his tunes/songs he was just playing the melody.
Oh and I should probably add this is for bano, in standard G tuning, GDGBD.
Hobart Smith – Fly Around My Blue-Eyes Girl →
This is interesting, click the title above to hear an odd piano version of this song, something I’m more used to hearing on guitar or banjo. Applying that rythmic style to the song makes me think of old cockney piano ‘pub style’ music.
(I discovered this on Last.fm, searching ‘old timey’ and as I type now, it’s playing me a duet version of Red River Valley...
Duelling banjo and guitar
Ever noticed how the song Duelling Banjos used in Deliverance is actually a bit of a misnomer? It’s a guitar duelling with a banjo, not two banjos. Hm, interesting.
Tangier Sound →
Pat and Patrick Costello’s amazing blog for banjo / guitar / uke / etc playing
Instruments for the very young
My 8 month old son loves watching me play banjo and is now grabbing out for the string. I fear for his tiny, delicate hands though, especially on the very cheesewire-y high strings. So, I thought I’d buy him something more suitable, one of these ukeleles. Very small, very light, and all soft nylon strings. I’m not saying he’ll be able to play backup on Cripple Creek within a week...
10 tags
Round Peak Banjo
Something I read about somewhere, Youtube searched, and finally tried out:
Learning Dock Boggs' style...
People often talk about Dock Boggs’ unique style of banjo playing and whilst the better recordings are arguably those he originally did in the 1920’s (more atmospheric at least), the banjo nerd will find these later recordings are very useful for clearly hearing and then learning what he plays. The inlay sleeve also contains tunings for most of the songs.
Once you have the tuning,...
Anthology of American Folk Music →
Some details of the collection of songs that is the backbone of a lot of this old time music…
What's in a name?
The first thing you may be wondering, what’s with that title, ‘Macon as in bacon’? Well it comes from a conversation I had with a friend about the old time American musician Uncle Dave Macon. I had seen his name on many CD cases, and listened to him, and decided I liked what he was doing (apart form the obviously racist nature of many of his songs) but had no idea whether his...