The Glory-Beaming Banjo

As we all know, in-person old-time music festivals are endangered because of the global coronavirus pandemic. Many events have already been canceled, and I expect many others will follow suit as time goes one. To help fill the gap is the first-ever Online Old Time Banjo Festival , May 2-3, via Facebook, Zoom and YouTube. Organized by Cathy Fink and Brad Kolodner, the event features a robust schedule of workshops and concerts on Saturday and Sunday. The lineup includes Adam Hurt, Evie Laden, Eden and Lukas Pool, Victor Furtado, Allison de Groot, Chris Coole, Frank Evans, and Frank and Allie Lee. Banjos workshops will start at noon each day, aimed at all skill levels and featuring a wide variety of topics, such as adding texture, movable chords, learning melodies by ear and many more. The cost for attending a workshop is $25. Preregistration is required. Email bradkolodner@gmail.com with questions. Registrants will receive a private Zoom meeting link after submitting payment. C

Thinking way back to when I started exploring the fiddling style of Ward Jarvis , among the first batch of tunes I learned was "Tomahawk."  Jarvis plays the tune in AEAE tuning, and the Milliner-Koken book includes notation for his version. While researching and learning how to play the tune, I discovered that this fairly recent composition had gone through a few noticeable permutations. To my ear, the so-called "folk process" has yielded five distinct variations of "Tomahawk." Folklorist David Brose recorded Jarvis playing "Tomahawk" in the 1970s, though the tune does not appear on either of the albums Brose produced for the Ohio Arts Council and Ohio Folklife in 1979. The late Red Mules String Band fiddler Jeff Goehring also recorded Jarvis playing the tune in 1977, according to the liner notes of the resulting Field Recorders' Collective (FRC) release. Jarvis is on record saying he learned the tune from Tommy Jackson , a fiddl