The Glory-Beaming Banjo

Considering my goal was to learn four more Ward Jarvis tunes this year, a quarterly update on my progress seems like a good idea. However, if that were the case, this post should have appeared a month ago. Apologies for the tardiness of something you didn't know was coming. I'll strive to do better next time. For this Second Year of Ward Jarvis , I started with "Three Forks of Reedy," which was a holdover from last year's overzealous attempt to learn six tunes. I actually started working on it in November, but got stuck . Since then I've noodled with how I play it several times. I think I've finally gotten close, but feel like I'm still missing something. In the attempt to figure out my shortcoming, I consulted The Milliner-Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes . "Three Forks of Reedy" is not included, but I had read on the Fiddle Hangout that Jarvis' tune had come from Ed Haley's "Three Forks of Sandy," which is ...

My old-time music on vinyl collection has grown exponentially over the past two years. As I mentioned last time , this aspect of my collection has been one of the primary targets in my own resurgent interest in buying records. I started buying vinyl in high school. Having grown up in the 1980s, my music consumption started with cassettes and then moved to CDs. Vinyl was the media of my parents' generation, and they played plenty of it in the house. I was raised on the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Mamas & The Papas and others from the 1960s and '70s. My first piece of vinyl was the 1993 split seven-inch of Velocipede and Kill City Babies . My mind had just been blown after seeing Velocipede play at an Amnesty International benefit concert at my high school. I went to check out the merch table, and the only recording they had were the three songs on one side of this dual album. These were both local bands active in Northeast Ohio in the 1990s. An upp...

This post began six years ago. After writing about my 10-year banjoversary , I discovered an unfinished draft from 2012. Started as a follow-up to a reflection on my  music listening journey , the post was an attempt to trace my personal banjo playing history. It's about time I finished it. 1994 / Prelude to a Picker:  A high school friend who played bass was convinced I had perfect hands to be a guitarist. My long fingers being perfectly suited for intricate fretting. I got an acoustic guitar for Christmas and began taking lessons. However, I lost interest because I wanted it all now, and I quit after a couple years because I had no patience to learn. 2007 / The Tipping Point:  After becoming obsessed with banjo music, I started researching how to play one and what instrument to buy. March 2008 / Give Me the Banjo: With my tax return, I bought a Recording King "Songster"  and began my journey. I started with Scruggs three-finger style, but started to l...

Behold, the latest addition to my old-music on vinyl collection. The Edden Hammons Collection was released in 1984 by the West Virginia University Press Sound Archives. The album was reissued on CD in 1999 as The Edden Hammons Collection: Volume 1.  The two-disc second volume was released in 2000. Hitherto finding this album at a reasonable price through an online dealer, this album was going for upwards of $125 or more on eBay. The outer sleeve has a couple small dings, but the vinyl is pristine and the accompanying booklet with contributions from the late, great Alan Jabbour is in good shape. One of the big reasons I'm excited to get this album is because a couple years ago I learned Hammons' version of "Washington March" from  Bruce Molsky's Southern Old-Time Fiddle Tour . It's nice to finally have the source recording for that tune. Edden Hammons died in 1955 . He was recorded in 1947 by West Virginia University professor Louis Chappell. Ultimate...