Key of A and played on a newly crafted 11" walnut open back

Old Tom of Oxford (totw 1/10/2020). Double C tuning - CH on Wildwood banjo.

Alice Gerrard, a living legend herself, wrote a song about another musical legend, Elizabeth Cotten, who she knew and whose conversation with her inspired this song, released on Alice's CD Bittersweet. As I listened to the CD this song moved me to attempt it on banjo and I've had the delight of learning more about these two amazing women. As the lyrics say, "And won't you sing to me as I take my leave, you're going to miss me when I'm gone."

Grateful Dead classic built on a descending G scale

grassabilly blues

J. J. Cale's classic blues song set in A minor

For the old-time Tune of the Week, 12/9/16, Snow Deer was a popular song written in 1913 by the same composer of Moonlight Bay, and inspired by the success of Redwing in 1907. The Stanley Brothers did an instrumental of it in 1963 and Bob Wills' band performed it, amongst many others. I added a Native American bridge to it to go along with the lyric's theme of a cowboy and Indian maiden's romance. Played on a Gold Tone cello banjo and learned from Ken Torke's tab. See the current TOTW for more info. I'll be surprised if people have heard of this song before -- I hadn't.

Sometimes an event and a new tuning combine to inspire a tune, like in Hillside. It's a tribute to my mother's neighbor, Mrs. Fields, who passed away in her late nineties. Growing up with good neighbors is a blessing, isn't it. Hillside is the final resting place for some of my family members and now for dear Mrs. Fields. The new tuning for me is f#DGAD, which I found in an Art Rosenbaum resource book. It's a "D variant" and he calls it "Little Black Train" tuning. This recording is my first effort using three tracks with Garage Band using my Mac Traynham Whyte Laydie and Gold Tone cello banjo.

banjo-lute