From the playing of WV fiddler Melvin Wine. It closely resembles Texas/New Castle. Melvin remembered lyrics, too. It's origins go back to minstrel banjo.

Banjo: aEAC#E Derived from Melvin Wine's fiddling

Reference recording for the tab posted--view my tabs here.

My first attempt at playing clawhammer.

The current Tune of the Week is full of links and versions and history regarding the old song also known as Frankie and Johnnie. I've arranged one from listening to Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham -- one of the many links available to hear in the discussion thread. In playing along with the recording, my cello banjo was surprisingly already tuned to play along.

From the playing of Dick Hutchison. The rest of the title stated, "Take These Shackles Off of Me." Judge Parker was a real judge who sentenced many criminals to be hung.

This is a Canadian tunes. They are often very noted and challenging. My choice of tunings has me baffled, as I just played along with a recording. It's fDFBbD. The key is apparently Bb. It would be interesting to try another tuning because this arrangement feels hard, though not really harder than others pieces I learn. Probably just more time needed here....

Key of D and played on a 10 3/4" banjo. Old pot with a new neck.

Arranged from a combination of two old fiddlers. The oldest one is Kentucky's George Lee Hawkins. Then a newer one from Alan Jabbour helped me to smooth it out. Also listen to Tom Harleman's version on the Tune of the Week and hear an active bumblebee who you might not want to see except safely in his stopped-up jug!

Clawhammer Banjo Version TablEdit audio capture.