The Old Woman Tossed Up In A Basket

Simple Gifts

"If I was so simple, I don't think I'd be braggin' about it!"

Londonderry Air

"Londonderry Air" a traditional melody played by Walden on wooden pandean pipes.

Cigar Box Autoharp

This little autoharp is being made for me by Michael Bowman. It's made from a "Punch" cigar box, with a picture of the puppet Punch and his dog Toby.

Battle Cry of Freedom and Wayfaring Stranger

I'm Henery The Eighth, I Am

"Oh yeah? And I guess I'm the Queen Mother!"

Potatoes

by Walden

Potatoes are a kind of fruit
That grows beneath the ground.
Or, really, they grow on the root,
And are oblong or round.

Well, maybe they're not fruit at all,
But still they're rather tasty.
You plant them and you get a haul,
But only if you're hasty.

Potatoes don't require much haste,
Now that I think about it.
A few of them might go to waste,
Although I really doubt it.

Little Rabbit Foo Foo

There'll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town, Tonight

Cripple Creek

"Cripple Creek" is over a century old, having been collected by some of the earliest folk song collectors in America, including Cecil Sharp. It is well-known to old time fiddlers and singers.

"I always loved this one: Handi-capable Creek!"

Grace

This is another hymntune played on banjo.

The Unclouded Day

http://youtu.be/r8_6HlD2Eko

Col. Bogey March

This is the theme from Colonel Bogey's March, which was composed in 1914.

"Why didn't you whistle it?"

The Time To Be Happy

The words for this old song have a surprising source. They were adapted from a quote by the 19th Century American humanist orator Robert G. Ingersoll.

This Train

The Early Gourd Banjo

Banjos were originally made with gourd bodies. Scholars tell us that they originated in the area of the Caribbean during the colonial period. It combines elements of African instruments, such as the akonting, and Western instruments, such as the mandolin and violin.

The African ancestor was apparently made from a gourd or the shell of a fruit, with a skin head, and a round pole for a neck. The strings were attached to the neck by wrapping it around, and tightened around the neck to tune it. The early banjo, however has a flat neck with strings attached by using tuning pegs, as on Western instruments.

It spread to the places where the black people were sold as slaves, including the Thirteen American Colonies, where it was known by the name banjo by the mid 1700's, as attested in writings of the time. Banja, banjer, and banjar, were among the other spellings in use.

They were not a standardized instrument, and so a variety of materials and string numbers could have been used. Reports from the 19th Century has them made from wooden cheese boxes, for example.

In the mid 1800's, they began to be manufactured by instrument companies, and standardized as 5-string instruments with wooden hoops for bodies, similar to a tambourine or drum. The short thumb string was not a new innovation, but was on many banjos, going back to the ancestral instruments in Africa.

This gourd banjo is made by John Salicco at http://www.banjofactory.com

All Night, All Day (mandolin)

The mandolin is an old instrument. In its traditional form it has been around for centuries. I think that's part of what always drew me to it, but also its distinctive sound and style.

"Man'lins is cute little things. Kindly reminds me of a terrapin's shell."

Liza Jane

The song Li'l Liza Jane is a standard both in country music and in Dixieland jazz. The oldest known printed version was in sheet music from 1916 and attributed to Countess Ada de Lachau.

Harmonica and Banjo

For many years there have been holders available so that a musician could play the harmonica hands-free. Some attach to another instrument, while others hang around the neck. Nowadays they are also available that attach to a microphone stand.

When I was a teenager I attempted to improvise a neck holder using a wire coat hanger. It almost worked.

Here I am using a more typical store-bought variety.

"I knew the harmonica was an old instrument, because David played a harp way back in the book of Psalms."

Come And Sing Along

So many people today have become afraid of their own voices, it seems. It's too bad really, though I can surely relate.

Here's a good article on the waning of singing by instrumentalists.

Whatever Happened To Singing?

"If I'm playing in a key that I can't sing in, I just sing in one key and play in another!"

James A. Bland

Mr. Bland was a banjoist and composer, whose many works included "Golden Slippers" and the former state song of Virginia "Carry Me Back To Old Virginny."

He was born to free black parents in New York, and was educated at Howard University.

This video is of "Golden Slippers" which is considered by many to be one of the finest tunes of American traditional music.

"In the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy had golden slippers. For the Metro Goldwyn Mayer musical, however, they were changed to ruby red, because it looked more dramatic on the color screen."

Cotton Eyed Joe

This is a traditional American fiddle tune. I'm sure there are many versions of the tune, as well as many sets of lyrics that are used with it from time to time.

The lyrics to this old version are:

Where did you come from?
Where did you go?
Where did you come from, Cotton Eyed Joe?

Come from the east,
Come from the west,
Come from a place called Cotton Eyed Joe.




Cotton Eyed Joe got a new suit of clothes.
Nobody knows where he got them clothes.

Cotton Eyed Joe got a new suit of clothes.
Nobody knows where he got them clothes.

"I got a new suit of clothes too. Nobody wrote a sonnet about it, though."

Clawhammer Banjo: Where The Soul Never Dies

"Wayfaring Stranger" On Banjo

The Wayfaring Stranger originated in the 19th Century as a revival/campmeeting song. It has been recorded many times in the 20th and 21st Century, perhaps becoming most famously associated with Burl Ives in the 1940's. Bill Monroe stated that it was his own favorite song.

"If everyone could just get along this world would be a more boring place, but it would be a good kind of boring."

Origami Persimmon

Here's how to make a paper persimmon, origami style.

"I'm glad he made that persimmon from orange paper. I once ate a couple of green persimmons, and that's not happening again!"

The Ocarina

The modern ocarina was invented in the 19th Century by the Italian Giuseppe Donati. Clay bird calls which could play a few random notes had been in existence for a long time in both the Americas and elsewhere, but he refined them into a musical instrument that could play a complete musical scale.

They were quickly sold around the world, and by the Turn of the Century they were a popular amateur musical instrument in the United States, where they were popularly known as sweet potatoes, owing to their shape.

"I think they are called sweet potatoes, cause you gotta dig 'em!"

Clawhammer Banjo Ukulele

In the late Nineteen Teens the Banjo Ukulele was introduced. It was a small banjo set up and tuned to play like a ukulele. It was popular with a number of ukulele players, because it gave the louder, punchier, tone of the banjo.

Due to the ukulele having a high-pitched top string, it can be played in the same clawhammer style as the 5-string banjo.

"Part of what makes America a great place is that it's got more banjo players than any other country this side of the Mississippi."

Free Online Banjo Course

Want to know how to play the banjo? This course is for the complete beginner, and has taught many people to play over the past few years.

Old Time Banjo at the Internet Archive

The Tater Bug Boogie

Fans of Gibson mandolins often refer to the traditional round backed mandolin as a tater bug, because of its resemblance to the Colorado potato beetle. Here I am playing a 1910 mandolin by Vega of Boston.

Walden Tunes Theme