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