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Banjos were originally made with gourd bodies.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."