(Here's one I posted on Youtube a few days ago but forgot to share here. From now on I intend to share everything here with yall first.)
I first heard this song from George R. Gibson of Knott County, KY. It goes by many titles including "Reubin's Train," "Old Reubin," "Train 45," "800 Miles" &c. Banjo is relatively tuned f(sharp)DF(sharp)AD
2018-10-11 23:31:22 +0000 UTC View PostGeorge R. Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky plays the banjo, sings and shares oral history at the 2015 Celebration of Traditional Music at Berea College. https://www.berea.edu/
Gibson is both a master musician and a leading banj...
2018-10-11 13:54:31 +0000 UTC View Post
I try not to flood this space with every scrap of interesting material that comes my way, but could not resist sharing this clip.
"One Morning in May" is a song that Kinman and I both learned from master banjoist George R. Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. When I first met Kinman he and I played the song together occasionally.
It's also worth noting that the hard-driving "up-stroke" ...
2018-10-10 23:16:02 +0000 UTC View Post
fB♭FB♭C (relative gCGCD aka "Hook & Line Tuning," "One-Finger C" and "Double C").
In this video I'll demonstrate a simplified, slowed-down version of Black Bottom blues, first using down-picking technique and then two-finger picking.
https://patreon.com/cliftonhicks
2018-10-10 16:24:13 +0000 UTC View Post
(The audio's a little rough at first but gets better!)
"Excerpts from the radio show 'Banjos & Blues' recorded live 28 September 2018 on WUOG 90.5 FM in Athens, GA. Sam Fisher (UGA student) hosts Art Rosenbaum, Bo Wilkey and Clifton Hicks as they discuss folk music, field recording and the 34th annual North Georgia Folk Festival. The guests play several traditional banjo songs b...
2018-10-10 04:55:39 +0000 UTC View Post
This is my first long-neck build as well as my first attempt at a "minstrel" banjo. The shape of the peg head was inspired by an original by the famous 19th-century banjo maker William Boucher out of Baltimore, Maryland. The neck, nut, bridge and tail piece on this banjo were entirely hand-carved by myself and partner Robyn Latham. The hoop was cut drom a 13" maple drum shell and the natural goat ...
2018-10-08 19:29:11 +0000 UTC View Post
gCGCD, relative (aka Double C, One-Finger C or Hook & Line tuning).
I learned this song from George R. Gibson of Knott County, KY when I was very young. He sang both "Black Bottom" and "Stagolee" for me to this same tune. Much later in life when I was in my 20s I heard John Haywood play the song differently--in this video I describe how I heard each of them play and how I choose to play it t...
2018-10-04 06:01:31 +0000 UTC View Post
Many thanks to Bo Wilkey (guitarist, banjoist, high school teacher and occasional rail-riding hobo) for putting up my two dogs and I last weekend during the folk festival outside Athens, Georgia.
Sharing a few photos below from live interview/performance with Wilkey and esteemed folklorist Art Rosenbaum at the University of North Georgia's radio station WUOG 90.5 FM. We were mostly there t...
2018-10-02 02:53:01 +0000 UTC View Post
https://www.northgeorgiafolkfestival.org/
I will be lurking around Athens, GA all weekend for this event. Will bring the camera with me and try to capture something cool to share when I return.
2018-09-27 13:48:08 +0000 UTC View Post
My first attempt at a "minstrel" banjo inspired by an example from the Banjo Database http://www.banjodatabase.dreamhosters.combuilt by William Boucher himsel...
2018-09-25 22:34:21 +0000 UTC View Post
gCGCD, relative (aka Hook & Line tuning, Double C or One-Finger C). Learned from master banjoists George Gibson and John Haywood of southeast Kentucky with verses borrowed from Bessie Smith and Nick Bate of the Steel City Jugslammers.
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I went down in Black Bottom just to get me a pint of booze
But I woke up in t...
2018-09-25 00:52:36 +0000 UTC View Post
13" maple rim (cut from a drum shell) and an extra-long cherry neck. Peg head inspired by a circa 1850 Boucher design.
(Below: original peg head from c. 1850 banjo by William Boucher.)
2018-09-23 15:54:41 +0000 UTC
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Robb Torgler, proprietor of ClawJam "Handcrafted Finger & Thumb Picks" https://clawjam.com was kind enough to send me his full line of USA-made picks. In this video I demonstrate each kind (copper, brass, stainless steel and nickel silver). They are comfortable and work well so I would recommend them to anyone who uses picks-...
2018-09-21 21:30:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Anton, Jane, Patrick and others have asked me to explain how we make our black walnut banjo stain. Since it's now walnut season here in north Georgia/east Tennessee let's get started on a new batch!
Also, Michael and Timothy have a few questions about strings, tailpieces and "down tuning," and young Ned from Michigan wants to know how I started learning to play the banjo.
Intro song: "Boat...
2018-09-17 10:04:35 +0000 UTC View Post
https://www.northgeorgiafolkfestival.org/
I'll be on the main stage at 6:15pm!
"The 34th Annual North Georgia Folk Festival will be held on Saturday, September 29, 2018 at Sandy Creek Park in Athens, Georgia."
2018-09-14 23:12:58 +0000 UTC
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"Hey Clifton, recently I've been working on my singing and to do so I've been learning some acapella songs. I wondered if you sing any songs unaccompanied, and how you find it?" - Daniel
Daniel Hester's channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC6QUtXv-Tav6wpyHn3rBtw
2018-09-14 15:16:59 +0000 UTC View Post
fB♭FB♭C (relative gCGCD aka "Hook & Line Tuning" or "One Finger C")
https://patreon.com/cliftonhicks
2018-09-05 20:58:35 +0000 UTC View Post
fB♭FB♭C (relative gCGCD aka "Hook & Line Tuning" or "One Finger C") https://patreon.com/cliftonhicks | 2018-09-05 17:30:27 +0000 UTC View Post
I decided to upload a current performance as I've probably changed considerably since those older videos were taken. Discussion and Close-Up to follow!
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This tune is played by traditional folk musicians from Georgia to Arizona and as far north as the famous Métis fiddlers of Canada. I first learned it from a recording of east Kentu...
2018-09-05 15:38:44 +0000 UTC View Post
In this video I will describe in detail how to string and tune a regular six-string guitar or guitar-banjo like master Kentucky folk artists Roscoe Holcomb and George Gibson.
My understanding of how this music was and is played comes from many years of discussion, observation and personal correspondence with George Gibson concerning his unique playing styles and one or two conversations wi...
2018-09-03 19:40:47 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's the link to another video of this same piece: https://youtu.be/JhQ4Ciq2daU
Justin requested that I go over this song for our next "lesson" (which I prefer to call "discussions!"). We'll also do a closeup or two and anything else yall want to go over.
2018-09-03 01:56:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Rob has a three-part question about right hand positions for two-finger picking, Jeremy asks why Frank Proffitt didn't use chords and Katharina in Germany wants to know what she can do to lower the action on her 1890s Luscomb banjo.
Intro music: "Trouble on My Mind" from Rufus Crisp gDGBD aka standard tuning aka 'banjo tuning.'
Finally, the long-awaited release of BANJO ROOTS AND BRANCHES!
This book was about ten years in the making and brings together cutting-edge banjo history research from a diverse group of leading academics, musicians and collectors. The late Shlomo Pestcoe, ethnomusicologist Greg C. Adams, pioneering Akonting researcher Dr. Chuck Levy, minstrel banjo expert Dr. Robet Winans, master luthier Pete R...
2018-08-24 20:38:47 +0000 UTC View Post
(fDFADJimmy Dalton's Tuning)
"Stuart Jamieson started a listing of banjo tunes that he intended to eventually publish, however, he never got around to doing this. Stu moved to Florida after he retired; I corresponded with him regarding tunings and visited him several times. I have copies of most of hi...
2018-08-23 00:25:42 +0000 UTC View Post
Brand new clip of one of my favorite banjoists, John Haywood, filmed by Dan Torigoe at Whitesburg, Kentucky.
I first met Haywood on the music festival circuit about 2008. In those days he was just getting back into tattooing after a several year hiatus but his focus seemed mainly on his banjo playing and his painting. At the festivals he was usually tied up at his own booth selling oil paintings...
2018-08-18 12:16:31 +0000 UTC View Post
Dan Torigoe is one of the hardest-working and hardest-travelling field recorders that I know. A few weeks ago He and his assistant visited my place, filmed, photographed and recorded a bunch of songs.
Apparently, his recordings of John Haywood, Lee Sexton, Jack Bunch, myself and a few others will soon be released as a compilation album of Kentucky-origin banjo music. In the mean time, he h...
2018-08-17 17:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
gCGCD
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2018-08-16 13:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Joe asked me to do do a quick show-and-tell on the tackhead banjo that I recently made. I decided to do him one better and share a double show-and-tell with yall.
Filmed at Gibson's home in Knott County, Kentucky (2012). George discusses his early life, local history, music, drug addiction, politics and the devastating environmental impacts of strip mining, fracking and mountaintop removal.
He plays and sings Wild Bill Jones gDGBD, Darling Cora gCGCC and Barbara Allen.
Gibson told me about this interview, "Natalie Baxter and Carrie Wells filmed me s...
2018-08-13 16:24:27 +0000 UTC View Post
