All Likkered Up

Likes Likker better Than me


Getting the hang of it a bit better. I think I was trying to make it too fancy and it's just a good honest simple sone so why fiddle around with it!

Fresh Prince of... Carson's Crag

Hi NBB
Chris Knott over at "Strikes a Chord-acoustic Network" started me on the trail which led me to record this for a bit of fun-which given the chilly weather up here on the Crag we all need some of!!

Keep on Pluckin'

PeeBee

more likker...

Lewdite with his usually spare rendition

Likes Likker Better Than Me

I always liked the Carolina Chocolate Drops version of this song, but I couldn't find a tab for it. The only thing I could find was a notation version on Traditional Music.co.uk. Now we all know the joke about 'how to make a banjo player go quiet? Give him sheet music', so I thought hell lets try and transcribe it into tab. Well it took me a while but I think I'm getting there! and the process has helped me to start reading music - slowly. But it's a start...

Anyway, here's a stumbling version Likes Likker Better Than Me

Carolina Chocolate Drops in UK

Tour Dates

January 26 :: Celtic Connections Festival :: Glasgow, UK

January 28 :: Town Hall :: Gateshead, UK

January 30 :: Derby Theatre :: Derby, UK

January 31 :: Memorial Hall :: Sheffield, UK

February 3 :: St. George's :: Bristol, UK

February 4 :: Bush Hall :: London, UK

February 5 :: Arlington Arts Centre :: Newbury, UK

February 6 :: The Met :: Bury, UK

Whispering North Country Roads

Two more for the pot...

Whispering North Country Roads


Aimless Wandering Banjo Blues

Texas comes to the Thirsk Courthouse

Kate writes:
Best friends, Carrie Elkin and Danny Schmidt, have two things in common. They both hail from Austin, Texas and they’re both singer/songwriter powerhouses, with reputations as big as the state they honed their distinct musical talents.

On Friday 11 December, they’re switching the southern states for North Yorkshire, as they drop into The Old Court House, Thirsk, promising a real treat for all folk and acoustic fans.

Both solo performers in their own right, they’ll be playing a selection of each others songs, which span the entire spectrum of the folk music genre. Danny is much a wordsmith as he is a composer. There are sparse backdrops of harmony (vocals, strings, and accordion) as well as a little touch of this and a tiny pinch of that, all tastefully placed and painted for the benefit of the songs. This is the kind of music you’ll want to envelop yourself in at 2am, after a couple drinks, a little loose and strangely attuned, and with the lyrics on your lap so you can follow along, line by line and turn by turn.

As for Carrie, she’s currently hitting new heights with her latest album, The Jeopardy of Circumstance, which has been described by Bob Harris as making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He likened her to a wonderful mix of Patti Griffin, Nancy Griffith and Iris DeMent. Her voice is fantastically expressive, bringing her poetic lyrics to life. She can captivate an audience with just a guitar and a voice, like very few can.

Successful, clever and critically acclaimed artists in their own right, but together they’re a folk music tour de force. So wrap up and venture out to see these two, you won’t be disappointed.

Carrie Elkin and Danny Schmidt will be performing at The Old Courthouse, Thirsk on Friday 11 December, tickets £10, doors 7pm. To buy tickets visit www.inthedock.net, call 01845 595 980.

Steve Martin - The Crow

Always a bit wary of celeb music projects, but after seeing Steve Martin on Later with Jools Holland I'm inclined to give it a go. There's a couple of tracks on this clip and there pretty good, but I'd give the second song a miss - it's terrible.

What is it about comedians and the banjo? Martin, Connolly, Skinner...

Country Roads

This is turning into the month with no posts. I'm not sure what's happened, but despite having more time I've posted less and less!!

So here's two tunes, one on the Uke and one on the banjo - Country Roads and Whiskey in the Jar. I've been trying to mix up picking and struming to get me away from the bump-ditty pattern on the banjo. Both songs use a relative minor in the chord progression and learning the Denver song got me thinking about playing Whiskey in a different way.

Country Roads
(I always thought this John Denver song was big bit of honkin cheese, but It's got a great chord progression and I'm hooked)


Whiskey in the Jar (for the nth time)

John Henry

After the mixed response to the open mike night I've been a bit off the banjo, but I thought you've got to get over it and get back on the bike. So I've been working on a version of John Henry and getting back into it.

John Henry

Don't Let The Banker Get Your Dough!

Huddie

Strangely, my professional life and banjo-life have started to collide recently, which feels a bit odd. Aside from a sad preoccupation with the banjo I'm also involved in the world of contemporary art and have started making work again as part of an internship at the University of Teeside. What started to come out though are a whole series of works derived from banjo, folk, blues and the arcane world of music and musical instruments.

I've started on a series which is based on the names of American folk and blues musicians and I'm particularly interested in the 20s, 30s and 40s. So if you have any particularly obscure ones drop me a line and be part of a contemporary art project. (make em real names though!)

Open Mike Night

A friend, Oliver, asked if I fancied going to an open mike night! and being a performing virgin I was a bit apprehensive, but Mark from Great North Strum was keen, so off we went into the wilds of North Yorkshire last night. It was an intimate affair with about twenty people in the pub and ten or so playing. It was a very welcoming place and just the spot to loose your performing-in-public cherry.

We played Cripple Creek which went about as well as my nervous fingers could be expected to play, but Foggy Mountain Breakdown did what it said on the tin... it broke down! At this point I decided I'd had enough and decamped to the snug with a pint, while Mark wowed em with his rendition of S Club 7 'Don't Stop Moving'!

We then ate the chips and left. I'd like to do it again but I think a lot of practice is required beforehand.

It wasn't quite a car crash but we certainly took the wing mirrors off!

Staff Benda Bilili - NA LINGUI YO

Check out these guys, riffing on Sex Machine.

There website says:
Staff Benda Bilili are like nothing you have ever seen or heard before. A group of paraplegic street musicians who live in and around the grounds of the zoo in Kinshasa, Congo, they make music of astonishing power and beauty. The band's mesmerising rumba-rooted grooves, overlaid with vibrant vocals, remind you at times of Cuban nonchalance, at other times of the Godfather of Soul himself. You can hear echoes of old-school rhythm and blues, then reggae, then no-holds barred funk. Four senior singer/guitarists sitting on spectacularly customized tricycles, occasionally dancing on the floor of the stage, arms raised in joyful supplication, are the core of the band, backed by a younger, all-acoustic, rhythm section pounding out tight beats. Over the top of this are weird, infectious guitar-like solos performed by young Roger Landu, (an ex-street kid the band took under their wing), who plays a one-string electric lute he designed and built himself out of a tin can.