Tribute

I've not felt like posting anything for the last few days as a good friend passed away this week.

So this is one for Uncle Harry - charge your glasses with a big hit of Italian red, smile and sing along with Deano!

Harry, we'll miss you.

St Anne's Reel

listen to ‘St Anne's Reel’ on Audioboo

Here's a nice piece of random banjo music from Broonkind's Audioboo channel.

Little Log Cabin Round the Lane - Uncle John Scruggs (1928)

I've been reading 'Escaping the Delta' by Elijah Wald and in one chapter he mentions a piece of film about Uncle John Scruggs from 1928. Two minutes later there it is on Youtube, and its a fantastic clip.

Frog Chorus

Today felt like the first day of spring, sunshine, blue skies, and frogs having sex in the pond and making a lot of noise about it. Lucky buggers!

Big River

We tried out a cover of Johnny Cash's Big River last night and its one of those songs that, once you get going on it, its hard to stop. As you can hear we haven't quite worked out how to stop but bloody good fun, as they say.

Its also a chance for Mark, our drummer, to throw away his brushes and start hitting the kit. He's the shy retiring type, for a drummer, but he's recently started to give it some - when he remembers to bring two sticks that is!

Doc Brown's part Trois

Return of the cigar box guitar/banjo/whatever

After making a banjo with uncle Harry last year and learning from the master, I decided it was time to try a solo effort. I tried my hand at a cigar box uke with ham-fisted and disastrous consequences, but after the banjo made an acceptable sound I was inspired to have another go. And here's the results. It doesn't look too pretty at the moment but that's cos I've been trying to get it to sound ok first, and here's the result.

It's tuned in open G and its got four strings so is it a guitar or a banjo? who knows or cares.
What's important is that it makes a sound - and seeing as how there's been almost no set up - a surprisingly pleasing one.

Alice Charmers at Doc Browns

Here's two vids of out recent set at Doc Brown's in Boro.