Just saw it, late at night...I always find it quite brave, presenting yourself in the net; for me the only way to show my music and my skills at it is in a session...the feedback is much more direct and intensive. What you´re playing is of course not ITM but being into blues and old-time music myself, I´m actually grateful when somebody is expanding the musical frame a bit. Händel, as far as I know, sometimes went to village dances and the like to get ideas for melodies, so maybe it´s not so far away after all. I like the sound of your instrument - it´s got a certain ring to it, and it should sound beautiful when you play jigs and reels, maybe a bit slowed down in the way Martin Hayes is playing them on the "Lonesome Touch". The sound also reminds me a bit of dulcimers - the way some Appalachian players like Jean Ritchie play it (did they ever try Bach or Händel on their instruments ? Probably not; Pete Seeger played "Jesu Joy of man´s desiring" by Bach on the banjo; I didn´t like that too much, though - or especially of hammered dulcimers... I realize I´m rambling, it´s after midnight. On the whole, I liked your kind of musical experimentation...
Thanks for the postive comments.I play in a band,our own stuff and when I go to a session I fit in with what's going on around me.I never play these tunes in public.I was prepared for the worst,thanks again.
By the way,my bouzouki is one of those cheap Ozarks from Romania.I got it for 60 euros on ebay.It plays like a dream.You don't always have to spend a fortune on instruments.
I liked your playing of that Gavotte by Handel on your bouzouki. It sounded as if you didn't mis-Handel the tune.
Also, is that also yourself playing fiddle on Ragtime Annie and The Yellow Rose of Texas on another video?
I liked the way you played those two tunes. You would fit right in with this old time music group whom I play with once a month. Ragtime Annie and The Yellow Rose of Texas are two of our fiddlers favorite tunes.
You're welcome Dafydd. The fiddlers at the old time music society's monthly meetings do play the older version of The Yellow Rose of Texas because this is supposed to be genuine "old time music" and not newer music from the 1950's. I play my acoustic bass fiddle with this group of mixed nuts. Some people on this web site refer to my instrument as a string bass and/or a double bass. We play The Yellow Rose of Texas in D Major. Do you play it in that key?
Dafydd, thank you for a new nickname for my 3/4 size Englehardt bass fiddle.
Ian (otherwise know as SWFL Fiddler), thank you for the link to Patsy Geary's Slide. I have all of the Bothy Band's albums which were transferred to CD's. Since they recorded Patsy Geary's Slide on one of their albums, I have heard it before.
A flute player at our local session who also played for a local contra dance group (or Contrary dance group), pointed out to me how much this slide resembles the older version of The Yellow Rose of Texas which we play at the monthly meetings of the old-time music group.
The official name of this old-time music group is the Rackensack Folklore and Music Society and it has been in existence for about fifty years now. I enjoy playing bass with them at their monthly meetings.
One of the founding members of the Rackensack Society (and probably the person who thought up the name) was the man who wrote the popular songs "The Battle of New Orleans" and "Tennessee Stud". He was a character named James Corbitt Morris who performed professionally under the name of Jimmy Driftwood.
Morris was born and raised in a small town in north Arkansas and lived there most of his life except for several years when he was touring and performing some of the hundreds of songs he wrote.
Until someone from Nashville, Tennessee "discovered" him, Morris was a schoolteacher in some small town in north Arkansas. He borrowed a fiddle tune called The Eighth of January and put some words to it about the battle of New Orleans to help him teach history to his students.
At the monthly Rackensack meetings, we still like to play The Eighth of January (in A Major) and yes, Driftwood did use the whole tune for his famous song about the battle.
I never did get to meet Driftwood before he died but some of the older members of Rackensack used to visit with Driftwood regularly before he died and play music with him. According to these people who visited with Driftwood, if you asked him, he would be glad to teach you some of his some less famous and less well-known songs out of the hundreds which he wrote during his lifetime.
Yes, thank you Tracie, I am familiar with Driftwood's version of St. Brendan's Fair Isle because I helped one of my partners-in-crime from Rackensack perform this song at our annual concert several years ago. I played my bass fiddle while Charlie played his guitar and performed the song with help from his four grandchildren. Once a year, we put on a paying concert for the general public in the big auditorium at the Arkansas Arts Center in downtown. Children get in for half price and the first five rows of seats are reserved for the kids.
mytube
mytube
I posted some videos on you tube.I'd be interested in your opinions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nbcx8PBnXI&feature=channel
# Posted on June 3rd 2009 by dafydd
Re: mytube
Just saw it, late at night...I always find it quite brave, presenting yourself in the net; for me the only way to show my music and my skills at it is in a session...the feedback is much more direct and intensive. What you´re playing is of course not ITM but being into blues and old-time music myself, I´m actually grateful when somebody is expanding the musical frame a bit. Händel, as far as I know, sometimes went to village dances and the like to get ideas for melodies, so maybe it´s not so far away after all. I like the sound of your instrument - it´s got a certain ring to it, and it should sound beautiful when you play jigs and reels, maybe a bit slowed down in the way Martin Hayes is playing them on the "Lonesome Touch". The sound also reminds me a bit of dulcimers - the way some Appalachian players like Jean Ritchie play it (did they ever try Bach or Händel on their instruments ? Probably not; Pete Seeger played "Jesu Joy of man´s desiring" by Bach on the banjo; I didn´t like that too much, though - or especially of hammered dulcimers... I realize I´m rambling, it´s after midnight. On the whole, I liked your kind of musical experimentation...
# Posted on June 3rd 2009 by alexweger
Re: mytube
Thanks for the reply.I play jogs and reels on the bouzouki.but I thought that I would do something different.
# Posted on June 4th 2009 by dafydd
Re: mytube
Jogs lol.I'm a lazy bugger.
# Posted on June 4th 2009 by dafydd
Re: mytube
Lovely - I'd say you definitely got a handel on it..
# Posted on June 4th 2009 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: mytube
Lol good one
# Posted on June 4th 2009 by dafydd
Re: mytube
LoL -- good fun folk's -- That's why I love coming
to this site -- It make's my Speeling sem so much Bettter,
lol...
Brill -
jim,,,,
# Posted on June 4th 2009 by FIDDLE4
Re: mytube
Jim,
time to put a few more of your own up here?
# Posted on June 4th 2009 by skin&bow
Re: mytube
Thanks for sharing, I felt like I was listening to a traveling troubadour. Your instrument has a nice tone.
# Posted on June 4th 2009 by Leendah
Re: mytube
Sounds really good dafydd, thanks for sharing.
# Posted on June 4th 2009 by Glass of Beer
Re: mytube
Thanks for the postive comments.I play in a band,our own stuff and when I go to a session I fit in with what's going on around me.I never play these tunes in public.I was prepared for the worst,thanks again.
# Posted on June 4th 2009 by dafydd
Re: mytube
By the way,my bouzouki is one of those cheap Ozarks from Romania.I got it for 60 euros on ebay.It plays like a dream.You don't always have to spend a fortune on instruments.
# Posted on June 4th 2009 by dafydd
Re: mytube
I liked your playing of that Gavotte by Handel on your bouzouki. It sounded as if you didn't mis-Handel the tune.
Also, is that also yourself playing fiddle on Ragtime Annie and The Yellow Rose of Texas on another video?
# Posted on June 6th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: mytube
Yes,that's me.It's not my first instrument,but I do my best.
# Posted on June 7th 2009 by dafydd
Re: mytube
I liked the way you played those two tunes. You would fit right in with this old time music group whom I play with once a month. Ragtime Annie and The Yellow Rose of Texas are two of our fiddlers favorite tunes.
# Posted on June 7th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: mytube
Thank you.I would like to point out that it is the Old Time Yellow Rose Of Texas,and not the hit from the 1950's.
# Posted on June 8th 2009 by dafydd
Re: mytube
You're welcome Dafydd. The fiddlers at the old time music society's monthly meetings do play the older version of The Yellow Rose of Texas because this is supposed to be genuine "old time music" and not newer music from the 1950's. I play my acoustic bass fiddle with this group of mixed nuts. Some people on this web site refer to my instrument as a string bass and/or a double bass. We play The Yellow Rose of Texas in D Major. Do you play it in that key?
# Posted on June 9th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: mytube
If you like The Yellow Rose of Texas check this slide out:
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/325
# Posted on June 9th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: mytube
Yes,in D.That's a good slide.
# Posted on June 9th 2009 by dafydd
Re: mytube
We call the double bass the Woodworm Hilton.
# Posted on June 9th 2009 by dafydd
Re: mytube
Dafydd, thank you for a new nickname for my 3/4 size Englehardt bass fiddle.
Ian (otherwise know as SWFL Fiddler), thank you for the link to Patsy Geary's Slide. I have all of the Bothy Band's albums which were transferred to CD's. Since they recorded Patsy Geary's Slide on one of their albums, I have heard it before.
A flute player at our local session who also played for a local contra dance group (or Contrary dance group), pointed out to me how much this slide resembles the older version of The Yellow Rose of Texas which we play at the monthly meetings of the old-time music group.
The official name of this old-time music group is the Rackensack Folklore and Music Society and it has been in existence for about fifty years now. I enjoy playing bass with them at their monthly meetings.
# Posted on June 9th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: mytube
One of the founding members of the Rackensack Society (and probably the person who thought up the name) was the man who wrote the popular songs "The Battle of New Orleans" and "Tennessee Stud". He was a character named James Corbitt Morris who performed professionally under the name of Jimmy Driftwood.
Morris was born and raised in a small town in north Arkansas and lived there most of his life except for several years when he was touring and performing some of the hundreds of songs he wrote.
Until someone from Nashville, Tennessee "discovered" him, Morris was a schoolteacher in some small town in north Arkansas. He borrowed a fiddle tune called The Eighth of January and put some words to it about the battle of New Orleans to help him teach history to his students.
At the monthly Rackensack meetings, we still like to play The Eighth of January (in A Major) and yes, Driftwood did use the whole tune for his famous song about the battle.
# Posted on June 9th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: mytube
Yes,Jimmy Driftwood.He wrote The Tennessee Stud,as I recall.I've just uploaded another video to to youtube.
# Posted on June 10th 2009 by dafydd
Re: mytube
The Tennessee Stud, now your talking, they don't make em like that any more.
# Posted on June 10th 2009 by Solidmahog
Re: mytube
I never did get to meet Driftwood before he died but some of the older members of Rackensack used to visit with Driftwood regularly before he died and play music with him. According to these people who visited with Driftwood, if you asked him, he would be glad to teach you some of his some less famous and less well-known songs out of the hundreds which he wrote during his lifetime.
# Posted on June 10th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: mytube
Jimmy Driftwood also wrote St. Brendan's Fair Isle, a retelling of early Irish history to a reworking of Rosin the Bow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DndF93ztvUQ
# Posted on June 10th 2009 by Tracie
Re: mytube
Yes, thank you Tracie, I am familiar with Driftwood's version of St. Brendan's Fair Isle because I helped one of my partners-in-crime from Rackensack perform this song at our annual concert several years ago. I played my bass fiddle while Charlie played his guitar and performed the song with help from his four grandchildren. Once a year, we put on a paying concert for the general public in the big auditorium at the Arkansas Arts Center in downtown. Children get in for half price and the first five rows of seats are reserved for the kids.
# Posted on June 10th 2009 by fauxcelt