Yes, folks, we just found out that Christopher’s great song “Walking West to Memphis” has been nominated as “Song of the “Year” in this year’s SPBGMA Awards! The Gibson Brothers’ first-class recording of the number has propelled it onto the bluegrass charts. If you’re a SPBGMA member, please vote!
Chris’s Song “Walkin’ West to Memphis” up for SPBGMA Award!
January 24th, 2012Tuning Story
December 28th, 2011
Murphy Henry
But by the time Cody came in, I was ready to be in tune. And since Cody’s banjo wasn’t quite in tune, I asked him to tune it. He didn’t have his tuner with him so I handed him mine. Then, I asked Bob to go ahead and use that tuner to tune, so we’d all be in tune together. No big deal, right? All I wanted (for Christmas) was for them to get in tune…
So Cody looks at Bob and says, “ I think I’m gonna buy her a T-shirt that says, ‘Please be in tune WITH ME.’ ”
And Bob says, “Yeah. And the operative words are WITH ME.”
Hmmm….somehow I never thought of it like that!
Murphy
The Lights Come On!
December 23rd, 2011
Murphy Henry
It thrills me when someone who is new to the Murphy Method takes that “leap of faith” and starts learning by ear. The series of emails below that I exchanged with Tom after our Beginning Banjo Camp in October seems to capture the start of that experience in a nutshell. With his kind permission, I am sharing them with you. As he said, “Hopefully the message will help others who have struggled with tab. As I say, if I can learn with your method and make some nice music with my banjo, anyone can!” Thank you, Tom!
November 10:
Dear Murphy:
Thanks again for the excellent camp. It was a great experience. I wanted to email you a question about the sequence of learning songs. I have always wanted to play Will The Circle Be Unbroken. I have tried to learn to play it for a number of years by using tab without any success. I do have your Gospel Songs DVD. I know you recommend doing the first two DVDs and Misfits DVD first. Over the past couple of days, I have begun using the Gospel DVD and starting to work on Will The Circle Be Unbroken. I know this song is out of the sequence you recommend for learning and it seems to have some more challenging licks and it will take more time to learn. I wanted to see if you had any recommendations about trying to learn this song. It appears to be a more challenging song but it is perhaps my favorite song on the banjo and a song I really like to sing. Since I have tried to learn it by tab for some time, it is also a personal challenge for me to learn the song by your method. For these reasons, I would like to learn this song and I wanted to see what your thoughts were about working on it. I would appreciate any suggestions or ideas you have. Thank you for your time and response.
Hi Tom,
Glad you enjoyed the camp. So did I! I appreciate your asking for my advice about learning Circle. I can understand why it’s a favorite of yours–it’s also a favorite of mine! And it’s a great song. Now, although this may seem counter-intuitive, I believe you can learn the song faster–in the long run–if you learn a few other basic tunes first. In spite of its seemingly simple roll pattern, it’s really pretty complicated. You don’t have to go thru Vol 1 Vol 2 and Misfits, but would you be willing to learn at least a couple of songs before tackling Circle? They will help you internalize some of the basics you will need to know so you can more easily tackle the specifics of Circle. If so, let me know what you already play from these DVDs and I’ll pick two others that will help you specifically with Circle. Hoping this will appeal to you!
Murphy:
Thanks for your response. I feel I play Banjo in the Hollow, Cripple Creek and Boil Them Cabbage Down fairly well as far as the banjo solos go, but not necessarily the vamping at this point since that was very new to me. Your method really helped me with Cripple Creek and Boil Them Cabbage Down since I had struggled with those songs for a few years with tab and now I am doing fairly well with the melody and timing. So here’s a banjo salute to you and your method. It does work, even with an older musical misfit like myself. I would appreciate any suggestions you have about two additional songs to learn from the Volume 1 or Misfits. As I said, I really enjoy Circle and have been very frustrated with trying to learn it from tab. Truthfully, I was about ready to smash my banjo over my head (just joking). Let me know what you think about some additional songs.
November 11:
Hi Tom,
Thanks for your thoughtful, detailed reply. I believe if you learn I Saw The Light and Worried Man (from the Misfits DVD), those will GREATLY help your learning Circle. There is an important lick (slightly hard) taught in those–the Tag Lick–which will need some practice to get it down smooth before you go on to Circle. As I said, learning these will make learning Circle MUCH EASIER. No need to learn the vamping to these right now, altho in the future you would need to learn that. Each of these songs should take a least two weeks to get down smoothly, it not more. Good luck, Tom, and let me know how you are doing!
Murphy:
Thanks for your time and response. I really appreciate your help. I will plan on learning I Saw the Light and Worried Man before I take up Will the Circle Be Unbroken. After all of that, I will plan on resuming your recommended learning sequence from the Volume 1 and 2. Thanks again for your advice and time.
December 15:
Murphy:
I just hope you don’t mind updates on my experience/progress with the Murphy method. I just wanted to let you know that the lights started to come on. I had been progressing slowly with I Saw The Light as you had recommended but was having some difficulty bringing out the melody when all at once last night it seemed to click and the lights came on and the melody was there. It is still not quite where I would like it, but I am clearly getting there with this song. I plan to polish the song very well and then move on to Worried Man. I just want to thank you for your method. I don’t know if you realize how much frustration a person can have with tab and not being able to play a song and have it sound like the song if you know what I mean. It is a real pleasure to hear real music coming out of my banjo and not just a slew of notes. Thanks again for all of your advice, suggestions and the camp. I will keep you updated from time to time as I continue to make progress. I hope that you and Red, and Chris, Casey and Dalton have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Again, I thank YOU, Tom! Hearing your story will definitely help make my Christmas a Merry one!
Now, over to Casey’s house to see Dalton! Whoopee!
Murphy
Don’t Worry, Be Happy!
December 22nd, 2011Mark and Susan had lessons back-to-back today, so they jammed a little where their times overlapped. In the lull between songs we started talking about how no one ever seems to be satisfied with their performance. I told them about being at the Augusta Heritage Bluegrass Camp and how those amazing instructors would walk off stage after the faculty concert bemoaning the “fact” that they had played so poorly and had missed so many notes. These were performances that I—an instructor myself—had thought were flawless and wonderful. Mandolin whiz Butch Baldassari (God rest his soul) said, “Well, I hit more notes than I missed, so I count that a good performance!” (On the other hand, fiddling Fletcher Bright was always happy with his performance and was never happier than when he was stealing the show from someone else! I was always happy with him stealing the show too—as long as he wasn’t stealing it from me!)
Anyhow, the gist of our conversation was, as you have gathered, that no one ever seems satisfied with how they play. And does that dissatisfaction ever end? Perhaps when you are in the grave, Susan suggested.
Then Mark said, “I try to be happy with where I am while trying to get better.” Which Susan and I both acknowledged was an excellent way to look at things.
Then Susan said, “I like to hear a man saying things like that!”
To which Mark quickly replied, “I only apply that to banjo!”
And Susan and I just howled and rolled our eyes. Too funny.
And that, friends, is my short blog for today. Hope you have a wonderful last weekend before Christmas! I’m square dancing tonight so I am happy! “Oh, promenade that ring, take your girl home and swing, because, just because!”
Murphy
Blogging Before Supper
December 16th, 2011
Murphy Henry
We moved the last of Casey’s stuff into her house today! When we came back from Georgia over Thanksgiving, we had brought a U-Haul full of furniture from my parents’ house. Some of it I am keeping, but a good deal of it went to Casey, including my Grandmother Murphy’s old pine wardrobe (BIG!), her old pie safe (falling apart but fix-up-able), old high chair that all of us girls and many of the grandkids sat in, the old brown rocker (mentioned in my song “When My Mama Sang To Me,”) and all the furniture from the room that we, for over forty years, called the “nursery.” All of that got unloaded into our studio, which is where I teach. Needless to say, things have been a little crowded in there for these last few weeks.
But no more! Today the movers came and took it all away! It’s at Casey’s house now! Yea! And while they were here, I got them to move the furniture that I inherited into a space other than the middle of the living room! Where it’s been since Thanksgiving! This required some major rearranging, since there was already furniture in the places where these new pieces were going. But the movers did a magnificent job of helping me rearrange. So a Big Shout Out to Pug Movers of Winchester, Va. If you ever need anything moved, give them a call.
I followed the moving truck into Casey’s house where I fixed us a quick sandwich and spent some quality time with my grandson, Dalton, while Casey did a few things. He slept (in my arms!) for a little while, then played for a little while—watching his mobile, reaching for his Sneaky Snake rattle (named after a Tom T. Hall song), and doing his sitting up exercises. (I pull him up gently into a sitting position and he holds on to my fingers while he sits there for a few minutes. Too cute!)
Then I left to go back to my house where I did some Christmas shopping by phone and internet. It is 11 days before Christmas and I have bought only ONE PRESENT! Okay, two. Okay, three if you count the rattles I bought for Dalton today at Wal-Mart. But I know I won’t be able to wait till Christmas to give them to him!
Oh, well. I’ll either get them bought or I won’t. I imagine I’ll find a few things. And now, I hear my tummy prodding me toward that supper I was talking about. Catch you later!
Jingle Bells
December 15th, 2011Murphy Henry
I’m teaching Bob Mc tonight and I decide—totally out of the blue–to go over the chords to Jingle Bells. He’s not learning to play the song, I just wanted to do the chords because it’s Christmas and who wants to chord Jingle Bells in July? And the chorus of Jingle Bells (in the key of G), being familiar to most everyone, is a great song to use to learn to hear the A chord (the 2 chord).
So we’re chording along, me on the guitar and Bob in his cap…whoops, I mean Bob on the banjo. (Sorry, that was a ref to The Night Before Christmas in case you didn’t realize it…) And Bob is doing pretty well. Not perfect, but good enough. He was “hearing” where the A chord came in, which was the whole point of the exercise, so it didn’t matter so much to me that he occasionally missed the second C chord.
When we had chorded through the song many, many times we quit so I could expostulate. I said, “When you’re playing in the key of G, the A chord is almost always followed by the D chord. 99 and 44/100% of the time it is.”
And Bob, being Bob, immediately said, “Why?”
And me, being me, said, “Because.”
And Bob, being Bob, thought about that for a few seconds and then (wisely) said, “Okay. I’ll accept that.”
And I said, “Good thing, because I have no idea why that is. It just is.”
Just wanted you to know I do occasionally play the banjo and blog about the banjo!
What We’re Doing Now
December 14th, 2011Murphy Henry
As you can see, I’m trying to follow through on my pre-New Year’s Rez to blog more! But, frankly, not a lot has happened since yesterday! We worked hard at Casey’s new abode, unloading boxes, putting stuff on shelves, putting together beds, and cleaning her freezer. (I cleaned the fridge the day before!) We also listened to umpteen repititions of the John Hartford album Wild Hog in the Red Brush because that is what Casey uses to put Dalton to sleep by. And frankly, at this point, if I NEVER hear Buffalo Gals or Birdie again it would suit me just fine! (Just kidding, John, wherever you are!)
I told Casey I could work till 5 o’clock but after that she’d have to pay me overtime! So we quit about 5:30 and by then I was WAY too tired to go the old-time picking, even if David McLaughlin and his banjo were going to be there. (Notice how I worked that word “banjo” in? Slick, huh?) So instead I went home, fixed supper for Casey and me–a marvelously quick and tasty concoction of hamburger, onion, mustard, and ketchup all mixed together that you eat rolled up in a tortilla. Casey calls it a “deconstructed hamburger.” I learned about this from my West Virginia square dancing buddies who call it Mexican meat (politically incorrect, I know, but that’s what they call it!) It’s yummy. Then I retired to the TV room with my Corona to watch the last football game of the day, Cowboys v. Giants. I was so sleepy I only made it through the first quarter! I had to wait till today to find out that my team—the Giants, with quarterback Eli Manning (son of Archie)—won 37 to 34. Must have been a heck of a game. Wish I could have seen it!
So, now (Monday afternoon, after a dentist appointment and a workout) Casey and Dalton and I are headed back over to her house to do some more unloading! Red will join us there after he packs today’s Murphy Method orders. And that’s what we’re doing here in Winchester, Va. Hope you’re having a good day wherever you are!
What We’ve Been Doing!
December 13th, 2011Murphy Henry
Here is a thought I had while I was driving Casey and Dalton from Nashville to Winchester on Friday: I have Grand-Mommy brain! Which is to say, I have plenty of energy to think about all things Casey and Dalton, but little energy to blog about banjos. So, I decided that in lieu of blogging about banjos for a while I’d just blog. About whatever.
So here is my first “whatever” blog! Hope you can hang in with me until I get focused, once again, on banjos! But I was thinking that perhaps this experience may also reflect what often goes on in your lives: too much going on to devote much time to playing banjo. (Or whatever instrument you are learning.) What do you do? You just hang in the best you can, fill your lives with music as much as possible, and wait for the pendulum to swing back around. Music is such a part of my life that I can never be completely separated from it or without it.
Having said that, I’ll tell you what I’ve been doing lately. On Wednesday morning (Dec. 7) I flew to Nashville to join Casey and Red who were in the mad and last throes of packing up her house for the move to Winchester. Red had driven the U-Haul to her house [Editor's note: actually I picked up the U-Haul while Red held the sleeping baby at home!] and when I arrived movers were already loading the 26-foot truck. I would have been there slightly sooner but son Chris and I had made a Starbucks detour on the way from the airport for some mother-son bonding, two breakfast sandwiches, and two tall Americanos with cream! Wednesday night Red delivered the truck to the home of Ned Lubrecki (Nedski to his friends) who was driving it to Winchester on Friday. Red and I spent Wednesday night with Red’s uncle John Hedgecoth and his wife Lynn, sleeping in a soft bed while Casey hunkered down, bluegrass style, on a pallet on the floor of her house. She wanted to spend the last night in her home of the last nine years. (Dalton was nestled all snug in his Pack n Play.)
Thursday morning, as Casey and Dalton and I hit the road for our two-day trip to Winchester, I was surprised to find myself crying as we pulled out of Casey’s driveway. That had been such a good house for her, and she had put so much love and work into it. Casey asked me if I would like Dalton’s pacifier! Red was driving separately and taking just one day. We learned during our long journey home over Thanksgiving that Dalton can make it just about five hours before melting down completely and becoming inconsolable despite Casey’s best efforts—and much John Hartford music!
Our stopping places along the road are now based on which eating places have a baby changing station in the bathroom! Some Starbucks do, some don’t. Some Burger Kings do, some don’t. Cracker Barrel does. McDonald’s is pretty good.
We spent Thursday night at our half-way point, Bristol. Casey and I woofed down a pizza in our motel room, and I tried to stay awake long enough to watch the Steelers play the Browns on Thursday night football. I didn’t make it through the first quarter!
Friday morning Dalton was up bright and early at 6 a.m. So, naturally we were too! Having chosen Exit 7 on I 81 based on the presence of a Starbucks, we got our breakfast there (to go) and geared up for the last 300 miles. We rolled into Winchester sometime around 1 p.m. The rest of that day is a blur. Oh yeah! I made spaghetti! From scratch, with grass-fed local beef! Nedski arrived with the U-Haul sometime around 8 p.m. Since he had a gig in Chattanooga the next afternoon (!) he didn’t hang around. Red drove him to the Baltimore airport. I was out square dancing! Which keeps me sane!
Okay, gotta wind this up. Casey just came downstairs with Dalton and said she would feed him and we would head over to HER HOUSE to continue with the unpacking. Although she has not yet closed on her house (that’s Monday) the sellers were kind enough to let her unload all her stuff there Saturday. Which is what we did all day. I bailed at 4 p.m. so I could get a nap and restore my energy for, guess what? Square dancing!!
Which brings us around to today, Sunday. And more unpacking. I told Casey I’d make us some sandwiches for our lunch, so I’d better get to it. There is a possibility of some old-time picking tonight in Paw Paw with Sam and Joe Hermann and David McLaughlin. If I go, I’ll be hacking away at the fiddle.
If you’re looking for a great (although non-bluegrass) holiday CD, I’m really enjoying the new Carole King offering. Check it out. It starts off with “There As A Few Of My Favorite Things.” And Tony Trischka’s holiday CD from a few years back is (And Glory Shone Around is perhaps the title) is fabulous. And Laurie Lewis’s Winter Solstice. (Don’t hold me to the title!) And of course, The Roaches We Three Kings. (Also non-bluegrass but wonderful with great harmony.)
Okay, time to go be a Grandmother!!! “I have sandwiches to fix and miles to go before I…..” Okay that didn’t work! The best I can come up with (after running through the alphabet) is “miles to go before I picks” which is ungrammatical. This is better: “She has sandwiches to fix, and miles to go before she picks!” I like it!
Women of Bluegrass Calendar
December 11th, 2011Murphy and Casey are featured in this banjo-centric collection by photographer Darwin Davidson. Each month pictures a different player with her banjo. Casey is January, Murphy is May. We’re not selling them through our site, but you can order them straight from the photographer for $20 each. DarwinDavidson.com
(Click on pictures for full-size images)
Y’all Come: Portland Workshop In January
November 12th, 2011Murphy Henry
Well, now it’s officially official. I made my plane reservations for Portland so I guess I’m really going! (Not that there was ever any doubt. It just seems more concrete now!)
Thanks to prodding from two mail order students and friends, Patty Spencer and Claire Levine, I will be teaching a banjo workshop in Portland (that’s Portland West, not Portland East!) January 27-29, 2012. The workshop is open to all comers but you will certainly get more out of it if you can play a few songs and do some vamping.
As always, I will adjust the teaching to fit the crowd, but you can guarantee that we will be doing A LOT OF PLAYING. We will play slow and we will play fast (if there are students who want to play fast). We will be working primarily with the vast Murphy Method repertory of songs and tunes, so hopefully most of the students will know the same material. (Note to potential attendees: No need to brush up on Blackberry Blossom! We will not be playing that! Even from the Murphy Method list, I doubt that we will be playing Salt Creek, certainly not as a group! Why not? The chords are too hard!)
Other things we may cover (no guarantees!) are: using the capo, basic improvising, jamming, playing in C without a capo, playing in ¾ time, and maybe one of those fancy Scruggs backup licks Casey teaches on her Fancy Scruggs Backup DVD.
One thing the students at the recent Winchester Banjo Camp seemed to enjoy (I use the term lightly!) was playing a solo in front of the others. There was no pressure to do this, but almost everyone participated. And this seemed to be the one area that everyone mentioned having trouble with: playing in front of others. Well, a Murphy Method banjo workshop is about the safest, most supportive atmosphere you will find for taking that Leap of Faith. And as I told everyone, you don’t get the Gold Star for playing it perfectly, you get the Gold Star for PLAYING THROUGH YOUR MISTAKES and keeping the timing going. But actually, at a Murphy Method camp, you get the Gold Star just for trying. Because I know that it takes tremendous courage for an adult to put themselves on the line like that. Every person who played was scared to death. But they did it anyhow! Brave souls! I hope they gained some confidence in their playing and learned that making a mistake was not the end of the world.
In fact, our motto for that weekend could have been: Nobody’s listening, nobody cares! Which sounds harsh and is, of course, an exaggeration, but what I mean is that people who are “listening” are likely thinking of something else at the very instant you make a mistake, so they literally don’t hear it. And if their ears do catch a mistake, they forget in the next millisecond. Because, again, they are likely thinking, “Wow! I wish I could do that. I wish I had that much courage.” Or, “Oh, my gosh. It’s my turn next. I hope I can do that well!”
I’ve told the story before that when I first started playing banjo regularly on stage (at the ripe old age, I thought, of 22!), I was playing in Red’s Charleston, S.C. band, Low Country. Which usually played in bars. At first, like you, I thought everyone was listening attentively to my playing and could hear every mistake. But then, I realized they were all drinking heavily and basically heard nothing except a wall of music. So I decided I would have a beer or two (not more than that) and then I “heard” more like they did, and was less focused on my mistakes. Nobody was listening (to me) and nobody cared (if I made a mistake). No, I’m not recommending you drink before you play, I’m just trying to make the point that I’ve been there.
My partner in crime, Casey, is handling all the financial and logistical details for the Portland workshop, so if you have questions, please direct them to her at 615-513-8620 or email her at themurphymethod@gmail.com.
Hope to see you out there in Portland West! I’ll be bringing plenty of Murphy Method merch so you can look it over and load up. No shipping charges!
And if you’re wondering where the phrase “Portland East and Portland West” came from, here ‘tis. That great song, Eight More Miles To Louisville. Thank you Louis Marshall “Grandpa” Jones!
I’ve traveled over this country wide
Seeking fortune fair
Up and down the two coast lines
I’ve traveled everywhere
From Portland East to Portland West
And back across the line
I’m going back to the place I love
That old hometown of mine.
Eight more miles and Louisville
Will come into my view
Eight more miles to Louisville
I’ll never more be blue
I knew someday that I’d come back
I knew it from the start
Eight more miles to Louisville
The hometown of my heart.