Archive for August, 2009

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Susan’s Second Real Jam

Sunday, August 30th, 2009
Murphy Henry

Murphy Henry

Here is Susan’s report on her second visit to another “not-slow” jam that our friends David and Linda Lay host a few roads over from us at their vegetable stand. She says:

-I played in the back and did much better this time.

-The tunes were mostly in A, some in G.

-I was able to execute some rolls. (Take that any way you like!)

-I even put in a tag lick or two on one of the slower tunes.

-There were fewer actual pickers tonight, but the audience was packed!!

-There were 2 banjos (I was one); 2 mandolins; 3 fiddles; 1 bass; lots of guitars.

-I had heard of one of the tunes, “Nine Pound Hammer,” so I will have to get Casey’s DVD out and learn that one.

When I was leaving, I went in the building to get some peaches and another jam was going on in the store with none other than “Fireball Mail” being picked by a banjo player (boy) who could not have been over 14. I was so excited to hear a tune I knew that I headed straight over there, banjo hanging around my neck, putting my picks back on as I went. I vamped to the end, which did not take long since I had entered the fray in the middle of the tune. They played more tunes, and I vamped along.

Finally it dawned on me that I was playing with a bunch of kids – again the oldest might have been 14. There was a little mandolin player (boy), about 8 years old, tearing some tune up, who saw me and inched his way over, never missing a note of his lead. When he was within ear shot, he called out, “Wanna break?” I did not know the tune—they were playing really fast, I could hardly keep up just vamping—so I declined, but was very much honored to have been asked. These kids were fantastic. In addition to the boys on banjo and mandolin there was a 13-year-old boy on guitar and 2 girls on fiddle who looked to be about 12 and 14, and me, 59 years old, on the Goodtime and having such a good time! Ain’t jammin’ great?! I’m so glad I went!

Susan

Way to go, Susan! This is how you learn to play: jump in the fray!

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Sale Through Monday, August 31st

Friday, August 28th, 2009
Red Henry

Red Henry

Folks, as Casey mentioned a couple of days ago, we’re running a big sale here at the Murphy Method: All banjo DVDs are on sale from now until Monday, Aug. 31! [NOTE: THIS SALE ENDED AUG 31st, 2009.] And the sale is already a great success. Orders are really coming in fast. Lots of folks are really stocking up on their Murphy Method DVDs, and we’ve been really busy packing them and sending them off. We’ve had record-breaking sales this week, and it’s all because of you!

Remember, the sale ends Monday night at midnight! If you haven’t taken advantage of this great half-price opportunity yet, you still have a couple of days to decide what you’d like to order. So visit us at our Murphy Method home page, www.murphymethod.com . And happy picking!

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Misfit Jam

Thursday, August 27th, 2009
Murphy Henry

Murphy Henry

We can hardly call this a slow jam anymore, since many of the songs are starting to pick up speed. Present tonight were Logan, Mark, Susan, and Bob Mc on banjos, Ellen on guitar, and Bobby on bass.

Songs rendered:

Cripple Creek

John Hardy

I Saw The Light

Salty Dog

Blue Ridge Cabin Home

Lonesome Road Blues

I’ll Fly Away

Bury Me Beneath the Willow (Logan solo)

Bury Me Beneath the Willow (Misfits & Logan on Lead Guitar)

Wagon Wheel

We warmed up in a slightly different fashion tonight. We played “Cripple Creek” through twice in unison and then, without stopping to regroup, played individual breaks, then reunited after that for one more time through all together and then ended the song with the “long ending lick,” which is what we are calling the two-part “shave-and-a-haircut” ending lick. We then did “John Hardy” in the same manner, and were ready for prime time!

The new song tonight was “Salty Dog,” which Susan is learning, and which Logan already plays. We went over the chords (G, E, A, D) and Susan acquitted herself very well on her first “Salty Dog” outing. Logan had forgotten the high break, but after hearing Susan play it, he jumped right on it.

Another highlight was hearing Logan play a lead break to “Willow” on the GUITAR. He’d picked out the break—just single notes—by himself. He had it all but the very last line. We’d gone over that earlier in his lesson, but it was a bit much to ask him to remember those notes under pressure. So I told him to play the first part, and that I would come in and play the last line. Sounded just like we’d rehearsed it!

We worked Bobby pretty hard tonight, calling on him to sing “Salty Dog,” “I’ll Fly Away,” and “Willow” in addition to his regular songs. I just assumed he knew the words. Which he did mostly. And he’s been in bluegrass long enough to know that if you don’t know the words, you just make something up. I will have to say I thought we had a pretty good duet on “Salty Dog.”

After a rousing rendition of “Wagon Wheel” (we sing it like we mean it!), we were done. During the usual milling around afterwards we had to listen to Logan complain about how awful high school is (he’s a Junior this year) while Mark is saying to him, “These are the best years of your life! Better enjoy them!” We all are agreeing with Mark, even though we know that Logan won’t listen to us anymore than we listened to any grownups. (“Grups” is what they called them on the original Star Trek in the episode that featured Michael J. Pollard. Bluegrass connection: I just saw Michael J. in the movie Bonnie and Clyde which was showing on TV a few days ago. This is the film, of course, that featured “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.” And not just any old cut of FMB, but the original version done by Lesternearl and all the Foggy Mountain Boys. It is a classic!)

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Odds and Ends

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
Casey Henry

Casey Henry

For the first time ever here at the Murphy Method we’re having a half-price sale on all our banjo DVDs and videos. Those of you who get our newsletter found out about it on Monday and boy oh boy, has the response been great. We never could have predicted how many people would want to stock up on DVDs when given the opportunity. If you’re not on our emailing list, you probably just happened by our site and saw the notice on the front page. If you’d like to take a look at what we send out on a monthly basis, here’s our August newsletter to check out.

If, after seeing our newsletter, you’d like sign up and get in on sales and new products at the earliest opportunity, you may do so here.

I periodically check out Banjo Hangout to see what they are saying about us. Usually I’m please with what I find, like today, for example. I read in this thread how satisfied people have been with our customer service. That is one thing we consider of #1 importance. We want our customers and students to be completely satisfied and we will do everything in our power to make that happen. If you order our products from a different retailer, there is only so much we can do, but if you order from us we’ll pretty much bend over backwards for you.

I’m pausing in the middle of editing a lesson I just taped (Is that still a valid verb to use? “Taped” meaning “recorded on my coumputer.”) for “Just Because.” A couple students wanted to learn the version that Murphy recorded on her M&M Blues CD, so yesterday I sat down and learned it. I made my student Kyle act as a guinea pig and I taught it to him at his lesson yesterday. The lessons always come out better if I’ve had a chance to practice them on in-person students first. If anyone else wants a copy, just let me know.

One last item to mention, and that’s the fact that we now have our Rawhide video available on DVD!! It is the last of our banjo videos to be converted so we now have every single one of the old videos onto DVD. Finally!! We’re doing a little happy dance. And it, too, is on sale for half price, until August 31st.

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Posted in By Casey, DVDs, lessons | 1 Comment »

Do you REALLY want to learn to play?

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
Red Henry

Red Henry

Over and over again for the last 40 years, I’ve heard people say, “I’d give ANYTHING to be able to play music like that.” I try to say something appreciative in return, but I wonder if the speaker is serious.

I’ve spent a lot of hours and life-energy learning to play. Every professional-level performer has done that. I started playing bluegrass at age 18, and I spent a lot of hours playing every day at it for the next several years, just to learn to pick. How many casual listeners would actually have done that, in order to play bluegrass?

If you are learning to play, be serious about it. You don’t have to play for six hours a day (few of us have as much time as teenagers do), but you do need to play some every day if you possibly can. Fifteen minutes a day is better than two hours on Saturday. Don’t let your instrument start feeling strange to your fingers—play as often as you can, even if it’s just for a short time. That’s the way to keep learning. And once you do start learning, you can keep learning for the rest of your life!

You don’t have to “give ANYTHING” to learn to play, but you do need to give something each day. Good picking!

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Nothing About Bluegrass Here….

Monday, August 24th, 2009
Murphy Henry

Murphy Henry

And the only reason I’m writing about this non-bluegrass subject is that I can’t get Casey on her cell phone. Otherwise, I’d just be telling her this, and blogging about something bluegrass.

You see, I’m not much of a cook but Casey did give me this great (and simple) recipe for a pasta dish. Which I decided to make today. It’s just farfalle…ah, just thought of a banjo reference! Farfalle is bow-tie pasta! And, as we all know, bow-tie is the inlay on the 1950s Gibson RB-250’s.
Now that we’ve gotten the obligatory (and totally unexpected) banjo reference out of the way….

The recipe calls for bow-tie pasta, pesto, pine nuts, goat’s milk cheese, and a little olive oil. So, I’m getting ready to add the cheese to the pasta, which is in a great big bowl. I’ve got this pyramid-shaped package of Chavrie which “spreads like silk.” I pull off the square plastic covering from the bottom and see instructions that say, “It’s easy to remove Chavrie from its special container. Just turn it over and gently press on all four angles. You can also use the bottom lid as a convenient serving tray.”

So I start squeezing and nothing happens. No cheese comes out on a “convenient serving tray.” Well, I hate stuff like this. It makes me feel like an idiot. How am I supposed to get the cheese out? It cannot be that hard. I look again at the bottom and see something I missed. A silver tab sticking out. Obviously (now) I’m supposed to remove the foil backing from the cheese. Why didn’t they say that?

I remove the constricting foil and start squeezing again. Convinced the cheese is on its way out, I move the package toward the bowl, while still squeezing. Unfortunately the cheese elects to emerge in the one second the package is traveling, not over the counter, but over the floor. PLOP! And there goes the whole mess, right onto the linoleum. Kitchen linoleum. Where we walk. I swore a minor oath. (It being Sunday and all.)

Fortunately, the cheese did not spread like silk, but pretty much remained in a big blob. I scooped it up with a wide spatula, upended it, and after looking at the portion that had met the floor, realized the five-second rule would not apply.  I took a knife and scraped off the grit-speckled and hairy cheese and tossed the rest into the bowl.

It was smooth sailing from then on, and I have now a large portion of the pasta ready to take to Robyn’s house. Her daughter Hannah (Logan’s sister) left for college yesterday and Jose Cuervo and I are going over to commiserate. I figure the pasta will help too.

By the way, Casey did call me back before I finished the blog, but I thought, “Why waste a good blog?”

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Chris Jones and Claire Lynch

Friday, August 21st, 2009
Casey Henry

Casey Henry

The last couple of days here in Music City have held some mighty fine music making that I was lucky enough to get to observe. Wednesday night Chris Jones held a CD pre-release party for his new disc “Cloud of Dust.” Although it is not officially out yet, he had copies there for sale and after listening to it on my drive home I have to say that it is a great record.

Megan Lynch, Jon Weisberger, Sally Jones, Chris Jones, Ned Luberecki

Megan Lynch, Jon Weisberger, Sally Jones, Chris Jones, Ned Luberecki

The band was fresh back from a two-and-a-half week European tour, so they were all a bit jet-lagged. Chris told us he learned to say “We have CDs for sale” in every language while they were abroad! Near the end of the second set Chris called up his wife Sally to sing on a song—unfortunately their daughter Joanna was asleep on her lap at the time. Never one to let little things deter her, she just sang the whole song while holding Joanna in her arms:

Sally Jones holding sleepyhead Joanna Jones.

Sally Jones holding sleepyhead Joanna Jones.

Thursday night found me at the Station Inn taking in the Claire Lynch Band. I’ve known Claire as long as I’ve been alive and she is absolutely one of my favorite singers. She has a new album coming out in September called “Whatcha Gonna Do” that is absolutely spectacular. She sings her butt off (as she always does) and the songs are wonderful.

David Thomas, Claire Lynch, Mark Schatz, Jim Hurst at the Station Inn.

Jason Thomas, Claire Lynch, Mark Schatz, Jim Hurst at the Station Inn.

We were treated to Mark Schatz’s hamboning on “Cindy,” which the whole crowd sang along on. I stood in the back next to my friend Ben Surratt, who was running sound (he is the one who recorded the Casey and Chris “Get Along Girl” CD at his studio). Also in attendance were Bela Fleck, a long time friend of Mark’s, and Abagail Washburn. I’m going to see Bela’s documentary movie “Throw Down Your Heart” on Sunday. It’s about his trip to Africa to play with musicians there. I’m really looking forward to that. But before then I’ll be back at the Station to see Tim O’Brien on Saturday night with the Irish Band Grada. That should be quite a show!

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Posted in By Casey, shows | 5 Comments »

Misfit Jam

Thursday, August 20th, 2009
Murphy Henry

Murphy Henry

Well, we really missed Bobby Vee tonight. No bass. We were baseless. Nevertheless, we—Mark, Ellen, Susan, Logan, and I–tried to carry on as best we could. (Am I laying it on too thick, Bobby?)

Since Bobby wasn’t here, however, Logan felt free to entertain us by sharing the disparaging thoughts he (Logan) used to have about the bass. You see, when Logan was younger, he had some timing problems on the banjo. So, we’d make him sit beside Bobby and the bass, hoping the steady thunk-thunk would help keep him on track. It did not. We know now, from what he said tonight, that he totally didn’t get it, that he thought the bass was a useless instrument since it didn’t play any leads!

Thank goodness Logan grew out of that! He now has excellent taste in bluegrass and tonight made me very happy when, at his lesson, he asked if I’d ever heard of the Vern Williams Band. Yes, indeedy. Logan had heard them on some computer music program (Pandora?) and liked them. I was able to go to my CD shelf and pull out a Vern Williams CD for him to listen to. I was also boastful of the fact that I knew Keith Little, who played banjo on the disc. This did not seem to impress Logan as it should have. Perhaps after he listens to the music….

The program tonight was as follows:

Cripple Creek (unison, then with breaks)

Boil Them Cabbage (unison)

Bury Me Beneath the Willow (Logan playing solo lead)

Bury Me Beneath the Willow (the group playing)

Old Joe Clark

John Hardy

Wagon Wheel

We did “Willow” twice to give Logan a chance to show off his fancy (and fast) version, learned from the Stelling Anthology CD. Logan volunteered that this number was a “break through” for him, because it was the first song he tried to learn—mostly on his own–from a CD. In fact, if memory serves me correctly, when he initially told me he wanted to learn “Willow” off the CD I told him no. I thought it was way too complicated. But when he came into the next lesson with part of it learnt, I had to relent. And he was off and running.

We finished with our theme song, “Wagon Wheel,” singing it with much gusto, and I declared that Old Crow Medicine Show would have certainly gotten Ellen and me up to sing with them if we’d been able to stay till the end of the concert. But, alas, we were too worried about staying awake on the two-hour ride home so we left early to avoid the traffic. Mark said that they were waiting for us to leave so they could safely do the song without us singing! (Ha, ha Mark!) And then we said that one day maybe Logan would be performing on that very stage, and that we would go see him, and that Ellen and I would be down front dancing. And then somebody said that that would embarrass Logan, and I said, yes, that would be the point.

And then we digressed into talking about a recent study that shows that drinking beer (in moderation, of course) helps to prevent osteoporosis. And then we segued into a discussion about whether it was ethical to put a sticker from a security company on your house if you didn’t actually pay for their services. But we decided we needed to save that talk for a time when we were building strong bones. See what all you missed, Bobby? And Bob. That’ll teach you to go on vacation!

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Posted in By Murphy, jamming | 2 Comments »

“Banjo Camp” Book

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
Casey Henry

Casey Henry

The book titled Banjo Camp! Learning, Picking, & Jamming with Bluegrass and Old-Time Greats has been out for about a year. It’s a soft-cover, full color, 152 page publication that includes a CD. The reason I’m mentioning it now is that I just got around to buying a copy. The other reason is that I’m in it! You can find me on page 38, which is in the section talking about Kaufman Kamp, where I’ve taught for the last six years.

The general idea behind the book (which I admit I haven’t read all of yet) is “banjo camp between two paper covers.” It combines instruction, visits to various banjo camps around the country, student testimonials, plenty of pictures, and music and examples on the CD at the end. In my three paragraphs I talk about slow jams and their value to students at all levels.

Sample from "Banjo Camp!" book.

Sample from "Banjo Camp!" book.

The author, Zhenya Gene Senyak, writes from the perspective of a typical banjo camp student—adults who picked up the instrument later in life and now have the time and money to come to events like camps to develop their playing. The book contains lots of information, but mostly it’s just fun to read something by and about other who are interested in the same thing we’re all interested in: learning to play the banjo!

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Banjo and Mandolin

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
Red Henry

Red Henry

How many instruments do you need to make a band? Not many. Lester Flatt once said that in the old days, “Somebody’d mention a band, and one of ‘em would reach and get a fiddle, and the other a banjo, and they’d have it all ready to go.” And a banjo goes not only with a fiddle, but also with a mandolin. Murphy and I explored that possibility last Saturday by playing a party gig with just the two of us, on mandolin and banjo.

How do you keep a good sound with just two people, and both of them playing lead instruments? For one thing, you play as solidly and steadily as you can when you’re playing lead. For another, when you’re playing backup, you LISTEN to the other instrument and play what sounds best for backup. Most of the time it’s pretty simple backup, always keeping in mind that you need to be as supportive and non-distracting as possible when the other person is playing lead.

At the gig, Murphy and I played a pretty full gamut of bluegrass instrumentals, including quite a few of the old tunes we used to do as fiddle-and-banjo duets (Old Joe Clark, Sally Goodwin, Little Rabbit, and so forth). It all worked fine, and in spite of our being just background music at the party, we often got applause after we’d play a number.

The key to a good sound is LISTENING, whether you have five people in the band or just two. If you have your music together and use your ears, you can play a job quite well with banjo and mandolin!

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Posted in By Red, shows | 2 Comments »

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