Casey Henry

As I count the days past my due date (just two days overdue at this point…) I’m keeping busy doing the custom lessons that I warned people I may not have time to do if the baby arrived early or on time. Lucky for these people the baby seems like he’s pretty comfortable right where he is, so I might have time to get those last five songs on my list finished…

• Beautiful Star of Bethlehem (I) Watch clip. – This is one of my favorite bluegrass Christmas tunes and very possibly the first one of a second volume of Christmas custom lessons.
• Fox on The Run (I) Watch clip. – I’m pretty surprised it took so long for someone to ask me to do this popular song. In the lesson I give you what Bill Emerson played on the Country Gentlemen’s recoding of it.
• Glendale Train (Backup in D) (A) Watch clip. – People are always wanting more backup stuff. So here’s some backup in the key of D. It’s not easy, but if you’re ready for it, it’s really useful.
• Long Skinny Lanky Sarah Jane (I) Watch clip. – This is such a funny song that Ralph Stanley recorded. The break is very straightforward Stanley style.
• Lorena (A) Watch clip. – One of John Hartford’s signature songs. He didn’t write it, he just played it a lot. This is what he played on the “Gum Tree Canoe” album.
• Love is A Rose (I) Watch clip. – The second Linda Ronstadt song to be added to the list. There’s a banjo on her recording of it and this is what he plays.
• Mole in The Gound (I) Watch clip. – This is an old-time tune I was only passingly familiar with until Marty Bacon asked for this lesson. Played in drop-C tuning it has a nice drive to it.
• These Thousand Hills (I) Watch clip. – This is from a Christian band called Third Day. Goes quite well on the banjo, even though their recording is all electric guitars and drums and stuff.

All these can be ordered from my website. $30 each.

Casey Henry

Here is my periodic update of the new additions to the custom lessons list. These are the ones I’ve gotten done in the last two or three weeks. Some interesting songs here. “Gentle On My Mind” is a challenge because the melody mostly consists of only two notes. “Ring of Fire” is Earl’s break from when he recorded it not too many years back on that CD called “Earl Scruggs and Friends.” Billy Bob Thornton is singing lead on this cut. Not one of my favorite versions of the song, but Earl’s break is dead-on and it was fun for me to sit down and figure it out because I haven’t studied that much of his later period stuff. Very syncopated.

These lessons can be ordered from my website here.

The complete list of all the lessons available is here.

• Cherokee Shuffle (I) Watch clip.
• Gentle On My Mind (I) Watch clip.
• Lonesome Old Song (I) Watch clip.
• Polka On A Banjo (A) Watch clip.
• Ring of Fire (Earl’s arrangement) (I) Watch clip.
• Snowbird (I) Watch clip.
• Tennessee Waltz Backup (A) Watch clip.
• When My Mama Sang to Me (Murphy Henry original song.) (I) Watch clip.

Also, I added guitar practice tracks for the following tunes:

Dear Old Dixie
Wabash Cannonball in G
Redwing
Bells of St. Mary’s
Clinch Mountain Backstep in A

And if you don’t know what the deal is with these guitar tracks you can read about it here.

Casey Henry

It has been so long since I’ve posted a Custom Lesson update that I have a TON of new songs to add to the list. It’s much harder for me to find the time to record these lessons during the summer since I’m away from home so much, but I still think this is a pretty respectable list for two months of work. All of these can be ordered from my website.

• Ashes of Love (B) Watch clip.
• Banjo Road (I) Watch clip.
• Bear Creek Hop (B) Watch clip.
• Coal Tattoo (I) Watch clip.
• Come Unto Me (I)
• Come Unto Me (backup) (I)
• Emergency Pulloff (Ned Luberecki tune) (A) Watch clip.
• G-C-D Songs Backup (I)
• Going to Work in Tall Buildings (A) Watch clip.
• Gum Tree Canoe (I) Watch clip.
• Leather Britches (lead) (I) Watch clip.
• Leather Britches (backup) (I) Watch clip.
• Lonesome Banjo (from Merle Watson) (B) Watch clip.
• On Christmas Eve (A) Watch clip.
• Pullin’ Time (Steve Huber tune) (RA) Watch clip.
• Tom and Jerry (I) Watch clip.
• Under the Double Eagle (John Hickman’s version) (RA) Watch clip.

(The complete list can be seen here.)

Here’s a funny custom lesson story. The wife of one of my semi-regular students ordered him a couple of custom lessons for his birthday. One of these lessons was “Jerusalem Ridge,” which is a really hard, really long tune. I burned the lessons to a disc, sent them off and thought no more about it. A couple weeks later Clay emails me to say:

“You must have sent me an unedited version because about 2 minutes into the lesson you lost your place, muttered something evil sounding, and ….well, you should watch it for yourself!  I’m still laughing hysterically – even made Cindy come upstairs to see this.”

So I went back and watched the lesson and when I was playing the song through slowly I mess up and practically growl at the camera, then give myself a countdown and start over. Whoops! That certainly wasn’t supposed to end up in the final version!

I wrote Clay back and said “Oh My Gosh!! I can’t believe that I let that slip in there. And furthermore I can’t believe that the person I recorded it for didn’t tell me about that!! I’m just glad it wasn’t a long string of profanity, which I’m sure it would have been by the end of that particular very long lesson.”

I think over all the lessons I’ve recorded that’s the only outtake that has made it in by mistake…at least the only one that I know of at the moment! (I’ve edited it out now, so don’t be thinking you can order the lesson and see it!)

Casey Henry

I’m busy this morning updating the complete list of custom lessons that I have available with the ones that I’ve done in the last couple of weeks and I realized that I haven’t done a separate post announcing additions since March–and there have been a bunch of them. On the list now is my fiddle-backup lesson for “Sally Goodwin.” (That’s banjo backup to play behind fiddle tunes a la Earl Scruggs and Paul Warren.) Also Earl’s backup for the song “Blue Ridge Cabin Home.” There are three modern country songs now (“Without You” from Keith Urban, “If I Die Young” from The Band Perry, and “Landslide” from the Dixie Chicks). They’re not exactly my taste, but they sure are getting a lot of comments over on YouTube.

Completely new are some guitar rhythm tracks someone requested that I do. Info and ordering for those is over at my website.

As always, to order, just email me what you want. Or now you can order directly from my website.

So, here’s what’s new:

• Angeline The Baker (Sammy Shelor’s arrangement) (A) Watch clip.
• Blackbird (the Beatles song) (I) Watch clip.
• Blue Ridge Cabin Home (backup) (I) Watch clip.
• Dueling Banjos (movie soundtrack version) (I) Watch clip.
• I Saw The Light (high break) (I) Watch clip.
• If I Die Young (The Band Perry song) (I) Watch clip.
• I’ll Fly Away (high break) (A) Watch clip.
• Knee Deep In The Blues (I) Watch clip.
• Landslide (Dixie Chicks song) (I) Watch clip.
• Man In The Middle (Hot Rize version) (I) Watch clip.
• Me And Jesus (I) Watch clip.
• Prayer Bells of Heaven (I) Watch clip.
• Ready for The Times to Get Better (I) Watch clip.
• Sally Goodwin (banjo backup to play behind the fiddle) (I) Watch clip.
• Shuckin’ The Corn (High Break) (A) Watch clip.
• Without You (Keith Urban song) (I) Watch clip.

Casey Henry

I’ve been kind of slow at getting my custom lessons taped in the last month due to a lot a factors, but, slowly, surely I’ve been chipping away at the huge list. I’ve started posting clips of me playing the arrangements on You Tube so that people can listen before buying. Don’t know why I didn’t think of doing that before…

Also, I finally got it set up so that you can order these lessons directly from my website: caseyhenry.net/lessons.html. (Just scroll down the page a little.) All you have to do is type in the title of the song you want and click “Add to Cart” and, voila!

Here are the ones I’ve gotten done in the last month or so:

Country Roads – yes, the John Denver song. This is a beginner version that consists mostly of rolling through the (many) chords.

I Run For Life – Melissa Etheridge’s inspirational song about living with breast cancer. All profits from the sale of this break will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Watch clip.

Red-Haired Boy – This fiddle tune is notoriously hard to play on the banjo, but I’ve come up with a nice Scruggs-style arrangement. Watch clip.

Welcome to New York – One of Bill Emerson’s banjo tunes. This made me finally break down and get the Amazing Slow-Downer because I’m a stickler for playing every note exactly like it is on the recording, especially if I’m teaching it to someone else.  Watch clip.

Sally Ann – One of Earl’s classic tunes. I teach it just like he played it. Watch clip.

Molly and Tenbrooks – A straightforward break to this popular singing song. Watch clip.

Roadrunner Theme song – This is maybe the quirkiest lesson request I’ve ever gotten. The Roadrunner cartoons had a theme song and the student sent it to me, wanting a break to it. Unless you already know the song, I’m not sure it sounds like the song, but many banjo breaks are like that!  Watch clip.

You’ll see that in this batch are a couple lessons I recorded in my den instead of in my office. I’m getting my house re-wired so I had to temporarily re-locate so as to be out of the way. You still might hear a few stray hammering and drilling noises on those two lessons!

Casey Henry

It’s been a little while since I’ve updated my list of custom banjo lessons. I’ve added quite a few good ones over the last couple of months. As always, if you’d like to order any of these for yourself, they’re $30 each and can be ordered by emailing me: themurphymethod (at) gmail (dot) com.

The Crow – This is the title track from Steve Martin’s banjo CD. A fun tune in an interesting tuning (C-modal tuning where you tune the second string to a C note, leaving the rest of the strings in standard).

Shuckin’ The Corn (high break) – Earl plays a killer high break to this tune. It’s not at all easy, but it’s a fun challenge!

When The Train Comes Along – This is an old Uncle Dave Macon song. Uncle Dave played it clawhammer style. This is an intermediate Scruggs-style break.

How Great Thou Art – This old favorite can be played very elaborately and fancily on the banjo, but this version is a solid intermediate break. Not too hard, but it still sounds like the song!

There’s a Little Cabin – This is the lullaby I recorded on my Real Women Drive Trucks CD. It’s played in the key of D, out of D position, so it’s a fairly difficult arrangement, but it’s beautiful if you’re up to it!

Just Any Day Now – Kenny and Amanda Smith recorded this gospel song on their first CD. It’s a slow, pretty song.

Carter’s Blues – You don’t hear this groovy blues tune too often on the banjo, but you do hear guitar players play it. This arrangement is loosely based on Larry Sparks’s arrangement, because I love his guitar playing. Intermediate level.

Cumberland River – Dailey and Vincent recorded this hard-driving bluegrass song. It has a very straightforward banjo break and is fun to play!

Till The End of the World Rolls Around – A Flatt and Scruggs classic. Earl played the break in drop-C tuning and used the tuner on the second string. This break is in standard tuning and doesn’t use the tuners, but still captures the spirit of Earl’s playing.

Room at the Top of the Stairs – Ralph Stanley sings this song and I tried to get a little of this flavor of his playing into this intermediate-level break.

Little Martha - This tune was an interesting challenge for me. It’s an Gregg Allman guitar tune in the key of F. It translates surprisingly well to banjo, but it requires a lot of four-finger chord work. Another advanced tune, but fun if you want to tackle it!

Red Henry

We’ve also had a lot of interest in our very first Murphy Method Banjo Camp, scheduled for late March. We often get inquiries saying “Where can I attend a banjo camp?”, and now Murphy and Casey, two of the best banjo teachers anywhere, will be giving a camp right here in Winchester, Va. There are still some student slots remaining, so if interested, take a look at the details here.
. . . . .

On another subject entirely, last night I did an extensive interview with a researcher who may write a book about Randy Wood, the pioneer (and still currently-active) bluegrass instrument builder who began making superb mandolins, banjos, and guitars way back in the 1960s. Since I have Randy’s very first mandolin as well as #3 (a Bill Monroe mandolin, which Murphy bought from Bill’s estate sale in 2001 and gave me), I like Randy’s instruments a lot and was able to share many stories from 35 and 40 years ago, about Randy’s pioneer work in making great instruments for bluegrass pickers to play.

Everybody keep picking!

Casey Henry

It’s been a while since I’ve updated you on what new custom lessons I have available. I was reminded to do so by this thread over on Banjo Hangout wherein someone asks about my custom lessons and several people responded with good feedback. In the past couple of month I’ve added the following songs to the list:

He Will Set Your Fields On Fire -  This is an old gospel standard. When Flatt and Scruggs recorded it Earl was playing guitar, so there wasn’t a banjo break. There wasn’t actually a break at all because they just used a little turnaround between the verses. But I came up with a nice intermediate-level break for the verse of the song.

Jerusalem Ridge – I had some reservations about teaching this one because my own arrangement is so hard that I can barely play it myself. But I simplified it some and I think this is a perfectly learnable version, if you’re already somewhat comfortable with playing melodic-style tunes. I’ve labeled it “really advanced” so that no one will order it and be surprised that it’s super hard!

Keep On The Sunny Side – The Carter Family classic. A straight-forward intermediate version.

Loch Lomond – I was surprised when someone requested this tune. I hadn’t ever heard it on the banjo, but Steve Martin plays it in the soundtrack to his movie “A Simple Twist Of Fate.” This version is modeled on that one.

Love Of The Mountains – This is a modern bluegrass standard. Some people call it “Two Trees on a Hillside” because that is the first line. Intermediate level.

If you want any of these, just email me to order. They’re $30 each. And here’s the link to the complete list of custom lessons currently available.

Casey Henry

Happy November! I hope everyone got their fill of ghosts, goblins, and candy last night. Now that Christmas is less that two months away we’re really starting to plan our holiday specials. We’ve got some big things in the works. This year I’m thinking of doing a special custom lesson Christmas song collection. I already have lessons for simple versions of “Silent Night” and “Joy to the World” and a not-so-simple version of “Greensleeves” recorded. I’ll add “Jingle Bells” to those. It will probably be a two-disc set, so I have room for one or two more songs. Any suggestions or requests?

Casey Henry

I wanted to give y’all an update on the new additions to the custom lesson catalog.

Just today I’ve recorded a lesson on the high break to “Fireball Mail.” I think this one used to be on the old TMM cassettes; I think that’s where I learned it. But it never made it onto video. Now it’s available again!

Last week I completed lessons on “Banjo Pickin’ Girl” in the key of C (which is where I sing it), and “Me and My Old Banjo” — the Osborne Brothers classic.

Other recent additions include “Dooley” (a Dillards original). The break I teach is not exactly what Doug Dillard played but is definitely inspired by it. And “Pig in a Pen,” the Stanley Brothers song that many people are familiar with because Ricky Skaggs recorded it.

They are all normally priced at $30 each, but from now until tomorrow at midnight (that’s Friday, August 27th at 11:59 p.m.) they’re all half price. Just email me if you’re interested!