Murphy Henry

Quote of the night, from Bob Van: “Are you going to blog about this?” And by “this” he meant anything and everything that was said or done. I told him I was going to blog about him asking if I was going to blog.

Folks present: Logan, Bob Van, Susan, Mark, Ellen, Bill

We had a bit of a different configuration tonight—TWO BASSES! Bill and Susan have recently purchased a half-size bass (and a Beginning Bass DVD by the fabulous Marshall Wilborn), and tonight was Bill’s first night to howl on the new instrument. He accompanied us on two songs, the ever-popular “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” and “I Saw The Light.” He then sat down and gave his recovering shoulder a rest. (Rotator cuff.)

We carried on without him playing:

Lonesome Road Blues
Old Joe Clark
Little Cabin Home on the Hill
Wagon Wheel (from Old Crow Medicine Show)
John Hardy

On “Lonesome Road Blues,” the banjoists were having a little trouble coming back in from the vamp, so after we’d finished playing, I got out the banjo and we revisited how to play the down-the-neck tag lick, hit the fifth string, do that long second-string slide into the start of LRB, put in another fifth string for fill, and pop those two first-string notes to start the song on the downbeat. (Much easier done than said!)

Also on LRB, Logan, who has just learned “Kansas City Railroad Blues” from our DVD, played the entrance to the up-the-neck break exactly like the beginning of “Kansas City.” The lick came out rolling out of Logan’s hands completely unbidden! It startled the starch out of me (as my mother might say) and I think it surprised Logan, too. We both looked at each other with “What the heck?” faces. Amazing!

Logan was again playing a lot of guitar. I’d showed him some runs at his lesson, and he was beginning to put those in. I’d also showed him the F chord, which he tried for the first time in “Old Joe Clark.” He said he was going to leave out lots of the G chording in order to have time to set up for the F. How’d that work out for you, Logan? Looked to me like it was easier said than done!

“Little Cabin Home on the Hill” was a first at the jam, and  Bob made Logan kick it off, ignoring his protest that he didn’t know it. (Of course he knew it. I think he just wanted to be begged.) Susan, who truly didn’t know the song, took an improvised break, using the “Boil Them Cabbage” high break rolls and chord positions as a guide. Nice!

Mark kicked us off on “Wagon Wheel” and Ellen and I sang what has become one of our favorite songs. Then it was “John Hardy” for a closer and we were done.

Of course there was still jawboning to be done, and Bob had to explain to Logan who George Shuffler was. (Only one of the greatest bluegrass lead guitar players to come down the pike.) Bob promised to bring a CD next week for Logan’s further edification. Truly, it takes a village to raise a child, and a jam session to raise a young banjo picker. We think Logan is coming along nicely....

(And we’ll look forward to seeing you, Zachery, when you learn a couple more songs!)

Murphy Henry

(Just wanted you to know that in order to write this, I had to tear myself away from the TV which was showing a special on the GAC channel featuring Little Jimmy Dickens, who is 87. As I left, he was telling stories about his friendship with Hank Williams. Senior, of course!)

We were a little light at the jam tonight but had a wonderful time nevertheless with Bob Van, Susan, Mark, and Ellen. Since we were a small crowd, I thought we’d start off with a song that Ellen has fallen in love with, “Wagon Wheel,” by Old Crow Medicine Show. The chords are simple (G, C, D and E minor) and Mark, her husband, has already worked up a banjo break. And, as you may remember from earlier blogs, I love Old Crow Medicine Show. Ellen had thoughtfully printed out several copies of the words, so with the melody fresh in my mind from listening to it right before the jam, I was able to power through.

Susan and Bob had never heard “Wagon Wheel” but I told them this was The Bluegrass Way To Learn A New Song: someone says I’d like to try this song and then they start singing! They might tell you the key, and you might ask if there are any “off” chords (like E minor), but that’s pretty much it. So that was our first song. Ellen then said she was completely happy and didn’t care if we played anything else!

However we did play “anything else” which consisted of:

Banjo In The Hollow (in unison)
Blue Ridge Cabin Home
Lonesome Road Blues
Old Joe Clark
I Saw The Light
John Hardy

Susan had recently learned “Fireball Mail” so she played that and I croaked out a few verses. I particularly love the line “like a hound wagging his tail, bet she’s late, late, late the Fireball Mail.”

We closed out with “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” during which Mark’s fifth-string peg came loose which caused his string to pop out of the fifth-string nut which train-wrecked the song. Knowing we couldn’t quit on that note, I handed him Dalton’s Gibson and we started again. Mark did a good job of playing an unfamiliar banjo.

So you can see that things were somewhat on the quiet side since our self-proclaimed “Bluegrass Master” was absent. I think he’s trying to avoid paying me the dollar he owes me. Rest assured, I’ll get it!

We had a big crowd tonight at the jam and for the first time the flattops outnumbered the “minner dippers.” Mark, Bob Mc, and Susan were the plunkers, while Ellen, Bill, Bob Mc’s daughter Jennifer, and I were the strummers. The ever-trusty (if smart-mouthed) Bob Van was on bass and lead vocals.

We started out playing "Banjo in the Hollow" and "Cripple Creek" in unison. Mark and Susan have both learned the “long” two-part ending lick which ends with “shave and a hair cut,” so I said let’s try that instead of the short ending lick which first shows up in Boil Them Cabbage. Well. Easier said than done. After a couple of “ending lick malfunctions,” I pointed out that you have to leave the last pinch off in order to add this ending lick which begins with a pinch. That smoothed things out considerably.

Then Bob Mc showed up with Jennifer, so I had to go get another chair. A nice problem to have! And before we could start on our third warm-up song, "Cumberland Gap", Bob had to show Mark his newly repaired banjo peghead, so Mark could ooh and ah over it. Which he did.

Digression: Back in early May, Bob’s Gibson had taken a tumble off a banjo stand and the peghead had basically snapped at the neck. It remained attached only by the veneer, which was also cracked. He was heartsick. But it was a fairly clean break so Casey and I both thought it could be repaired and suggested he ship the banjo to Robin Smith, the fine luthier in Nashville. (Who made Casey’s Wonder Woman banjo neck for her Stealth.) So Bob did. He got the banjo back in a matter of weeks, and you can’t even tell it’s been broken. Which is what Mark was oohing and ahhing about. So, here’s a shout out to Robin. Good work!

I now return you to the jam, still in progress. We finished up our warm-up with the aforementioned "Cumberland Gap" and then it was on to:

"Blue Ridge Cabin Home"

"Foggy Mountain Breakdown" (in which Mark once again demonstrated his proficiency with the E minor “rake” he learned from the Fabulous Ruth Steelman)

"Old Joe Clark" (which we did first in unison to get everyone warmed up. We still had a few meltdowns, but, hey, it’s a hard song!)

"I Saw the Light"

Then we did a new song, "Banjo Picking Girl", which was Susan’s suggestion for a tune she could improvise a break to. Which she did. And at her lesson right before the jam I realized that BPG sounds the same as Roll on Buddy. So at the jam, after we’d gone around on BPG (to which Mark improvised a nice break right on the spot), I yelled “Switching songs!” and swung into ROB and everyone took the same break again to this different (sorta) song. (Well, the words are different!)

We closed out with "John Hardy", played in unison because basically we were out of time. Which sure flies when you’re having fun!

P.S. Happy Anniversary to my folks, Dr. L.G. and Wynk Hicks—still known and Daddy and Mama--who are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary today. I love you both so much!

The Misfits are coming on strong! As they were leaving tonight, I said, “We can hardly call this a slow jam anymore. We’re playing everything so much faster.”

Showing up to play faster tonight were Susan, Mark, and Logan on banjos and Bob Van on bass. Susan was just back from a clawhammer camp (ahem!) and she was still pumped from that. Logan is always pumped because he is 16. And Mark is learning to play faster just from jamming every week. NOT that speed is important (!) but jamming, especially regular jamming, is where you will learn to play faster. It just happens.

Songs played:

Banjo in the Hollow/Cripple Creek/Cumberland Gap (in unison to warm up)

I Saw the Light
Foggy Mountain Breakdown
John Hardy
Old Joe Clark
Blue Ridge Cabin Home
Two Dollar Bill
Hazel Creek (by Logan, who after some polishing at his lesson, now can play it practically perfect. Work on the “practically”, Logan!)

After we’d played FMB sorta slow, I got Logan to play it fast. That put me in mind of the original recording by Flatt and Scruggs, so I demonstrated their use of the six beats of E MAJOR in the place where we now use four beats of E minor. Susan loved that weird, discordant sound (as I do) but Mark didn’t care for it too much!

When we wrapped things up with “Two Dollar Bill,” I was reminded of several other bluegrass standards that sound a whole lot like TDB including “Paul and Silas,” “Somebody Touched Me,” and “Take Your Shoes Off Moses.” Bob and I sang snippets of those to hammer home the point. “Worried Man/Gal” and “Do Lord” are others that follow this template, and “Mountain Dew” is right in there alongside them. See? Learn one break and you can play five other songs! Isn’t learning by ear just the greatest?

By Murphy Henry

What a thrill it was tonight to have one of the Original Misfits sit in with us! Yes, indeed, the Fabulous Ruth Steelman and her Gibson banjo joined Mark, Ellen, Logan, Bob Van, and me for an hour of hilarity mixed in with some rousing tunes. I wrote quite a bit about Ruth in my old Banjo Newsletter columns and more than a few of those episodes ended up in my book And There You Have It. Ruth wowed the other banjo players with her full chord Em “rake” in Foggy Mountain Breakdown and her numerous up-the-neck improvisations. She in turn was impressed by Logan’s clear, solid playing.

Numbers performed:

Banjo in the Hollow, Cripple Creek, and Cumberland Gap in unison to warm up

Foggy Mountain Breakdown (which Logan declared he did not like, surprising us all. Of course, today was his last day of school and he is now a rising Junior so I think he was feeling a bit feisty.)

I Saw the Light

John Hardy

Circle

Lonesome Road Blues

Blue Ridge Cabin Home

Roll on Buddy

For our closing number Ruth and Logan played Foggy Mountain Special on which Bob took a bass break, somehow managing to remember most of the notes in a solo he hasn’t taken in months.

Funny moment: At the end of John Hardy, Mark says, “Is the F vamp chord just two frets lower than the G?”

I say, “Yes it is. But why do you ask? John Hardy doesn’t have an F chord in it.

Mark: “I thought that F sounded funny!”

Now, one more quote, not from the jam, but from a lesson earlier in the day. When my first student walked in with his banjo I said, “How’re you doing, Frank?”

His philosophical reply: “I’m on the green side of the grass and there’s something to be said about that!”

And with that deep bit of West Virginia wisdom, I’ll say adieu!

Short report tonight. Students present: Susan, Bob Mc, Bob Van, and Logan.

Songs played:

Banjo in the Hollow and Cripple Creek in unison. Mark had requested we add Cumberland Gap to the mix, so we did that one too, in unison, even though Mark was not there!

Then it was on to:

I Saw the Light
Blue Ridge Cabin Home
Lonesome Road Blues
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Roll On Buddy
Foggy Mountain Breakdown

I then asked Logan to play a couple of tunes by himself (with Bob Van and me for backup). He played “Bury Me Beneath the Willow,” from the Stelling Anthology (Casey and I had done a twin version for the CD), and then “Earl’s Breakdown.” Everyone was properly impressed.

After that, everyone headed out to their cars in the pouring rain. And Red and I headed to Applebee’s for supper!

Don’t forget: Red and I and Chris will be playing a set from 7-8 pm on Saturday, June 6, in Boyce, Virginia, at the Fire Hall. This is a benefit, so the only cost is your donation. It  starts at 4 pm, and there will be other bluegrass and BBQ. Hope to see you there!

Big News from the jam tonight! Susan improvised a break to “Roll On Buddy”! And it was fine. I knew she had it in her, I just didn’t know when and where it was going to come out. I think its emergence tonight surprised her.

To be sure, we’ve been working on improvising, and she has done the first two songs off the Improv DVD. But “Roll On Buddy” was a song she’d never even heard before. Granted, the chords are the old familiar G, C, and D. The E minor, though, is different. However, as we were getting ready to play, I told the group that the Em could be finessed—or hinted at—by just playing G.

One reason I think Susan was able to do this was that she already plays (and vamps to) “Lonesome Road Blues.” Which, as we found out, has exactly the same chord progression as “Roll On Buddy.” (I wasn’t sure until I sang the chorus of “Roll On Buddy” while Susan played the high break to LRB.) This is not to say that LRB was in Susan’s mind while she was making up her break—on the spot, of course. Still and yet, it was back there somewhere, and unconsciously I think she was able to draw on some aspects of the song. Maybe it was just that the chord progression felt familiar. After all, we’ve been playing LRB a lot in the jam.

So after the song ended and we all congratulated Susan on her first improv, I asked her, “Now, how would you explain to someone what you just did?” She says, “I have no idea!” (Except she did then say, “The Murphy Method works!” and we all cheered!)

Then somehow we got to talking about how hard all this jamming is. Oh, yeah, I remember. Susan said she was going to Casey’s workshop on jamming in Elkton, Maryland, on October 17. I said, kiddingly, “Yeah, Susan. Go up there and show them how it’s done!” Then we fell into talking about how hard jamming is.

Which is when Ellen, the guitarist, said, “I think you are all so brave.”

And I do too!

Just for the record, those present were: Susan, Mark, Bob Mc, and Logan on banjos and Ellen on guitar.

Songs:

Banjo in the Hollow, Cripple Creek, and Boil Them Cabbage played in unison for our warm-up.

Then:

I Saw the Light
Lonesome Road Blues
Blue Ridge Cabin Home
Salt Creek (played by Logan and Susan)
Foggy Mountain Breakdown
Roll On Buddy

PS: Happy Birthday to my oldest friend in the world, Sharon Ramsey (now Schilling), who went with me to see Casey play on the Opry! “Make new friends, but keep the old / One is silver and the other gold.”

We were a little light at the jam tonight. Just two banjo players—Susan and Ray—with Bob Van on bass and me on guitar. One audient, Susan’s husband Bill, who played so much last week his hands were hurting and he decided to sit this one out!

We started out with our regular warm-ups, Banjo in the Hollow and Cripple Creek, with Susan and Ray playing in unison. Then we moved on to trading breaks on Foggy Mountain Breakdown.

The rest of the list was:

I Saw the Light
Blue Ridge Cabin Home
Circle
Fireball Mail (I sang a few verses)
Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms
Boil Them Cabbage (the finale)

Susan wanted to know what DVD “Roll” was on. I knew she was working on the Improv DVD so I told her “Roll” was on that DVD—only it’s disguised as “Mama Don’t Allow.” Bob, of course, didn’t believe those two songs were anything alike, so I had to sing a verse of “Mama” to show him. Then, for free, I threw in “Will You Be Loving Another Man” which also has the same chord progression, so you can use the “Roll” break for that song too. One break, three songs. Such a deal!

This is only Ray’s second jam and, bless his heart, he is still having trouble adjusting to playing with other people. OF COURSE he can play all these songs just fine at home. I know that’s true. But if you ever want to play with other people (which most of us do), then you have to go through the painful process of learning to jam, which entails learning how to HEAR in a group. Learning how to tune out other people’s playing so you can hear what’s going on in your own head. As I told Ray, you should always be playing to some sort of outline of the song rolling through your mind. With me it’s the words. It may seem odd, but you’re NOT actually playing along to what you are hearing in the jam. You’re playing along to the song as it’s running through your own little gray cells.

But we can talk about this and talk about it, but until you get in there and just DO IT, it’s not going to make a whole lot of sense. So, gather your courage and find a jam session. Beg your teacher to start one. Or start one of your own!

P.S. Thanks for all the birthday greetings!! “Tis sweet to be remembered...”

We had fresh blood at the jam tonight and a whopping crowd of eight pickers. Plus one audient, as we are wont to call a solitary listener. (That was Steve’s wife, Vicki.)

Susan, Mark, Steve, Ray, and Bob Mc were on banjos, Ellen was on guitar, Bill was on tenor guitar (four strings), and Bob Van was on bass. The new attendees were Steve, Ray, and Bill and I don’t think we scared them off!

Songs played:

The Big Three: (Banjo in the Hollow, Cripple Creek, Boil Them Cabbage; all the banjos playing in unison. A fine cacophony and a great way to warm up!)

Then it was on to:

Foggy Mountain Breakdown
I Saw the Light
Blue Ridge Cabin Home
Old Joe Clark
Two Dollar Bill

Susan and Mark, who have been playing OJC the longest, are doing quite well now at coming in for their breaks since Mark shared his “secret recipe” with Susan (come in on the four pickup notes). Bob has not yet learned the B part, so he played the A part and everybody came in together on his B part, which was kinda cool. And I managed to get totally lost in the middle of Steve’s break, bringing the jam to a screeching halt.

It was like this: During Steve’s lesson before the jam, he and I had been working on his tendency to speed up during some of his breaks. It’s no big thing, just a predilection to play slightly ahead of the beat until sometimes, but not always, he manages to pull about one note ahead. What I usually do is make a slight adjustment in my own guitar rhythm to stay with him. I realized tonight that this was not helping him—he often didn’t realize he was out of time since everything eventually evened out---so I told him I'd try to do better about holding the time. (That’s really hard for me to do when someone is just slightly off!)

So during the jam, when he took his break on OJC and started speeding up slightly, sure enough, I followed him! But the rest of the players didn’t, so soon both he and I were completely out of time and I couldn’t stand it, so I stopped everybody. Told them it was totally my fault. Which it was. So Steve started his break again and this time, when I felt him speeding up and wanted to go with him, I actually LISTENED TO THE BASS and that kept me in line. But durn I hated to have to admit that because I knew Bob Van would gloat and fall all over himself grinning. But in the interest of full disclosure—and as part of the overall learning experience for the students—I ‘fessed up, and sure enough, Bob was so tickled he looked like a possum up a gum stump. I told the students if they ever mentioned this again, I would deny the whole story!

I was particularly proud of the students for vamping so quietly. Even in this large crowd, we could always hear the lead being played.

But speaking of hearing, let me close out with this wonderful quote from Ray. When the jam was over and the folks were dispersing, he came up to me and said, “I’ve got to get over this self-centeredness. If I can’t hear me, I can’t play.”

Funny as that is, I knew what he meant. I told him that as he did more jamming he would actually learn to tune out the other instruments so he could hear himself better. But a banjo player getting over self-centeredness? Please! <Grin>