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As a native Georgian, I had no choice but to do this one. In fact, one might wonder why it took me so long!

Georgia Railroad was first recorded in the 1920s by fellow Georgians and icons of early country and stringband music, the Skillet Lickers.

Rowdy and raucous, the Skillet Lickers didn’t just perform, they celebrated. Though gifted musicians (fiddlers Clayton Mcmichen and Lowe Stokes both won more than their fair share of fiddle contests), energy and enthusiasm were never sacrificed in the name of technical precision.

Their recordings are a stark contrast to the more buttoned up and meticulous old-time music often released these days, and a welcome reminder to always have a rip-roaring good time when we play (Justin and I did our level best to impart a healthy dose of wild abandon in our freshman effort, and perhaps will take things up a level in our next album, where we’ll be diving into the tunes of our home state).

The only drawback? Fate Norris’s banjo picking is nearly inaudible on their recordings, so banjo enthusiasts can only imagine them sounding even better with the addition of the five.

Georgia Railroad

gDGBD tuning, Brainjo level 3-4

Notes on the Tab

Notes in parentheses are “skip” notes. To learn more about these, check out my video lesson on the subject.

For more on reading tabs in general, check out this complete guide to reading banjo tabs.

Level 2 arrangements and video demos for the Tune (and Song!) of the Week tunes are now available as part of the Breakthrough Banjo course. Learn more about it here.

Click here for a current list of all the clawhammer songs and tunes currently available inside of The Vault

Click Here To Get The Tab

The story of Peter Francisco reads like a tall tale.

Hard to know where the truth ends and the embellishments begin.

Born in Portugal on the island of Terceira. Found on a dock in Virginia at the age of 5. Speaking no English at the time, he identified himself as “Pedro Francisco.”

He’d later become one of the heroes of the Revolutionary War. A larger than life character, rumored to have carried an 1100 pound cannon on his shoulder to keep it out of enemy hands. Singlehandedly defeated a band of Tarleton’s Raiders, then made off with their horses.

In the US, he’s known as the “Virginia Giant of the Revolutionary War.” In Portugal, there’s an award still being given in his name.

And somewhere along the way, a delightful little fiddle tune was composed in his honor.

Peter Francisco

aDADE tuning, Brainjo level 3-4

Notes on the Tab

Notes in parentheses are “skip” notes. To learn more about these, check out my video lesson on the subject.

For more on reading tabs in general, check out this complete guide to reading banjo tabs.

Level 2 arrangements and video demos for the Tune (and Song!) of the Week tunes are now available as part of the Breakthrough Banjo course. Learn more about it here.

Click here for a current list of all the clawhammer songs and tunes currently available inside of The Vault

Click Here To Get The Tab

A few centuries ago, in the days of Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart, people packed the symphony hall to hear the works of the greatest compositional minds of the day.

Today, instead of symphony hall, we pack the movie houses to hear the works of our greatest modern day composers.

It’s easy to overlook what they do. Rather than being the focal point of the occasion, the role of movie music is supportive. Yet it’s absolutely essential to the final work of art – Star Wars without a soundtrack would’ve surely flopped.

As would the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Beyond the fact that it’s produced by some of the greatest musical minds of our day, I’m also partial to movie music because its express purpose is to make us feel something. To heighten the emotional weight of a scene in a way that pictures and words alone could never do, which has always been music’s central role for me.

The Magic of “Alternate” Tunings

Newcomers to the banjo – especially those from a guitar background – are sometimes perplexed and [needlessly] intimidated by the common use of alternate tunings in clawhammer banjo. One of the many reasons for their use is how different tunings, simply through the sympathetic vibrations of unplucked strings, can affect the background “atmosphere” of a tune.

For a great illustration of this, listen at the 56 second mark in the video above when I transition to the 2nd theme, by striking the 1st string at the 1st fret. Despite having struck only one string, the entire tonality and mood (going from major to minor sounding in a flash) of the piece changes, all thanks to the influence of the other strings in this tuning.

Lord of the Rings Theme

aDADE tuning, Brainjo level 3

Notes on the Tab

Notes in parentheses are “skip” notes. To learn more about these, check out my video lesson on the subject.

For more on reading tabs in general, check out this complete guide to reading banjo tabs.

Level 2 arrangements and video demos for the Tune (and Song!) of the Week tunes are now available as part of the Breakthrough Banjo course. Learn more about it here.

Click here for a current list of all the clawhammer songs and tunes currently available inside of The Vault

Click Here To Get The Tab

“Hey, isn’t that Sally Ann?”

If you detect a remarkable resemblance between today’s installment of the Tune of the Week and “Sally Ann,” then good work, your melodic signature detectors are firing on all cylinders.

These days, the Sally Ann you’re most apt to find in jams is played in the key of D, either as a 2 or 3 part tune (and covered previously in the Tune of the Week).

This particular version of Sally’s sister tune, “Sail Away Ladies,” comes packaged in the key of G, and is based on the version by fiddler “Uncle” Bunt Stephens (and one of the tracks on Harry Smith’s Anthology of Folk Music) . It’s speculated that the melody behind both of these tunes is one of the oldest in existence, so not surprising it has spawned many an offshot along the way.

If you lump it together with all of its melodic cousins, it’s quite possibly the most recorded fiddle tune of all time.

(Incidentally, for those of you looking to polish your ear learning and arrangement skills, taking a tune you already know in one tune and tuning and transposing it to another is a great exercise.)

Sail Away Ladies

gDGBD tuning, Brainjo level 3

Notes on the Tab

Notes in parentheses are “skip” notes. To learn more about these, check out my video lesson on the subject.

For more on reading tabs in general, check out this complete guide to reading banjo tabs.

Level 2 arrangements and video demos for the Tune (and Song!) of the Week tunes are now available as part of the Breakthrough Banjo course. Learn more about it here.

Click here for a current list of all the clawhammer songs and tunes currently available inside of The Vault