Clawhammer Banjo Song and Tab of the Week
“WAY DOWN THE OLD PLANK ROAD”
(RELATED: A step-by-step tutorial for “Way Down the Old Plank Road” (along with a simpler Brainjo Level 2 version) is now up inside the new Breakthrough Banjo Tune & Song of the Week series. Click here to learn more.)
Before there was Earl, before there was Grandpa, there was Uncle Dave.
Uncle Dave Macon, that is. Also known as the “Dixie Dewdrop.”
And here’s a fun fact I just learned: Uncle Dave didn’t begin his professional performing career until the age of 50. Prior to that, he ran the Midway Mule and Mitchell Wagon Transportation Company, which he was forced to shut down in 1920 thanks to the arrival of the automobile.
In other words, had it not been for Henry Ford, we may have never known of Uncle Dave.
Nor would we still be playing one of his signature songs, “Way Down the Old Plank Road.”
Uncle Dave would of course go on to become one of the most popular entertainers of his day, the first star of the Grand Ole Opry, and an inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
The Banjo Player’s Songbook contains over 50 classic banjo songs, and you can grab it for free. Click here to learn more.
Need a refresher on how to read banjo tabs? Then click below to take the short quiz.
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Many more tabs, plus step-by-step video tutorials for how to play them, are available inside the Brekathrough Banjo course, which is now FREE for 30 Days
Click here for a list of songs in The Breakthrough Banjo Vault.
