Up this week is another tune that only recently appeared on my musical radar.
It comes originally from fiddler Jim Bowles of Kentucky, and has enjoyed a bit of a resurgence of late thanks to a version recently released by the great Dan Gellert. Dan is known for adding a healthy dose of grit and swing, which comes through clearly in this rendition. That includes several flatted 3rds and 7ths, which don’t tend to crop up much in the double C/D tuning, and make for a nice change of pace.
“Nancy Dalton” was introduced to me by way of my Georgia Jay-mate Justin Manglitz, who fiddles it about is well as a thing can be fiddled, and it has now taken up solid residence in our dance set list. And it’s Justin’s version upon which mine is based.
So consider my rendition to be three degrees of separation from the original.
(RELATED: If you’d like to jam with Justin, click here to check out the Banjo Players Edition of our recent Round Peak, Georgia album. It’s a fantastic way to build your jamming chops!)
It’s a raucous, fun tune, great for jamming (and dancing), and I imagine its propagation will continue!
Nancy Dalton
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.
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