Once again I was asked to go back in time a little bit. I don’t mind at all since so far, they have all been great songs. Now you will see why I had that little C chord trick on Monday, since it fits in so well with this song.

The Folk Song Of The Week is I’ll Fly Away. I love this song on frailing banjo or clawhammer banjo, whichever you choose to call it. It’s not only a fun song, it’s one that since Oh, Brother, just about everyone knows.

Have fun with it!

I’ll Fly Away MP3

I’ll Fly Away(PDF)

I’LL FLY AWAY

[G]SOME GLAD MORNIN’ WHEN THIS LIFE IS O’R

[C]I’LL FLY [G]AWAY

TO MY HOME ON GOD’S CELESTIAL SHORE

[D7]I’LL FLY [G]AWAY

I’LL FLY AWAY, OH GLORY

[C]I’LL FLY [G]AWAY IN THE MORNING

WHEN I DIE, HALLELUJAH BY AND BY

[D7]I’LL FLY [G]AWAY

WHEN THE SHADOWS OF THIS LIFE HAVE GONE

I’LL FLY AWAY

LIKE A BIRD FROM PRISON BARS HAS FLOWN

I’LL FLY AWAY

OH, HOW GLAD AND HAPPY WHEN WE MEET

I’LL FLY AWAY

NO MOR COLD IRON SHACKLES ON MY FEET

I’LL FLY AWAY

Sandy really surprised me twice in one phone call today. She usually calls me on her way home while I’m still at work and gives me the run down of what she and Amber and going to be doing before I get home late at night.

Today when she called me she was stuck in traffic and she was laughing. I asked her what was so funny about traffic and she said that while she was waiting on construction she was on Twitter. I couldn’t believe she was on Twitter since she doesn’t even keep up on Facebook or emails. She said that doesn’t post, she just reads what she’s following. When I asked her who she was following she said “JR”.

I was in total shock and said “JR? You mean Jim Ross? WWE Jim Ross?” She said yeah, she was reading some of his old tweets. I couldn’t really believe it because she hasn’t watched wrestling in over 10 years. She said that she doesn’t like wrestling but she loves Jim Ross.

If that wasn’t enough to spin my head, she said that she was going to a shooting range for a couple of hours. Now, I’ve known Sandy for 16 years and she has never fired a gun in her life. Back when I was enlisted, I took every chance I could to go the firing range, but I couldn’t imagine her doing it.

She went with her girlfriend and sent me the above picture. She also brought home the targets she used and man, she is a great shot!

I thought all of my surprises where over, but she had the video of me with The Shamrock Shore that I wrote about earlier.

Here is all 5 seconds of it and it’s great to see the legendary Rick McMurray joining me on guitar! I really have to play a little more up-picking after re-living that. I also just remembered that Rick has that banjo now. It’s a long neck Kay banjo!! I’ll have to take a trip up there to see it again!

I got up at 7 am this morning and went off to work thinking it would be a good day. I got a message that an old clip of me playing banjo on A&E back in ’96 was seen again. I had forgotten all about it. I was playing with the Shamrock Shore at John Cowley’s & Sons in Farmington, MI. It was funny to see me playing the up-picking style of Pete Seeger on TV! I had played that way for years because that was what I had learned from Pete Seeger’s book and that was the way Tommy Makem played. The song was Whistling Gypsy Rover and you can hear me picking out the melody, but man was it very, very light. It just doesn’t have the hit that frailing or clawhammer banjo has (which ever you call it, I don’t care). So I’m glad that I switched.

I had a heck of a day at work and nothing seemed to go right. 14 hours later, I got home and saw that people are just crazy!!!

Over the last few months I have referred people to a banjo forum to get information and ideas. I had become friends with a few people there and thought that things were good. I had been treated well, got answers to questions in a very friendly and straight forward manner and thought that things were good.

I get home and find that there are some people that are just plain crazy! I have never seen so much negativity in my life about something as simple and pleasing as a freakin’ banjo. I don’t care a wit if you strum the banjo with your left foot and chord it with your elbow. If it makes music and makes you happy, go for it!!

I don’t get all of the negativity and why you would want to attack a style of playing that people around the world enjoy. I can only think that they want to alienate a large portion of their audience.

I won’t waste anymore time thinking about it, but if any of you that I steered that way feel like they were treated badly, I apologize.

I don’t think I’ll ever mention this again, but man this really was not the way to come home!

See you tomorrow!!

Kelly

This is one of the songs that I miss seeing the late, great Tommy Makem perform. With a smile and a tinwhistle intro he would have the entire audience singing and clapping along.

A Place In The Choir is the Irish Pub Song Of The Day. The song makes for a great frailing banjo lesson. It’s a simple three chord song and it doesn’t take too much to pull off the melody.

Have fun with it and play along!

A Place In The Choir

A Place In The Choir(PDF)

Place in the Choir

[G]All God’s creatures got a place in the choir,

[D]Some sing low, [G]some sing higher,

Some [C]sing out loud on the [G]telephone wire,

[D]Some just clap their [G]hands, or paws, or anything they got.

Listen to the bass, it’s the one on the bottom,
Where the bullfrog croaks and the hippopotomus
Moans and groans with a big to-do,
And the old cow just goes “moo”.

The dogs and the cats, they take up the middle,
Where the hummingbirds hum and the cricket fiddles,
The donkey brays and the pony neighs,
The old coyote howls.

{c:Chorus.}

Listen to the top where the birds sing
On the melody with the high notes ringin’,
While the hoot owl hollers over everything,
The jay bird disagrees.

Singin’ in the nighttime, singin’ in the day,
The little duck quacks and he’s on his way,
The opossum ain’t got much to say,
And the porcupine talks to himself.
{c:Chorus.}

It’s a simple song of livin’ sung everywhere,
By the ox, the fox, and the grizzly bear,
The grumpy alligator and the hawk above,
The sly raccoon and the turtle dove.

I have been thinking for awhile now about doing something slightly different. I have been going back and forth with a few people about teaching the very basics of the frailing and clawhammer techniques. There is a plethera of information on the internet already and some great videos. The question I had to ask myself is what could I add to what is already there?

I have a few answers, but not all. I have been getting some feedback from friends, but I think the best way will be to post some of my audio/visual ideas and get feedback from those of you that visit BanjoMania and see what works and what doesn’t.

It won’t be open to everyone, but I will have posts showing the videos I have been making along with tablature and sound files. I’ll be looking for feedback on what works and what doesn’t. Everything will be hosted here, but I will be creating a membership area(for free) to those that want to check it out and give feedback.

If it works out like I hope, then I will keep the membership side open to work on things that members want help with. These would be more specific questions, concerns or ideas and the rest of site would stay as it is with ramblings and the Folk Song Of The Week and Irish Pub Song Of The Day.

If everything works out this weekend then by Monday she should be “Ready for trial runs.”

“She’s supposed to have transwarp drive.”

Kelly

The Folk Song Of The Week this time around is Go Tell Aunt Rhody. This is one of the songs that I like to teach people to learn to change chords when they start out on frailing banjo.

I just gave a frailing banjo lesson on this song over Skype that was just wonderful and we found different ways to play the melody.

It’s a simple song, but don’t let that fool you. The beauty is when you get together with a few people and see what you can do to the melody to make it interesting. It’s also great for starting out so people can get their feet wet.

Go Tell Aunt Rhody MP3

Go Tell Aunt Rhody (PDF)

Go Tell Aunt Rhody

[G]Go tell Aunt Rhody,

[D7]Go tell Aunt [G]Rhody,

Go tell Aunt Rhody,

The [D7]old gray goose is [G]dead.

The one she’s been saving,
The one she’s been saving,
The one she’s been saving
To make a feather bed.

The goslings are mourning,
The goslings are mourning,
The goslings are mourning,
Because their mother’s dead.

The old gander’s weeping,
The old gander’s weeping,
The old gander’s weeping,
Because his wife is dead.

She died in the mill pond,
She died in the mill pond,
She died in the mill pond
From standing on her head.

Go tell Aunt Rhody,
Go tell Aunt Rhody,
Go tell Aunt Rhody
The old gray goose is dead.

I tried to upload to YouTube this morning on the way to work, but alas, it wouldn’t work. I’ll try again tonight when I get home.

Thanks again to everyone who sent Happy Anniversary messages, I really appreciate it.

I’ll see you all tonight, hopefully!

Kelly

Tomorrow, I will have been married to my wife, Sandy for 15 years. We met in Champaign, IL and a year later we were married.

We have lived in Central Illinois, Michigan and for the last 10 years we have been in the Chicago Metropolitan Area.

I know that everyone says that their wife is their best friend, but Sandy truly is. The list of things that we don’t enjoy together is very small. The biggest thing she says she doesn’t like is….my banjo.

The funny thing is that she bought me my first banjo and everyone since then. Last month, she actually told me to get Neil Turner at Buzzard Mountian Banjos to cook something up for me. If that’s not love, I’m not sure what is.

To celebrate our time together, I would like to offer a 20% discount on Volume 1 of both Irish Pub Songs For The 5-String Banjo or Folk Songs For The 5-String Banjo at Lulu.com.

Just go to my page at Lulu.com and once you order, put in the coupon code SINK305 before checkout for 20% off of your purchase. The coupon is good for any order up to $100. Now you can order both books or other books from Authors at Lulu.com.

I’ll be back soon with more news!

It’s my 300th video on YouTube and I thought it would be appropriate to perform and show a frailing banjo lesson on the first Irish Pub Song that I ever figured out on my own. I love songs that tell a story and this is no different. The story comes from the 1798 Irish Uprising.

Grab your banjo and have fun!

Roddy McCorley MP3

Roddy McCorley(PDF)

RODDY MCCORLEY

Oh [G]see the fleet foot host of men who [C]speed with faces [G]wan

From farmstead and from [C]fisher’s [G]cot [C]along the [Am]banks of [D7]Bann

They [G]come with vengeance [C]in their [G]eyes. To [Em]late to [Am]late are [D7]they

For [G]young Roddy McCorley goes to die on the [C]bridge of Toome [G]today

Up the narrow streets he steps smiling proud and young
About the hemp rope on his neck the golden ringlets clung
There is never a fear in his blue eyes both glad and bright are they
As young Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toome today

When he last stepped up that street his shining pike in hand
Behind him marched in grim array a stalward earnest band
For Antrim town, for Antrim town, he lead them to the fray
And young Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toome today

There is never a one of all your dead more bravely fell in fray
Than he who marches to his fate on the bridge of Toome today
To true the last, to true the last he treads the upward way
And young Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toome today

I usually like to have Jim Woodward sing this song, but since it was requested, I gave it the good ‘ol college try.

It’s a fun song and one that everyone likes to sing along to.

You Are My Sunshine MP3

You Are My Sunshine (PDF)

YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE

[G]You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me [C]happy when skies are [G]gray

You’ll never [C]know dear, how much I [G]love you

Please don’t take my [D7]sunshine [G]away

The other night dear, as I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
So I hung my head and I cried.

I’ll always love you and make you happy,
If you will only say the same.
But if you leave me and love another,
You’ll regret it all some day:

You told me once, dear, you really loved me
And no one else could come between.
But not you’ve left me and love another;
You have shattered all of my dreams:

In all my dreams, dear, you seem to leave me
When I awake my poor heart pains.
So when you come back and make me happy
I’ll forgive you dear, I’ll take all the blame.