The Chicagoland Acoustic Jam will be broadcasting live starting at 6 PM Central Time today. You will be able to join along here at BanjoMania.net.

I will be using the songs from the last two months. Play along and have fun!

It’s now time for the Chicagoland Acoustic Jam. Check out the player below starting at 6 PM Central Time and the Chicagoland Acoustic Jam will begin. You can find the pdf files of the songs we will be performing!

Play along and have fun!

For those of you that missed the last Chicagoland Acoustic Jam, here is the video on YouTube. I hope this wets your appetite for this Saturday when we livestream the February Chicagoland Acoustic Jam.

I’ll be posting updates and details later this week.

Chicagoland Acoustic Jam – January MP3

This is the last Accompaniment Video for a little while. I have decided to try something a little different starting next week and play it by ear.

Play along with your instrument while Joel Simpson and I perform the Folk Song Of The Week, Jesse James.

Jesse James

Jesse James(PDF)

Jesse James

Jesse [G]James we understand has [C]killed many a [G]man

He robbed the union [D7]trains He [G]stole from the rich

And [C]gave to the [G]poor He’d a [C]hammer and a [D7]heart and a [G]brain

CHORUS:

Now [C]Jesse had a wife lived a [G]lady all her life

And children they were [D7]brave but [G]history does record

It was [C]Bob and Charlie ford have [G]laid Jesse [D7]James in his [G]grave

Well it was on Saturday night the stars were shining bright
They robbed the Glendale train and the people they did say
For many miles away it was those outlaws Frank and Jesse James

Well it was bob and Charlie ford those dirty little cowards
I wonder how they feel for they ate of Jesse’s bread
And they slept in Jesse’s bed and they laid poor Jesse in his grave

Well the people held their breath when they heard of Jesse’s death
They wondered how he came to fall well it was Robert ford in fact
Who shot him in the back while he hung a picture on the wall

Joel Simpson joins me again for the Irish Pub Song Of The Day, Jug of Punch. I love the sound of guitar and frailing banjo together!

Play along and have fun!

Jug Of Punch MP3

Jug Of Punch (PDF)

The Jug Of Punch

One [D]pleasant evening in the month of June,
As [A]I was sitting with my [D]glass and spoon,
A small bird sang on an [G]ivy [Em]bunch,
And the [D]song he sang [A7]was the jug of [D]punch.
[Chorus.
Too[D] ra lu ra loo,too ra [G]lu ra,too ra [A]lu ra loo too ra [D]lur a lay,
A small bird sang on an [G]ivy [Em]bunch,
And the [D]song he sang [A7]was the jug of [D]punch.

What more diversion can a man desire,
To be seated by a snug coal fire,
Upon his knee a pretty wench, and on the table a jug of punch.

If I get drunk, well me money’s me own
And them don’t like it they can leave me alone.
I’ll tune me fiddle and I’ll rosin me bow, and I’ll be welcome wherever I go.

When I am dead and in my grave, no costly tombstone will I have,
Lay me down by my native peat, with a jug of punch at my head and feet.

I only have the camera audio for The Folk Song Of The Week, but I hope you still enjoy it and play along!

Bird On A Wire is a great song and it’s fun on the banjo!

Grab your instrument and play along!!!

Bird On A Wire MP3

Bird On A Wire (PDF)

Bird on the Wire

Like a b[A]ird on the w[E]ire, like a dr[A]unk in a midnight ch[D]oir
I have tr[A]ied in my w[E]ay to be free [A]
Like a w[A]orm on a h[E]ook, like a kn[A]ight from some old-fashioned b[D]ook
I have s[A]aved all my r[E]ibbons for thee [A]
[D] If I, if I have been unk[A]ind
[Bm] I hope that you can just let it go b[E]y
[D] If I, if I have been untr[A]ue,
[Bm] I hope you know it was never to y[E]ou.

Like a baby stillborn, like a beast with his horn
I have torn everyone who reached out for me.
But I swear by this song and by all that I have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee.
I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch
He said to me, “You must not ask for so much.”
And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door,
She cried to me, “Hey, why not ask for more?”
Like a b[A]ird on the w[E]ire, like a dr[A]unk in a midnight ch[D]oir
I have tr[A]ied in my w[E]ay to be free[D] [A]

The Accompaniment for the Irish Pub Song of The Day is Paddy Kelly’s Brew. I love when Joel Simpson joins me on guitar so I can play frailing banjo!

Grab whatever instrument you want and play along!

Paddy Kelly’s Brew MP3

Paddy Kelly’s Brew PDF

PADDY KELLY’S BREW

Paddy [G]Kelly is my name, making [C]poteen is my [G]game

And I live away up there behind the [D7]hill

I can [G]make a drop that’s pure and there’s [C]nothing it won’t [G]cure

It surpasses any [D7]medicine or [G]pill

Chorus:

For it [C]tastes as sweet as honey as it [G]trickles down your throat

It looks as clear and pure as morning [D7]dew

It can [G]make a fellow sing though he [C]didn’t have a [G]note

Won’t you try a drop of [D7]Paddy Kelly’s [G]Brew

It can cure your rheumatism, it can cure a wheezy chest
It can cure you of the gout and gallstones too
It cures toothache, headache, backache, falling hair and all the rest
Fallen arches, corns and bunions and the flu

Any summer day you’ll find me poaching salmon in the glen
Or setting snares for rabbits on the hill
But the nicest thing of all is when evening shadows fall
Just to watch those bottles filling from my still

I’ve a pound or two to spend, I’ve a bottle for a friend
I’ve got customers galore who buy my brew
At a wedding or a wake, I supply the stuff they take
And I keep a good supply the whole year through

Now, I know you will confess that the world is in a mess
And the politicians don’t know what to do
I’ll supply them with a plan that will cure the ills of man
Throw away the guns and hand out Kelly’s Brew

I was blessed to have Joel Simpson join me once again for The Folk Song Of The Week. Playing frailing banjo on Let The Train Blow The Whistle is fun and it’s a great song to sing.

Play along and have fun, fun, fun!

Let The Train Blow The Whistle MP3

Let The Train Blow The Whistle (PDF)

Let The Train Blow The Whistle

I don’t [G]want no aggravation

When my train has left the station

If you’re [C]there or not, I may not even [G]know

Have a round and [Bm]remember

Things we [C]did that weren’t so [G]tender

Let the train blow the [D7]whistle when I [G]go

On my guitar sell tickets
So someone can finally pick it
And tell the girls down at the Ritz I said hello
Tell the gossipers and liars I will see them in the fire
Let the train blow the whistle when I go

Let her [C]blow, let her [G]blow

Long and [G]loud and hard and happy

Let her [D7]blow

No [G]regrets, all my [Bm]debts will be [C]paid

When I get [G]laid

Let her blow, let her [D7]blow, let her [G]blow

You’ll be left without excuses
For the evils and abuses
Down to today from years and years ago
And have yourself another toke
From my basket full of smoke
And let the train blow the whistle when I go

Joel Simpson joined me once again on guitar to help out with some accompaniment for frailing banjo on the Irish Pub Song Of The Day, Wild Rover.

Play along and have fun!

Wild Rover MP3

Wild Rover(PDF)

THE WILD ROVER

Chorus: And it’s [D]no, nay, never, [G]no, nay, never, no [C]more,

Will I [G]play the wild [C]rover, no, [D]never no [G]more

I’ve been a wild rover for [C]many’s the [D7]year,

And I’ve [G]spent all my money on [D7]whiskey and [G]beer,

But now I’m returning with [G]gold in great [C]store,

And I [G]never will play the wild [D7]rover no [G]more.

(Chorus)

I went into an alehouse I used to frequent,
And I told the landlady my money was spent,
I asked her for credit, she answered me
“Nay, such a custom as yours I can have every day.”

(Chorus)

I then took from my pocket ten sovereigns bright,
And the landlady’s eyes opened wide with delight,
She says, “I have whiskies and wines of the best,
And the words that I told you were only in jest.”

(Chorus)

I’ll go home to my parents, confess what I’ve done,
And I’ll ask them to pardon their prodigal son,
And when they’ve caressed me as oft times before,
The I never will play the wild rover no more.

For those of you that missed the streaming of The Chicagoland Acoustic jam, it is now online and can be watched in it’s entirety. We had a couple of no shows due to illness and then The Colonel arrived 2 mintues after we stopped filming! Just his luck. (He did get there just in time for Dr. Scott’s chicken….hmmmm?)

I left the monitor on during the first song, so you hear some clashing sound until I turn it off. Joel and I will be working on getting better sound for next month, but all in all, it was fun and hopefully the experiment will continue.

See you all later.