Browsing Category

CD songs

Original tunes

CD songs, Cell Perches & HVO

Social Distancing & Masks & Win

October 24, 2020

In the mid 1980`s,the BRC founder joined Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO) which is a non governmental organization (NGO) based in our nation`s capital and dedicated to providing medical care and education in resource poor countries in the developing world. Over the years, the BRC founder served overseas assignments and held leadership positions in the organization. In 2006, the executive director asked him to record a CD of original music to celebrate the 20th anniversary of HVO.

In a period of 10 days, the BRC founder drafted and scored a fund-raising album of songs for HVO entitled “Compass Points” which chronicled the challenges, fulfillments, and humorous adventures of international medical volunteerism. He recruited a trio of grand nieces to provide back-up vocals, as pictured above with him in a Chicago recording studio, and the fund-raising CD was marketed by the non- profit HVO office in Washington, D.C..   

In April of 2020, the executive director asked the BRC founder to make a music video for the HVO Facebook Homepage to celebrate World Health Care Workers Week. Click on the below video link and enjoy his desktop rendition of “Are You Looking for an NGO?”

https://www.facebook.com/hvousa/videos/3767106190028071/

The “Compass Points” CD contains a true story and cautionary tale about the importance of physical distancing when in the presence of a health hazard. Sound familiar? Many years ago on the Carribean island of St. Lucia, when the BRC founder and his family were there on volunteer medical assignment at St. Jude Hospital, a vacation hotel went bankrupt and abandoned their pet elephant “Bupa” to roam the tropical island. In the below picture of Bupa, note that the islanders (far left) are keeping safe distance from the unpredictable pachyderm.

Enjoy the attached calypso -styled sound file of “Bupa the Elephant” and especially the back-up vocals by our young trio of singing sisters. All the music was multi-tracked by the author (Copyright 2006).

Fast forwarding to stateside these days, the BRC founder and fellow musicians mask-up weekly at the Rock Island Municipal Park pavilion for an outdoor Ozark jam session.

The popular TV series “Petticoat Junction” that aired 1963-1970 was based on the old Burris Hotel in Eldon, Missouri, that was previously called the Rock Island Hotel because it was on the Rock Island Railroad Line. The granddaughter of the hotel owner was the wife of the creator and executive producer of the television show, and she visited the hotel often in her youth. She shared her fond memories of it and the people there with her spouse who used this story to model the Shady Rest Hotel setting and characters of the TV series. The hotel and railroad line are now gone, but the namesake Rock Island Municipal Park stands nearby in tribute today. Flatt and Scruggs played the theme music for the Petticoat Junction TV show. The above jam session musicians informally call themselves the Rock Island Rangers.

In a field of 4 submissions to the Gainor & Friends scary Halloween jam photo contest this month, a pre-pandemic picture of the Rock Island Rangers with a rusty van was the winner by a majority vote. Congrats to the Ozark pickers.

From the BRC: Be safe, observe social distancing, and wear a mask.

CD songs, Jamming, Vega Martin Stories

The Iron Horse is Gone & Down Under- Vega

October 10, 2020

The Salamander Grill proprietors relocated their business up river 30 miles and renamed it the “Cowboy Toad.” Our Bluegrass jam emigrated to a nearby and newly built restaurant called the “Country Club” which was a two story wooden structure across the highway from the Eagles Bluff Conservation Area- a wildlife preserve beautifully photographed in the nature book “Where Pelicans Fly.” The Club was situated in the almost abandoned old railroad town of McBaine, Missouri, population 10.

The jam session area sported a “MU” wall placard and an emblematic Tiger visage beside it because the highway out front eventually coursed all the way back into town accessing the University of Missouri campus. For several years, the Country Club was a popular Sunday afternoon rendezvous site for pickers, patrons, and bicyclists pedaling along the nearby Katy Trail. The BRC founder wrote a bouncy blues tune entitled the “McBaine Boogie” for the listeners.

Late one night, the Country Club sadly burned down. After the conflagration, an anonymous music fan wrote a nostalgic poem that appeared in the local newspaper.

 

 

Attached is a sound file of the “McBaine Boogie.” All parts are performed by the author on this opening track of his 2004 CD benefitting the University of Missouri Children`s Hospital. Enjoy.

McBaine Boogie from the Hartsburg Anthology (Copyright 2004).

From the BRC Vega Martin Mailbox:

D.M. from Australia writes-

Hi there, just found your page; what a fantastic site for resources about Vega Martin Banjos! I’ve just recently picked up a Vega Plectrum Banjo here in Australia which has turned out to be a bit of a mystery. It’s a Pro-II which is in quite good condition; it even has the original Lifton case, complete with all the case candy! From what I can see, everything about it suggests that it’s one of the later Instruments made prior to the buyout (it has the reshaped headstock).

However here’s the interesting part; instead of the usual yellow label inside, it has a white label marked Needham Heights with a 5 digit serial number!

At first I was worried that I might have scored a fake; however I managed to google one other banjo with the same label (& a similar serial number) that the owner seemed to think was from 1970, which I believe would make it a transitional model. Interestingly, the 5 digit serial number is preceded by the letter “B” handwritten on the label (I’m guessing that this may have been so the serial numbers don’t overlap with serial numbers from the “print error” models in ’63-’64?). Have you come across the white labels before; and if so, would you have any idea when & where the Banjo might have been made? If I can get an email for you I’ll send you some pics. Cheers, D.M.

Reply from the BRC:

Dear D.M.-

Thanks for the prompt and detailed pictures of your Vega Pro II plectrum banjo #B-12163 with its serial number curiously recorded on an unusual white, rather than yellow, label sticker. Your banjo (seen above) was manufactured in 1964 during a brief period when Vega used 5 digit serial numbers because of a printer`s error and when a prefix of “A” meant an adjustable truss rod. The peg head on the Pro line of banjos seen in the 1963, 1966, and 1968 Vega catalogues is more squarish with somewhat pointy corners than the peg head shown on your 4-stringer. In the 1966 Vega/Boston catalog, the Pro fretboard replaced its blockish mother of pearl inlays with your instrument`s  “football and crowns” designs. When the new VIP series was introduced in the 1968 Vega catalogue, it featured an identical MOP stye on its fingerboard but a more smoothly contoured peg head. For about 2 years after acquiring the Vega brand in 1970, C.F. Martin continued the traditional Vega yellow label sticker with the historic 6 digit serial number system but prefixed it with the letter “M” to signify new ownership.

Martin initiated its own serial number system decaled on the interior of the wooden pots starting in 1972. The so-called Bobby Joe Fenster banjo in the Vega Martin catalog of 1970, a thinly veiled Pro model, featured the more smoothly contoured peg head from the VIP neck series. In the C.F. Martin catalogue of 1972, the bona fide Pro model reemerged featuring the smoothly contoured VIP peg head with its rounded corners. The popular VIP model featured more elaborate MOP inlays in the peg head than its cousin the Professional (as seen below in the 1975 Vega Martin VIP-5 banjo #1364 in the BRC collection).

Of note, the Vega factory moved from Leon St. in Boston to Reservoir St. in Needham Heights, Massachusetts, in 1966. My primary theory is that your “B” banjo was a 1964 workshop prototype experimenting with converting the squarish original Pro peg head with its pointy corners to the more smoothly contoured peg head style of the future VIP series. To distinguish this prototype Pro II banjo from the regular inventory, a distinctive white sticker label with a “B” prefixing the serial number was installed to designate the instrument`s unique status to the Vega planners. Interestingly, no model identification appears on the original small Vega ID tag displayed in your photographs. My secondary theory is that your “B” banjo was built from parts manufactured or assembled in Boston, but it was not marketed until sometime later after the factory relocated to Needham Heights. A combination of both of these theories may be the actuality.  Lastly, the unusual white sticker label seen in 1963-64 might be just another printer`s error. Hope this helps and thanks again for the photos and interesting supplemental data. Be well Down Under, Barry

D.M. replies, Oct. 2, 2020

Hey Barry, thank you so much for that reply. Wow, sounds like it’s an interesting one; I do remember reading somewhere that Vega weren’t afraid to experiment! Thanks for solving that; and thanks again for your info. D. M.

To All: Be well, mask-up, keep on picking.

 

CD songs, Jamming

A Salamander & A Handful Banjo

September 26, 2020

If you’re looking for a thrill/ It’s at the Salamander Grill

Where you can get your fill of/Bluegrass pickin` and chicken

Down Home Country Fried!

When the Hitchin` Post saloon was sold, the Sunday afternoon Bluegrass jam session took up residence at a newly opened and freshly renovated venue only a few doors down the street. The owners graciously welcomed the pickers and the patrons that followed our music there, and cigarette smoke was not an indoor environmental issue in the spacious family style eatery. It became a popular Sunday luncheon locale for many neighboring families. Although handy on the banjo, the BRC founder would sometimes play mandolin when a song called for it.

The local press took an interest in the revitalized music scene in the village of Hartsburg, and the Grill owners asked the BRC founder to record his original tune “The Salamander Grill” for a radio advertisement. With his son on rhythm guitar, the banjo builder recorded a stanza of the song with the above refrain as the catch-phrase. In the below sound file of this up tempo theme song, all the instruments and vocals were multi-tracked by the author on his initial CD to benefit the Childrens Hospital. Enjoy.


From the “Hartsburg Anthology- songs mostly about Missouri” copyright 2004.

A Handful Banjo

For the autumn 2020 juried exhibit, the community art league tasked its members with the following directive: The tradition of the human figure in art continues to inspire and challenge artists today. Whether abstracted or realistic, we experience the figure in art both visually and physically. We want to see your contemporary take on interpreting the ancient practice of recreating the figure.

In response to this assignment, the BRC founder built the “Play Your Hand” banjo which was accepted and exhibited in The Figure art show among 56 other entries of photographs, sculptures, watercolor and oil paintings, mixed media abstraction, wood, metal, and fiber works- each reflecting the human form.

The human hand is a marvel of communication second only to the face in its ability to convey emotion. We give and take with the hand. We wave a greeting and bid farewell with it. A handshake confirms connection, and fingertip kisses are blown to departing loved ones. Holding up two fingers in a V is a sign of peace, and a tightly clasped fist held overhead is a symbol of protest. We pointedly accuse with the hand, and both are held overhead to indicate surrender. A salute offers recognition of office, and a circle made with the thumb and index finger is the universal emoji for OK. Fingers are crossed for good luck, and flattened palms are pressed together in prayer. We wring our hands when worried and flap them in frustration. The extended index finger in front of pursed lips is a non verbal request for quietude. Historically, thumbs-up is a positive indicator of affirmation, and thumbs-down is negative. Holding up the palm vertically is a signal to stop, and a firmly clenching hand is a barometer of anger.  We affectionately caress loved ones with the hand, and in some traditional cultures, kissing the hand is a gesture of deferential respect. Sculptors and painters fashion their works by hand while silently crafting their artistic vision. The hearing impaired communicate with a vocabulary of sign language. A choir conductor gestures wordlessly to guide a chorale, and an orchestra makes music with its fingertips following the direction of the maestro`s hand-held baton. 

 

Bluegrass musicians spend endless hours honing their craft, and many banjo players wear fingerpicks to amplify their tonal palette (enter “picks” in the homepage search engine). According to 5-stringer lore, Earl Scruggs estimated that 10,000 hours of practice were required to master a musical instrument.

 

At a festive outdoor gig for the Children’s Hospital, the BRC founder poses with his fiddler who lost a finger in a severe power saw injury some years ago. After staged and complex surgeries, the fiddler devotedly rehabilitated his hand and retrained it to full musicianship.

 

 

 

From the BRC: Be well, practice hand hygiene, and keep on picking.

 

 

CD songs, Jamming

Ridin` Home Late

September 12, 2020

Growing up in the Show-Me state, our children flourished as teenagers. The older sister was an artist, and the younger sister was a scholar. Mom bought our son a guitar, and he soon conquered it as well as the cello for school orchestra. His dad reactivated dormant banjo skills, and the lad taught his father how to play bass. Before long, they were performing at gigs together.

The Hitchin` Post, a bottomland saloon near the Missouri River, was choked with patrons and cigarette smoke on Sunday afternoons when the Hartsburg pub hosted its weekly Bluegrass jam session. The father-son duo not infrequently played back-up for fiddlers, pickers, and singers.

The BRC founder became a regular banjo picker at the pub, and he soon polished-up his knack for tune smithing by penning “The Hitchin Post Song.” It became a wrap-up anthem at the conclusion of Sunday jam sessions when all assembled adjourned to go “ridin` home late.” He collected this and other newly written tunes into a file that he called the “Hartsburg Anthology- songs mostly about Missouri ” which became the title of his first CD recorded to benefit the Childrens Hospital (Copyright 2004). On the below sound file, all instruments and vocals are performed by the author. Enjoy.

It has been decades since the last Hitchin` Post picking session in Hartsburg, and BRC life is now populated with grandchildren. In recent years, a new jam scene has sprung-up a only few miles down the Jeff City Rd. at a yogurt shop in our state capital of Jefferson City.

In this pandemic era, however, the musicians practice precautionary behaviors of outdoor picking on the sidewalk in front of the shop, mandatory masks, and safe distancing.Songs from the “Hartsburg Anthology” CD are performed when requested by listeners during these evening jam sessions, and we disperse after sundown when all assembled adjourn to go “ridin` home late.”

From the BRC: Be safe, be well, keep on picking.

Bio, CD songs

Flood & Fest & Frailing

August 29, 2020

In the Spring 1993, the swollen Missouri River rushed over it banks flooding farmland, towns, and cities, and inflicting colossal damage everywhere in its muddy path. About a mile from the river bank, the flood waters surged into the bottomland village of Hartsburg. With the help of farm families, prison volunteers, National Guard, and concerned neighbors, a huge levee was hurriedly erected in the middle of the town with the Hitchin` Post saloon, a Bluegrass jam session venue, just barely on the dry side of the sandbag wall. In a photo taken the morning after the levee successfully stopped the advance of the murky 9 foot deep floodtide, the BRC founder stands up to his ankles in mucky water where he stacked sandbags on the previous day of back breaking work.

Some townsfolk relocated as the flood waters very slowly subsided, but a bottomland farmer was heard to pledge, “River or no river, we`re staying.” The Hartsburg community recovered, and despite minor flooding in 1995, they soon inaugurated an annual autumn Pumpkin Festival to celebrate the town’s resilient agricultural heritage. The BRC founder`s band performed benefits for the Childrens Hospital at the several of these sunny autumn festivals as pictured below (son and father/mandolin far left), but this year`s fest has been cancelled because of the pandemic.

 

The BRC banjo builder chronicled the `93 Missouri River flood and construction of the sandbag “Hartsburg Wall” in a song with the melody adapted from “Richmond Blues” by T. C. Ashley as recorded by the Smithsonian Institute in 1961.

 

From a 2004 CD, enjoy this tune in the below sound file in which all music and vocals are performed by the BRC author (copyright 2004).

The clawhammer technique heard in this tune was called “frailing” on Pete Seeger`s instructional album recorded in 1954 that the BRC founder and his older brother checked-out of the local library in 1960 to decode the mysteries of banjo playing. The historic LP “How to play the 5-string Banjo” offered a new vocabulary of hammering-on and pulling-off. The older brother, a seasoned Dixieland jazz musician in college, proposed that it would be more efficient to learn to clawhammer with the ring finger rather than the index digit as Pete recommended on his LP. This would allow the picker to seamlessly shift from frailing to 3 finger Scruggs picking ad lib.

A plastic pick is worn backwards on the ring finger and is stabilized with white electric tape. The thumb pick essentially precludes double or drop-thumbing. Note the subtle clear patch of packing tape protecting the head from thumb pick-tip abrasion. As two-thirds of a banjo`s architecture is a drum, clawhammering with a plastic pick enables banjo volume to penetrate a multi-instrument Bluegrass band or jam session with a percussive galloping rhythm that propels the music. The pre-war Mastertone banjo (photo left) was purchased from progressive NYC banjoist Roger Sprung in 1963 by the older brother who graciously gave it to the BRC founder about 25 years ago.

The pot and resonator were made at the Gibson factory, 225 Parsons St., Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1928; and the classic “bow tie” RB-250 neck is from the 1950`s. Gibson no longer manufactures banjos, and the “Mastertone” trademark was recently acquired by Gold Tone.

From the BRC: Be safe, follow hygiene rules, keep on picking.