Banjo versus TV week 89: Chicago's Second Annual Battle of the Jug Bands

A check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s ongoing plan to spend more time on his banjo than on TV. This post covers 11/08/2009 through 11/14/2009.

The big event of this last week was, of course, Chicago's Second Annual Battle of the Jug Bands at Morseland, organized by Arlo Leach and featuring...

• The Brass Note Jug Band, whom I played with, playing...
  • I Can't Dance
  • Sun Brimmer's Blues
  • Bay Rum Blues
  • Feelin' Good
• The Barehand Jug Band, Chicago's busiest jug band, playing...
  • What's That Tastes Like Gravy
  • T'aint Nobody's Business What I Do
  • Cocaine Blues
  • Tear It Down
• Strictly Jug Nuts, this year's winners of the coveted sausage grinder trophy, playing...
  • Yum Yum Blues
  • What's the Matter with the Well?
  • One Meatball
  • Keep It Clean
• Deep Fried Pickle Project, whom I voted for (Sorry, Brass Notes, but they were great!), playing...
  • Tear It Down
  • Rubber-Legged Jim
  • I Saw Your Picture on the Internet
  • Fat Bottomed Girls / I Like Big Butts / Baby Got Back
• The Hump Night Thumpers, my former band that I'm going to go back to some day, playing...
  • Walk Right In
  • Mobile Line
  • KC Moan
  • Cocaine Habit Blues
• The Schticklers, Chicago's one-and-only Jewish jug band, playing...
  • Coney Island Washboard Roundelay
  • Cakewalk Into Town
  • Arkansas Traveller
  • Gimme Back My Wig

Additional entertainment was provided by our opening act, The Northside Southpaws, who played...

• Kohala March
• Vicksburg Stomp
• Carolina Glide
• Wobble March (medley of Stone Mountain Wobble / Sea March)
• Morning Glory Waltz
• Carbolic Rag
• Old Folks Better Go To Bed
• You're Gonna Quit Me Baby
• Toots
• Havana River Glide
• Jackson Stomp

...and by Hotfoot Annie, who tapped her way through...

• Nagasaki (accompanied by The Vaudeville Tramp)
• I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy
• Mister Bojangles
• Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag
• Side By Side

...as the votes were counted.

I was pleased with my performance. I held my own in Bay Rum Blues (my first VI-II-V-I song) and I bluesed it through both chords of Feelin' Good (the stage debut of my recently-developed string bending talents).

I also kazooed up a solo for Sun Brimmer's Blues and gutbucketed along with I Can't Dance.

There are gobs of photos at my Flickr set.

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Also in the last week:

• Purchased The Grascal's self-titled debut CD...
  
  
  
  ...because it's got Dolly Parton joining in on Viva Las Vegas.
• Added two songs to my Learning Songs list because I learned 'em for the battle: Bay Rum Blues and Feelin' Good.

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

Congratulations, Strictly Jug Nuts

Congratulations to Strictly Jug Nuts, the winners of Chicago's Second Annual Battle of the Jug Bands. You can see them above, posing with the coveted sausage grinder trophy.

I took a zillion photos, which I've uploaded to a Flickr set.

Tonight: Chicago's Second Annual Battle of the Jug Bands

I'm heading out soon for rehearsal with the Brass Note Jug Band as we get ready for Chicago's Second Annual Battle of the Jug Bands, tonight at the Morseland.

If you want to live vicariously through my blog, check out my Flickr set for the event. I'll be sending photos there through the night.

But you really want to come and see it for yourself. Here are the details:

Who?	You, watching opening act Northside Southpaws and cheering on six competing jug bands: The Barehand Jug Band, Strictly Jug Nuts, Deep Fried Pickle Project, The Hump Night Thumpers, The Brass Note Jug Band and The Schticklers.
What?	No-holds-barred jug band action.
When?	Saturday, November 12th at 7:00 pm
Where?	Morseland, 1218 W Morse Ave, Chicago, IL 60626, (773)764-8900
Why?	Because last year was so much fun.
How much?	Seven bucks, cheap!

Learning songs on my banjo: Feelin' Good

Hello, J.R.

Hello, imaginary interviewer. Thanks for this opportunity.

You've earned it. What banjo song are you learning right now?

Feelin' Good.

Why are you learning Feelin' Good?

This is one of the songs that I'll be playing as part of the Brass Note Jug Band on Saturday 11/14/2009 at Chicago's Second Annual Battle of the Jug Bands. Our instrumentation will be:

• Arlo - guitar
• Jacob - guitar, voice
• Jim J. - jug
• Jim S. - mandolin
• J.R. - banjo

What recordings do you have of Feelin' Good?

1. Levon Helm played it on his 2008 CD Dirt Farmer, which was a 2008 Grammy winner for Best Traditional Folk Album. He played it at 110 BPM in the key of G. You can listen to it for free here or see it on YouTube.
   
   
2. J.B. Lenoir sang Feelin' Good in the 1950s. It was included in the 2002 album Passionate Blues and you can preview it by following that link.

What tab arrangements do you have?

I have the lead sheet that the Hump Night Thumpers posted on the songs section of their site.

After discussing it with my instructor, David, I'm going to just mess around on the jazz pentatonic...



and throw in a little string-bending.

What's your target performance speed?

110 BPM, since the rest of the band is practicing along with the Levon Helm recording. I don't think I need to follow the practice-at-20%-faster rule. Rather, I need to make sure that my groove is slow and steady.

In what key and what tuning?

Gizmo (Jacob Fishman) wants to sing it in G, just like Levon Helm. So that'd just be the basic g'dgbd' banjo tuning.

Which lyrics are you learning?

Same as Levon Helm. Though as I noted, Gizmo will be singing. I think he's going to have his daughter join him on stage for this song.

Anything else you'd like to tell me about this song?

Don't confuse this song with J.B. Lenoir's better-known I Feel So Good, which is all over YouTube.

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

Learning songs on my banjo: Bay Rum Blues

Hello, J.R.

Hello, imaginary interviewer. I like your hair.

Thank you. What banjo song are you learning right now?

Bay Rum Blues.

Why are you learning Bay Rum Blues?

This is one of the songs that I'll be playing as part of the Brass Note Jug Band on Saturday 11/14/2009 at Chicago's Second Annual Battle of the Jug Bands. Our instrumentation will be:

• Arlo - guitar
• Jacob - washboard
• Jim J. - harmonica, voice
• Jim S. - mandolin
• J.R. - banjo

What recordings do you have of Bay Rum Blues?

1. Joe Filisko & Eric Noden recorded it on their 2006 album Live right here in Chicago. They played it at 89 BPM in the key of Bb.
2. I also found a 2008 performance by James Conway on YouTube, played at 98 BPM in the key of C. He drifts from Bay Rum Blues into Sweet Georgie Brown and back.
   
   

What tab arrangements do you have?

None, so my instructor David and I (mostly David) worked up some simple rolls. You can see them in week 55 of my Banjo versus TV project.

What's your target performance speed?

89 BPM, since the rest of the band is practicing along with the Filisko/Noden recording. If I follow the practice-at-20%-faster rule that means I'll need to get my practice speed up to 118 BPM.

In what key and what tuning?

Jim J. wants to sing it in A. I described in week 86 how I used Audacity to change the pitch of the Filisko/Noden version to our desired key so I could practice.

For tuning the first four strings I'm going start with standard tuning and then capo at 2. For the fifth string I'm going to tune it down from G4 to E4. So I guess you'd call my tuning e'eac#'e'.

David had originally suggested that I capo the fifth string at 7 as usual for a song in A, but my fingers had trouble hitting the fourth string instead of the fifth strings on those rolls. Tuning it down to E4 meant that I sounded good even if I included the fifth string in a roll.

Which lyrics are you learning?

For right now, none, since I'm not singing it. But when the time comes I think I'll combine the ones that James Conway sings on that YouTube video (I like the references to "Roosevelt was wet / Hoover was dry") and the Filisko/Noden ones.

Anything else you'd like to tell me about this song?

The Filisko/Noden lyrics reference the "Rayless chain". Apparently, Rayless Department Store was the place in Gastonia, NC where you could purchase booze. (I think Conway is in error when he says "railin' chain".)

Here's a shot of an old Rayless Department Store in Virgina, South Boston:

Cross-posted at J.R. Jenks' blog

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

Trib: Jug band revival brewing in Chicago

Arlo Leach pointed me to an article in today's Chicago Tribune: Jug band revival brewing in Chicago. It focuses on this Saturday's Chicago's Second Annual Battle of the Jug Bands (which I'm practicing hard for, thank you for asking) but also gives the bigger picture of Chicago's jug band scene.

There's also a sidebar telling you where you can go in Chicago for jug band music.

Thanks, Arlo, for the heads-up.

Banjo versus TV week 87: Halloween party jam

A check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s ongoing plan to spend more time on his banjo than on TV. This post covers 10/25/2009 through 10/31/2009.

I went to a Halloween costume party and was asked to "bring your music stuff." I interpreted that pretty broadly, so I brought two banjos, two guitars, a gutbucket and a washboard. The costumers jammed for hours.

(Pictured: Weeping Angel and a Viking. I wore my tool costume.)

---

Things I learned at this week's banjo lesson:

• I showed off my skill at Cripple Creek and the variations I'd come up with. But David pointed out a problem with my variations. I'd changed the song from...

  A Part
  G---|C-G-|G---|D-G-|G---|C-G-|G---|D-G-||
  
  B Part
  G---|G---|G---|D-G-|G---|G---|G---|D-G-||

  ...to...

  A Part
  G---|C-G-|G---|D---|G---|C-G-|G---|D-G-||
  
  B Part
  G---|G---|G---|D---|G---|G---|G---|D-G-||

  See how I kept it in D for the whole fourth measure of both parts? I liked the sound of that because it held the tension until the second repeat of the sequence. But David pointed out that it would sound awkward when playing with other people.
  
  He suggested that I might keep my variation, but that I'd have to walk people through it and let them know that this is a non-standard Cripple Creek. (Maybe I'll call it Cripple Creed.)
  
  As an example of a variation on Cripple Creek, David played Susie Monick's Wicked Witch Breakdown from the album "Melting Pots".
  
  
• We worked on my solo for Bay Rum Blues, which I'll be playing on November 14th for Chicago's Second Annual Battle of the Jug Bands.
  
  Basically, since the song is a VI-II-V-I number in A, I'll be capoing at the second fret and playing a two-measure lick for each of the four keys:
  
  Intro
  
  
  
  E (VI)
  
  
  
  B (II)
  
  
  
  ...or...
  
  
  
  D (V)
  
  
  
  G (I)
  
  
  
  David notes that I can use these VI-II-V-I tricks on Salty Dog, Rag Mama and other ragtime songs.
• I'll also be playing Sun Brimmer's Blues at the battle. For this, I'll be walking (skipping?) along the jazz pentatonic:
  
  
  
  Toss in a little string bending and I'm good to go.

---

Also in the last week:

• My iPhone is getting kinda full of songs. Mostly banjo stuff.
  
  
• The redhead wants me to learn I'm Movin' On, which was famously performed by Ray Charles...
  
  
  
  ...but was originally by Hank Snow.
  
  
• I rented The Fairly OddParents in Fairy Idol from NetFlix. But even though it has a running gag about the banjo...
  
  
  
  ...it doesn't really have enough banjo to satisfy the Banjo versus TV project rules...
  
  
  
  ...so it just counts as TV time.

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

Banjo versus TV week 86: Jug Band Battle prep and Steve Martin

A check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s ongoing plan to spend more time on his banjo than on TV. This post covers 10/18/2009 through 10/24/2009.

The Brass Note Jug Band is getting ready to compete in Chicago's Second Annual Battle of the Jug Bands.

We're a geographically diverse band with members from Tennessee, Oregon and Illinois. We won't get the whole band together to practice until the day of the competition so we're practicing by playing along to recordings from albums. Two of our recordings were in different keys than we wanted so I used Audacity to change their pitch to our desired key.

Then I put the songs onto my iPhone, changing the icons to remind me which instrument I'll be playing for each song.

The big challenge for me will be the banjo part on Bay Rum Blues, which calls for the chords F#, B, E7 and A. I could do that without a capo...

F#	B	E7	A

...and the F# chord would require me to finally get good at switching to that F position, something I've been bad at for two years now. I already know A and B. That E7 would be easy.

Or I could capo at the second fret...

F#	B	E7	A

...which makes for still-easier chords. That F# is the same as the E chord I'm used to playing.

I'll probably go with the capo so I can try out a little up-the-neck stuff.

One other thing that's kind of a challenge: The kazoo part in Sun Brimmer's Blues, which you can hear here.

---

Also in the last week:

• You know from my very first banjo post that I love Steve Martin. This week the redhead and I saw Steve perform with Steep Canyon Rangers at The New Palace Theatre Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago. It looked a little...like this:
  
  
• My estimation of the ratio of Steve playing clawhammer versus Scruggs style during the performance:
  
  
• I already have Steve Martin's CDs The Crow, The Steve Martin Brothers, A Wild And Crazy Guy, Let's Get Small and the audio edition of Born Standing Up, A Comic's Life , so what was I to purchase at the concession area of the concert? Two Steep Canyon Ranger albums:
  
  
• Speaking of CD purchases, look what I got cheap from Half Price Books:
  
  
• Purchased through Amazon, so not as cheap but essential nonetheless::
  
  

Mark your calendar: Chicago's Second Annual Battle of the Jug Bands

It's the Big C's big B. It's the Second City's second annual. The battle that's big in the city that butchers pig.

Yes, it's Chicago's Second Annual Battle of the Jug Bands. We've got a space, a line-up, a poster and everything!

Who?	You, watching opening act Northside Southpaws and cheering on six competing jug bands: The Barehand Jug Band, Strictly Jug Nuts, Deep Fried Pickle Project, The Hump Night Thumpers, The Brass Note Jug Band and The Schticklers.
What?	No-holds-barred jug band action.
When?	Saturday, November 12th at 7:00 pm
Where?	Morseland, 1218 W Morse Ave, Chicago, IL 60626, (773)764-8900
Why?	Because last year was so much fun.
How much?	Seven bucks, cheap!

I'll be there, competing as part of The Brass Note Jug Band. You should be there, too.

My third 6 months on the banjo

Continuing the celebration of my 2nd banjoversary, I'm taking a look back at the past year in banjo. I'll do this in two parts, so here's a look at mid-June through mid-December 2008. I'll hit the remaining six months in my next post.

So enjoy — if this is your kind of thing — a story of banjos, guitars, jug bands, Earl Scruggs (or not), penguins and one even shorter banjo.

We begin where last year's banjoversary summaries (parts one and two) left off. The Banjo versus TV project was going strong, with the banjo ahead 188 hours to 146 hours after 24 weeks. I'd just gone to Midwest Banjo Camp 2008 and was ready to try some of the things I'd learned there.

---

Month 13:

• I started off the year by doing something big: I switched banjo teachers from Mike, who I love, to Dave, who I also love but who is more experienced in the bluegrass style that I was pursuing (and still am).
• Prior to our first lesson:
  • Dave and I talked high-level goals. My answer to "Where do you want to be a year from now?" was "Participate well in jams. Play comfortably solo."
  • I came up with six songs that I'd like to learn to play well at jams.
• Saw some great zydeco from New Orleans: Chubby Carrier and The Bayou Swamp Band.
• I learned a thing or two about flying with my banjo.
• Earlier in the summer I'd heard James McKinney (at Midwest Banjo Camp) strongly recommending that we Scruggs-style players should bend our index- and middle-finger picks so they're snug against our fingers. The idea is that the brain will better respond to signals that go through the bone; an idea that McKinney says is supported by recent research in sports medicine. Besides, Earl bends his picks like that. So I decided to bend my picks up and get used to it that way. It took a couple of weeks, but I adjusted to the new pick style and I like the feeling.

---

Month 14:

• I had my first lesson with Dave, who was happy (encouraging, even) to let me record lessons and review them on my blog.
• I began work on a solo for one of my six chosen songs: Good Old Mountain Dew.
• I found some terrific swabs for banjo cleaning.
  
  
• I completed that solo for Good Old Mountain Dew. The solo sounds much better when I'm warmed up.
• Although I didn't know the fancy name of it at the time, I got into Mixolydian mode by playing along with a Sam Bush recording of Ol' Joe Clark.
• Dave shows me an easier and often-better-sounding version of the D chord at the second fret:
  
  
• I started to learn a lick from Bill Knopf's Hot Licks & Fiddle Tunes for the Bluegrass Banjo Player
:


• I played my banjo for the neighbors who live across the street from the home I grew up in. They said my father would be proud, which is just about the best thing that anyone could say to me.
• Some other topics from my banjo lessons: playing and singing at the same time, playing along with and learning from recordings, warming up before a lesson, recovering from wrong notes, left-hand positioning and muting.

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Month 15:

• I'm really starting to like Dave's play-along-with-recordings approach.
• I made a pilgrimage to the Four Corners Folk Festival in Pagosa Springs, CO so I could see Earl in person.
  
  
  
  But it turned out to be one of the very rare occasions where Earl cancels at the last minute.
• On the up side, I got to know Warren Kennison, Jr., the guy who filled in for Earl at the festival. Warren's a great guy who would later invite me to go with him to the July 2009 RockyGrass festival.
• At 4CFF I met the members of Crooked Still and really got to like their "new time old time" style of music. Their banjo player, Greg Liszt, plays with four picks!
  
  
• I brought together two things I'd been working by incorporating that Bill Knopf lick #1 into my solo of Good Old Mountain Dew.
• Everyone (Mike, Dave, Pete Wernick) tells me that I should learn how to recognize a few simple guitar chords so I can follow the guitar at a jam. I figured that the best way to learn those chords is to take a few guitar lessons. So I started guitar lessons, which cut into my banjo time a bit.
• I had a wow-I-can-really-do-this moment when I decide to try out my playing-along-with-the-recording skills on some random bluegrass tracks over lunch. Yay me!
• Some other topics from my banjo lessons: a balanced practicce routine, using a metronome and stronger pull-offs.

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Month 16:

• There was this idea I'd been kicking around for a while: shortening the neck of a banjo by 12 frets. I call it my sawed-off banjo. I started work on it by drawing out plans for and creating balsa and styrofoam models of its sawed-off little neck.
  
  
• My plan to do regular practice of right and left hand exercises is short-lived, fizzling out quickly.
• Dave suggested that, despite the long-term goal to play without looking at my hands, I should really be watching my left hand as I play so I can work out some of its bad habits.
• I went to Costello's Early County/Bluegrass Jam
.
• The sawed-off banjo project moved from plans and models to actual construction! My business partner, Don, and I started work on the sawed-off banjo in his well-equipped wood shop.
• Some other topics from my banjo lessons: rewriting material, mixolydian mode, open C tuning, vamping and changing the sound of the banjo.

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Month 17:

• We completed the sawed-off banjo, which looks funky and sounds really nice.
  
  
  
  You can see all of the details of its construction here.
• I completed my short set of guitar lessons. The plan was that I'd learn enough to be able to recognize certain chords when the guitar played them at a jam. (G, C and D, mostly.) The lessons probably took me 75% of the way there.
• I attended Chicago's First Annual Battle of the Jug Bands, which put me on a jug band journey that I kinda didn't expect to take, but which turned out to be a lot of fun.
• I was a banjo-playing penguin for Halloween; a costume that nicely incorporated the sawed-off banjo.
  
  
  
  I won first prize in the costume contest at a Bluegrass Legends Concert in Evanston, Illinois.
• I purchased a jug. It's not played by blowing across it as I thought it was; it's played more like a bugle. Embouchure is very important. Jim Craig (of Hogeye Music) demonstrates.
  
  
• I returned to the Costello's Early County/Bluegrass Jam
. The jam is hosted at a sandwich shop, so every time I go there I buy a sandwich and get my frequent customer card stamped. Eight more stamps until my free sandwich!
• My jug band obsession continued with a grand plan to put together a family jug band at my our semi-annual, post-Christmas, family vacation. I asked everyone what jug band instruments they'd like and started shopping. Incidentally, I had this idea before I even saw Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas.
  
  
• My jug band research led inevitably into a comparison of the two Muppet jug bands: Lubbock Lou & His Jughuggers and The Gogolala Jubilee Jug Band.
• Some other topics from my banjo lessons: my next banjo and bridge height.

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Month 18:

• Arlo Leach, who hosted Chicago's First Annual Battle of the Jug Bands, taught the Wednesday night jug band class at the Old Town School of Folk Music. The class calls itself the Hump Night Thumpers.
  
  
  
  Arlo invited me to come to a class, so I did. What a lot of fun!
• Taking those few guitar lessons took me maybe 75% of the way toward my goal of recognizing guitar chords by watching the guitarist's left hand. To help me get to 100% I began playing along with Pete Wernick's jam DVD, which feature a zoom-in on the guitarist's left hand.
  
  
• The family jug band picked a name for itself: the Royal Moose Jug Band. We even made some art:
  
  
• We established the Royal Moose Jug Band's lineup:
  • Mom - xylophone
  • Denise (age 16) - harmonica
  • Me - banjo
  • Brother-In-Law - slide whistle
  • Denephew (age 19) - gutbucket
  • Denise (age 9) - guitar
  • The redhead - spoons
  • Brother - washboard and jug
  • Sister-In-Law - Melody Harp
  • Big Sister - kazoo
  • Denise (age 7) - fiddle
  • Little Sister - tambourine
  • Little Sister's Boyfriend - percussion
  • Denephew (age 21) - jaw harp
• Speaking of family, a few hours before arriving from Texas to celebrate her birthday Denise (age 7) decided that it'd be nice if Unca J.R. would play Happy Birthday for her on his banjo. So I learned it.
• I performed in Flatts & Sharpe's annual recital, doing a medley of my two best songs: I'll Fly Away and This Land Is Your Land.
  
  
• Some other topics from my banjo lessons: books at jams, watching the guitar player for chord prompts and key changes.

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Coming up next: A look at the second half of the year. The Royal Moose Jug Band performs! The Banjo versus TV project concludes — or does it? I join another jug band! And so much more! But I still don't get to see Earl.