Randy, yes it's a very special banjo, one of two I have the privilege of owning that Ray designed. (the other is my white formica "Cockerham Model' fretless). Here is a pic of the great headstock design by Ray: Both of my Ray-designed banjos were built by Jim DeCava. This one has an old Slingerlands tenor pot and Jim refinished it and built the neck for it.

But yes, all the banjos in the world don't amount to a hill of beans compared to having been a friend of Ray. Brian and I would take a yearly trek down to the old Italian neighborhood in the Bronx with Ray (where he grew up) and buy olives, pinoli nuts, apricots, olive oil, prosciutto, and sopresata at the open Italian marketplace there. Then we'd go to Ray's favorite Italian restaurant on Arthur Ave., all the staff knew and loved him, and Ray would order all the food in Italian, making sure things were just right- real buffalo mozzarella, etc. The wonderful stories he would tell! Ray was truly bigger than life and we miss him a lot.

Bucko, I sold a banjo and bought two jouhikkos, from two different makers in the UK. One is by Corwen of AncientInstruments, and one is by Michael King (who is also a member here on FOTMD). They are very different from each other but both fun to play.

Randy- yeah the rock start thing....I also got into head shakking, but people told me it was a little 'over the top' so I had to stop. LOL!!

This was just great. Had my toe tappin' right from the start. Much enjoyed.

Sam

Yeah that's exactly what I was referring to.....that rock star showboat thing.... : ).....ha!....just kidding ya know...very effective, very personal/original.....saw you use the technique on the dulcimer but was surprised to see you employ it w/banjo.

What an honor to have a banjo designed by, and a friendship with, the great field recorder Ray Alden. Who built it?

Robin, Brian learns all his tunes by ear, either from other fiddlers live or from old recordings. He doesn't read music. I can learn tunes either way, but I always accompany Brian's stuff by ear. Crooked tunes are kind of problematic to write down anyway, like trying to catch smoke in your hands.

Randy, that syncopated thing that I *think* you are referring to seems to be a personal thing I've developed. You mean when my hand goes up and there's kinda silence for that beat? You can also see me doing it on my dulcimer, in that Hell up Coal Holler video- watch for it there too. Interestingly, I have never seen anyone else doing it, though syncopation is certainly nothing new. It just sort of started happening naturally, and it's a big part of my playing on both banjo and dulcimer --and hopefully will be on my bowed jouhikko too when I get the hang of it! ;D

That banjo is the 'fanciest' one I have of my 5 banjos. It was designed by our wonderful friend Ray Alden, who died last year. I bought it 10 years ago from the original owner who commissioned it from Ray years before that. It's a sweet banjer.

Thank you, just great

JohnH

I'd love to hear it all the way through with out the pauses. About every 8 seconds or so it stops to load.

Sounds like a neat tune otherwise.

You all weaved this tune together nicely, Lisa. And I love the way you all talk to one another.

What this has got me thinking about is how tunes get passed from one person to another. I've mostly learned tunes from recordings and try to tell heads from tails in what I hear. . . But crooked tunes especially are really hard for me to get straight. And you & Brian know lots of them. Do you work from ear solely? Or do you use written music sometimes? Maybe I ought to move these questions to a discussion thread.