De Floating Scow Ob Ole Virginia

Comment by Matthew Menice on June 19, 2018 at 3:02pm

Can somebody please tell me what the heck that banjo player is doing in the picture?!?

Comment by Paul Draper on June 19, 2018 at 3:17pm

Great!! And i like the Money Musk tacked on the end. 

Comment by Matthew Menice on June 19, 2018 at 3:18pm

Thank you, Paul. It seemed very fitting

Comment by Paul Draper on June 19, 2018 at 3:24pm

BTW no idea what the banjo player is doing, but it looks interesting

Comment by Chris Prieto on June 19, 2018 at 11:58pm

Keep em coming man! Great stuff

Comment by Strumelia on June 22, 2018 at 2:14pm

You played all those instruments on this recording, plus sang?  You're amazing, each one is delightful to the ears!   :D

I think that banjo player is being shown spinning his banjo, the way Uncle Dave Macon used to. Macon was one of the last vaudeville style banjo players...a real showman, some say it was the last gasp of minstrel stage performances. See this guy who is imitating Macon, at about 1:38 he twirls banjo about as Macon famously did (no doubt Macon did it better in his prime, lol):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geIo5qYfp64

(is this guy actually still strumming with left hand or something while spinning it? Not sure how he keeps the playing going during the spins)
Joel taught the more genteel 'tick tock' pendulum banjo swing move at one of the Antietam gatherings (2013?), as shown here at 1:42 :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4ZMyv9CWkY

I was there!  (miss you guys!)

Matthew, in those triplets at the ends of some of the lines on the banjo- the 3 notes seem very distinctly separated- are you playing them as a measured out roll, or are you using the left hand to pluck the middle note of the triplet?

Comment by Matthew Menice on June 22, 2018 at 2:23pm

Strumelia, where in the song do you mean? The end of each chorus? When playing, I find that I do pluck the 2nd string with my left hand quite a bit.

Comment by Strumelia on June 22, 2018 at 2:27pm

Like at exactly 1:49 and 1:57, during the instrumental part.

Comment by Matthew Menice on June 22, 2018 at 2:33pm

I play that part string by string with my right hand and hope to God that it sounds good enough...

Comment by Strumelia on June 22, 2018 at 2:37pm

Wow, impressively precise. I find it impossible to do a non-fast roll with precision and clarity of each note at the right time.  I usually 'cheat' by using a left plucked note in there somewhere.

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