TOTW Late Feb "Johnny Boker'

[Tim Twiss]

Plenty of references to go by. There is the Levy Sheet music collection, the Ethiopian Glee Book, Briggs, Rice, and Buckley 1860 ( Joe Sweeney Jig ) as well as Weidlich and Fleshers tab.

Play and discuss at will.

[Al Smitley]

Tim, I hope you don't mind my pasting this in, once again, to help show the versatility of both the song and you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt13P0ReCKs

[Strumelia]

Al, that was fun to see!

Ok so I will embed in here to show some stuff that I did previously with Boker (these vids are on here already so I won't re-post them in the video section).

Here I am playing it in A before I even had a minstrel banjo...using a regular fretless banjo with nylon strings. This was 2  1/2 years ago in 2012, when i was just beginning to struggle and explore stroke style.  Here I'm playing it excruciatingly slowly, and I think this shows what a good beginner tune this is for people just coming into minstrel repertoire.  I remember how this was a real challenge for me! :

ok so....fast forward a year and a half to Nov 2013 (a year or so ago), and I have a 'real' minstrel banjo, I'm playing less hesitantly, picked up the speed a little and was able to add some singing (made possible in this case because the verse banjo part in Boker is not at all complicated).  This was a real challenge for me but only because of the added singing, not because of playing the simple tune. Hey, I even had a tambourine going under my foot!:

This is why I leave my old videos up even though they can be an embarrassment showing a beginner struggling along.  It's useful to see the slow progress, and I hope it helps other beginners.    :)

[Mark Weems]

http://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/video/jonny-boker

Just to throw into the mix - The Old Jonny Booker Band's version

[Dan Gibson]

FWIW -- Here's a slide show version I did a couple of years ago. I cut it off short because I screwed it up so bad towards the end.  Hope you enjoy it.

http://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/video/old-johnny-boker

[Al Smitley]

I enjoyed both the "Old Jonny Booker Band" and the Dan Band!

Both good renditions!

[James Pentecost]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA3m0jNSmp4

One more.

[Mark Weems]

Hey! I thought the Woodford Reserve version was locked up in the vault!

[Paul Draper]

And another -- Briggs' J. Boker meets Old-time J. Sutton. http://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/video/old-johnny-boker-meets-old-jimm...

[Leonidas (Lee) Jones]

Thanks for linking to that one, I've always loved it!

[Tim Twiss]

Dang, I cannot find my Carlin book on Sweeney. Can anybody summarize the part on
Jonny Boker"?

ALso, there is that figure again we spoke of re: Alabama Joe. Weidlich treats it the same, and Flesher uses the Rice pull. How did it work out for you?

[Al Smitley]

I don't have your book but I could drop mine off at the store on the way back from a Dr. appt. or after my PT appt.

[Tim Twiss]

No, that's okay but thanks. Mine will pop up. I was just hoping to interject a few comments from Carlin on the tyne. He does speak of it in there....in particular to the route and landmarks the character encountered..