For enthusiasts of early banjo

Tune of the Week-Alabama Joe

Anyone feel like reviving the Tune Of The Week?

We pick one....post music, tabs, videos etc. Discuss it.

Anyone up for it?

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Permalink Reply by Leonidas (Lee) Jones on February 11, 2015 at 11:29pm

Absolutely!

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Permalink Reply by Tom Taggart on February 11, 2015 at 11:39pm

Sounds good. As a newish player I can always use tips, and info about early banjo music.

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Permalink Reply by Tim Twiss on February 12, 2015 at 8:44am

Oh good. Well, we should pick one and get at it. We can post dots and tabs and discuss it during the week and then have people post versions.

Something perhaps, from the Yellow Converse? Perhaps one that it a vocal tune and also appears in other books? O Lud Gals or Nebber Do To Gib It Up?

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Permalink Reply by Tim Twiss on February 17, 2015 at 9:12am

So, for TOTW ( Tune of the Week ) what about Alabama Joe? This might be good for a number of reasons. First...it is right up front in the Briggs Book. Second, there is a lyric version with sheet music. We could not only play the Briggs...but discuss the lyrics and how Briggs adapted it. There are also things in the Weidlich book to look at...how he interpreted the original Briggs version to tab and what his fingering choices meant. The tune also has a historical context by virtue of the source it was lifted from. All in all, this can have participation on many levels and enrich our genre. We can post lots of playing. Remember....NOT a contest. It is group sharing and learning.

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Permalink Reply by Tim Twiss on February 17, 2015 at 9:23am

And I'll just start I guess, to set a precedent of just chiming in with thoughts in this forum topic.

In my ignorance, when I first started...I did not know that Alabama Joe and many others were songs with words.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Draper on February 17, 2015 at 10:47am

The lyrics to which may be found here: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem/amss:@field(DOCID+@lit(as100140))

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Permalink Reply by Paul Draper on February 17, 2015 at 10:52am

(You'll have to copy and paste the entire address - for some reason the whole address didn't get highlighted.)

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Permalink Reply by Tim Twiss on February 17, 2015 at 10:58am

That video pints out the ingenius borrowing that went on...transforming familiar material into something brand new.

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Permalink Reply by Tim Twiss on February 17, 2015 at 11:14am

Can anybody reference "Alabama Joe" on an early playbill?

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Permalink Reply by Tim Twiss on February 17, 2015 at 11:38am

In the Mahar Book "Behind the Burnt Cork Mask" he references song text frequency in playbills by date. Alabama Joe is near the top with 7 references between 1843-1848, none from 1849-1853, and 4 between 184? and 1860. This sort of places it in context with the earliest stuff....and the revival of the earlier style in the late 50's.