Tag Archives: Clawhammer Banjo

George Landers : The Scotland Man, from The End Of An Old Song, documentary by John Cohen, 1970

Appalachian rural musician George Landers, was featured on musicologist John Cohen’s acclaimed 1965 album High Atmosphere, a compilation of appalachian music from North Carolina and Virginia. In 1970, Cohen followed up with the 27 minute film The End of an Old Song”, filmed in the mountains of North Carolina and revisiting the region where folklorist Cecil Sharp had collected British ballads in the early 1900s and focusing on the ballad singer Dillard Chandler. Within the film, Landers is featured, singing The Scotland Man while playing in his unique two-finger clawhammer banjo style. Continue reading George Landers : The Scotland Man, from The End Of An Old Song, documentary by John Cohen, 1970

ROSCOE HOLCOMB :: I AIN’T GOT NO SUGAR BABY NOW

Roscoe Holcomb, (born as Roscoe Halcomb, September 5, 1912 – died February 1, 1981) was an American singer, banjo player, and guitarist from Daisy, Kentucky. A prominent figure in Appalachian folk music, Holcomb was the inspiration for the term “high, lonesome sound,” coined by folklorist and friend John Cohen. The “high lonesome sound” term is now used to describe bluegrass singing, although Holcomb was not, strictly speaking, a bluegrass performer.

“Bob Dylan stated, “Roscoe Holcomb has a certain untamed sense of control, which makes him one of the best.” Eric Clapton called Holcomb “my favorite [country] musician.” Holcomb’s white-knuckle performances reflect a time before radio told musicians how to play, and these recordings make other music seem watered-down in comparison. His high, tense voice inspired the term “high lonesome sound.” Self-accompanied on banjo, fiddle, guitar, or harmonica, these songs express the hard life he lived and the tradition in which he was raised.” -Smithsonian Folkways, recording notes,http://www.folkways.si.edu/roscoe-holcomb/i-aint-got-no-sugar-baby-now/old-time/music/track/smithsonian

 

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