A rehearsal with Potbelly Gumbo - mistakes and all. A charming take, though!

Recorded Live at The Cutting Room for the CD Release Party of IWMNWJ.

This is a medley we were working on for a bit. I took "Old Route 6" and made it into a modal minor romp to fit in with "Cluck Old Hen." I had just learned the G modal tuning on the banjo (gDGCD) - also known as Mountain Minor, also known as Sawmill tuning - and was trying to work a tune into it. This is what came about. Doesn't she purr, though!

Recorded live at The Cutting Room. CD Release Party for "I Wish My Name Were Jack."

I learned this song from Cory Seznec. Cory is the best clawhammer banjo player I know. Recorded after much red wine with my friend Kari Denis on fiddle. Kari also plays fiddle on my record "The Toenail Jar." She plays great bluegrass and oldtime, and can be seen around town in several projects, including Kings County Strings. http://www.myspace.com/karidenisfiddle coryseznec.com

A new tune. Oddly enough, this one is about alcohol.

A couple of years before he died, my father accidentally killed a pedestrian who was trying to cross a highway in the middle of the night. I don't think he ever got over it. As he was telling me the story of what happened, he said, "You can tell your brothers, but whatever you do, don't tell my old man." It struck me that a man who was as old as he was still cared so much about his father's opinion of him. I created a fictional story around that line.