Clifton Hicks

RARE Folk Art Banjo: 20th-Century Fretless Tack-Head "found in Virginia"

Plenty of tool marks and heavy use-wear on this outstanding example of early 20th-century Southern folk art! This handmade banjo's only known provenance is a note from the former owner asserting that it was "found in Virginia." Hard pine neck, steam-bent white oak pot, hand-carved walnut friction tuners, and original skin head with iron hoop and nails to secure it. I don't think the person who ...

Early Banjo Traditions in Haiti

"Cahouet, coachman, age 24 or 26, height 5 feet, stocky and hunched, great player of the bansa, singer, and engoleur* of the blacks,always at the dances on the plantations. Thosewho have knowledge give notice to M. Linas of Le Cap, to whom he belongs..." - Les AffichesAméricaines, 15 December 1784, 2020-07-01 19:07:04 +0000 UTC View Post

"Beaver Dam Road" Lesson (2-finger, overhand, & up-picking).

f#DF#AD relative (aka "Reuben Tuning") I learned this song from Josh Hayes of Watauga County, North Carolina. 

Banjo Heritage LIVE Q&A 🪕

I'll be live with banjos and dogs this evening at 7:00 pm EST: https://youtu.be/MWpwQjUjzQQ 

"Trouble On My Mind" Lesson

gDGBD relative. I learned this song from George R. Gibson of Knott County Kentucky who learned it from his neighbor Orgis "Grandpa" Hudson (d. 2005). Orgis, who was called "Granpa" or "Gran" by all who knew him, was a prolific banjo songster and dancer. George told me that he never heard Gran play an instrumental piece--he always sang with his banjo.

2020-06-17 23:49:10 +0000 UTC View Post

"Beaver Dam Road" (Frank Proffitt) Performance

f#DF#AD I learned this song from Watauga County, North Carolina banjo player, Josh Hayes, who can expertly perform any song Frank Proffitt recorded. Hayes actually lived on Beaver Dam Road when I learned this piece from him. My version is closer to his than to Proffitt's:  

"Beaver Dam Road"  

I've worked like a dog and what have I got? 

No corn in the crib, no ...

1880s Lyon & Healy Banjo with 12" Rim

1880s Lyon & Healy 5-string banjo made in Chicago, Illinois. This example has a 12" pot, 28" scale, original tuners, and most of the original ball-end tension nuts. Ball-end nuts, marketed to "lady" banjoists who advertisers claimed were concerned about clothing snags, seem to have declined quickly in popularity after about 1890. 

2020-06-12 18:58:23 +0000 UTC View Post

"Trouble On My Mind" Performance (revisited)

 gDGBD relative (~fCFAC actual). The subject matter of this song involves repeated trips to 'the whipping post,' something we today rightly associate with the African American experience in this country. I think it's equally important to remember that working-class whites in the Antebellum South were also brutally oppressed (even whipped and lynched) by the slave owning class.   ...

"I Don't Love Nobody" Lesson

gDGBD relative (fCFAC actual). This song was first printed in 1896 as "I Don't Love Nobody," however, I learned it from a recording of Woody Guthrie titled "I Ain't Got Nobody."   

See Elizabeth Cotten and Grandpa Jones for other examples of this piece.  

Thanks to Jerron Paxton and Evan Collins for providing historical/technical context.

2020-06-04 16:51:20 +0000 UTC View Post

"I Don't Love Nobody" (I Ain't Got Nobody) Performance

gDGBD relative (fCFAC actual). I first learned this song from a recording of Woody Guthrie titled "I Ain't Got Nobody." My late mother (1946-2012) loved Guthrie's music. Whenever I hear his dusty guitar, I think of her side of the family (who were largely sharecroppers/migrant workers from places like Cullman, Alabama and Lebanon, Indiana).   

Most contemporary musicians omit th...

NEW "Darling Cora" Lesson

In response to numerous requests, here is an addendum to our old "Darling Cora" lesson from a couple of years ago. Back then, I wasn't arranging tableture for lessons and I left out some important details... 

(Please let me know what you think in the comments, here or on Youtube.)

2020-05-21 20:53:19 +0000 UTC View Post

Short Performance by Firelight (practicing for Thursday!)

I've long believed that traditional songs are best conveyed by firelight in the outdoors. Looking forward to a time when we might sit around the campfire again, passing the banjo between friends. fCFB♭C A=432 (actual), gDGCD (relative).  

Also, I should note that this is a "new banjo!" Months ago, I showed y'all this funny little block rim with unusual, hand-wrought iron...

"Cackling Hen" Lesson

 gCGCE relative (f# B F# B D# actual) I learned this archaic traditional dance tune from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky who learned it from his father. My instrument is an 1888 Luscomb banjo with Remo frosted, nylgut strings and homemade maple bridge. Look up Rufus Crisp for more on the "double shuffle" technique from east Kentucky. Tune also known as "Hen Cackle," "Cacklin' Hen,"...

"Cackling Hen" Performance

 f# B F# B D# (A=432 Hz) I learned this tune from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. When George was learning to play banjo in early 1950s, one old timer told him, "There's more music in the first string than in any other string on the banjo." That's certainly true of this archaic version of "Cackling Hen" and many other early dance pieces like it.  My instrument is an 1888 Lusc...

Antique Lefty - 1890s Bruno?

Good lefty banjo, possibly by C. Bruno & Sons. It's set up correctly and has no fret buzz. There is 1 or 2 degrees of neck angle--that and the fresh-looking fingerboard tell me this instrument's been restored by a luthier. 

Hope everybody's well. More lessons, tabs &c. coming SOON!

2020-04-19 12:46:24 +0000 UTC View Post

Antique "British Made" Banjo (good cheap banjo)

This lower-end English banjo, probably made in the 1890s, exhibits an interesting mix of Old and New World style craftsmanship. It's also surprisingly bright, loud and punchy-sounding! The spun-over bent ash rim probably contributes a lot to its sound. Restored by me with contemporary rosewood tuners, antique maple bridge and La Bella No. 17 nylon strings for "classic banjo." 

2020-04-15 18:21:49 +0000 UTC View Post

"Ida Red" (Down the Road) Lesson

fA#FA#D actual (gCGCE relative) aka "Open C" or "No-Finger C." I learned this piece from watching George Gibson and listening to a recording of Coy Morton (both banjoists of Knott County, Kentucky).  Note that Morton was one of Gibson's many mentors.

Kentucky Mountain Banjo w Horned Peg Head

 Just finished the latest build today: black walnut neck, red oak pot, deer bone nut, cherry pegs & tailpiece, fiberskyn head, nylon strings courtesy of Bean Sprout Musical Instruments https://www.thebeansprout.com/...

How-To Slot a Banjo Nut

 This is my process for cutting and filing nut slots in any stringed instrument: banjo, guitar, violin, &c. I use a set of StewMac nut saws and a cheap triangular needle file. 

Live Q&A

This one went over an hour and we had over 400 people participate! Many thanks to everyone who donated a few bucks (or a few quid) via Youtube's "superchat" payments. I'm sorry that I don't seem able to schedule these things--I never know when I'll have the time & inclination to sit for one.

FYI: I tried to avoid talking about the pandemic situation, but we did talk about how things a...

"Tribulations" by E.C. Ball | Performance with Bo Wilkey

Next post should be the lesson & tab for "Ida Red." In the mean time, a surprise visit from neighbor Bo Wilkey yielded this (timely?) performance of "Tribulations" by E.C. Ball of Rugby, Virginia. Let me know if you'd like a lesson/tab on this one in the future.

Banjo is tuned fA#FA#C (actual), gCGCD (relative). 

Trials troubles tribulations 

"Ida Red" Performance

 "Ida Red" (gCGCE relative, f A# F A# D actual) also known as "Down the Road" and sometimes confused with "Cripple Creek." I mostly learned this song from George Gibson (of Knott County, Kentucky) and a recording of Coy Morton (also of Knott County, Kentucky).  

Ida red Ida black 

Wish I had old Ida back, 

Down the road down the road 

...

Setting the Neck in a Mountain Banjo

Before we begin, I must note that this is _not_ the most common attachment method that I have observed in antique Kentucky-made mountain banjos. The folk banjos of this region are often "full spike," i.e. the neck runs the entire length of the instrument, terminating at or a little beyond the rim, as seen in early gourd banjos. For this reason and others, it is possible that the Kentucky mounta...

Hand-Carving a V Profile Neck

Here's a quick time-lapse of how I am carving the backside of banjo necks these days. 

On a side note, I do hope everyone is coping with the Corona virus situation. Where we live in the rural Southeast it's pretty quiet.

George Gibson in Bold Life Magazine!

 https://www.boldlife.com/open-tuning/ 

George Gibson is a prolific vintage-string-instrument collector from Hendersonvill...

"Run Jimmie Run" Lesson

Here's the lesson, close-up & tab for "Run Jimmie Run." Please comment here and/or YouTube with any thoughts. Thanks - Clif.

"Run, Jimmy, Run" Performance

gCGCE relative, f# B F# B E♭ actual. I learned this song from the recording of Florie Stewart on "The Pine Breeze Recordings" (Jubilee Records, Ron Williams et al.). Other sources are Doc Watson & Tom Ashley's "Run Jimmy Run" (https://youtu.be/AaCjGOVmceU), Moses Platt's "Run N***** Run," and Jackson Wells' "Run Boy Ru...

Building the Kentucky Mountain Banjo...

Here's one way to construct a Kentucky style mountain banjo pot. Note that the two octagon pieces were usually "ripped" (i.e. sawn in profile) by hand, creating two boards from one). The sides of these instruments were usually constructed of 8, 6 or 4 boards mitered and joined together with nails, screws, pegs, or sometimes only glue. Several examples are constructed of one-ply boards steamed a...

Early 1880s Nelson (?) with Folk Art Inlay

Inside the Banjo Bunker!

The photos below offer a glimpse of the most impressive folk and early banjo collection that I have ever seen (and at this point I've seen a few). Please don't ask me its location and please don't share these photos publicly.

2020-02-17 01:59:57 +0000 UTC View Post