Clifton Hicks

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks gDGBD - I learned "Bonnie George Campbell" (Child 210) from a recording of Bascom Lamar Lunsford. It was also recorded by Frank Proffitt as "Bonnie James Campbell." Lunsford thought this song was an ancestor of "Cumberland Gap." High upon highland low upon Tay * Bonnie George Campbell rode out on one day, All saddled all bridled and booted rode he Home came the saddle but never came he A plume in his bonnet a sword at his knee Home came the saddle but never came he, Home came the saddle all bloody to see Home came the good horse but never came he His wife came inside to escape the night air She sat at the table and wept in despair, My barn is unbuilt and my child is unborn But bonnie George Campbell will never return * the River Tay is the longest river in Scotland. Bandcamp http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com Merch https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ PayPal https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/artist/clifton-hicks/1437321931 SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks Patreon https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks f♯DF♯AD I learned this song from Josh Hayes of Watauga County, North Carolina, who probably learned it from the 1920s recording of Grayson & Whitter. The song was also recorded by Ralph Stanley and Ola Belle Reed, and Kelly Harrell under the title "My Name is John Johanna." My instrument is a circa 1919 Vega Fairbanks "Regent" banjo with calfskin head, La Bella No. 17 nylon strings, and bridge by Joel Hooks. I've always been a rambler my fortune's been quite hard Always loved the women drank whisky and played cards, My parents treated me kindly they had no boy but me But I shook hands and parted at the age of twenty-three. There was a wealthy farmer who lived a neighbor by He had one only daughter on whom I cast my eye, She was most tall and handsome so gentle and so fair There ain't one gal in the wide world with her I could compare. I asked her if she'd be true to me while I crossed o'er the plain She said, "It makes no difference if you ever return again," She said she would be true 'til the sea burned with fire So I shook hands and parted with the gal I left behind. I left old North Carolina up to Marion I did roam On up to Johnson City, boys, all in the sleet and snow, Work and money was plentiful and the women treated me kind But the only object of my heart was the gal I left behind. I was walking up on George Street all in the public square The mail was just returning and the post boy met me there, He handed me a letter that I might understand The gal I'd left behind me had married some other man. I read on a few lines further 'til I saw that it was true My heart was filled with trouble I didn't know what to do, My heart was filled with trouble trouble on my mind I'm going to drink and gamble for that gal I left behind. SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks Bandcamp http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com T-shirts https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ PayPal https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/artist/clifton-hicks/1437321931 Patreon https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks #CliftonHicks #banjo

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks I learned "Trifling Woman" from Josh Hayes of Watauga County, North Carolina. Josh learned it from the original recording by Frank Proffitt. My instrument is a 5-string gourd banjo, handmade by myself, tuned approximately eBEG♯B. Lord I've been a working Working like a dog all day, Trying to make another dollar For you to throw away You spend all my money You go dressed so fine, While I wear old rags And I don't have a dime You won't bake my bread You won't cook my beans, You want to stand on that log road Where you can be seen I'd rather be a hanging Hanging by an old grape vine, Than to have to spend my days With you all the time Lord I've been a working Working ten hour long days, Trying to make another dollar For you to throw away Bandcamp http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com Merch https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ PayPal https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/artist/clifton-hicks/1437321931 SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks Patreon https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks The subject matter of this early banjo 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, whipped, and even lynched by the slaveholding class. I learned this piece from George Gibson as "Trouble On My Mind." Rufus Crisp also recorded it on a track titled "Story of Banjo Contest." See Doc Watson's "I'm Troubled" and Blue Sky Boys' "I'm Troubled, I'm Troubled" for variants. gDGBD relative (~fCFAC actual). Once I had an old banjo Head was strung with twine, Only song that it could pick Was Trouble On My Mind! CHORUS Trouble on my mind, boys Trouble on my mind, If trouble don't kill me I'll live a long time! I went down to Lynchburg To get a jug of wine, They hitched me to the whipping post Gave me ninety-nine... I went back to Lynchburg To get a pint of gin. They hitched me to the whipping post Gave me Hell again... I went back to Lynchburg I didn't go to stay, But I fell in love with a woman And I couldn't get away... Patreon https://patreon.com/cliftonhicks SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks T-shirts https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ PayPal https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Bandcamp http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/album/clifton-hicks/1437321454 #banjo #folkmusic #history

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks 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 (i.e. hoedowns, breakdowns) like it. My instrument is an 1888 Luscomb banjo made in Boston. I'm using a two-legged, solid maple bridge that I carved myself, Aquila nylgut strings and a medium goat skin head. SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks Bandcamp http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com T-shirts https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ PayPal https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/artist/clifton-hicks/1437321931

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks Cold blows the wind my true love Cold blows the driving rain, I never had but one true love In the greenwood he was slain I'll do as much for my true love As any woman may, I'll sit and mourn all on his grave For twelve months and a day When twelve months and a day had passed The dead began to speak, Saying who is this who mourns for me And will not let me sleep? One kiss more my own true love One kiss more I crave, Give me a kiss of your sweet lips And I'll go from your grave My lips are cold as clay true love My breath is sulfur strong, If you kiss my rotting lips Your days will not be long Mourn not for me my own true love Mourn not for me I pray, For I must leave you all alone 'Til Death calls you away I learned "Unquiet Grave" (Cold Blows the Wind, Child 78, Roud 51) from a 1960s recording of Hedy West (Cartersville, Georgia) and Doc Watson. Bandcamp http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com Merch https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ PayPal https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/artist/clifton-hicks/1437321931 SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks Patreon https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks #CliftonHicks #banjo

Support Banjo Heritage 👉 https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks 4-string early gourd banjo handmade by Clifton Hicks. Tuned gGCE, relative. I learned "Cackling Hen" (Hen Cackle) from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. The 5-string banjo tuning is gCGCE. Bandcamp: http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/clifton-hicks/1437321454 Venmo: https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo PayPal: https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks I learned this song from a 1980s recording of Lawrence Eller & Ross Brown in Towns County, Georgia. They were recorded by Art Rosenbaum. Bandcamp: http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/clifton-hicks/1437321454 Venmo: https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo PayPal: https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks I learned "Going to Georgia" (I'm Troubled) from recordings of Lawrence Eller from Towns County, Georgia. At the end of one recording Eller says, "That's a good old tune. I learned that from my mother." I'm going to Georgia I'm going to Rome, I'm going to Georgia Gonna make it my home I left my dear old father My country and land, I left my poor old mother Wringing her hands Gonna build me a little cabin On top of some rise, Where the snowbirds and the wild geese Can hear my sad cry I'm troubled I'm troubled I'm troubled in mind, If trouble don't kill me I'll live a long time SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks Bandcamp http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com Merch https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ PayPal https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/artist/clifton-hicks/1437321931 Patreon https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks #CliftonHicks #banjo

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks Bandcamp http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com Merch https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ PayPal https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/artist/clifton-hicks/1437321931 Patreon https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks #CliftonHicks #banjo

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks Bandcamp http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com T-shirts https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ PayPal https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/artist/clifton-hicks/1437321931 Patreon https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks #CliftonHicks

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks f♯DF♯AD - I learned "Old Reuben" (aka Reuben's Train, Train 45, 500 Miles, 800 Miles, or just Reuben) from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. Old Reuben had a train ran from Hell to Betsy Layne And I'd like to have been a driver on that line The longest train I ever saw ran down that Brown Cove Line The fastest train I ever saw carried away that woman of mine Me and my woman had a little falling out she bundled up her clothes to leave She stepped on that 2 o'clock train and I stepped on the 3 If you say yes we'll get married I guess I'll sidetrack my train and roll home If you say no I'll railroad no more I'll pack up my grip and be gone. That freight train wrecked last Saturday night it killed that woman of mine They found one lock of her coal black hair her body has never been found Pretty girls don't you weep pretty girls don't you moan Pretty girls don't you leave your home You caused me to weep you caused me to moan You caused me to leave my home Them long steel rails them short crossties I'm walking my way to my home SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks Bandcamp http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com T-shirts https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ PayPal https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/artist/clifton-hicks/1437321931 Patreon https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks #CliftonHicks

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks gDGBD relative (d♯B♭D♯GB♭ actual). I learned "Bonnie George Campbell" from a recording of Bascom Lamar Lunsford. Frank Proffitt recorded it as "Bonnie James Campbell." Lunsford thought this song was an older variant of "Cumberland Gap." It's high upon highland low upon tay Bonnie George Campbell rode out on one day, All saddled all bridled and booted rode he Home came the saddle but never came he. A plume in his bonnet a sword at his knee Home came the saddle but never came he, Home came the saddle all bloody to see Home came the good horse but never came he. His wife came inside to escape the night air She sat at the table and wept in despair, My barn is unbuilt my child is unborn But Bonnie George Campbell will never return. My fence is to mend and wheat is unshorn Bonnie George Campbell will never return, Home came the saddle all bloody to see Home came the good horse but never came he. SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks Bandcamp http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com T-shirts https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ PayPal https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/artist/clifton-hicks/1437321931 Patreon https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks #CliftonHicks #banjo

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks In 1904 the A.C. Fairbanks banjo factory in Boston was destroyed by fire. Shortly thereafter Fairbanks was bought out by The Vega Company, then manufacturing guitars in New York. This example of a Vega Fairbanks "Regent" banjo was produced in Boston sometime between 1910 and 1919. Calfskin head, La Bella No. 17 nylon strings, Joel Hooks bridge. SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks Bandcamp http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com T-shirts https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ PayPal https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/artist/clifton-hicks/1437321931 Patreon https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks #CliftonHicks #banjo

Support Banjo Heritage 👉 https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks Played on fretless mountain banjo, handmade by Clifton Hicks. fCFAC La Bella No. 17 nylon strings. AKA Rocking in a Weary Land, Pig in a Pe. Bandcamp: http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/clifton-hicks/1437321454 Venmo: https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo PayPal: https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks "... the Luscomb banjo, named after John F. Luscomb, a highly regarded banjo soloist and composer who over the next decade designed several models. His first, patented in the late summer of 1888 but advertised by Thompson and Odell half a year earlier, offered a rim composed of two metal bands (inside and outside) with a third, of wood, sandwiched between them with its lip extending upward so that the skin head was stretched over it." - Philip F. Gura & James F. Bollman America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century (University of North Carolina Press, 1999) If you'd like to support my work 👇 👇 👇 👇 Buy music on Bandcamp: http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com Order a T-shirt: https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ Donate via PayPal: https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo: https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Stream on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/clifton-hicks/1437321454 "The Luscomb Banjo Patented Aug. 29, 1888." Thompson & Odell published sheet music and sold musical instruments in Boston, Massachusetts. Charles W. Thompson and Ira H. Odell formed the business in 1874, and they operated a shop on Tremont Street; later moved to 523 Washington Street. The company was bought by Vega in 1905. #banjo #folkmusic #history

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks Dust-to-Digital censors and smears deceased recording artists.

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks Clifton Hicks on the banjo's surprising popularity during the 18th century, plus Old Leatherstocking, Joe Sweeney, and the rise of blackface minstrelsy. The earliest accounts of what can be positively identified as a "banjo" date to the 1600s in Jamaica. Recent organological studies of early gourd banjos (Banjo Roots And Branches, 2018) indicate that they are a hybrid instrument, borrowing heavily from both African and European lutes. By 1740 the gourd banjo has spread all up and down the east coast of what will become the United States, and by 1780 it plays a significant role in both black and white folk culture--especially in the South. However, it is not until the 1830s that blackface minstrels begin utilizing it on the commercial stage, and this happens mostly in northern urban centers. In the South it remains relatively uncommercialized until after the American Civil War.

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks They caught us in an ambush way back in the hills They was quite a few in number and the cowboy they did kill, I made a run to save him but alas I was too slow So I left him with the outlaws in the Hills of Mexico

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks Clifton Hicks on the sad state of contemporary old-time music, and the heresy of clawhammer banjo tablature. SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks Bandcamp http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com T-shirts https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ PayPal https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/artist/clifton-hicks/1437321931 Patreon https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks #CliftonHicks

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks Clifton Hicks on alleged racism in folk songs, and the cultural illiteracy of urban intellectuals in old-time music. SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks Bandcamp http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com T-shirts https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ PayPal https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/artist/clifton-hicks/1437321931 Patreon https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks

SubscribeStar 👉 https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks Fifty grains of black powder and a piece of wasper nest will put a .44 ball right through an iron skillet.

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks Clifton Hicks on hillbilly stereotypes, the origin of the term "redneck," and the appropriation of Southern folk music. SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks Bandcamp http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com T-shirts https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ PayPal https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/artist/clifton-hicks/1437321931 Patreon https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks #CliftonHicks

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks (f♯DF♯AD) "Old Reuben," "Reuben's Train," "Train 45," "500 Miles," etc. I learned this song from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky, who called it simply "Reuben." My version borrows heavily from Gibson and a 1950s tape recording of William "Banjo Bill" Cornett. Old Reuben old Reuben Old Reuben you must have drunk, You must have been drunk when you pawned off that trunk Just to get your woman out of jail Old Reuben had a train ran from Hell to Betsy Layne And I'd like to be a driver on that line, The longest train I ever saw ran down that Brown Cove Line, The fastest train I ever saw carried away that woman of mine Me and my woman had a little falling out She bundled up her clothes to leave, Then she stepped on that 2 o'clock train Honey I stepped right onto the 3 If you say yes we'll get married I guess I'll sidetrack my train and roll home, But if you say no I will railroad no more I'll pack up my grip and be gone That freight train derailed on a Saturday night And it killed that good woman of mine, They found her head in a driving wheel Her body has never been found - poor girl! The day I left my mother's house Was the day that I left my home, And the day you turned your back on me Was the day that you lost your best friend If I had wings like Noah's dove I would fly to my true love's home, I'd walk the porch from post to post I'd hang down my little head and moan He turned to his black greasy fireman and said Boy just shovel on a little bit more coal, They shoveled on the coal that engine did roll They was 500 miles from their home Them long steel rails them short crossties I'm walking my way to my home. Bandcamp http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com T-shirts https://cliftonhicks.myteespring.co/ PayPal https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo Venmo https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc3ZY6LTVWkfxvsEPUV iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/artist/clifton-hicks/1437321931 Patreon https://patreon.com/CliftonHicks SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/cliftonhicks