tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89935048194260896472024-03-14T01:14:44.126-05:00Southern Mountain MelodiesMac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-62188902675842558782016-03-12T00:48:00.002-05:002016-03-13T11:50:48.549-05:00SMS at Winter Bluegrass Festival in MinnesotaThe first weekend of March is not a typical festival time in the South but to the members of<br />
the Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-time Music Association (MBOTMA) it is a time for a great festival to beat the winter doldrums. The annual event host several bands in the Bluegrass genre and allow for<br />
an 'Old-time' Band to be hired to perform, hold workshops, and play for a square dance on one of 4 stages in the Crown Plaza Hotel just outside of Minneapolis. The Sunny Mountain Seranaders were fortunate to be invited to come be a part of such an event. It was through my past contact with local player and MBOTMA member, Adam Kiesling, that such an invite came to pass. It is always an honor to be considered worthy of an invitation to play our style of music in that part of the US. I am no stranger to MBOTMA having made 5 previous 'music' trips to the Land of the Lakes since the late 1990's. Mark and John, however, had never been to Minnesota for music and were impressed even more than I was at the quality of the festival by the end.<br />
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Back in December 2015 we basically booked separate flights that arrived around the same time so we could be picked up by Adam and driven to<br />
the Crown Plaza so we could get checked in. The rooms were excellent and convenient.<br />
The Festival is totally self contained with a first class bar and restaurant in addition to a lunch food service in another part of the facility. With jams happening just about everywhere we jumped right in after supper and jammed on Friday night with several Minnesota<br />
folks including veteran performer Bob Bovee and filmmaker Craig Evans. The Slusher Dolls were a hit as well. Overall, it was quite a party. No driving required once you got there. Booking a room in the place was the way to go.<br />
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Saturday 3/5 was our workday. After a super breakfast buffet, we did some planning of our 1 hour concert set and proceed to check out the 3 large space filled with instrument vendors. Lots of cool new and vintage instruments. My favorite fiddle was only priced at $12,000. <br />
Our workshops were separated into banjo, fiddle and guitar. I had about 12 people show up.<br />
I once again hammered on the attendees to work harder on keeping time and rhythm which I see is lacking in the world of todays old-time banjo players. We learned the basics of the Virginia tune <i>Sandy River Belle</i> so we could jam on it later with the fiddlers from Mark's workshop. John taught the basics of back-up guitar to similar number of people.<br />
After the workshop period we led a jam with around 30 people. It was odd in that players were sort of in rows like an audience would sit to listen. They played right along with us for the most part.<br />
We were convinced that there is a lot of interest in old-time playing in the North mid -West. Some of the best local players played dance tunes for the present day Wild Goose Chasers, a clogging team with a link back to the South's Green Grass Cloggers. They were as good as any cloggers I know about. Several young musicians impressed us with their good taste and skills as well during the weekend. AJ is an excellent fiddler and his buddy Aaron a banjo maker and player specializing on old-time 3 finger picking on a Kel Kroydon style resonator banjo.<br />
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Our late afternoon concert was attended by maybe 60 people and well received. Following a two hour break, we played for a square dance called by Julie Young formerly of the Wild Goose Chasers.<br />
Around 50 - 60 people attended the dance which seemed lively and fun for everyone. <br />
A Cajun dance followed with an excellent local Cajun band. Not bad for a "BlueGrass Festival".<br />
We finished up our evening with a hot jam featuring young fiddler AJ playing C tunes along with Mark. Of course, they were lucky to have such back-up both banjo and guitar support from John and me that helped them play better.<br />
There was still a lot of jamming mostly bluegrass going on when we turned in for the night around 2 AM. Spring fever was starting to set in for some people including us.<br />
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And as luck would have it, I sold my banjo to Adam. I had been hoping for such an outcome on the UK trip but no takers. So with a little advance notice, I put a bug in his ear and behold that sweet<br />
11" birdeye maple raw brass tuba phone ended up in a home with a fine player. It was great to come back home empty handed once again for the 9th time.<br />
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I am glad to be home again. Spring fever is brewing as March is so much warmer than normal.<br />
I doubt we'll ever top this for just a weekend of playing our music for a fine bunch of people in a foreign land.<br />
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<br />Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-82800820439938472622016-03-11T22:44:00.002-05:002016-03-11T22:44:51.043-05:00The Sunny Mountain Seranaders UK tour 2016Ever since being asked to do workshops in banjo fiddle and guitar by Mary Ann Kovach in Fall of 2013, I felt like some thing special was happening musically when collaborating with veteran fiddler Mark Campbell and ace guitarist John Schwab. For while it seemed like my main music collaborators<br />
from the past had all moved on and it was time for something different to happen. An invite by<br />
the UK's Friends of American Old-Time Music and Dance to do workshops in Cheddar, England<br />
was exciting for me as I had always wanted to experience England as so many musicians from the US<br />
had been hired to go for years. Shay Garriock was hesitant to go so I asked my other cohort in the music Southwest Virginia, fiddler Mark Campbell, to go with me as a duo. It was a short trip but we did work up a couple of sets of music to perform and did indeed have a couple of extra gigs in addition to our main gig. I mostly played my banjo of course, but also played several songs per set with a borrowed guitar and my own harmonica played simultaneously on a rack/holder.<br />
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It was good music in that we had a good variety in our repertoire. We had great time doing what we did. However, something could be better for the music's sake. So we asked John to take up with us on guitar and complete the sound of a trio type string band that would have more variety and a bigger over all sound. Thus, with several get togethers to try certain arrangements of songs and tunes<br />
that we were familiar with, we had a couple of sets of some bona-fide old-time versions of several<br />
classic numbers. Bona-fide means real/genuine. Since we continuous seek to know what old-time music really is and what defines the sound of it, we are driven to seek the sources recordings or actual players who derive the music from something much older than the main stream culture of today's old time festival scenes. In other words, we just feel like we want to play and sound like what we expose ourselves to by our listening.<br />
Just like a kid from a musical family might tend to sound like his parents stylistically by having been exposed to a certain sound for long enough, that's what we hope happens to us.<br />
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So the name <b>The Sunny Mountain Seranaders </b>came after a weekend of head scratching and trying to come up with names that were clever but not too silly. We finally came up with a name and we ran with it. We subsequently just worked up a couple of sets of tunes to perform and mainly just played whenever we could for nearly nothing just to get some experience before getting more serious about<br />
doing some serious performances and traveling to do so. Our willingness to travel made a difference in<br />
our opportunities and in what we hoped to do to advance our music in the future.<br />
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Therefore, we were honored when we were invited in 2015 to headline the 2016 Gainsborough Old-time Music and Dance festival in UK. So we figured a recording would be justified to document our music and be more professional in our goal to get more opportunities in the future. <br />
We were inspired to work harder and to share our sound in other venues in the UK as well.<br />
Thus, we practiced and recorded 18 tracks in one day at Studio 808-A at our neighbor Joe Bass's<br />
place in Floyd County, Virginia. With the help go Google Sheets and Drop Box we were able to<br />
listen and make adjustments from afar. With Mark in Richmond and John in Bethesda MD we aren't<br />
able to easily get together so modern ways of sending info helped us move things forward easily.<br />
Our recording which came out in early Dec 2015 is called 'Into Thin Hair'. A look at the cover<br />
and you'll know why. I am proud of it as it shows how well we can work together to play solid<br />
versions that aren't copies of the oldest ones but are heavily influenced. <br />
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We released "Into Thin Hair" in early December at two venues. One was a performance for the Brandywine Friends of Old-time Music in Newark, Delaware followed by another at Clarendon<br />
Presbyterian Church in Arlington, Virginia. We were well received in each place and felt like<br />
we did the music justice at our advanced age.<br />
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We didn't meet or play together anymore until Feb 4 when we met in the DC area to fly together to UK a week in advance of the Gainsborough Festival. Iceland Air was a decent airline for a one stop flight<br />
with large overhead compartments that easily fit our guitar and banjo cases. We arrived a bit un-rested but with the help of Mike Bostock we headed south of London/Heathrow to Tunbridge Wells where<br />
we were hosted by a wonderful couple, Lynn and Steve. They were amazing host and dedicated to<br />
dance music and the social purpose it holds enough to open their home to us only knowing that we<br />
love the same thing that they do. I suppose our ability to play well enough to be invited to the Gainsborough Festival convinced them that we would be a good fit and could also play for their American musical presentation venture known as Cajun Barn productions. <br />
So our first gig was in a town called Lewes in a pub known as the Con Club housed in a building<br />
of some unknown age along a crooked narrow street typical of most UK villages. Our set was well received by the 30 or so guest who mostly listened but were encourage to dance. Our mountain style<br />
of music wasn't hardly Cajun but we did get one good flatfoot dancer who understood our beat.<br />
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Our next venue was in a town called Nailsea in the Bristol region of western England. The Tithe Barn<br />
is a 700 year old building next to an ancient church. It is presently an arts center with regular presentations of all kinds. Mark and performed there in 2014. The Sunny Mountains Seranaders<br />
with help of Mike Bostock and Helen Read did an afternoon demo and presentation to help anyone who attended to understand more about American Old-time music. It was successful with about 20 attendees who enjoyed a nice reception following the presentation. That same evening we shared the stage with the Apple Jack Cloggers. It was a nice time with perhaps 50 people attending. <br />
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The winter weather in UK sucked for most of the days we were there. Typical cloudy, cool and rainy.<br />
While back home there was a drop into single digit temps with high winds.<br />
On our way to visit with our friends Andrew and Emily, we participated in a huge jam in a ancient pub in IAD, a small village in southern Somerset (southwest England). I finally realized that the various areas in England have a regional name in addition to a town name much like we have state names in the US. The presence of palm trees near the town of Torquay made me think of South Carolina. A big thanks to Andrew and Emily for showing us the port town of Dartmouth and letting us stand on the same dock where the Pilgrims boarded the Mayflower for the journey to America in 1620. The weather was sunny for a change and enhanced our awesome experience. That evening we shared a fine meal and performed for a house concert in A & E's new house living room. It was a fine time.<br />
It was the last time Mark was able to speak clearly as he caught a cold that affected his speaking voice the rest of the trip.<br />
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Our next adventure was to go to western part of Wales and perform in a town call Pembroke- Docks.<br />
Our next fine host was Jackie Kempton who arrange the venue and promoted us to the community.<br />
Mike Bostock once again delivered us to the town and headed back home to Helen planning to<br />
meet us after the Gainsborough festival to see us through to the end of our tour in London. The<br />
concert in Pembroke went well with a small crowd in a community center. We were well received and<br />
met some fine people, one of which had ancestors that had been banjo makers in London before<br />
WW2. Our stuff was too much for Jackie's little car so we hired a cab to haul us out to Stackpole<br />
to Jackie's place in the country. It was a rural apartment in a former horse stable complex for a huge estate that had once belonged to a person named Campbell. Mark nodded in approval.<br />
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The next day was to be a day of travel to the Gainsborough Festival where we were to do a concert that evening. It was necessary to rent a larger vehicle to cary us and our stuff to the festival. Thanks to<br />
Jackie for driving us. We rode through some beautiful country in rural Wales. Snow shown on some<br />
of the higher elevations. It had a certain feel to it like Southwest Virginia's rural areas. We spent<br />
the best part of the day traveling getting into more and more traffic as we approached Gainsborough.<br />
The festival was held in an old school in the town with classrooms available for jamming and workshops and the auditorium available for concerts.<br />
We did arrive safely and in time to eat a meal in the school cafeteria which also had a pub set up inside.<br />
Beer drinking seems so normal in UK with the presence of pubs in every neighborhood. The Bible Belt South in the US would never allow such except in college towns in my experience.<br />
The festival was basically a party with music jams and beer. People camped in campers or in the gymnasium on the floor or on cots. It sort of looked like refugee center. Since we were paid staff we got to stay in a house with small separate rooms with a single bed and a sink. It was cozy and about a 1/4 mile walk from the festival. No rain and warmer than I expected but still cloudy all day long.<br />
My Sat AM workshop involved me attempting to show 30+ people with banjos how to play better.<br />
With a slight hangover on Sat AM, I managed to show the attendees how I played the claw hammer style and the secrets of the 'Mac' attack. Basically, steady right hand rhythm and pushing the beat. I did a demo playing to a metronome to encourage the players to practice with one if they wanted to sound like an American old-timer from the Blue Ridge Mountains. Simple? For left hand challenges<br />
with some simple string tuning adjustments I got the crowd to play along on Sourwood Mountain, Old Jimmy Sutton and 2 versions of Sally Ann in D. <br />
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I hung out around the instrument dealers and met some fine luthiers. I was impressed with the level of quality I saw. My own banjo, I was willing to sell and managed to display it for a while on Saturday afternoon. We mostly just jammed and talked instruments the rest of the afternoon. The SMS did<br />
another set of music for the evening concert encouraging the folks to dance. There were a few that<br />
did get up and dance. Of course, we got out the Slusher dolls, Reuben and Daisy, and had them dance<br />
to a rousing sing a long on Old-Jimmy Sutton. Baaaaahhh!<br />
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Sunday found us packing the rental car again and leaving town with Jackie at the helm to drive us south to meet Mike Bostock about halfway to London. We were to travel with Mike driving another rental car to a place outside London called Orpington to stay at the<br />
home of recent MBOTMA member Matt Hearing who we met at the festival. We made it after dark, settled in a bit then walked to a pub with Matt and wife Cynthia for beer and supper before settling down for the night. The next evening was Monday 2/15<br />
and we were to play our last gig at the Harrison bar/pub in north central London about 25 miles away.<br />
Thanks to Matt, we got oriented and took the train into the city where we could catch the London Underground subway to the area near the Harrison and walk the last 1/2 mile. It worked remarkably<br />
smooth. The gig was great and exceeded our expectations in every way. Great food, beer, great crowd for a Monday night and our best performance of the trip. We left there feeling like it we had done<br />
a great job and ready to go home. Next day was travel day. We had a big breakfast in the airport, caught our delayed Icelandair flight to Rekyavik and barely made our connection back to the US.<br />
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We departed knowing that we'd meet for another adventure soon. <br />
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<br />Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-65099203135400323532016-03-02T22:48:00.003-05:002016-03-02T22:48:49.434-05:00Winter Highlights 2016 Non musical partThis winter has been different. It was an adventure for several reasons.<br />
The main reason is that Jenny's parents Bob and Jean Young, ages 90 and 92, lived with us for over two months arriving just before Thanksgiving and staying until the last week of January. They live in Combermere, Ontario and finally agreed to come South for a while, to have an adventure late in life. They had not been here for several years. They used to make regular trips South to visit friends and family since moving to Canada in the early 1980's. We have made regular trips to visit them as well. Our most recent trip north was in late September to help celebrate Bob's 90th birthday. The<br />
party was held at the home of Jenny's older sister, Terry and husband Jack who have lived next door to Bob & Jean for over 30 years. Plans were solidified for them to come here for a lengthy visit to give Terry and Jack a much needed break from being daily care givers for the past several years.<br />
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So this winter was a time for us to help in the effort to see Bob and Jean through comfortably as they both gracefully move closer to the end of their long and rich lives. Some adventures included visiting three times the Wild Goose Uprising, a weekly gathering of Christians who love sharing food, mountain music, and worship in a relaxed atmosphere in a small country church building. I have been a part of the effort to keep 'appalachian' music a major part of what makes this gathering distinct from others for about 3 years now. Visit <a href="http://wildgoosecc.com/">wildgoosecc.com</a> for more info. <br />
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Attending the monthly Floyd Radio show at the Floyd Country Store with its wonderful variety of musicians and humor was another. <a href="http://floydcountrystore.com/">Floydcountrystore.com</a> Root beer floats were in order for Jean and me when we attended.<br />
Jean, almost daily, kept busy knitting and working on a rag rug for a commission job while Bob worked at least a dozen 500 - 1000 piece jig saw puzzles. Reading books, naps and daily walks helped fill up the time when we weren't eating or sleeping at night.<br />
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By being here in Virginia, visits from certain family members was more possible and Bob and Jean<br />
had some great ones with certain nieces and nephews and children. Our own children, Ben and wife Lisa, as well as our new grandson, Beau, as well as Hanna and Poest came from afar and visited. So Christmas was a wonderful time indeed.<br />
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Since Bob and Jean became rural Canadians in the 1980's wood heat has been a fact of life for them every winter. To get back to basics ourselves, Jenny and I purchased a new wood cookstove just before Bob and Jean arrived. We had only small fires in it due to the unseasonably warm temperatures but, by end of January, we had bigger fires due to the late arrival of 'real' winter. BTW, Bob was my main assistant in my annual effort to get fire wood. He loaded and unloaded my pick-up truck 3 times during his stay. Having spent winters in Canada living a country lifestyle he has moved literally 100's<br />
of truck loads of wood from outside stacks to his own basement routinely over a 30 year period.<br />
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Our first real snow storm of 2016 yielded only a foot of snow. It finally seemed that a normal winter was about to begin. And of course it did. Bob and Jean followed thru on plans to go home as they were not obligated to stay with us the entire winter. They wanted to get back to a normal Canadian winter it seemed.<br />
About a week before their planned departure, I caught a basic cold and unfortunately gave it to Jean. At age 92, such a respiratory ailment can be scary and uncertain to recover from so, she spent the last part of her visit in the local hospital and later in local rehab. The trip home to Ontario got delayed of course. Jenny's younger sister Polly agreed to come from Seattle WA<br />
and help in the effort to get them home via air travel. So with much effort Bob and Jean made it back to their home before the end of January. Unfortunately, with Jean's health problems they were not able<br />
to live independently in their house together like they did last winter. So moving forward a contingency plan is being enacted as of this writing for them to continue on together if possible.<br />
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They are embarking on yet another new adventure to live in a local facility in their home community where their essential needs will be met.<br />
The local nursing facility called "The Water Tower' in Barry's Bay, Ontario will be their new home. It will so easy for family and old friends to visit while staff helps them live on in comfort and safety. <br />
They are well loved so they'll have plenty of attention via visits and phone calls.<br />
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As of this writing, things are not quite settled but the hope is for a smooth ride for the forseeable future.<br />
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<br />Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-89276712881867027952015-09-15T21:18:00.000-05:002015-09-16T07:52:23.660-05:002015 - Highlights<br />
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For a recap of the year to date I'll see what I can recall in reverse Chronological order.<br />
Sept 12th Rockbridge OT music party.<br />
Sept 5 Floyd Radio Show w/ Anna Roberts-Gevault and Elizabeth LaPrelle - 5th season opener<br />
August 31 - birthdate of our first Grandson Thomas Beau Traynham 9lbs 1oz. We made an in person visit on Sept 3 to Reston Va where he lives with our son Ben and wife Lisa.<br />
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Aug 15 First place OT band and Fiddle at the annual Fries Fiddler's Convention</div>
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Aug 21 Busked on the streets of Richmond Va with Mark Campbell and John Schwab as the </div>
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Sunny Mountain Seranaders</div>
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Aug 22 The Sunny Mountain Seranaders appeared at the CrossRoads Music Venue near Gordonsville, Va.</div>
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July 17 -Aug 9 Hanna came east to go with Jenny and me to the annual<b> Swannannoa Gathering</b> to teach classes in OT music. Hanna taught her first class in beginning claw hammer banjo and handled it like a pro. Jenny had a wonderful class on Old-time back-up guitar teaching some challenging bass runs to make a simple song like Careless Love sound much more interesting. Inspired by OT guitar great Byrd Moore. I had a large class of upper level banjo players who were able to rise to the challenges that I gave them in the way of right hand techniques. We performed the modal song Cuckoo Bird at the final student showcase. Jenny and I also had success in a class on old-time duet singing where we emphasized listening and memorization of cool versions from older recordings.<br />
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July 17 Hanna began her visit to her parents at her Blue Ridge mountain home. While here she played her banjo with me in several settings including the first annual <b>Wild Goose a- </b> <b>Paloosa </b>festival in Indian Valley and the Floyd Country Store Sunday PM OT Jam. We made a brief</div>
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trip to Clifftop where we saw many music and banjo friends.<br />
July 4th - Jenny and my 34th wedding anniversary saw us riding bikes on the New River Trail near Fries, Va. <br />
June 26 - Elk Creek Fiddler's Convention was ravaged by a massive wind and rain/hail storm that damaged most camps and put a 'damper' on the festival, no pun intended.</div>
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June 23 - 25 Elk Creek Warm-up - rhythm & Repertoire</div>
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June 15 I played fiddle in a band with left handed phenom, Ronald Pennington, on a Monday night in Stuart Va. as part of the first annual Crooked Road Festival, a region-wide event that featured music all week long in many towns across Southwest Virginia.</div>
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June 13th I served as a judge for the annual Henry Reed festival.<br />
June 5-6 Mt Airy fiddler's convention - good music jams although I was not able to be there as much </div>
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due to cabinet work commitment to our son, Ben.</div>
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May 30 Solo Set at Glen Alton in Giles County. Rare for me but enjoyable.</div>
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May 23 The Sunny Mountain Seranaders did a two set appearance in Burkeville, Va at <b>Across the Trax</b>, a small arts and music lunch counter.<br />
May 16th One day workshop here Beginner/intermediate level. well attended<br />
May 9 Several kids from the Floyd JAMs program played for an audience as part of Youthfest on the premises of Heartwood near Abingdon, Va. I was proud to present a group of kids <br />
that I had influenced playing in a regional style before an audience.<br />
May 1-3 Music Weekend at our place - rhythm and repertoire.<br />
April 17th Jenny and I did a set of OT gospel songs for the Floyd Country Store weekly gospel set that opens each Friday Night Jamboree.<br />
April 18 One Day workshop - beginners workshop for OT Fiddle, Clawhammer Banjo, and OT Guitar<br />
April 4 - 11 Maple Syrup making with family in Ontario. Played some tunes and songs with Hanna for family<br />
Feb 28th The Sunny Mountain Seranaders hold afternoon workshops and an evening concert at Gene Bowlin's home and studio near Harrisonburg, Va.<br />
Jan 27th Jenny and I did a special set of songs for the Wild Goose Uprising bi-monthly concert /dance series. <br />
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Thanks for your support and please don't hesitate to share our info. <a href="http://macandjenny.com/">macandjenny.com</a><br />
Let us hear from you.<br />
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Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-3837784339570856622015-01-21T23:49:00.002-05:002015-01-21T23:49:31.111-05:00Highlights of 2014 latter halfLooking back 2014 now that its 2015 will challenge my 60 year old 'memory'. Remember, "all I got's Gone" or is it? <div>
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July 4th I played in a duo with fiddler Mark Campbell at the annual celebration at Poplar Forest,</div>
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Thomas Jefferson's second home. Best paying gig I ever had. Mark and I had been over to UK</div>
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back in January which was the best professional music trip I have ever taken. </div>
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July 6th involved a trip to Canada to visit Jenny's folks. We performed for the 3rd time for the folks at Madonna's House, I mean the 'Madonna House'. They are easy to please and love 'live' music but</div>
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our songs are not familiar and I'm sure they wonder why we sing "old" songs and play banjo</div>
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in such a way. I spent time cutting up and gluing up future banjo necks from some local 'birdseye' maple boards that I had bartered for a couple of years ago. I also built a walnut vanity for Jenny's sister Terry and her husband Jack in their basement woodworking shop. </div>
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Back in Floyd, we hosted our daughter Hanna and her friends from the Pacific Northwest. Her band, the Barn Owls, came to experience Floyd and play as much music as possible. From WPAQ 740 -AM 'live on the air' to The Floyd Country Store to a house concert on our deck, they wowed audiences </div>
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wherever they appeared. It was a great time for all. Hanna stayed longer than did the rest to give us</div>
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a real visit with her alone. She and I eventually headed up to the annual West Virginia festival known as Clifftopwhere we saw lots of old friends and made new ones playing lots of music of course.</div>
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We finally released our Traynham Family CD and began to long process of recouping the expenses by selling as many as we could to friends at Clifftop. Back home, I sent out a few dozen promos to radio stations and others on a list of reviewers and DJ's known to play our kind of music. Without Hanna around to perform with us the CD is not a 'hot' one by any means. At least it documents our potential and preserves our performances at the several sessions held over a 3 year period when Hanna would</div>
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come back for visits after leaving for Seattle in Fall of 2011. We'll be together some in 2015 and will brush up our tunes for the Swanannoa Gathering in July where we'll all 3 be instructors.</div>
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Mid August found me at Galax Fiddler's convention where I had committed to playing fiddle in an</div>
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Old-time band headed up by Trish Fore. Rainy weather made it tough but we managed to play well both nights and got 5th place which ain't bad for stiff competition there. I missed my beloved Fries convention but managed to go to Rockbridge in September for one day. Mark Campbell and I wanted to practice for another duo gig at the new venue in Rocky Mount, Virginia called the Harvester. At Rockbridge we also got up with our buddy John Schwab for a tight string band trio sound that we get a special feeling from. </div>
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Jenny and I were involved in an 'end of life' event for our old friend from the 70's in Blacksburg, Bill Richardson, who lost his fight with 'Lymphoma' on Sept 11. Upon Bill's request many people played music continually in his last four days in the hospital; so much that it warranted a front page article in the Roanoke times. In the midst of this event, I wrote a song based on Bill's request and his words for a title calling it 'They Never Told me I was Dying".</div>
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I performed it along with Jenny at his graveside located in Smyth County in a beautiful ancient cemetery. Bill was actually buried at the foot of the grave our beloved friend and old-timer fiddler, Hick Edmonds who had passed on in 2008. The experience was profound to both me and Jenny as it seemed unreal at first but eventually it made us wake up to our own mortality.</div>
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October found me working on installing a pair of used Solar Hot Water panels to supplement the heating of a volume of water that is part of my outdoor water/wood stove. I also committed to</div>
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have solar PV panels installed behind my shop to greatly reduce our electric bill. I hope both solar projects when completed will help me fell like I have become</div>
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part of the solution to some of the environmental problems of our time.</div>
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Also in October, Jenny and I held some one day workshops at our place as we had done in Spring.</div>
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On the first Saturday, Andy Buckman helped us again with beginning banjo while I taught fiddle and Jenny, guitar. A couple of Saturdays later, Jenny and I taught a harmony singing workshop. In early December, we held another one day workshop for intermediate banjo and fiddle.</div>
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In early December one Saturday night, I played fiddle at the annual Christmas Party in Rangely Virginia put on by the matriarch of the Blue Ridge flatfoot dancing style, Pearly Reynolds. My 4th or 5th time over the years, it featured a potluck with more deviled eggs than anything else but still included some super country cooking by local ladies who love 'the party' as much as anyone. Lots of green beans, ham, turkey, velvet cake and sweet tea. Fiddler Shay Garriock came up from NC and joined me and the band which included Stan Spencer-guitar, Jared Boyd-banjo, and Stacy Boyd -bass. A couple of exhibitions by lifelong flat footers both freestyle and in a group routine were highlights of the night. Many of the younger dancers had grown up around this community of dancers and were now passing the interest on to their children.</div>
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I feel it to be a real honor as a musician to be included in such a community event.</div>
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The rest 2014 was spent working on my largest banjo commission to date. The order since May had been for a 12" Birdseye Maple banjo along with a matching banjo Uke with fancy inlays. I had most of the wood work done by end of summer but the final decorations and set up were another big job.</div>
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I hired Hanna to employ her artistic talent to cut out the inlay shapes for the pair. I received</div>
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them in a timely manner but managed to miss my Christmas deadline I had imposed on myself.</div>
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Before New Years, I managed to get them both playing really well.</div>
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I took a break from the work to go down to Richmond with Jenny to meet up with family at my brother Randy's house. A great meal and visit with nephews and nieces and a skype session with Hanna</div>
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ensued. The highlight was when our son, Ben and his wife Lisa announced to everyone that they are pregnant. Wow! Christmas will be different from now on.</div>
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My last event of 2014 was to be part of a OT band to play for an annual New year's celebration at Floyd Country Store. I got Andy Buckman for banjo, George Slusher for guitar and Sam Linkous for bass and called ourselves the Route 8 Ramblers. A good crowd of dancers came and started of the evening with the music of the Zephyr Lightnin Bolts until 10 PM then we took over and played a real long set.</div>
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We stopped just before midnight, receiving glass of champagne from the store's new owner ,Heather Krantz, to help bring in 2015 with a toast.</div>
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We played Breaking up Xmas and Merry Mountain Hoedown as our first tunes in the New Year.</div>
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Not bad way to begin 2015 for a 60 year old night owl. Meanwhile, Jenny stayed home to hit the hay by 10 PM as usual...</div>
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Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-8081665307900060152014-06-15T10:28:00.002-05:002014-06-15T10:28:17.033-05:00Slusher Dolls and Mars Hill '14Early June is a wonderful time in the world of our music and fun every year. 2014 was especially good<br />
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as I was given a set of dancing dolls that were designed and made by the late R O Slusher of Floyd County. His son and wonderful Old-time guitar player, George, first told me about the dolls and how they worked a couple of years ago. Last year I got to see them in action at one his family reunions and was duly impressed. R O made about 30 pairs of the dolls in his later years as he slowly retired from cattle farming according to another son. Terry. He had quite the pocket knife skills and painted them with amazing detail.<br />
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As a teacher of claw hammer banjo and advocate for</div>
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traditional mountain music I have tried to tie in the local traditions of freestyle flatfoot dancing to the</div>
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JAM (Junior Appalachian Musicians) program that is in its 3rd year in Floyd County. In the 1970's and 80's as I was learning about the older local styles of banjo playing, I was drawn to dancing events like the weekly</div>
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Sunday afternoon event at Mabry Mill where the sound of claw hammer banjo, fiddle and guitar were united with the percussive sounds of flatfoot dancers who danced in a group on a simple dance floor in the shade nearby. The music played by the local people was not a performance style like Bluegrass music is. Rather, it was part of a social scene where people came together to visit, listen, and participate</div>
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in a fun activity. Play parties and dancing have long been a part of Floyd County's heritage of fun, thus, the Slusher Dolls were no doubt inspired by people having fun with music. RO himself apparently was a avid fan of country music and dancing traditions. He and his wife made music a big part of their social life.</div>
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As luck would have it, I was given a set of Slusher dolls recently and have been learning to operate them as R O designed them. Clips of my early attempts are on Facebook. The Mt Airy Fiddler's convention held this past June 6 and 7th was where the dolls first got a lot of attention around the old-time community. They were videoed many times and late on Saturday night even entered the dance contest naming the dolls Richard and Barbara from Mt Airy, for a popular couple from the local Old-time scene. </div>
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They won sixth place along with many other dancers as they attempted to put some more fun back into the flatfooting contest.</div>
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Late last summer I was hired to teach intermediate level claw hammer banjo at the annual Blue Ridge Old-Time week held at Mars Hill College in Western NC just after the Mt Airy Fiddler's convention each year.</div>
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I knew that the Slusher Dolls would be a hit with the crowd there as well. I featured them in my 10 minute concert on Monday night where I named them for former director Hillary Dirlam and her partner Scott. Of course, they drew a fabulous response as they wildly danced to my banjo playing.</div>
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During the week I took them to several of the evening jams and had lots of fun showing them to the</div>
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participants. </div>
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The Slusher dolls are a challenge to get to dance well but when I get them warmed up, it is possible to hear the sound of their feet just like with real dancers on the dance board that is a part of their operating equipment. They are designed to be controlled by a single string looped around the </div>
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musician's little finger which is moving rhythmically to the music. A banjo in my case is being claw hammered with two downstrokes per beat which activates the dolls who are suspended over the danced board. By pulling the string and stroking the strings simultaneously they tap and twirl about with rubber bands and fishing lure swivels to appear to be a lively dancing duo as long one keeps it up.</div>
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Its is rather realistic if I do say so myself. I intend to take them along on gigs from now on. Maybe you'll see more clips of their performances in the near future.</div>
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Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-1293315049641384162014-04-28T20:17:00.002-05:002014-04-28T20:17:39.415-05:00New for 2014 - One day workshops As we are now into Spring of 2014, we have already held our first Saturday-Only workshop and feel good about the attendance and results. On Friday Feb 28th, we set up Mac's shop and<br />
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got it ready for classes in our local style claw hammer banjo and basic Old-time fiddle class while in the farmhouse we set up for a small group of beginner OT country back-up guitar players. So, we were ready on Saturday AM March 1 when our students began arriving mostly from the New River Valley. </div>
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Because there are just two of us, we called on expert banjoist, professional educator and great friend, Andy Buckman, from Franklin County to help us out by leading the banjo class so Mac could lead the fiddle class. Jenny would lead the guitar class. Andy has been Mac's main banjo sidekick on many occasions including his 2005 CD 'I'm Going That Way' as well as numerous dances and jams over the years. He has a deep knowledge of the banjo traditions of our area of Southwest Virginia.</div>
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The early morning air was rather cool as we gathered in the slowly warming shop to meet and greet at 9 AM. Before getting separated into classes, we instructors gave an over view of the classes and demonstrated our individual playing styles. Our intent was to show the beginners the sound of a basic string band and to give everyone a sense of how fiddle, banjo, and guitar work as a team to create a sound that is focused on keeping the 'beat' moving steadily through the music. </div>
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We broke up into classes to begin working on the basic techniques to get started 'making' music once</div>
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tuned up. No one was a raw beginner but some of the different musical back grounds made mastering the 'basics' more challenging for some than others. For example: Bluegrass style banjo pickers can have a hard time with right the claw hammer attack that involves a radical change in the use of the right hand and forearm. With our group of students new to playing generally, lots of individual attention was given while practicing in small groups occurred.</div>
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Our midday meal was centered around a tasty stew of local venison provided by ceramic artist extraordanaire Ellen Shankin who was one of the banjo students. Another local banjo person, Heather Krantz, provided homemade bread and fruit to balance the diet and refuel everyone for more work.</div>
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The sun had warmed up the outside air nice enough that several of us took a walk up on our land to view Mac's cow-calf pairs and see how rotational grazing is working to improve the quality of the</div>
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grassland acreage we have here.</div>
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The afternoon class began with Mac playing a few excerpts from his collection of recordings of claw hammer banjo styles of certain old-timers from the region playing and talking about the music and its importance to the community of dancers as it was in their youth circa 1920's & 30's.</div>
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Before splitting back up, Mac brought out his iPad with its metronome app to show students how</div>
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to use it and see if they could keep up with some of the slower speeds like 80 BPMs. We recommend</div>
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practicing with one to develop one's sense of keeping time and incorporating a beat into one's sound</div>
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as they play. We wonder how many took the advice. Metronomes never seem to work right or do they ????</div>
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In the remaining time, we split back into our instrument specific individual classes for more practice on the simple tunes and basic techniques that had been introduced earlier. Details of melody and rhythm were worked on and practiced both individually and in small groups until the last 30 minutes when everyone came together to jam on the tunes in a medium slow speed. </div>
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We finally let the weary and tired students go about 5 PM hoping that we helped them move closer to their goal to be good players of 'good ol mountain music'. We were tired too...</div>
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Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-29043086859959384862014-01-30T22:44:00.000-05:002014-01-30T22:44:14.880-05:00UK Adventure to kick off 2014Following a nice holiday with daughter Hanna, home from Portland Oregon for two weeks,<br />
a musical adventure was begun on the 8th of January involving a trip to England. It was to be first time overseas for this aging American. The Friends Of American Old Time Music and Dance<br />
FOAOTMAD decided to invite me (Mac) to be a 'tutor' in clawhammer banjo along with fiddler<br />
Mark Campbell to be a 'tutor' in Old-time fiddle. We were asked to present the 'regional sound' of American Old-time music on our particular instruments which appealed to us since we both have felt called to study the music styles of the old masters from the Southwest Virginia region and beyond. Through our intense collecting and listening to the music mainly played and sung by rural people from the Blue Ridge mountains, we both felt we could offer something special to the workshop participants.<br />
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Mark Campbell and I met in the 1970's at one of the frequent gatherings of enthusiastic young musicians who had discovered the social power of playing traditional 'mountain' music for fun and for dancing using basic instruments associated with older forms of non-commercialized country music. The sight and sound of a banjo, fiddle, harmonica and guitar were very attractive to us. As new listeners of an 'underground' genre, we both somehow found that the music of the 'older' mountain people who were native to the southern Appalachians appealed to us the most. <br />
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We both separately realized that 'their' sound was what we wanted 'our' sound to be like before <span style="text-align: center;">we</span></div>
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would ever consider ourselves to be truly playing 'Old' - time music. THANK YOU to all the folklorists/collectors who sought out the native older musicians before they became unable to play.<br />
And THANK YOU FOR making their music available to the general public.<br />
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So with experience and enthusiasm for finding the "real thing', our listening and learning turned to more than just the melody as one could write in musical notation. We also noticed and focused our attention toward the rhythmic sounds coming from the brushing of the strings of the banjo and from the bow hairs shuffling along over the strings in a mixture of patterns with the melody super imposed. Also, the drone sounds both high and low seemed to float in and out of the total sound in the most appealing performances by certain old-timers. To us THAT was and is very COOL.!! No formal training was necessary. One just needed a desire to play and latch on to an 'older/wiser' person's music to get inspiration from. That was and still is a very traditional way that this kind of music is passed on. The development and affordability of the small portable battery powered cassette recorder in the late 1970's helped speed up the memorizing of tunes and names of tunes. Just as important it made listening easier and thus facilitated our orientation to a deeper 'sound' that was mysteriously attractive. Something I wanted to learn and identify with as a young person confused as to my role in life at the time.</div>
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Over the years, Mark and I have had occasional jams at fiddler's convention like Mt Airy and Clifftop where we would celebrate string band tunes from our Southwest Virginia traditions as represented in our audio libraries of field recordings and '78 rpms from the Golden Era of Country Music. The latter recordings that we both love to listen to regularly feature bands and individuals, each with a sound that was as varied as the individuals who came out of their home and communities to record a few tunes for posterity. We are lucky that they have been made available to us and the world. We now revere the glimpse that such recordings give us of America's cultural history of homemade mountain music. We feel both inspired to and called to learn and pass along stylistic elements in addition to melodies and words from this wonderful treasure of antique tunes and songs. A chance to do such 'across the pond' for the English people was indeed an honor and a duty to genre of traditional mountain music itself.<br />
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I have secretly desired to be asked to do such a workshop for years so that I could get a low-cost visit the 'Old World' and get back to a country near to my Traynham family roots. My roots are a bit obscure but I've been told by my parents that my heritage was Scotch Irish, French, English.<br />
So things happened to get set up with a workshop deal for the January 2014 time frame. During subsequent time since summer of 2013 Mark and I had a few meetings to see what we might perform easily together. Our repertoire's are both vast and similar yet both different with a lot of overlap. So with each meeting to jam as a duo we got more and more familiar and worked up some interesting duo arrangements of some band numbers from some Virginia based family groups<br />
such as the Stonemans, Powers, and Kimbles.<br />
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So Mark and I arrived on Thursday Jan 9th in London via Boeing 777 where we were met by Mike Bostock, a FOAOTMAD member and banjo enthusiast who I had met when he and his partner, Helen, were in the Floyd/Galax area in 2012.<br />
Mike became our guide and chauffeur for the whole of our short trip and was an amazing driver considering that everything about traffic patterns and driving in general seemed so backwards to us Americans . We headed west towards Bristol taking a side trip to the beautiful city of Bath. Most buildings in the city were only 4 stories tall from the pre-elevator era I figured.<br />
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Our first evening in UK involved a wonderful gig in 500+ year old refurbished structure known as the Nailsea Tithe Barn which is used for many local events. We shared the evening with an experienced Bristol area clogging team of folks our age known as the AppleJack Cloggers. We were impressed by their routines and likeness to American clogging groups like the Green Grass Cloggers. The audience was enthusiastic and participated both in dancing and singing along to our music. We met many nice members of the audience and of the FOAOTMAD organization as well. Since we were lacking a lot of sleep and I managed to get in 11 hours at Mike's place which helped tremendously to make up for what we had lost by heading east from the US to UK in the middle of the night many hours earlier.<br />
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Friday brunch was in small cafe in a small village on the Bristol Channel called Clevedon. We caught a view of Wales across the water while viewing a relatively new Victorian era pier. Only 120 or so years old. We then headed off to see Stonehenge via the beautiful city of Bath; a place founded by the Romans ages ago and valued for the warm springs nearby. The weather was sometimes sunny and sometimes cloudy and rainy as we made our way cross-country it seemed to the region where Stonehenge. We worked hard to get there having to detour due to closed roads and high water flooding. When we did get there the Stonehenge visitor's center was closed and we weren't allowed to go past a guard. Instead, we had to settle for a view from a highway across a couple hundred yards opposite a huge pig farm. Somehow I could feel something ancient about the area as Mike pointed out the occasional grassy mounds in several open fields indicating a fortification built and lived in by a group of ancient people and destroyed in some tribal conquest thousands of years ago. Awesome!<br />
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We finally got to Cheddar where the workshops were to be held just before dark. Being so far north the daylight seems to linger in the winter<br />
late afternoon. We found ourselves at the Youth Hostel where FOAOTMAD has held workshops with other American players as guest 'Tutors' in the past. This was our big gig. About 26 -28 people had signed up to have a weekend of workshops sharing experiences, food and jamming on some good ol American Old-time music. After a fine meal, We met our respective classes, shared names and gave the whole group a small concert featuring of some of our tunes that we intended to teach to both banjo and fiddle players so that the tunes might be jammed on in a banjo/fiddle duet way as well as with a guitar back-up. A mega jam followed with a OT music party atmosphere as one would expect on a Friday night. Some fine English ale and cider was available to fuel the fire. All that was missing was some flatfoot dancing. <br />
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Mornings began with a bowl of porridge and a cup of tea as well as link sausage and eggs along with fruit and other choices. On Saturday Jan 11 the sun was out and flooded the space where my banjo class was meeting. I was a silhouette to many I began with some rhythm exercises and<br />
proceded to assess the student's individual skill levels as we played small segments of a couple of tunes<br />
in standard G tuning gDGBD. <i>Sourwood Mountain</i> became our tune to warm -up on. I did a demo of the fundamental right hand claw with the hammer motion to get on the track to get that old-time 'mountain' sound going. <i>' Did you Ever See a Devil Uncle Joe' </i> is an old Virginia tune/song from the repertoire of Fiddlin Powers and family that focuses on the lower pitched notes on the banjo. We also worked on <i>Hop Light Ladies</i> a fiddling standard in G as well.<br />
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A long lunch break gave Mark and me the freedom to go at Mike's suggestion to the nearby community of Wells to view the Wells Cathedral, a 15th century monument to architecture, feudalism and the power of the church at that time in history. The sun shine had brought out many towns-people to enjoy a sunny January day in the small downtown area adjacent to the cathedral. Wedding bells rang constantly as a wedding party of finely dressed 'Lords and Ladies' emerged from the cathedral. We took a few photos inside and outside to document our visit there and to think about later before heading back for the afternoon workshops sessions.<br />
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For the afternoon session we tuned our bass string D down to C to get gCGBD or 'classic' C tuning. After a warm up with the classic <i>Skip to my Lou</i>, we proceeded with learning the basic Southwest Virginia tune, Old Jimmy Sutton. A fiddle tune from Galax fiddler Emmet Lundy, <i>Sheep Shell Corn by the Rattling of His Horn </i>was caught on to fairly easily by most players in the class. It was one of several that Mark was showing fiddlers especially so that banjos could jam as equal partners with the fiddlers later in the evening. Both tunes have a different key for the Aand B parts which makes for an interesting back-up for guitar and bass players. I was pleasantly surprised that no one seemed to be faltering and that everyone was able to keep up with the medium pace I set.<br />
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For a banjo solo tune to pass on, I chose the classic Hammons family banjo tune 'Sugar Babe" in the ultra cool tuning g#EABD. With a bit of concentration I finally memorized the tuning a few years ago. Its mournful simplicity is unmatched in my opinion. I hope that the players who I introduced this tune to will learn to love it as much as I do. Anita Kermode, of the 1990's banjo tunings website fame, liked it especially. She is an expert on banjo tunings and American OT sources in general was glad to revisit this tune whose source is the famous Hammons Family of West Virginia.<br />
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The evening meal was impressive as the cooks seemed to have been trained in Southern style flavors including meat and potatoes w/gravy and American cornbread . Afterwards, Mark and I played a short concert of old songs and tunes like we had done at the Tithe Barn a couple of nights earlier. It was an honor for us to play music from America that had deep roots back in the British Isles. To play for students who may have been descendants of the people who came up with the melodies and words in the first place was very special. Another party ensued as everyone played Southwest Virginia D and G tunes from the day's workshop's and more. I got to play Andrew Henley's nice Gibson LG-3 for both the concert and the jam and enjoy more fine English brew. We managed to turn in at a reasonable hour to rest up for the final worship session on Sunday AM. <br />
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Following breakfast we tuned all banjos to A to get ready for some hard core tunes from the Carroll<br />
County Virginia old tune tradition. Carroll County which is next door to my home of Floyd County has the one of the most documented traditions of claw hammer banjo and fiddle music in the region. The first tune that I demonstrated and taught was <i>Old Bunch of Keys</i> whose source is Sidna and Fulton Meyers.<br />
Next was a version of <i>Callahan</i> from the playing of Norm Edmonds and Rufus Quesenberry. Everyone seemed to get these tunes quickly. Last tune was <i>Train on the Island </i>also from Norm Edmonds. Everyone did a bit of group practicing while I came around to make sure each individual was understanding the nuances of each tune. We then descended on the fiddle class to have another final jam on the A tunes which were the same as those that the fiddle class had just learned. Everyone played/practices as a large group until lunchtime. Mark and I both felt that he potential for some fine duet playing was definitely in all the students if they would practice regularly.<br />
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To top off my experience in Cheddar, I was able to find a good home for my birdseye maple banjo<br />
that I had made last summer. Steve Robinson is now the proud owner of #82. I was of course glad to make a sale while on the trip and was also glad to get one of my banjos in the UK finally. I know Steve will play it often and really appreciate both the special wood and special sound it has. I set it up to be a player's banjo and work as easily as possible to make good music on. Please check out a few of my banjos at <a href="http://mactraynham.com/">mactraynham.com</a><br />
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The last leg of our trip was to go to London on Sunday evening and play a show at the Harrison Bar in downtown London then stay over and catch a flight back to the US by noon. Mike drove us into the maze of London after a brief stop at his place near Bristol to pick up a banjo for me to borrow for the show.<br />
I was to borrow a guitar from Joe Buirski, the organizer of the concert who was a wonderful young man who had promoted our show on the Harrison Bar website and sold several advance tickets.<br />
We somehow found the Harrison Bar in the dark of January in time to get set up in a downstairs<br />
space with chairs and tables away from the main bar. After a wonderful meal, we arranged ourselves<br />
on a tiny stage in a house concert situation with folks in the from row only a few feet away. We played our tunes and songs for a very appreciative audience some of whom had know Mark from living in the US in the past. At one point, we noticed a young woman flatfooting in the back and asked her to come show the audience what she was doing. She looked very familiar to me somehow. As it turns out, I had noticed her last summer dancing at a jam that I lead at the Floyd Country Store on Sunday<br />
afternoons. She remembered me as well. Alice had been in the US on a bike tour of the Blue Ridge Mountains and in August had won 2nd place in a dancing contest at the prestigious festival in West Virginia known as Clifftop. So our last night was a success had gotten to play for a great audience in a fine place with a prize-winning flatfooter/clogger from the UK. And for icing on the cake, we sold out of our CD's.<br />
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Our Monday flight back to the US was uneventful as we seemed to go back in time. With many fond memories and a desire to return to UK someday, we are now somehow back in our routine of work, music lessons, and life , yet, we know that we both had adventure that will be hard to top. I just hope that the music we shared means something to somebody and that we may return someday to share more if we are able. I heard several express interest in coming to the US and to visit the Blue Ridge someday. It's deemed a 'pilgrimage' by some that I spoke to. I encourage anyone to check us out to see if any of our workshops at Jenny's and my home in Floyd County interest you. Perhaps one of them will correspond with your plans to visit the Crooked Road region. For more info please check out <a href="http://macandjenn.com/">macandjenny.com</a> Comments and feedback are very welcome.<br />
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<br />Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-45327083708633833382013-11-17T20:56:00.000-05:002013-11-17T20:56:21.028-05:00Rhythm & Repertoire #2<div>
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Our last workshop weekend for 2013 began on Thursday Oct 31 with the arrival of our guests who were to be staying with us in the house, too. After a fine meal we had a small jam in the workshop/classroom space and began the process of getting to know each other. The rhythm & repertoire weekends we offer are for all the basic string band instruments plus harmonica. Originally we had planned to do more singing as we had a couple of guitar players signed up. Unfortunately<br />
they both had to cancel so we decided to make the emphasis more about rhythmic dance tunes for fiddles and banjos and less about cool old songs since we didn't have the guitar as an instrument in the mix of the students. So this weekend would be for the two banjos and one fiddle that were still on board.</div>
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Friday began with Jenny and me breaking up the group into banjo and fiddle sessions. Jenny worked on the basics of rhythm (in conjunction with beat) with the banjo players, while the fiddle student and I worked on employing the basic shuffle.</div>
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Late Friday afternoon allowed some free time for our guests to go to Floyd and explore. Some of their stops included the world famous County Sales, which is tucked away down an alley, the Floyd Friday Night Farmer's Market, and local art galleries. </div>
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We met up at the Floyd Country Store, and as it was a beautiful, mild evening, we jammed outside before playing inside on stage for the dancers. The Jug Busters, a local favorite band scheduled to play that evening, was very kind to have us play with them during a part of their time slot. As we are keen on having our students understand the dynamics between band and flat-foot dancers, we were especially grateful for the opportunity and for the great dancers present that evening.</div>
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Saturday morning we had classes focusing on learning tunes from our local repertoire. Just before lunch our friend Rhoda Kemp arrived with her special friend Gene, to give a talk and demonstration of her rhythmic style of banjo playing. Rhoda, just short of her 84th birthday, was engaging, supportive of the students efforts, and full of rhythm - patting both feet while playing!! After lunch, we all played tunes with Rhoda, who backed up the students on guitar.</div>
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Late Saturday afternoon involved a short hike up on the Buffalo Mountain, supper, and then another trip to the Floyd Country Store for an evening of entertainment. Anna Roberts and Elizabeth LaPrelle have been putting together very creative, old-time radio shows, live on streaming radio through the Floyd Country Store website. The shows, held the first Saturday evening of the month, are a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed the show.<br />
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Sunday morning, another round of class time, more tunes taught and techniques discussed until brunch time. After one more meal together, our students headed out on their ways home. One fellow actually<br />
planned to stop by the Floyd Country Store once again for the old-time jam held there every other Sunday afternoon.</div>
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It was a very full weekend with lots of music being played and listened to, lots of eating, lots of entertainment, and lots of good times with our student guests.</div>
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We continue to be impressed by and appreciative of the individuals who travel here to participate in these workshops. They each bring talent, perspective, and life experiences which enriches Jenny and me as we get to know each one. </div>
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Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-87720002514440906772013-10-06T22:10:00.001-05:002013-10-06T22:20:13.436-05:00October weekend workshop #1Our Fall 2013 weekend workshops on clawhammer banjo and old-time fiddle couldn't have been on<br />
a better weather weekend in October. It was balmy which helped make it possible for participants to enjoy some of the evening activities in downtown Floyd even better. Friday was a beautiful day with temperatures outside in the 70's. It didn't quite seem like Fall weather on this the first weekend of the month. A morning of intensive instruction began with both fiddlers and banjo players learning the nuances of the tune June Apple in our style which stresses timing and rhythm as much or more than melody. We turned a beautiful birdseye maple violin into a beautiful birdseye maple fiddle when we cross tuned it to the Key of A.<br />
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Angela Dillard, my high school classmate who has taken up playing in the past few years had never been exposed to such a departure from the rigid classical rules of standard violin tuning.<br />
Galax Virginia fiddler Emmet Lundy who was recorded in 1939 claimed that cross tuning a fiddle AEAE was 'a cheat' but, I suppose that he was likely outnumbered when it came to fiddlers who would tune up to AEAE to make a fuller sound from their instrument. High bass was another name for such a tuning that has made certain tunes much easier to play and variate by playing comfortably on the lower strings for contrast. Of course, we discussed that many A tunes are much better played in standard GDAE tuning. You just need to have a list of the tunes for each tuning in your head and/or in your case.<br />
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As for class, we primarily worked on a bowing pattern for the local Virginia version of "June Apple' involving the basic shuffle. Other cross tuned A tunes for dancing include Buffalo Gals, Sailaway Ladies and John Brown's Dream. Bowing is what makes fiddle fun but its quite a challenge. Pulling and pushing with feeling and emphasis is easier said than done though. We listened to samples of fiddling from old-timers like Hick Edmonds and William Marshall to identify shuffles in their<br />
rendition of tunes that could be used in our own rendition of that tunes. In reality one must practice and memorize where a bow shuffle is played in the course of the melody line versus being played just for the sake of rhythm in the tune or for pick-up notes before the beat begins. Saturday and Sunday found fiddlers working on more tunes, jamming with the banjo class, and practicing using the basic 'country' shuffle pattern to match up with the rhythmic style of claw hammer as found locally in listening to samples of Southwest Virginia native players from the 20th century.<br />
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Banjo players this weekend found themselves working on their right hand rhythm skills with Jenny for the most part. Our goal is to get students knowing what it takes to get a sound that balances melody sounds with rhythm sounds. We have digital copies of many field recordings showing such an approach to playing banjo was a common element in the playing style of the majority of the old-timers who grew up in the region. We also understand that rather than perform for listening audiences, banjo players from the early 20th were traditionally rhythmic facilitators to a local gatherings of a community in which dancing was the primary activity. Strong rhythmic<br />
right hand action combined with left hand dexterity made for a style that gets dancers up to dance.<br />
Not so easy if one is not naturally rhythmic but we believe it can be learned with enough exposure to a<br />
solid source of rhythm.<br />
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The flatfoot dancers that frequented Mabry Mill on Sunday afternoons on the Blue Ridge parkway during the 1970's and 80's had a big influence on our sensitivity to the dance beat. On large dance platforms, groups of dancers would listen and get a sense of a beat and its timing from the musicians's playing and tap out an audible beat while executing patterns of rhythm with their feet.<br />
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Everyday, Mac gave the banjo players some tips on playing with more rhythm and feeling. Technical ideas for some cool variations on the melody line of certain tunes were presented as well.<br />
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Friday's workshops were balanced by a large spread for lunch. Thanks to Heather Krantz for a great quiche with a cornmeal crust baked in her large deep dish frying pan. Thanks to Jenny for all the other great food and drink choices. Our freestone spring water was a hit as usual.<br />
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Friday late afternoon involved a trip to town to take in the activities around the Friday Night Jamboree<br />
at the Floyd Country Store. I got to be the guitar player and harmony singer in a band to back-up local singer Janet Turner on stage for the Gospel set that opens each Friday night's stage and dance floor activities. It was enjoyable to be in that role for a change and help out a fine 'country' singer.<br />
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Afterwards, our fiddlers and banjo players gathered with a few members of the Jugbusters band and we had an OT jam outside in the alley drawing a huge crowd of onlookers. The temperatures were still in the 60's. We were joined by floyd resident Phil Woodail's rhythmic Old-time harmonica and Pennsylvania native Judy Pagter of "Country Ham" Stringband fame on autoharp. No guitar player showed up to play but we managed without. We switched bass players midway through the evening as we played until after 10 PM.<br />
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Saturday class time was similar to Friday's. Of course we had a great spread of soup and sandwich for lunch. Afterwards some of us went on a ride to visit a couple of the historic 'rock' churches that were built in the area during the time of Presbyterian minister Bob Childress. The ominous Buffalo Mountain was viewed from several locations during the brief trip. <br />
Perhaps, we'll take the next workshop weekend class to the top weather permitting.<br />
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Saturday supper featured more of Jenny's fine cooking followed by a trip back to the Floyd Store to take in the monthly 'live' radio show that is very entertaining with local 'live' talent. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. Visit <a href="http://floydcountrystore.com/">floydcountrystore.com</a> for more info on the radio show and other happenings at the Store.<br />
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Sunday AM found us torturing the students once more with shuffle bowing for fiddlers and right-hand rhythm exercises for banjo players. They didn't seem to mind. After more class we punctuated the weekend with a huge brunch around noon featuring a wonderful egg casserole, fruit and grilled country ham.<br />
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As we parted I presented samples of some great music in my collection onto a burned CD-R for each participant to take home and have as sample of our influences that we still listen love to listen to for inspiration.<br />
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Next music weekend Oct 31 - Nov 3 Rhythm & Repetoire. Visit <a href="http://macandjenny.com/">macandjenny.com</a><br />
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<br />Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-12327917198934569062013-09-02T11:59:00.000-05:002013-09-02T12:56:08.654-05:00UK publication features article on our June Workshop.Check out this review by Mike Bostock from UK who attended our Elk Creek Warm-up workshop on Clawhammer banjo. His description is Spot on. Pass this on to anyone you like. Mike is a member of FOATMAD, a UK organization (Friends Of American Old-Time Music And Dance) who hold various public events throughout the country and have a wonderful publication Old-Time News.<br />
There's a growing degree of enthusiasm for our style of old-time and Mike is soon to be the editor. We hope you'll check the group out. Click on the image below to view Mike's article.<br />
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<br />Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-80087974347648555092013-07-01T07:28:00.002-05:002013-07-02T08:16:53.773-05:00Elk Creek Warm-up '13As I am recovering from the late night jamming and fellowship that I had at the annual Grayson County Fiddler's Convention (better known as' Elk Creek') I feel pretty good about our<br />
latest effort to offer basic instruction in the playing styles we dubbed "Elk Creek Warm-up".<br />
One week ago, began the course which focused on clawhammer banjo. Four individuals<br />
signed up and came here on Monday evening to began a 3 day experience aimed at improving<br />
their skill at playing their banjos in a jam or performance setting. <br />
As with our weekend camps, participants are able to get a good start with great meal while getting to<br />
know us and their fellow participants. The great weather allowed us to gather out on our deck<br />
instead of in the house as our previous workshop weekends have been during chilly times of year.<br />
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After supper Students were treated to the music and comments of 83 year old Rhoda Kemp, a woman whose been known locally for her great musicianship in the region but has been perhaps overlooked and underrated for her traditional style of banjo playing. She's basically a secret 'treasure' who we hope to help gain more recognition for.<br />
Rhoda, while best known for her banjo playing with the prize-winning Original Orchard Grass band,<br />
is a wonderful autoharp player, bass player, and singer to mention a few of her talents. On Monday<br />
we wanted to offer a "Rhoda' experience since we couldn't offer the Floyd Country Store experience<br />
of playing dance music on stage with Mac and his band for the dance party held every Friday night.<br />
Rhoda was her wonderful self playing her own style of 'knockdown' claw hammer banjo that<br />
she developed as a child living in Roanoke Virginia. As with so many mountain people, her parents<br />
moved from a rural area to a place with steady jobs to raise their family. Rhoda was very<br />
informative about how she searched for a type of 'sound' that she wanted in her music and made<br />
conscious changes and adjustments to her technique until she was happy with her own playing style.<br />
Seeing and hearing her play on her Vega #9 tuba phone was interesting too. Mac accompanied<br />
her on his fiddle. She also played Mac's special comemorative<br />
75th banjo, a birdseye maple 12" Whyte Laydie with an elaborate original inlay pattern that<br />
challenged Mac's engraving skills. Photos can be seen on <a href="http://mactraynham.com/">mactraynham.com</a><br />
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Monday evening was even more special when immediately following Rhoda's playing on it<br />
Mac made a special presentation of #75 to participant Terry Cartensen on behalf of<br />
her husband Hans who was also present having secretly arranged to purchase this banjo and<br />
have it be a surprise 43rd anniversary gift. It was indeed surprising to Terry who couldn't believe<br />
it at first but graciously accepted and vowed to love it and never neglect it. The looks on her face were priceless.<br />
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Tuesday began with an intense session of reviewing the fundamentals of basic claw hammer<br />
and the rhythm that the local style is built upon. The simple one part tune 'Skip to my Lou' was quickly shown to help reinforce the point that a banjo in the local style for dancing to should sound full and be played with regular brush thumb intervals. The point was to super-impose the melody over a basic<br />
rhythm template, subtracting certain brushes for melody notes while bringing back the strumming<br />
and lower drone notes especially often to get a full 'stand' alone sound. Such a style was developed<br />
before guitars came to the region in the early 20th century primarily for dance parties. According to local master, Dent Wimmer, dances in Floyd County in the early 20th century were often held with only one banjo or several banjos being played. Guitars have since become standard in dance band music and have taken on the role of rhythm and time keeping that claw hammer banjoist used to only provide. The evolution of string band music along with flatfoot dancing in this region is a fascinating study. <br />
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Clawhammer styles of today often have dropped the backbeat emphasis and low drones from the sound as most jamming involves other instruments which also strum, therefore, minimizing the banjo player's role to provide a full sound. A discussion and demo of what 'drive' is was presented with talk of foot tapping with precision and right arm coordination to comparison to driving nails with a 'hammer' on the backbeat.<br />
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Another one part local tune 'Hawks & Eagles' was presented with mention of a possible<br />
short hike that all could take later to Buffalo Mountain where buzzards soar like 'Hawks and Eagles'.<br />
Tuesday after lunch time was spent mainly with all practicing in remote locations in and around Mac's banjo/furniture shop where Mac gave individual attention to everyone to reinforce the class presentation. Later Mac took the class on short hike to the top of 'The Buffalo', a local mountain nearly 4,000 ft tall where the breath taking 360 view included the soaring buzzards and distant lightning as the weather quickly deteriorated.<br />
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Tuesday supper and fellowship was followed by more playing of the tunes of the day. Mac played fiddle and Jenny joined in on guitar. <br />
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Wednesday was similar with a morning banjo intensive learning the technical details of how to<br />
play the tunes Lost Indian and Merry Mountain Hoedown in A/G tuning. Simple foot patting<br />
was encouraged to help keep time and rhythm flowing through the body as one played.<br />
A trip to Floyd for a late lunch and a visit to County Sales for CD's were the highlights of Wednesday<br />
afternoon. Mac even got a long over due haircut.<br />
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Wednesday after one of Jenny's fabulous suppers<br />
everyone headed to the shop for more playing and practicing and another simple one-part dance tune in D from the Blue Ridge called 'Going across the Mountain' (with a Banjo on my Knee) or simply 'Saro'.<br />
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Thursday AM all met and we began a review of the tunes and their details. The session ended just before noon and all gathered for a fabulous brunch before departing for Elk Creek where the<br />
annual fiddler's convention was about to happen on the weekend. We'll more than likely do it again next year!<br />
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<br />Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-20252666514862180042013-05-15T21:40:00.000-05:002013-05-15T21:41:34.457-05:00Rhythm & Repetiore Floyd County style<br />
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We held another in our Spring 2013 series of weekend workshops helping others learn to play</div>
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basic fundamental old-time music better as we have come to understand it from our</div>
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experience. Rhythm & Repetoire can mean different things to different people based on</div>
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their experience and who has led it at summer week long music camps like Mars Hill. In our local area a vibrant freestyle flatfoot dancing tradition</div>
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has evolved and existed for several generations along with lively dance music played on</div>
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banjos, and fiddles primarily. We have come to realize that old-time music played with a sense</div>
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of rhythm and a strong beat is what gets the most dancers excited when they hear a group or individual play.</div>
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A major part of the weekend musical experience that we are offering to participants</div>
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the opportunity to be on-stage at the famous Floyd Country Store and actually play their instrument before</div>
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a crowd of enthusiastic flatfoot dancers and listeners. </div>
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Our hope is that participants who choose to play along behind the band on the stage will actually realize the importance of matching up to the beat that is coming both from the old-time band that Mac leads as well as that coming from the feet of the best dancers. A good dancer can easily sense a good beat and deliver it back for the band to respond to in their steps. Therefore, it is important for </div>
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the music played by the band to have a good pace and a solid rhythm to set up a steady beat. </div>
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As a musician its so much fun to play music that just cruises along powered by</div>
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the rhythm of experienced dancers who can latch on to this beat and give it</div>
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back to the band in the sound of their feet hitting the floor. We don't take this for granted</div>
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as we are so fortunate to have such a venue in our part of the world that promotes </div>
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such a deep rooted American tradition. Good flat footers develop their skill and steps by </div>
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being around lively dance music.</div>
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The Friday workshops in our latest weekend (May 2-5 on Rhythm & Repetorie) were about getting ready</div>
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to play for dancers at the Floyd Country Store's Friday night Jamboree. More important than </div>
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what tunes to play, instead, we worked on just how to 'feel'</div>
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the beat with a foot pat that hits the floor on the downbeat and remains pressed against the</div>
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floor until the back beat or up-beat has passed. Pressure builds up this way so that the</div>
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next downbeat is rushed to and felt with more of an emphatic snap. Coordinating one's strum</div>
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and to this is a secret to success in becoming more mechanical and energized while keeping</div>
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time. Fast and slow tunes were discussed, chords shown both on guitar and banjo, and melodies played</div>
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that would be part of the program during the 7:30 - 9 PM set. We next set out for town as the we had the</div>
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early set starting at 7:30. Not much time to warm up the rest of the band. </div>
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The program we presented included some young JAM (Junior Appalachian Musician) students in addition to the</div>
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R & R students that had come for the weekend. Luckily, there was an abundance of good dancers keeping good time so everyone got a good sense of what fun can be had when everyone, musicians and dancers really get on the beat and cruise. What a party!! This very unique band was creatively coined Mac & Cheese for one night anyway. </div>
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Back at our class in the cabinet/ banjo shop on Saturday we worked on some regional</div>
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favorites of ours like Old Molly Hare, Carroll County Breakdown,Shoo Fly, Hawks and Eagles and others stressing</div>
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good timing, danceable pace and interesting chord patterns. Good basic guitar runs</div>
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while keeping a strong sense of rhythm was reinforced in tunes like Barlow Knife, Sandy River Belle</div>
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and Last Chance. The alternate G tuning of gDGDE was used for the banjo on those tunes to give a more low</div>
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drones in the sound while driving the beat.</div>
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We took a break to watch a video of Hick and Sue Edmonds playing fiddle and guitar at their home in Smyth County. The participants were directed to note Sue's impeccable timing in her guitar strums and minimal but very effective use of runs in the key of G. Country guitar at its best from a true country musician.</div>
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Looking, as well as, listening</div>
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is so important to one's progress in understanding and appreciating the music of other </div>
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musicians. Patterning after older sources is a great way to get musical ideas to incorporate</div>
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in one's own playing to sound better overall. </div>
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Thanks for your interest in reading all this. Please this pass this blog or any of our contact info on to anyone you think might be interested.</div>
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Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-65936437289335974962013-04-29T11:31:00.000-05:002013-04-29T11:31:04.123-05:00Banjo for the AdventurousOur weekend workshops venture has been slowly getting off the ground but had a major<br />
lift in our workshop on the weekend of April 18th - 21st. Entitled 'Banjo for the Adventurous',<br />
we sought to offer a unique experience for intermediate to advanced players that were willing<br />
to take a chance on what we had to offer in the way of claw hammer banjo instruction. We had<br />
six players (our class size limit) participate for the weekend beginning with a jam on Thursday PM following a wonderful pizza and salad supper. Both pizza and mixed greens/ raw veggies salad were made from scratch by Jenny. <br />
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Being a banjo player who also plays OT fiddle, I fiddled many tunes familiar to the<br />
participants in the Thursday jam while Jenny played her usual strong back-up guitar.<br />
It was hard to quit for the evening but we knew we'd better<br />
save our energy for the Friday activities starting with breakfast for those who stayed here on the farm<br />
that night. One even camped in his old Volvo Station wagon. Mac's cabinet/banjo shop became the center of musical activity for jams, classes, and private sessions for the weekend.<br />
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The first class on that rainy and windy Friday morning began with everyone tuning to double C for a couple of local tunes that could have just as easily been played in double D. With my personal banjo I prefer to not use a capo and in general prefer short scale banjos that can be easily tuned up to double D even with medium guage strings. Being that the class was going to get the opportunity to play for the flatfoot dancers by sitting in with Mac's OT group at the Floyd Country Store that evening we concentrated on learning some local favorites. Old time versions of Tommy Love, Saro, and Sally Ann were presented and sailed through and even remembered after the coffee break. Banjo student extraordinaire, Skip Slocum, stepped in to lead the class in nailing down the one part tune 'Saro' while Mac unexpectedly had to rescue Jenny who had a flat tire on her way to Floyd for some last minute lunch items. Thanks Skip !!! Rain, Rain, and more rain.<br />
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Following a gourmet lunch students were free to relax, practice, go to town or just hang out while Mac<br />
gave a series of individual instruction to each participant. What better to do on a rainy Friday, huh.<br />
All were encouraged to leave after their session to check out Floyd, shop, hike etc. and meet at the Floyd Country Store at 7:30 PM for a warm-up with Mac and his group who would be playing for the dancers starting at 9 PM. Mac's group TBA (Twin Banjo Attack) consisted of Mac- fiddle, Andy Buckman - Banjo, Skip Slocum - Banjo, Sam Linkous - bass and George Slusher - guitar.<br />
So after a warm-up session upstairs we all headed down and ended up on the stage before the crowd<br />
of dancers who happened to be pretty good at throwing some rhythm back at us as we played our local favorites at a pace above 120 BPM. All the banjo players hung on through the waltzes and country two steps that are good to play for contrast at a real country dance in the Blue Ridge. The adventure continued when we played a tune called Carroll County Breakdown for a mountain style square dance lead by local caller Shirley Ferris. 10:30 arrived and we weren't asked for an encore which was no<br />
huge surprise as we had earlier filled the place with banjo sounds and the owners Woody and Jackie Crenshaw were ready to clean-up and go home.<br />
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Saturday morning class started with a warm-up with the classic one part tune in G 'Groundhog' for the hard core banjo songsters. The adventure continued into the uncharted territory of alternate G tunings for some beginning with a ballad classic "Willie Moore' tuned in gDGAD followed by the common<br />
tune 'Shortning Bread' in eDGBD after a coffee break and before lunch. <br />
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After a good midday break, we took a walk around to check on Mac's cows and calves, ate a ramp walked more then returned to Mac's shop. Those interested witnessed a "Banjo Birthing' as Mac finished putting the strings, set the bridge, and played the first tune on his elaborately decorated 75th banjo. See photos of this and other banjos made in Mac's shop at <a href="http://mactraynham.com/">mactraynham.com</a> gallery. Mac lead the afternoon session playing #75 after showing all how to tune from standard G tuning into<br />
the 'cool' tuning eEABD. All were shown how to play the Hammons family classic banjo version of "Sugar Babe'. Since we had tuned up our banjos above standard to play 'Sugar Babe' we adjusted more strings and spent the rest of the afternoon session learning a couple of A Tunes with no capo. All banjos were able to make it up to A with the option of going to G first then capoing. No strings were broken luckily by the truly adventurous. Tunes in A<br />
presented were Merry Mountain Hoedown and Sal's Got a Meatskin aka Russell Higgin's Sally Ann.<br />
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Saturday supper was a treat with great cooking by Jenny again. As scheduled after supper we relaxed to enjoy listening carefully to some samples from a unique banjo music collection CD that Mac presented to everyone for their listening enjoyment and inspiration. We also watched some short video clips of<br />
80+ yr old Rhoda Kemp who is a native of the region and has a rhythmic and flamboyant claw hammer style. The adventure continued with a lively jam again in Mac's shop/ classroom until everyone faded out.<br />
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Sunday 9:15 AM class resumed (with coffee nearby) knowing that a huge brunch would be ready at noon. Starting in the now familiar double C tuning , the classic banjo tune Old Jake Gille was presented and was caught on by all fairly easily. Lastly, we explored the key of F which can be used for some G tunes when capoed up two frets.<br />
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Finally, the adventurous participants all learned the Hobart Smith classic 'Last Chance" and the standard G tune "Sandy River Belle". Following a fantastic French Toast and real Maple syrup feast with fruit galore for the Brunch,<br />
we adjourned and headed to Floyd for the optional Old-time Jam at the Floyd Country Store. By 4 PM<br />
the adventure was concluded and those still left were finally ready to get home. We hope to do this again so please check out <a href="http://southernmtnmelodies.com/">southernmtnmelodies.com</a> for our schedule. Contact us anytime for more information.<br />
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Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-5120863071317915092013-03-13T23:38:00.002-05:002013-03-13T23:38:33.279-05:00Spring Training 2013Some of you may been contacted directly by us about our Spring Training weekend workshops<br />
that we are offering in April, May, and even a mid week one in late June. If this is your first visit<br />
to this blog then a GREAT BIG HOWDY to you. Welcome back anyone else.!!<br />
<br />
We hope we'll get some interest after taking out an ad in the OT Herald and spreading the word in other ways. We don't want to be annoying. These workshops are intended to help those<br />
who want to play more rhythmically and with more strength. <br />
<br />
On a different level Spring Training has begun for our local heritage music program for youth called Floyd JAMS.<br />
In the after school program on Mondays 3-6 PM I have 7 kids ages 8-12 in my class; five of which have been in previous banjo classes under me. The other two are as raw as any beginner can be. <br />
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As is to be expected after school in a class of youngsters, When someone has little enthusiasm and desire to play but is in a class knowing absolutely nothing, then, I, as a teacher, have a huge challenge. Thank goodness I have an able assistant in Terry Cartesen who is helping me to motivate the rawest of beginners while I try simultaneously to carry my advanced beginners learn to play carefully and in time. Teaching the basic Clawhammer 'lick' is truly challenging as the actual technical motion is based some much on 'Feeling' the beat. How does one successfully teach that?? Lots of rhythm exercises<br />
and demos of playing exactly with the beat is all I can do hoping that they'll just 'catch' on to it. Indeed some have.<br />
<br />
After two semesters<br />
of emphasizing rhythm, timing and tuning by ear I now feel like I can actually make some progress with most of these kids as I show them a basic version Old Joe Clark. I actually made a playlist<br />
of 7 different renditions of the tune by individuals, OT bands, and BG bands in my collection so they could hear some variations on the same tune. I burned and gave everyone in class a copy for homework.<br />
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I am also trying to get the kids to become collectors<br />
of recordings the local mountain dance music that I love. I hope that they will learn to love it because they are becoming able to understand how to really play it. With so many distractions in life its a long shot but at least I feel good about sowing some seeds in that regard. Its been sort of a 'mission' for me to pass on my love for the 'local' music especially and how to make others feel something with it.<br />
All my banjo kids have my 2005 CD 'I'm Going That Way', as well as 2009 'Turkey in the Mountain'<br />
which features my banjo playing and Shat Garriock's fiddling. Maybe the music will mean more<br />
to them because it was played by me, the teacher.? <br />
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I speculate that most people new to listening in general tend to ignore the 'rustic' homemade sounds preferring the smoother 'clean' sounds that society would deem 'best'. I would hope that those who claim to love any kind of music could define what it is that draws them in and makes it outstanding . For me its all about the feeling of the beat, precision timing, and interesting chord choices with counterpoint transition runs in regards to a ensemble. A great melody moves me as well but a great melody played with subtle rhythm patterns catches my ear every time.<br />
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Let us hear from you!!<br />
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Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-2740308128231700952013-01-22T15:11:00.004-05:002013-01-22T15:11:57.224-05:002013 update Since my last post I have entered the cattle business with a barter of a large bookcase system and one mantel piece for 6 cow-calf pairs. I worked this out with a cattle man from Pulaski County, Alan Graybeal, who was building a house on Claytor Lake and needing my services last summer. It happened that Alan knows a grazier friend Terry Slusher whose parents were some of Floyd's original OT musicians. Terry is well-respected grazier who loves his cattle and doesn't mind the exercise of rotational grazing and saving lots of work by leaving certain field ungrazed therefore, not needing so much hay to be made and handled. Terry's brother George is a wonderful back-up guitar player and singer of OT country songs who helps me often at the Floyd Country Store.<br />
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So the 17 acres that was never eaten down this past summer are now about 2/3 gone.<br />
By using a method called management intensive grazing (MIG) I have been rationing out the unmowed grass using temporary electric fencing minimizing the need for lots of hay. The place is looking better and will continue to improve in sod and grass quality as I learn more in coming month's. It doesn't take that much work really. 10" deep snow recently has made some hay necessary but<br />
I am ready with a few rolls on hand and a good tractor.<br />
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In November, we started out first of our music weekend workshops here at our place near Willis in Floyd County. Although small it was lots of fun and deemed a success. Good people and good progress made in their playing. If interested then visit <a href="http://southernmtnmelodies.com/">southernmtnmelodies.com</a> for more info about upcoming weekends and what we plan to offer.<br />
We basically are trying to promote 'real' mountain' music that we've been fortunate to have learned<br />
by living in an area so rich in the pre-bluegrass music tradition.<br />
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Our daughter, Hanna came in for a few days around Christmas. We did several music things including<br />
playing at the Americana Lunch at the Floyd Country Store and jamming at Wayne Henderson's annual<br />
Christmas party. We managed to get into Windfall studios again and record another couple of numbers<br />
to be included in an upcoming CD project featuring Hanna's clawhammer banjo playing. Its so special<br />
to both Jenny and me to have such a talented daughter who loves to play and sing. We wish she was closer by. We expect to see her this summer a couple of different times and continue developing our<br />
trio sound. Check back here as I'll be announcing the release of a collection of our music at some future date.<br />
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Cabinet work has dried up for the moment in my shop so that leaves me plenty of time for banjos,<br />
and more. I have finished up a couple of banjos and have them for sale at <a href="http://mactraynham.com/">mactraynham.com</a><br />
I am currently working on an order for a banjo uke made out of apple-wood. Its a bit of a challenge<br />
but I am enjoying it and plan to make a couple extra ones to sell. Do whack a whack a whack a<br />
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Enjoy the Winter and let us know you are visiting.<br />
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Thanks!<br />
<br />Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-20922857719562301582012-09-11T14:47:00.001-05:002012-09-11T14:47:13.041-05:00Weekend Workshops ScheduledAfter a Hot Summer of festivals and fiddler's conventions, we are proud top announce our new venture<br />
of weekend workshops for those desiring a get-away that involves music instruction and adventures.<br />
For specific details we ask you to visit <a href="http://www.southernmtnmelodies.com/">www.southernmtnmelodies.com</a><br />
Please get in touch if you have a notion to participate or have questions. We already have a few<br />
folks staking claims as we intend to keep this small and intimate, however, we do want to fill up<br />
the dates soon as we can. We plan to make other announcements on Facebook as well as on<br />
Banjo Hangout soon. <br />
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There's so much happening in and around the Crooked Road region of Southwest Virginia. In case you are not familiar please check out <a href="http://www.thecrookedroad.org/">www.thecrookedroad.org</a><br />
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We are about honoring the old-time string musical heritage of the region. It is what motivates us to<br />
keep singing the old songs and playing the old tunes that have been hand down to anyone who will<br />
get into learning them. We also want to keep the older styles alive as well. Sometimes its not the song<br />
words or the tune melody itself but it is the nuances of the way it was done that attracts us to learn certain versions. We are collectors not only of tunes and songs<br />
found here locally performed by the original mountain people who learned them from their elders in their time but we collect their banjo tunings, guitar runs and fiddle bowing patterns as well.<br />
So if you are a budding connoisseur of old-time music we want to help you out. We love it!<br />
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<br />Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-66573582380940413112012-04-22T11:28:00.001-05:002012-04-25T07:32:30.047-05:00Early Spring 2012Spring came early after a mild winter which was welcome after the past two winters.<br />
There's lots of fire wood left and more to bring in but we should be set for next winter<br />
and then some. Music has been sporadic but I, Mac, managed to take a solo trip last week to Ohio to deliver the first banjo ever built by lady banjo maker, Pat Wilcox, who had sent it to me last Fall for repairs. It gave me an excuse to go visit master pearl engraver and instrument builder, Doug Unger, as well. I had a great time learning more about a wonderful decorative art that I hope to apply in a sparing way to my banjo work.<br />
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I also got to help out Pat with some home improvement. She in turn hosted a workshop for interested folks to attend who wanted to learn more about playing banjo and fiddle in the Southwest Virginia style that I specialize in. I also got to perform solo for the folks who came for a great potluck party that evening.<br />
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Jenny and I have been taking a break from performing mostly because its been the off-season.<br />
We do have a couple of things on the calendar so checked em out.<br />
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Our daughter, Hanna, whose been in Seattle since the end of last August will coming in for the month of June. Her schedule is booked with music things to do including<br />
Mt Airy Fiddler's Convention, Mars Hill BR OT week, Hotel Floyd's Thursday night concert series, The Floyd Country Store's Saturday night dance series,<br />
Mabry Mill's Sunday PM music, as well as the Elk Creek Fiddler's convention. We may be able to get in another recording session as well. Check out her playing <a href="http://mactraynham.com/#gallery">http://mactraynham.com/#gallery</a><br />
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We have almost finished a webpage describing a new venture for us. Basically we'll be conducting a series of weekend workshops for those interested in knowing more about<br />
our local playing styles from yesteryear. Check back soon as I will post a link as soon as it is<br />
ready. Or if you want to added to our mailing list then please send us your email address.<br />
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Another new thing has been the Floyd JAMS program which I have been working with.<br />
Its is an after school series of group music lessons for kids in 4th thru 7th grades in mountain style banjo, fiddle, and guitar. Over 80 kids signed up for this and the enthusiasm has been tremendous. I teach beginning claw hammer banjo and have several kids that now seem to be getting the elusive claw hammer 'lick' after 9 weeks of 'hammering' home to them the importance of<br />
timing and rhythm in addition to accurate tuning and listening. We don't want to run out of good claw hammer players in our local area. I've enjoyed the experience and expect I will help out in the future.<br />
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<br />Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-8822216047029901642011-12-06T22:24:00.001-05:002011-12-06T23:02:35.192-05:00Mac's new Website / Jenny's new FacebookBig news! Mac has finally got a decent website about his business Mac's Custom Banjos Cabinets and More. It was designed by our son Ben who is professional graphic designer in the DC area. Check it out <a href="http://www.mactraynham.com/">www.mactraynham.com</a> when you can. It is a better explanation<br />
of just who Mac is and what he does on a regular basis. Let us know what you think. <br />
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Jenny has very recently joined Facebook and has had many friend request since so many of our friends and family are on Facebook. She intend to show her art and summer flower and vegetable gardens that she has worked so hard for. It will be interesting to see how having Facebook will affect our lives. Maybe we won't be such hermits anymore.<br />
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We finally got our farm fixed up for beef farming and Mac got the opportunity to run some steers to eat up our grass in a management technique known as strip grazing. 35 grass eaters are something to see devouring up a new break of fresh grass. These beeves belonged to alternative Floyd County's grazier supreme Larry Bright who is Mac's mentor in the effort to be a true grass farmer. We intend to cooperate more in the future. Anyone interested in buying pure natural all grass finished beef from Floyd county should get in touch with Larry or me ASAP.<br />
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Mac was again on the staff of Augusta October Old-time Week having a class of ten students for intermediate/advance level of traditional claw hammer banjo. It was great fun with lots of good jams with staff and students. The end of the week was the annual Augusta Fiddler's gathering which drew in some of the best players of West Virginia rich traditional fiddle music. I even sold a banjo to wonderful lady Pat Wilcox.<br />
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In June 2012, Mac will be on the staff of Blue Ridge Old-time week at Mars Hill College once again. Shay Garriock, our long time fiddle buddy who Mac has recorded with will be there also. I haven't updated the calendar yet.<br />
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December has found us again trying to finish of some building projects on the farm while working on cabinets and banjos for old and new customers. Our Rock Springhouse is shaping up nicely and represents several tons of rocks, sand and gravel moved over the last year and a half onto a resting place that will preserve our water. The spring is one of several on our property that was developed into a water source for our house by previous owners. An ancient roadbed is beside it and word has it that it was known in the old days as one of the best springs in our part of Floyd county which is reputed to have over 1000 springs.<br />
We hope to get the roof on it next week. Photos will be on Facebook.<br />
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Musically, Mac has been laying down some tracks at Windfall Studios for a future project involving our area's traditional string music style, ie, Old-time clawhammer banjo and fiddle duets and trios. Hanna, who resides in Seattle, Washington recorded 8 tracks of rare banjo tunes with Mac playing fiddle in a traditional duet fashion before she left. So stay tuned for more about how these tracks get mixed and fixed for a final sound.<br />
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Jenny and I hope to learn new songs in 2012 and share them when we can. Check the calendar for an update soon.<br />
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<br />Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-13803625383425270152011-09-09T17:18:00.000-05:002011-09-09T17:18:18.363-05:00A chip off the old BlockSummer of '11 was great because of having our daughter Hanna around. Her enthusiasm for playing banjo inspired by Blue Ridge Mountain masters ie the old-timers, led Mac to play his fiddle with her several times one on one. Hanna's ability to learn tunes quickly and play with a driving rhythm has been a mountain music fiddlin father's dream come true.<br />
We managed to get around together to some of the local summer music events together.<br />
Elk Creek Fiddler's conventions continued to be a winner for Mac as a last minute entry in the band contest yielded a chance to put our music out into public. Trish Fore, a fine mountain style clawhammer player in her own right, was our band's guitar player. She backed us up in her signature hard driving style that matched up with our basic 'lick' on fiddle and banjo. It was good enough to garner us a 3rd place win. An even bigger honor was to play for the flatfooting contest on Friday night. Grayson County and around the region is such a place that has such a deep rooted tradition of great music and dancing so reflected in the rural string music documented by folklorist who came to find the native music in the 60's and 70's. As one who learned to play banjo around the fine traditional dancers that frequented the public music venues of the region, Mac seems to have passed on his love for the regional 'sound' of his chosen home area to daughter, Hanna now 24.<br />
August found us playing in a band called the Mountain Boomers for the Thursday night dance at the annual Clifftop Festival. Shay Garriock and Mac played twin fiddles with Hanna, banjo and Rory Mullennex, son of WVa banjo great Ron Mullenex on guitar along with Sam Linkous on bass. It was a memorable experience once again for father and daughter. A week later Hanna played in her first ever clawhammer banjo contest at the even more famous Galax Fiddler's convention. A lively rendition of the Hobart Smith tune 'Last Chance' won her 8th place out of the 80 or so contestants and helped introduce her name as a likely 'contender' should she ever play in another contest. <br />
The last music milestone was to get her to record a few 'mountain' banjo fiddle duets for posterity with her dad in a studio setting just before she left a few days later to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest, ie: Seattle, Washington.<br />
She says she'll eventually settle back near us after she gets some things accomplished towards her career of becoming an upper level art teacher following a Master degree from UW. We'll see. <br />
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<br />Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-3177133753062532522011-06-23T06:00:00.005-05:002011-06-23T07:03:42.466-05:00Summer 2011Summer has arrived and I will try and recap the last 6 months both musicially and non musically for us. There were a few jaunts at the Floyd Country Store playing for avid flat footers who carry on the tradition of moving to old-time music not just watching and listening. Mac gathers a few daring souls willing to play for such flatfoot dancers, slow dancers as well as listeners for 90 minutes. So a blend of fast tunes and slower country classic numbers are played for such purpose. Most recently Mac had his Blue Ridge Thunderbirds play at Mabry Mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway for tourist and dancers who happened by on a Sunday afternoon. We'll be back again in October. <br /><br /><br /> As for the Winter of 2011, in February we performed for a small crowd at the Front Porch Gallery owned by artist extroardinaire Willard Gayheart. It was a nice venue sponsored by Willard and son-in law Scott Freeman.<br />Appalachian Awareness Day at Radford University on a weekday involved us with Shay Garriock playing and explaining to students and others about our music and it sources as it related to the the Appalachian Region. I hope we helped with the understanding of why we sound the way we do. <br /><br /><br /> Over the past months we have been participating in an all volunteer recording project for Floyd's local country singer, Janet Turner. Several musicians from Floyd's acoustic, bluegrass and old-time worlds laid down tracks to be mixed into a collection of songs sung by Janet. A virtual band of local pickers and singers will be heard backing up her youthful sounding voice in a big way. Release should be later this summer. Check the Floyd Country Store's website in coming weeks as owners Woody and Jackie Crenshaw are backing the project recorded and mixed by Dave Fason of Floyd County.<br /><br />In March, we were part of a special show at the Floyd Store featuring the music of two young women who have been making names for themselves. Elizabeth LaPrelle and Anna Roberts-Gevault are professional performers who appeal to all ages in their <br />use of a visual aid that they made themselves called a 'Cranky'. It is a backlit box in which a scroll is mounted through which sillouets are moved as traditional tunes and songs are performed. We opened the show for them and participated in a final rousing version of 'Keep on the Sunnyside."<br /><br /><br />A Friday trip to Danville to perform for the Dan River Region Bluegrass association was long but worth the trip as the audience seems to love old songs and the way we do them. The last time we played for the DRR folks we had Shay Garriock with us but since he's become such a busy music store owner and fiddle repairman we have gone back to our duo sound lately. <br /><br />Our April appearance involved singing with Janet Turner at a Maundy Thursday service at the Methodist Church in Blacksburg where Reverend Reggie Tuck had us be a part of the service just before Easter. Reggie loves and supports old-time and gospel music and is a true fan. <br /><br />Mac had a big gig in early June in Michigan as a clawhammer banjo instructor at the Midwest Banjo Camp near Lansing Michigan. Its was an intense weekend of workshops for banjo enthusiast of all levels and styles. The staff consisted of mostly full-time professionals and part-timers who were considered good pickers by their peers. <br /><br />The following weekend we both were part of a long running festival in Whitesburg, Kentucky called Seedtime on the Cumberland. We got to hear some great music there.<br /><br />Other wise we have been working on improving our farm to get set up for raising cattle and more flowers and vegetables.<br />Mac has made a couple of banjos and has more almost done as well cabinetry jobs to do. Another big part of Mac's time has been building a pickin shelter in the Warren G Lineberry Park in the Town of Floyd. Too busy for our own good it seems.<br /><br />More later so check back.Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-23741305587699862892011-01-10T19:47:00.003-05:002011-01-10T21:22:54.342-05:00New websites in the worksWe finally have made a commitment to create new website for ourselves. It will be one that will cover all our various enterprises including Jenny's paintings, her natural organic soup business, Spurlock Gardens, as well as Mac's Custom Cabinetry, Banjos and more. You really didn't think we made a living at playing music did you? We tend to be homebodies and only travel for a music gig when there's a great opportunity. Otherwise, we are pecking away at something when not being lazy.<br /><br />Check our calendar. We have a few things already in our local area.<br /><br /> However, its looking like we'll be around home more this year. We have several outside projects that need finishing on our place including the rock spring house. That project has been shut down since early December with the early onset of Winter here in the Blue Ridge.<br />New fences are in order as Mac wants to be able to have cattle on our land again. Hopefully, we'll have an early Spring and get back to these two projects in particular before the grass gets too long in May. We aim to produce ' gourmet' Grassfed Beef and direct market to folks who appreciate the benefits of eating such a local product.<br /><br /> Mac has a couple of music camps coming up. He'll be on the staff for the first time at the Midwest Banjo Camp held in early June in Michigan. He's also going to be returning to Augusta Old-time week in late October as a advanced clawhammer banjo instructor. We'll see what else comes up in the way of banjo playing or banjo making as the summer season approached. <br /><br /> Mac has already agreed to display a sample of his banjo work in the new Heartwood Artisan Gateway Center just off I-81 near Abingdon VA slated to open this Summer. He has several orders for his banjos to be completed by summer as well. One was recently sent to New Zealand and another to Georgia. A banjo website is in the works so check back in a few weeks for more info and the address.<br /><br />later aligatorMac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-86240491249635819242010-11-28T21:09:00.005-05:002010-11-28T22:24:26.883-05:00Thanksgving 2010Thanksgiving found us here at our place in Floyd County this year. We had both our grown-up kids Ben 25 and his new wife Lisa and Hanna 22 and her boyfriend Dan share our 17 pound fresh free range turkey for a wonderful traditional family reunion. The beautiful weather continued. While the turkey was cooking Hanna and Dan helped out with the progress on the rock springhouse for our spring fed water system. Jenny and I started this back in early October when we had the area around the spring excavated by backhoe so we could proceed with the upgrade of the spring. This job has been needing to be done for years. Such a great watersource deserves a bit of protection from the elements. We hope to have a roof on it before 2011 weather permitting. Rocks of all sizes from our property and from our neighbor's have been coming together to make a permanent fixture to our property. We can't help but think that our efforts with the rocks could last forever. <br /> <br />After dark while the turkey was still cooking, a new Mac- banjo was born in the shop on Thanksgiving as well. Hanna and Dan helped out on this as well. They installed the tuners while I made a nut. Strings were put on and Hanna gave it a good try-out. She made it sound pretty good for the first tune on it.<br /><br /> This one is #53 and is bound for New Zealand. It has been in the works since I got the order back in the summer. Abie Horrocks will be the proud owner. This banjo is made of apple wood / birdseye maple and a black material made from recycled paper call "paperstone'. <br /><br /> Another one recently was 'born' but is staying close by. It is made of curly maple and paperstone for the fingerboard . It was made for Tom Deceasar who just turned 60. Such a milestone deserves a special gift. Tom's wife, Mindy, was instrumental in getting me to complete the banjo on November 19th. When other shop work is slow, the banjo making gets more attention. <br /><br />More banjos are in the works for other deserving people with milestone birthdays. Keep checking back for a progress report.Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-22323053850385473562010-10-16T14:11:00.002-05:002010-10-16T14:30:45.331-05:00Fall 2010Last Sunday PM October 10th was our last real gig for the season which was a hour long set on a small stage in the Roanoke Mt Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Roanoke Virginia. We performed as a duo as we have done at this location for the past 4 years in October. It was at the end of a beautiful Fall day so there was a big crowd present with lawn chairs positioned for a mini-concert. Like a house concert we used no microphones and simply stood while we played to project our vocals better to those in the back of the crowd. One reason we especially like this gig is that folks really come to listen and see to really enjoy the music. There is always someone in the crowd we discover who has a link to a person or family whose music we are familiar with.<br />One year there was a relative of the awesome old-time musician Hobart Smith who was from Saltville, Va. Another year there was someone related to the musical Kimble family of Laurel Fork, Va. whose music we revere from our home area in the Blue Ridge. This year there was renown banjo picker Gene Parker who had toured and played with the local Franklin County bluegrass band, The Lost & Found. So we always feel great after doing our performance for people who have such a love and connection for the music and its traditions. So at home we are hard at work to get our place ready for anyone who may find us through the "Round the Mountain" program which features our home and crafts. We hope to have a nice website for anyone to visit and find out more about us as artist and farmers which is what we do more for a living than music. So keep checking us out here and we'll mention it prominently when we have a better website that will encompass our music, banjo making, cabinetry, artwork and gardens. 2011 should be a big year for us here at home.Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8993504819426089647.post-35267646818241796572010-08-23T20:56:00.005-05:002010-08-24T07:06:23.722-05:00Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-time Music AssociationMBOTMA is the acronym for the big festival that happens every August at a beautiful location west of the twin cities in the "Land of 10,000 lakes". This was the 30th annual event for the organization of almost 100 bands or groups throughout the state. Having been booked for about 18 months in advance, the time came and we went and did our 'Professional' gig of the Decade. Shay Garriock met us there having flown from NC. Jenny and I elected to drive instead of flying so we could bring more of our instruments and comfortable. We spent the best part of two days driving completely through 5 states to get there.<br />We visited our music friends Doug and Jean Herr near Battleground IN the first evening. Along the way we saw hundreds of miles of cornfields and occasionally a modern wind mill farm of 50 to 100 units. With a big sky and rare sight of land forms, we got a feel for the effects the ice age on the topography of the mid-West by the time we got there.<br /><br /> The MBOTMA festival itself is on a large tract of land with facilities for RV campers complete with a bathhouse and large lake. It seems to be someone's horse farm who happens to love string music and people. There were open fields with RV and trailer campers as well as wooded areas for so called 'rough' camping. The summer temperatures felt like the Deep South. On Thursday evening a tornado watch was issued making for some anxious excitement. Rain did come and soak the festival site ripping up the circus tent used for the showcase events. Unlike our last time playing at this festival in 1997 there were fortunately NO MOSQUITOS. The place had been sprayed a few days earlier. ugh.<br /><br />We arrived a day early to be instructors in a one day music camp with folks who wanted detailed instruction on how to play old-time fiddle and clawhammer banjo. Although the turn out was small we loaded the participants up with lots of tunes from good old Southwest Virginia. We were hosted for a meal by the coordinators of the music camp: Doug Wells banjo and Katy Olsen - fiddle. We appreciate all they did to make it a success. <br />The duet singing showcase that we prepared for was canceled unfortunately. Our Friday evening performance on the mainstage just before dark was well received. The late afternoon sun lingered long on the summer evenings. We sold several CD's which wound up paying for the gas we used on the trip. Our other main stage set was on Sunday afternoon in which we did all gospel songs from our large gospel song repetoire.<br /><br />Among other things, I participated in a banjo builder's demonstration on Saturday afternoon. Builders of banjo from both ends of the spectrum ( gourds with skin heads and fretless necks to super modern space age designs) were represented. My antique Victorian era -inspired designs fell some where between which made for an interesting contrast. Many questions were asked and answered by all three of us who participated. I brought a work in progress which helped demonstrate my method of building better than just a working model did. <br /><br />Shay Garriock and I participated in an old-time fiddle showcase along with Garry Harrison, Bruce Molsky, and Rafe Stefanini.<br />We played tunes from our various influences. We did our best to represent the Blue Ridge area of Southwest Virginia's under- recognized traditions of old-time fiddling.<br /><br />Shay caught a flight early on Sunday having elected not to ride with us due to time factors and logistics.<br /> Jenny and I spread our return trip over 3 days taking a slightly different route which led us into the backwoods of Ohio.<br />We were awed by the major rivers we encountered on the whole trip including the Kanawha, the Ohio, the Scioti, and even the Mississippi. We saw so much of America as we passed through that was rural but not Appalachian. The low elevation, high heat and humidity and the serious lack of mountains and forest help kindle a new appreciation for our home in Floyd County. If you read this you are invited to stop by sometime and check us out. Let us hear from you!!!Mac and Jenny Traynhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12618249490507120163noreply@blogger.com0