Bluegrass Miscellany

Photo: Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike band

Say what you will about bluegrass music as the theme for roadkill, incest, and judge-your-neighbor honky gospel, you won’t see scenes like these at the symphony or the mosh pit.

Pickathon 2010 | OregonLive.com

Pickathon 2010 | OregonLive.com

If you're interested, here's the site to copy and paste for more photos where those two came from:

http://photos.oregonlive.com/oregonian/2010/08/pickathon_2010_5.html

Or have a listen to one of these, at least for a few seconds. The first reveals something of a pro, something of the myth:

YouTube - Still Fiddling In the Ozarks

The second is a young pair trying to get in touch with the bluegrass classic, "Cripple Creek." It's usually played as an instrumental, maybe because Chester Burnam's lyrics can get a little racy:

I got a gal at the head of the creek
Goin' up to see her 'bout the middle of the week.
Kiss her on the mouth just as sweet as any wine,
She wraps herself around me like a sweet potater vine.

Goin' up to Cripple Creek, goin' in a whirl.
Goin' up to Cripple Creek to see my girl.

YouTube - Cripple Creek

Happy Monday.

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Banjos, a Few More Lines

I admit to pride at catching a pileated woodpecker, but see if you don't also think his inner motor is a banjo.

Thanks to Gothpunkuncle for broadening my banjo horizons. If you look at the first video, please take the time to let Eddie Peabody move from guitar to banjo. Things get livelier and a little comic. He appears to be much more of a showman than Saturday's Eddy Davis, but both are a great change of pace from what most of us listen to these days:

Dailymotion - Eddie Peabody - Strum Fun - une vidéo Musique

(Left: Ernie Evans of the Liberty Pike bluegrass band)

And in case anyone's forgotten one of the great movie scenes, here is Dueling Banjos from Deliverance.

YouTube - Dueling Banjos Deliverance

Of course you can't say banjo without saying Earl Scruggs, here with Steve Martin:

YouTube - Earl Scruggs & Steve Martin - Foggy Mountain Breakdown (Best



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