Category: Tunes

Tunes

Julianne Johnson

Post author By Nick Kroes
Post date December 18, 2016

This is a banjo rendition of the tune, Julianne Johnson, a wonderful old piece that comes from the playing of Bruce and Becca Ling.

Bruce, Becca, and their band, Hawks and Owls are one of the best traditional music organizations in West Michigan. They have been playing great music for many years and always put on a great show – so get out there and support the music!

More Hawks and Owls history from their site…

It was the fall of 97, and in came an unexpected phone call from a man I didn’t know. The unfamiliar voice said, “the Kalamazoo Folklife Organization is having their annual fundraiser, would you like to bring your band down and participate?” “Of course,” said I, even though I didn’t have a band, or was playing regularly with one at the time.
“Bruce, what’s the name of your band?,” was the next question, and my immediate improvised response was “Hawks & Owls”, a way of honoring the many Birds of Prey that have crossed my path since I was a child. I had always been the kid everyone brought the injured wild things to, and had spent a few years volunteering in the hospital at Blandford Nature Center, focusing on the care and healing of Raptors.
The line-up for that first show was Bill VanVugt on guitar, Andy Urqart on bass, and me on fiddle, mandolin, and guitar. We played an hour set of Bluegrass, Irish, Appalachian, and Country Blues, the crowd went wild, and a band was born.

All Photos Tunes

Jenny Get The Kitty

Post author By Nick Kroes
Post date December 18, 2015

Listen to Jenny Get The Kitty”

This tune is named for our friend, Jennifer Crandall, who made her first visit to our house many years ago.

During the stay, Jennifer became entranced with Betty, a beautiful long-haired white cat.

Having recently mastered the mechanics of walking and still being small enough to reach the cat without bending over, Jennifer spent the afternoon going from room to room beside Betty, petting her all the while. It was a lovely arrangement that made both of them very happy.

Sometime later, while screwing around with odd banjo tunings, this piece emerged from some experimentation with the good old Dropped D, aDADE. In this case, the first string is tightened up to an F.

Written and Played by Nick Kroes

All Photos Tunes

Gray Cat On A Tennessee Farm

Post author By Nick Kroes
Post date December 18, 2014

Listen to “Gray Cat on a Tennessee Farm”

My old music pal, the historian Bill Van Vugt, says that the lyrics to this tune are reminiscent of the sentiments expressed in letters sent by some earlier settlers to our country. In these, the writers would often expound on their new prosperity to friends and relatives left behind.

Bill Knowlton writes in the liner notes to “Go Long Mule” that Uncle Dave Macon, who is credited with this song, lived on his own prosperous farm in Murfreesboro, Tennessee from 1900 until his death in 1952.

Knowlton explains that after his weekly Saturday night performance at the Grand Ole Opry, Macon would head home to spend the rest of the weekend with his family. Huge Sunday dinners were followed by a nap in the hammock — often with his grandchildren waving a fan over him to keep off the flies.

It isn’t too hard to imagine Uncle Dave dreaming the words to this song during one of those idyllic afternoon slumbers. That actually might help to explain some of the more surreal images in this piece which my wife, Susan, believes is some sort of “old-time Haiku”.

Recorded by Nick Kroes

Here is the “Gray Cat Tablature”

Gray Cat on a Tennessee Farm

Talk to the man who can if you will
prosper in the valley of the Tennessee hills.

Oh, the big cat spit in the little kitten’s eye
Little cat, little cat don’t you cry
I do love liquor and we’ll all take a dram,
I’m going to tell you, pretty Polly Ann

Cattle in the pasture, hogs in the pen,
Sheep on the ranch and wheat in the bin.

Wagon in the shed, porter in the yard,
Meat in the smokehouse, big can of lard.

Fruit in the cellar, cheese on the board,
Big sack of coffee and sugar in the gourd.

Horse in the stable, money in the pocket
Baby in the cradle and a pretty girl to rock it.

Tunes

Dance All Night

Post author By Nick Kroes
Post date December 14, 2013

Listen to Dance All Night

In the early seventies, Hampshire College was a hotbed of old-time music activism – most of which could be attributed to the cultural factors that underpin this joke from the period:

A visiting professor notices a Hampshire student entering the class in mid-lecture. Not only is the student late, but he’s also wearing only one shoe.

Her curiosity piqued, the professor stops the presentation to ask, “Did you lose a shoe?”

The student answers, “Nope. I found one. Would you like to buy some dope?”

Another driving force was the Highwoods String Band. This seminal old-time band played on or near the Hampshire campus several times each year. They were a huge influence on those of us learning to play music.

This duet is based on the Highwoods recording from the album of the same name.

Tunes

Amelia Earhart’s Last Flight

Post author By Nick Kroes
Post date December 14, 2013

Listen to Amelia Earhart.

“Please know I am quite aware of the hazards…I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.”

– Amelia Earhart

Old microphone

A great tune learned from Luther “Dinty” Moore when we played together in the still infamous string band, Reverend Guido and the Geeks.

According to its composer, Red River Dave McEnery, “it was written around a campfire in New York state in 1937, shortly after we received word of Miss Earhart’s disappearance.” This could explain the lyrical hedging as to her eventual return.

If you’re interested in more historic information about that “sad day”, you’d do well to check out the excellent ellenspace
site.

If you would like to learn this great old tune, please let me know and I will put together a tab. In the meantime here are the lyrics.

Amelia Earhart’s Last Flight

by Red River Dave McEnery

A ship out on the ocean sees a speck against the sky.
Amelia Earhart flying that sad day,
with her partner, Captain Noonan on the 2nd of July.
She went across the ocean far away.

She radioed position to say that all was well,
although the fuel inside her tank was low.
She’d stop on Howland island and refuel her monoplane,
then on her trip around the world she’d go.

It’s a beautiful, beautiful field
far away in a land that is fair.
Happy landings to you, Amelia Earhart.
Farewell, first lady of the air.

Just half an hour later, the SOS was heard,
the signal faint, yet still the voice was brave.
In the shark-infested waters, the small plane disappeared.
Amelia went down to her watery grave.

So, now you’ve heard the story of this awful tragedy.
We pray that she’ll fly safely home again.
In years to come as others blaze their trail across the sky,
we’ll ne’re forget Amelia and her plane.

Tunes

Same Old Man

Post author By Nick Kroes
Post date December 18, 2012

Listen to Same Old Man

Bruce Ling, leader of the Grand Rapids acoustic mainstay, Hawks and Owls does all of the heavy lifting on this traditional song.

While many of us first heard “Old Man at the Mill” on that way cool 1962 recording, Old-Time Music at Clarence Ashley’s, Bruce says that his version features the more modern-sounding chords that
were added during the late-sixties British folk-revival.

And, just in case the song hasn’t been slapped around enough by the invisible hand of oral tradition, Bruce continues its evolution with the addition of a brand-new verse.