Little Birdie
Along around 1980 I ventured over to Roscoe Halcomb's place in Daisey, Ky up Leatherwood near the North Fork of the Kentucky River. I listened, amazed at his playing and singing, his big gnarled hands wrapped around the neck of the banjo, playing with such force and intensity. It was some rocking melodies, not bluegrass, not rock and roll. It was just Roscoe's own thang, born of hard work and hard living. He could play overhand. He could play two finger, three finger, any which way it seemed. I have never heard anything like it since. And his voice! That high voice! It seemed like he could reach down inside of himself and those high notes would wind through his nasal passages, strong and true. He never seemed to open his mouth wide to sing. It was all through the nose- raw, resonant and haunting.
The Coon Creek Girls first recorded Little Birdie in 1939 with Lilly May Ledford on the banjo. Those gals played the Renfro Valley Barndance, radio gigs, and for FDR in the white house. Jerry Garcia was inspired by their music and played Little Birdie with his traditional music band, The Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers, before he joined The Grateful Dead.
John Cohen made his historic recording journey to eastern Kentucky and discovered Roscoe Holcomb in 1959. He called his singing the "high lonesome sound". The name stuck and Roscoe was playing folk festivals all over the country and parts of Europe. He influenced so many in the folk music scene. I don't think anyone had heard anything like it. And I don't think anyone could reproduce his sound. But it was the portal for much interest in the music of eastern Kentucky. You can find Roscoe's recording of Little Birdie on YouTube.
The version I play comes from Morgan Sexton and Lee Boy Sexton. There are all kinds of tunings for old time banjo- tunings suited to your voice with each having a different feel, something that suited the tune or song. When the banjo took to the stage it was harder to get to a different tuning for an audience. Since frets were all the way up the neck you could just clamp a capo up the neck to get in a different key. But I like the feel of these old tunings. I have tuned the banjo down to f B F G C, a key where I can sing this old song. I am playing brush stoke thumping banjo.
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