Blog

Old Town

A tune called Old Town was added to the shop. This is a mandolin tune written by mandolinist Butch Baldassari. I always thought this might be a good Dobro instrumental too and here is the result. The original song is in the key of E, but for the Dobro, I decided to play it in the key of D with a capo on the 2nd fret. This is a common strategy if you want to play fast licks in E and use the open strings for hammer-on and pull-offs which the key of D provides. The tuning is the standard G.

You can watch the video on my classroom page, or on my YouTube channel.

Azalea Waltz

A tablature of Azalea Waltz written by Kathy Chiavola was added to the store.

I heard this interesting, beautiful waltz on the album of mandolin player Butch Baldassari. I thought it might suit well for the Dobro thus my arrangement. It has a bit unusual chord structure, but that’s what makes it beautiful.

Listen to the great Butch’s version on his album “A Day in the Country”.

The tune is in the key of A.

Crazy Creek

A tablature of the fiddle tune Crazy Creek was added to the store.

I heard this tune for the first time on Bill Keith’s “Something Old” banjo album. It has not a typical chord structure but it’s an interesting one. Usually played in the key of A so putting up a capo on 2nd fret is a necessity.

There is a great version of this piece on Sally VanMeter’s solo album “All In a Good Time” so check it out for more inspiration.

Jerry Douglas

Nashville Skyline Rag, John Henry

Two tablatures of Jerry Douglas’s breaks were added to the store.

The first one is an early Jerry Douglas’s break of Nashville Skyline Rag written by Bob Dylan as recorded on J.D. Crowe and The New South – Holiday in Japan album.

The second one is an excellent Jerry’s break on John Henry, a tune recorded by Carl Jackson on his 1990 album Banjo Man: A Tribute To Earl Scruggs.

Both tunes are provided in pdf for printing and pg (Guitar Pro) for listening.

Mountain Slide

A new tune by Mike Auldridge was added to the store. Mountain Slide is an interesting tune in EBDgbd tuning from the 1976 “Mike Auldridge” album. It switches 3 keys (D, A, E). This one is a great example of Mike’s mastery. (pdf+gp)

As an addition to the pdf file for printing, I included also a gp file (a Guitar Pro file) where you can play and listen to the tablature.

You can also watch me playing the song on my Classroom page or my YouTube channel.

 

 

Ride the Wild Turkey, Southern Rain

Two tablatures were added to the store.

The first one is often asked Jerry Douglas’s rendition of tune Ride The Wild Turkey written by Darol Anger recorded on Jerry’s album Slide Rule. You can watch me playing this one on the Classroom page of this site.

The second one is an interesting Mike Auldridge beautiful little tune called Southern Rain from Mike’s 1976 self-titled album. The tune is played in unusual B major tuning (F#BD# f#bd#).

A new CD by Novy Rownak – Cesty po hvezdach

A new CD from the country-folk band Novy Rownak, where I play the dobro and lap steel is out. The CD contains exclusively original songs by our singer Viktor Pucek and it’s sung in the Czech language.
If you are interested in this type of music, or if you are just curious how it sounds, here is the link to the Novy Rownak website where you can hear the song samples.

Samples of the Novy Rownak – Cesty po hvezdach

If you like it and you want to own this music on your CD collection write me via contact sheet on this website. The CD is not available in digital distribution. The price is 12€ plus postage.