- May 23rd, Wednesday. Baldock and Letchworth Folk Club, The Orange Tree, Norton Road, Baldock SG7 5AW, England.
http://www.questor-cp.co.uk/madnanny/index.html

- May 26th, Saturday. A daytime clawhammer banjo workshop followed by an evening of old-time American music. Evening concert: 7.30 pm, £8.00. Workshop: 10.00 am – 4.00 pm, £45.00 includes lunch. Wandering William Centre, Foldgate Farm, Steventon, Ludlow, SY8 4BN. To book, contact: Jim Allen 01568 750546.www.wanderingwilliam.co.uk

- May 27th, Sunday. Walthamstow Folk Club, Ye Olde Rose and Crown Theatre Pub, 53 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, London E17 4SA.
http://www.walthamstowfolk.co.uk/

- May 30th, Wednesday. Rivelin Folk Club, Nether Edge Bowling Club, 8 Nether Edge Rd. Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S7 1RU. 8.30pm. (The ticket price is £5 to be paid at the door. You can reserve a ticket by emailing the organizer: greggian@hotmail.co.uk )
http://www.rivelinfolkclub.org.uk/

The final four tunes, ‘Ducks on the Millpond’, ‘Raleigh & Spencer’, ‘Ft. Smith Breakdown’ and ‘Unfortunate Puppy’ also have videos to illustrate the tabs, as there were some tricky timing problems in writing those four out.

They’re here: http://www.hunterrobertson.com/unpuptabframe.html

I wish you the best of luck with these tunes! And a lot of pleasure from them.

- May 30th, Wednesday. Rivelin Folk Club, Nether Edge Bowling Club, 8 Nether Edge Rd. Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S7 1RU. 8.30pm.

- May 27th, Sunday. Walthamstow Folk Club, Ye Olde Rose and Crown Theatre Pub, 53 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, London E17 4SA. 7.30pm.

- May 26th, Saturday. A daytime clawhammer banjo workshop followed by an evening of old-time American music. Evening concert: 7.30 pm, £8.00. Workshop: 10.00 am – 4.00 pm, £45.00 includes lunch. Wandering William Centre, Foldgate Farm, Steventon, Ludlow, SY8 4TS. To book, contact: Jim Allen 01568 750546. www.wanderingwilliam.co.uk

- May 23rd, Wednesday. Baldock and Letchworth Folk Club, The Orange Tree, Norton Road, Baldock SG7 5AW, England. 8.30pm

Hope to see you at one of them! (and if you know of someplace else that would like to have me around those dates, let me know!)

Yours,

Hunter

“Robertson is an excellent player and singer, and has also recorded two CDs. And as I discovered, he’s also an exceptional instructor.”

“The DVD is jam-packed with 133 minutes of content, and none of it’s filler. The video format is widescreen (16:9 aspect ratio), which is ideal for the split screen technique he uses to show both hands simultaneously. The audio and video quality of this DVD is excellent.”

“If you play the DVD sequentially, you’ll first see a short introduction, followed by a fast-paced and concise 12-minute overview of just about every right and left hand technique I’ve ever heard of. You’ll see explanations and demos of drop thumb, M skips, Galax licks, slides, push-offs, hammer-ons, pull-offs, alternate string pull-offs, and more. Noticeably absent is the “cluck,” a technique Robertson doesn’t use much. It’s a great overview, and I think even veteran players will benefit from watching this section.”

“I can’t stress enough how good the video quality is on this DVD. Even the slowed-down segments are crisp and blur-free. In some cases, the slowed down audio suffers a bit (which is to be expected), but it never gets out of the acceptable range.

This DVD sets a new standard for banjo instructional material, and I can’t imagine any clawhammer player who couldn’t pick up a few things while watching it.”

“If you’re the type of player who has grown to depend on tab when learning a new tune, this DVD (along with some time and effort) might assist you in breaking free from that constraint.  But, as I mentioned, this product is not a start-from-scratch package for beginners. The 12-minute introductory video provides a quick overview of clawhammer techniques, but don’t expect this video to provide everything a new player must know. But on the other hand, I think most new players would certainly enjoy seeing a banjo master in action – especially one who explains what he’s doing.

This DVD is competitively priced – the cost of about two CDs, or about half of what you’d pay for a single private lesson.

If all instructional videos were this good, it might turn me into a DVD consumer after all.”

- John Walkenbach

Yup, there are lots of highlights! The review includes a tab of Lonesome John (transcribed by Tony Spadaro of Rocket Science Banjo) and there are two recordings I’ve made of the tune (one solo, the other with fiddler Casey Joe Abair) up on Banjo Newsletter’s website.

To see more about the DVD: http://www.hunterrobertson.com/unpupframe.html

Hunter

HUNTER ROBERTSON
UNFORTUNATE PUPPY AND OTHER FINE TUNES: LESSONS IN INTERMEDIATE & ADVANCED CLAWHAMMER BANJO
Mel Bay 22208DVD.

To see more about the DVD (a video, what tunes are taught etc.): http://hunterrobertson.com/unpupframe.html

As these are only available to people who’ve bought the DVD, there’s a user name and password involved. As I don’t have everyone who’s bought the DVD on my mailing list to send them the information, the user name and password are both simply the 3rd word on the very first page of the PDF notes that came on the DVD.

And here they are: http://hunterrobertson.com/unpuptabframe.html

Hunter

BRAVO (Trad Mag’s award of distinction)

We knew that Hunter Robertson was an excellent banjo player, his last CD If You Want to Go to Sleep, Go to Bed (Trad Mag n° 129) proved it to us, if needed. Now, with this DVD, we also know that he’s an excellent teacher.
This new DVD isn’t a beginner’s clawhammer banjo method but is more dedicated to those who already have a good grounding in the style. The idea behind these lessons is excellent, that is, learning to play well known (at least to aficionados) versions of fiddle tunes on the banjo, such as “Cripple Creek”, “Bonaparte’s Retreat”, “Ducks on the Millpond”… ten fiddle tunes in all.
The first chapter is a review of all the clawhammer banjo player’s “tools” such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, alternate string pull-offs, slides and other techniques used in the style. For each piece, Hunter plays a version at normal speed, then he explains the difficulties of the piece and then plays it again at a slower pace so that you can train by playing it along with him.
As a bonus, Hunter gives a quick look at two and three-finger picking styles.
This is an excellent DVD and should immensely please those who are interested in the style, who’ll find not only beautiful versions of fiddle tunes but also ideas for arranging pieces of their own choice.

– Claude Vue

BRAVO

On savait Hunter Robertson excellent banjoïste, son dernier CD « If you want to go to sleep, go to bed » (Trad Mag n° 129) nous l’avait prouvé si besoin était. Maintenant, avec ce DVD, on sait aussi que c’est un excellent pédagogue.
Ce nouveau DVD n’est pas une méthode de banjo clawhammer mais est plutôt réservé à ceux qui ont déjà une bonne expérience du genre. L’idée de ces leçons est excellente, à savoir apprendre au banjo des versions de fiddle tunes connus, tout du moins par les afficionados tel que Cripple Creek, Bonaparte’s retreat, Ducks on the millpond…..en tout dix fiddle tunes.
Le premier chapitre est une revue de tous les « outils » du banjoïste en style clawhammer à savoir les hammers, pull offs, alternate string pull offs, slides et autres techniques particulières au style.
Pour chaque morceau, Hunter donne une version à vitesse normale, il explique ensuite les difficultés du morceau puis le rejoue à vitesse plus lente pour que vous puissiez vous entrainer avec lui.
En bonus, Hunter donne un bref aperçu des styles « two fingers » et « three fingers » picking.
Ce DVD est excellent et devrait ravir les adeptes du genre qui vont y trouver outre de très belles versions de fiddle tunes mais aussi des idées pour arranger des morceaux de leur choix. – Claude Vue

From No Fences/Bluegrass Bühne:

The banjo player with the rough voice, who at this time is living in Geneva, submits an educational DVD which has been released by a leading US music publisher. Ten known old-time titles like “Cripple Creak” and “Bonaparte’s Retreat” he wants to teach us here, with the explicit purpose that we to not imitate everything slavishly, but develop our own ideas. With that, he plays a fretless banjo.
In contrast to the dialog based AcuTab DVDs, Robertson conducts frontal lessons. Basically, the screen is divided for the left and the right hand, in close-up. As an introduction, Roberson shows the various striking techniques, then the pieces are introduced in normal speed, then technical detail is explained, and finally the pieces are played again in half and medium speed. One should actually bring along some knowledge of the clawhammer style, the entrance level seems high.
The clawhammer style may seem clumsy and primitive, here it becomes clear how subtle and elaborate it can be and how every musician has his peculiarities. Except in “Raleigh & Spencer”, Robertson does not sing (he anyhow rather snarls), not even where there is a text. Finally, the demonstrates 2- and the 3-finger picking and plays “Raleigh & Spencer” again fully.
As an add-on, the DVD has a 26-page booklet in PDF format for printing, with all the needed explanations and advices. Working one’s way through these music lessons will cost some considerable effort, but in the end one surely will have learned something.

– Eberhard Finke

This one also goes by “Rye Whiskey”, “Clinch Mountain” and various other names. Lots of great recordings around: Hobart Smith, Elmo Newcomer and Bill Stepp and Frank Proffitt are some of my favorites.

Don Borchelt has a great video up too of his playing it on his partially fretless banjo in the same tuning.