Homer and the Barnstormers - Banjoist Unmasked!

Over and over the topic about Homer and the Barnstormers "Bluegrass Banjos on Fire" comes up. For those of you out there that aren't familiar with this topic it's a reference to a bluegrass instrumental recording from 1963. The reason the topic comes up often has to do with the anonymity of the session musicians.

There's not much information available as to who was on the recording.

As a banjo player I had a curiosity about who the banjo player was. And oh boy, there's been tons of speculation by a lot of people about who it might have been.

I spent a lot of time as a kid learning the tunes off that record, and I heard my dad suggest repeatedly that it sounded a lot like Buck Trent to him. I had no idea at the time, but figured his guess was as good as any. It did, however, sound a good bit like Buck to me on a bunch of the cuts, but my experience at the time was very limited. It's a recording that I'm very familiar with. I'm not sure how much time I put into that album learning the songs, but there are portions of it that are still embedded in my brain.

Years passed, as they tend to do, and my record collection grew. I ran across a couple of really great records of Charles Trent (aka Buck Trent). One was The Sound of a Bluegrass Banjo. That particular title was dang confounding because it's all electric banjo. The other record was The Sound of a 5-String Banjo - that one really rang a bell as I listened to it. The tunes, the licks, the tones, the other musicians, everything sounded really familiar.

It sent me searching through my record collection where I came across my copy of the Homer and the Barnstormers record. I put it on the turntable and decided that I was holding sister recordings. Those Charles Trent recordings were done in 1962. I began to speculate that perhaps the "Homer" record was just more takes that weren't used back in 62. Feel free to speculate as to why.

Homer and the Barnstormers came out on the Somerset label (SF-195) in 1963.

Charles Trent's The Sound of a 5-String Banjo was recorded in 1962. It was released under the Smash label that was distributed by Mercury - the jacket says Smash but the label on the record says Mercury.

After listening to these recordings again today it makes me wonder if the Homer recordings were not alternate takes that Buck or someone wanted released but maybe couldn't due to label contract restrictions... there I go speculating - enough of that!

So instead of speculating further take a few moments and listen to these examples.

Open this one from the "Homer" album: Camptown Races

Scroll to about 1:45 and listen to the banjo break...

Now open this one from a Charles Trent's Sound of a 5-String Banjo recording: Cindy

Go back and listen to both, back to back. Listen closely to the backup too.

While you're at it give this audio experiment a listen too: Homer & Buck Together

It's got the Homer session on the left and the Buck session on the right. Now, the tempos are not the same, but they're close enough to allow you to pan between them and really get them back to back.

Oh, I'm aware that Sonny and Bobby Osborne said that they had participated in the recording, and if you listen to a few of the cuts the banjo player sounds like it could have been Sonny (I won't try to deny that).

What's it all mean?

I think it proves that Buck Trent was the banjo player on the Homer and the Barnstormers recording - at the very least on several of the cuts. Will this proof end the debate? I doubt it; there are always those that won't accept the audio proof. There are those that just won't believe it unless Buck Trent says he did it. Then again, why would he? Why spoil the fun?

Oh, if you don't have a copy of the Homer and the Barnstormers recording you can download it from a variety of websites. I really recommend it!

Times are Tough

As the economy around us seems to go from bad to worse it's important to be aware of activity that could impact you financially. Let's face it, times are tough and many people will resort to drastic measures to help themselves.

So begins my story...

I had the recent surprise of a box in the mail. I like getting stuff in the mail. Who doesn't? However, I wasn't expecting anything that would arrive in a box. Sure enough though, here it was. About the size of a shoe box it was. I opened it, and I was not surprised to actually find a shoe box inside. I wasn't expecting a bright pink shoe box, but truthfully I wasn't expecting anything, so what the heck, let's explore further. I opened the box.

Sure, because of the pink box I was expecting ladies shoes. I really didn't have more of an expectation than that. What I got was clearly not the sort of shoes that I'd chose for myself - obviously.

These were a black velvet, five inch heel pumps studded with metal spikes. They're a size 7.5(US).


Now, had I in a fit of insanity ordered these and forgot about it they were clearly not my size, nor were they the right size for Tina. It then occurred to me that maybe someone else had access to my credit card. I checked my wallet and the card was still there. Good, it's not lost. So, I called the credit card company.

After a short conversation with the customer service representative I determined that someone had been using my card for a variety of things. There were all sorts of Blackberry apps purchased (I don't own a Blackberry), there was also a subscription to Hulu, Netflix and Columbia House.

I was glad I trusted my initial instinct and called the credit card company. Although there was paper work to be filed it was minimized by me catching it early. I should also mention that I was lucky that Shoe Dazzle decided to ship to the address listed on the credit card. That was the big tip off.

A couple of days later I got a shipment from Columbia House. It was then I guessed that the person who was using my card number might be doing their Christmas shopping since they had ordered three of the same DVD. Again, it's nice to see that Columbia House ships to the address registered with the credit card.

As amusing as it was to get a pair of spiky high heel pumps in the mail there was a lesson learned here. That being that these sorts of things can happen to any of us. We're all susceptible to this sort of fraud. Friends, please keep an eye on your credit and debit card transactions. If you don't your Christmas spending might come to a quick halt when you discover your account has been emptied or your credit card maxed out. And while both scenarios are fairly easily resolved, it's not something that you want to have surprise you during your shopping trip, or when you're paying for a meal.

I guess the next thing I have to figure out is what I'm going to do with these shoes...

I needed a PA for my School Program...

...and some very kind people chipped in to help me make the purchase!

Everyone who supported this deserves recognition and more thanks and more appreciation than I'm able to sufficiently express. Due to the generosity of others my school program is even more versatile now!

Thanks to the donations I was able to purchase the Fishman SoloAmp 220 that I was hoping for.

Special thanks to Karyn T., Doug D. , Bart C., Chad W., Tedd L., David M., Hobert P., Edna P., Mike L., Danny M., Patrick S., James C..

Extra Special Thanks to Butch L. for your extra special support!

Twenty Five Years

This past August 16th Tina and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary. There were no festivities, so please don't think your invitation may have been lost, or worse yet we decided to cut you from our list of invitees. We had a quiet day at Red Clay State Park.

Why Red Clay? It was one of our regular places to go when we were dating. It's close by, it's quiet, and it's free. It gave us plenty of opportunity just to walk and talk and get to know each other. Maybe that's the secret of a successful marriage. People often ask those of us that have been married for a while what the secret is. Maybe it's just simply getting to know one another.

So that's going to be my advice to dating couples. Get to know each other. Spend some time hiking and walking together at many of the great State and National parks. You'll save money, and you'll learn a lot about the person you're with. Keep it simple.

Recording King Madison

Way back in February Greg Rich and I started discussing the possibility of me becoming a Recording King endorsing artist. I played a few of their banjos and was seriously impressed. They were needing someone to endorse the RK-R35, so I agreed to give it a whirl.

The banjo arrived and after some setup it's a great banjo. Check it out:

I don't like to ask...

...but sometimes my heart gets me into things that my head (and wallet) can't figure out easily.

This is, however, something I really believe in.

So here's the pitch...

Over the past two years I've been working on a school presentation related to the history of the 5-string banjo.

It's a fun program and it's suitable for a social studies curriculum as well as a music curriculum. It's a flexible format, but at the max it could be about 1.5 hours. Now, I realize that time doesn't fit a lot of classroom schedules and so the material can be condensed to suit a teacher's needs.

So, why am I asking for help?

I'm a musician on a mission. I've not charged for any of my presentations, and I hope to keep the cost of doing this at a minimum - for the schools and for myself. I try to avoid too many cliches, but this is a labor of love.

Those of you that know me know I'm pretty well set for banjos - though I can already see I need to expand my collection by at least 2 instruments to cover more history visually. However, as important as that is, first I need a small PA that is easy to setup and transport.

I have a wonderful friend that will allow me to purchase the PA at a very generous discount. (You know who you are.) Never the less it's not cheap, and once I tell my friend I want it, well, I'm compelled to keep my end of the deal.

The good news: school is out! That means I'll have time to scrape up the cash before school starts back. Hopefully, I'll have paid for the system by then!

Oh, if you're wondering what I have in mind, it's the Fishman SoloAmp SA220. It packs into one bag, and will do everything I need it to for most classrooms and libraries. The retail price is over $1500, and I'm thrilled that I have means of getting it at a good discount. I'm only trying to cover a portion of the cost.

I realize times are hard and finances are tight for everyone. My situation probably isn't much different than yours. However, even without anyone chipping in it's something I'll have to purchase if I plan to continue doing these presentations - and I have no intention of giving up on this.

Finally, thanks for taking time to read my plea for help. Anything that you can chip in is going to help get the banjo's marvelous history presented in a fun and positive way to school children. How can that be not a worthwhile cause?

If you can afford it, and would like to see this sort of program feel free to use the widget below.

Five Years of Pinewood Derby

If you've followed this blog you've read about the Pinewood Derby races we've done since 2007. Today marks our last official Pinewood Derby with Samuel as a Cub Scout. He crosses over to Boy Scouts in a few months, so if he has another car it will just be for fun (not that we've not had fun making and racing these cars).

Over the past five years we've learned a lot about making cars, and we've learned a lot about sportsmanship. We've helped other kids with their cars just to watch them smoke us down the track. We've sometimes felt slighted by odd glitches in the timing or scoring of races. We've often felt quite proud of ourselves when we've built a racer that not only won, but did so by a significant margin.

We've learned (and I say we, because it's not just Samuel involved; it's me too) to hold our heads high and be proud of ourselves regardless of the outcome. We've learned to congratulate others when they win, and encourage others when they don't. We've learned to help others with our knowledge, tools, and materials even if it weakens our advantage.

We've learned to make do with very limited tools and limited access to tools. We've also learned to make do with our limited skill with tools. I think we've learned that it's not always car, it's the heart that goes into it.

Even had we not learned any of that, we've become closer as a family. We've become team. We've learned to support each other and make sure we all feel proud of the accomplishments of another team member. We've learned that by doing our best - even when we don't feel like it - we give strength to those around us (the team/family), and we can look back years from now and be proud.

I'll miss these races. That said, here's a short slide show of the last five years of Pinewood Derby.