What Is "Old Time" Banjo Playing?

Good question.  The answer is both simple and complicated.

BBE (Banjo Before Earl) was either played in the Jazz genre (tenor banjo - 4 string) or in the Popular genre (5 string).  The type of music I play is in the latter format; it predates what people today know as "Bluegrass".

Because Old Time music is not Bluegrass, then what is it?  Well, you might say that it is the Grandaddy of Bluegrass.  The Bluegrass player will pick upwards on the strings.  The Old Time player will pluck downward on the strings.  These playing techniques are what make Bluegrass banjo "loud and tinny" and Old Time banjo soft and mellow.

A typical (and familiar to most) Bluegrass tune is Dueling Banjos.   That is something that Old Time players don;t play.  A typical Old Time tune would be Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine; it is something that  Bluegrassers won't touch.

Maybe it would help to juxtapose artists of both genres:

OLD TIME:

• Taj Mahal
• Steve Martin
• Kyle Creed

BLUEGRASS:

• Ralph Stanley
• Earl Scruggs
• J.D. Crowe

Suffice it to say that Old Time isn't Bluegrass; it's Bluegrass's grandaddy.

Allen Wayne Damron

Allen Wayne Damron  ( 1939 - 2005) was a Texas banjo player.  If I was hard-pressed to define his style, I'd have to say it was closer to to Pete Seeger's style than anything else.  Allen would play 3-finger for introductions, but after that it was all a mixture of Clawhammer and what Seeger calls "Whamming".

I first saw him play at The Chequered Flag in Austin (I think it was in 1969).  By that time, I had been playing the banjo for several years but had not, by that time, performed in public.  A Texan of Irish heritage, Allen seemed to be addicted to two musical traditions: Irish and Texas folklore.  His sets were always solo ones and the guitar was his principal instrument (Tennessee Stud, The Alamo, Nancy Whiskey, etc.).  One of his more memorable songs was "Is There A Heaven For Baloons?"  I think that he must have written it.

My friends kept urging me to get up and do what Allen was doing but I knew that I couldn't.  My voice was not nearly as strong as Allen's was.  Besides, I was in law school and fancied other dreams at that time in my life.

Some of Allen's work can still be found on various internet sources.  Canadian River Music Company (here in Texas) is one of them.

Allen kept right on playing right up almost to the last.  He was an avid shooter and a member of the NRA.  He was born in Raymondville, Texas and spoke Spanish like a native speaker.

Welcome to Texas Banjo

Hey!  Thanks for stopping by.  I've got another blog running on a different topic but I thought that I'd put this one up as well.

I've been playing since - well, a long time ago.  Used to play BG and CH, but since a serious right arm injury in 1979, it's been only Clawhammer.  I went to school in Virginia and was stationed there for a while in the Marines.  While there, I actually met Tommy Jarrell and Kyle Creed and sat-in with them for a bit (those guys could really smoke the strings).

Back home in Texas, Bluegrass seems to be king and it's hard to find Old Time musicians to jam with.  I've just discovered jams are going on in Fayetteville and Huntsville and plan to join up with those folks once they start up again (Fayetteville in the Spring and Huntsville earlier than that).