RARE American Chestnut Mountain Banjo
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- Опубликовано: 20 июл 2024
- Banjo Heritage 👉 / cliftonhicks
This mountain banjo was hand carved out of American Chestnut (wormy chestnut) and Black Walnut. I suspect that whoever made it did so between 1970 and 1990, and that they closely followed Stanley Hicks in Watauga County, North Carolina.
00:00 "Beaver Dam Road" by Frank Proffitt.
04:36 "Long Steel Rail" (500 Miles, Old Reuben, Train 45) traditional.Shelton "Stag" Lee was a notorious pimp who, on Christmas Eve 1895, shot and killed Billy Lyons in a St. Louis saloon. A stolen Stetson hat allegedly caused the incident. Lee did go to prison, but he was never executed.
Most of my lyrics for "Stagolee" (Stagger Lee, Stack O'Lee, Stack-a-Lee) come from a recording of Mississippi John Hurt. My banjo arrangement is from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky, who also uses this melody for "Black Bottom Blues."
My instrument is an 1888 Thompson & Odell "The Luscomb" banjo tuned ~ gCGCD.
Stag Lee and Bill Lyons
Went out a gambling,
Stag Lee said he rolled seven
Billy swore that it was ten
Listen all you people
Stag was a real bad man
Billy was hanging 'round
Just a drinking with his friends,
When the barroom door swung open
And Stag Lee walked in
And the women started crying
When they seen he had his gun in his hands
Billy fell to his knees
Crying Stag don't take me life,
Think about my two little children
And my darling loving wife
He said I don't care about your children
And I don't give a damn for your wife,
You've stolen my good Stetson
Now I'm bound to take your life
Stag Lee shot Billy
He shot him with his forty-four,
Billy fell back from the table
Crying Stag don't shoot me no more
They were sitting down in the court room
Stag Lee did cuss,
The judge said let's kill him
Before he kills all of us
He was standing up on the gallows
His head was held up high,
It was twelve o'clock when they killed him
They was all glad to see him die
Stag Lee said to the Devil
Come on let's have some fun,
Go run and get your pitchfork
I'll go get my forty-one
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There’s a Spirit and Beauty in real mountain music that is like no other. It is as real as life. It is as Classic as Bach. I’m sure people would argue this point but it’s about where it comes from, the Heart the Soul the Spirit! People surviving as best they could/can and making music that fits. You Clifton Hicks help to maintain this World Treasure. Kind Thanks and Many Blessings! DaveyJO in Pennsylvania
Thank you for keeping this uniquely American heritage alive. You are credit to real Americans and a valued treasure.
@Clifton Hicks The American Chestnut is not extinct and there is an effort to bring it back.
Charming instrument. I made one couple of years back based on Frank Profitt's plans (from Foxfire 3) out of scraps I had laying around.Not sure if I should call it a Scranjo or a Bancrap.
Seeing this one, I may make some changes.
Thanks for the posting.
Man, that's cool.
This is one of my favorite channels right now. Good music with some history
I'm so grateful to you for preserving all the history that you share with us
That's a sweet looking banjo!
Thank you for sharing the music and our History it's like we for get were we came from our past is key to our Future! Thank you sir for my freedom and your Service God bless you sir
I apologize for being contrary, but that is definitely not chestnut. I am a retired forester and woodworker. The neck is possibly chestnut, although it’s a little hard to tell from your video, American chestnut is a ring porous wood with a distinctive grain similar to oak. Also, the color is “chestnut brown” lol. The body of your banjo is some type of ring porous wood, possibly maple, but there are many diffuse porous woods. Google “Chestnut wood”. Coincidentally, I am making a fretless banjo out of an old chestnut table leaf. I could send you a photo of it if I knew how but thanks for your excellent videos!
Butternut possibly?
There's a block of sunbleached ...
I wish I could get a better look at them screws...😂
I have to agree with the forester. I've refinished a good amount of furniture, and a part of your banjo looks very similar to many maple dressers and tables I've encountered. It is the section that looks a bit burley.
It is just a matter of semantics, and really doesn't amount to a hill of beans. We do enjoy you sharing your banjos though. So very interesting! Thank you. 😊
A lot of people get messed up with the wormholes, lots of woods can have wormholes.
I have some hickory I've worked that was eat up with the wormholes.
Nice Banjo cool 6 pointed star 🌟
American chestnut is/was very resistant to rot and bugs, but resistance, in the long run, is sometimes futile, lol.
I'd guess that the long neck was once a longstanding fencepost, that had finally given up most, but not all, of the ghost.
Great tone from that rudely but effectively crafted little twanger!
Beautiful. We have a sustainable tree farm in KY. Dad taught me all the trees in the woods and told me the story of the American Chestnut. It's one of the saddest stories of my childhood. We had an American Chestnut standing on the ridge in the back of the farm. I'll never forget the ground covered in burrs when he showed it to me. The bark was mostly dropping off of it and the next season it was dead. I've walked that ridge numerous times looking for suckers coming out of the stump but I've never foudn them. It was probably '86 or '88. I was on Pine Mountain in Eastern KY about 15 years ago hiking and I saw American's all over the place... they were about 10-15' tall and covered in scars... they've probably been sprouting since they were cut a hundred years ago.
I've been planting trees every winter for almost 10 years now. Including resistant AM. chestnuts from a farm in Michigan.
@@CliftonHicksbanjo that's great. I'm guessing they're the back-crossed ones and not the GMO ones? Mind sharing where you get them from, I'd love to plant some on our farm
Cool
Beautiful banjo! And well played!
The rays that appear on the tangential plane of the wood makes me believe that it's maple.
Love it Clifton! Thank you! I'd like to know your take on temperature control. I see you playing inside and out, next to a fire, in the cold, etc. I had a guitar split when I was younger because I took it from my warm room, to the cold outside in the winter. I just wanted to know if you had any tips to avoid those kind of things.
Beautiful instrument!!
Very cool!
I always enjoy your videos. Thank you for teaching me about my favorite instrument the old folk banjo..
CLIFTON what plans are you making for the block of wood
Interesting as always
Roby Hicks would be proud. First heard about him in Carl Sandburgs "American Songbook", There are 84 Scottish variants of "Lord Randall". Know that one?
Great. Thank you Clifton
That's beautiful
I would love to see that
U da best clif
love the sound of mountain music. thanks clifton, subbed!
These are wonderful instruments to keep the faith of Americana, also blues, in fact anything.
They're simple, thereby the music stays pure. Everyone should play one, make it your own. Mine's an English-made oak mountain banjo, heavy as hell with a great plucky tone when warmed up. Only I stick with modern tuning pegs, not the old slippy friction type, gotta make way, I say.
Use it for two finger, three finger and slide.
Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
beautiful banjo, art piece construction
Wow. That closing tune was hypnotic Clifton and a great story about the banjo and the chestnut. Just a great video. Thank you, sir. 👏
Your an absolute legend. I love your vids on so many different levels. Thank you 😊
Nice
I think I will build one! Course I'll have to use maple. What's the scale length?
This goes hard.
😊❤
Looks like birch to me but I am wrong more often than right. Anyway it looks cool to me. Just finished my first banjo. Pretty rough. Wood top. Tried nylgut strings and broke one right off the bat. I’ll keep trying though because you are such an inspiration. Thanks
count the wormholes. Odd number and there's still one in there, even and he's out again. In England we get horse chestnut which bears conkers but the timber's not much good, and sweet chestnut which bears edible chestnuts and the timber is very good for pretty much anything and is grainier and a little darker than your American variety. Another interesting video. Beavers are making a comeback here after extinction so maybe one day we'll get a beaver dam road.
Great song! I was surprised to see steel strings on an all-wood banjo. Would that put extra stress on the instrument?
I keep all these banjos tuned lower than standard, thus the string tension remains low.
I really loved this, thanks man! I went and looked up Stanley Hicks and Hattie came up too.. Whoo!! I noticed your name is Hicks too. Any relation?
We are not closely related.
@@CliftonHicksbanjo I only asked 'cause youns right both playing the same kind of banjo
Do the steel strings mess up the wooden tuning pegs? I’m obsessed with the sound on this banjo rn
Not if it's some hard wood, and you keep it tuned low.
No truss rod?
Cool banjo! Its a shame that the American chestnut is going extinct. I think it has something to do with a fungus that kills them.
Actually it's quite the opposite, the fungus from Europe did damage the American chestnuts severely they're still growing and still adapting and some say that they are overcoming the fungus and may grow great once again
Wood worm ??
Alan would have loved that thing he would have just stared at it and had that stupid look on his face trying to figure out how it got cut like that and wonder why the wood looked different than other wood and wondered why and I'd have to tell him all those trees died. They're all gone now. But some people still remember him.
Boy. Thanks.
I bet the last time that chunk was worked had to be around the civil war
🙂👍
is it sold?
Sold.
💋 ❤😮😅
Beautiful banjo. If these artifacts could only talk... My dad loved American Chestnut, and fought in the Korean War with the US Army.
When he died, my buddy, a carpenter, took a bunch of the reclaimed American Chestnut he had from projects, and build a flag box for my dad's flag. A very fitting tribute.
Thank you so much for your music. I can't thank you enough.
And leftists say we have no culture...
Come all you jolly people,
Wherever you may be,
Suppose little Mary Phagan
Belonged to you or me.
Now little Mary's mother
She weeps and mourns all day,
Praying to meet little Mary
In a better world some day.
Now little Mary's in Heaven,
Leo Frank's in jail,
Waiting for the day to come
When he can tell his tale.
Frank will be astonished
When the angels come to say,
"You killed little Mary Phagan;
It was on one holiday."
Judge he passed the sentence,
Then he reared back;
If he hang Leo Frank,
It won't bring little Mary back.
Frank he's got little children,
And they will want for bread;
Look up at their papa's picture,
Say, "Now my papa's dead."
Judge he passed the sentence
He reared back in his chair;
He will hang Leo Frank,
And give the negro a year.
Next time he passed the sentence,
You bet, he passed it well;
Well, Solister H. M.
Sent Leo Frank to hell.