Elk River Blues - Clawhammer Banjo

West Virginia fiddler Ernie Carpenter is a legend for composing this iconic melody and letting his fiddle ring out for his homeland flooded by progress. I got the crookedness of the A part from West Virginia banjoist Fred Coon who said it was 'Ernie-approved'.
Played on a fretless mountain banjo made by geologist Dick Gilman in Fredonia, NY.
Find it on the new album 'March of the Mollusk' available here: bennybleu.band...
Streaming Everywhere: open.spotify.c...
Check out the March of the Mollusk homepage to learn more about the tunes: bennybleu.com/...

[@librandy77]

I love the way you play benny… thanks mate

[@bretterb42]

Cool tune! Reminds me of “Wish You Were Here” a bit.

[@BennyBleu]

Thanks Brett. You know, you're right, must be the thousands of hours listening to Pink Floyd in high school coming out through reverse osmosis!

[@danielpope5766]

This is one of my favorite fiddle tunes, and I was wondering the other day what it would sound like as a clawhammer tune. Well, now I know. Beautiful arrangement.

[@BennyBleu]

Thanks Daniel! It is a great tune, I first heard it on the Evil City String Band album featuring clawhammer guru Richie Stearns.

[@douloss]

excellent picking lad..

[@pezb1]

Been thinking of getting a fretless, that is a wonderfull sound/tune lovin your vids

[@BennyBleu]

Thank you for listening! It's really fun to play a fretless, I keep this one tuned to dADAD which is a good tuning to pick out simple arrangements of fiddle tunes.

[@emiliotoledo]

Lovely!!

[@ephemerics]

Man this is pretty. Wish I could play like this. Glad you can anyway. Beautiful work.

[@BennyBleu]

Thanks for listening! Just remember there is beauty in the notes you leave out 8^)

[@KM-om1dy]

Amazing banjo player ✨

[@BennyBleu]

Thank you!

[@jesluck5709]

Sounds great Benny!

[@BennyBleu]

Thanks Jes!

[@bcoyle7]

Nice playing. What is the tuning here? Thanks. 🙏

[@elliesharman]

yes, what is the tuning, please???

[@BennyBleu]

Thank you! It's dADAD, a simple but effective tuning for approximating many fiddle tunes!

[@bcoyle7]

@@BennyBleu ... thanks so much for this information and your wonderful playing.