Clifton Hicks - Been All Around this World - Clawhammer Banjo

Banjo Heritage 👉   / cliftonhicks  
aka "Bif John Henry" f# - DF#AD. George Gibson: "I learned this song from Stu Jamieson. It was a favorite of Rufus Crisp, a banjo virtuoso recorded by Stuart Jameison and Margot Mayo in 1946. Big John Henry is a truly wonderful song, and is probably from the era when railroads were being built in Floyd County. Rufus played a fretless banjo and used numerous tunings. He lived in Floyd County, which adjoins Knott. I learned a similar song in Knott County from Foster Collins, a neighbor on Buffalo Creek, that I called Totin' All 'Round this World - I sing this song to the melody I learned for Totin' all 'Round this World. Foster Collins, as many in the area did, moved to Michigan and I never saw him again, for I also left Kentucky in the early 1960s." - George Gibson, Last Possum Up the Tree.

Digging on that new railroad, mud up to my knees,
Digging on that new railroad, mud up to my knees,
Working for Big John Henry, and he's so hard to please,
I've been all 'round this world.

Used to have the big white hat, hoss and buggy fine,
Used to have the big white hat, hoss and buggy fine,
Used to court them pretty girls, I used to call them mine,
I've been all 'round this world.

Once I had a big gray hoss, and Darrow was his name,
Used to have a big gray hoss, and Darrow was his name,
They caught me making liquor and I had to leave their plain,
I've been all 'round this world.

Well single boy, single boy, I know you see a good time,
Single boy, single boy, I know you see a good time,
Wait 'til you get married, you'll work 'til the sun goes down,
I've been all 'round this world.

Single girl, single girl, the dress you wear so fine,
Single girl, single girl, the dress you wear so fine,
Wait 'til you get married, you'll work 'til the sun goes down,
I've been all 'round this world.

Digging on that new railroad, mud up to my knees,
Digging on that new railroad, mud up to my knees,
Digging for Big John Henry, and he's so hard to please,
I've been all 'round this world.

Bandcamp: http://cliftonhicks.bandcamp.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fQxc...

iTunes:   / clifton-hicks  

Venmo: https://venmo.com/cliftonhicksbanjo

PayPal: https://paypal.me/cliftonhicksbanjo

#cliftonhicks

Oldtime banjo close ups and demonstrations of overhand, clawhammer, two finger, thumb lead, 2 finger, frailing and stroke styles plus traditional southern Appalachian mountain hoedown and early minstrel show techniques. History, anthropology, folklore, research and musicology including breakdowns, blues, waltz pieces, tin pan alley, some Afro-Caribbean and West African history, occasional Cajun and zydeco references, also Métis, Creole, Melungeon and indigenous North American music traditions. Mountain music, southern culture. George Gibson, Ernie Williams, Cousin Emmy, Dock Boggs, Rufus Crisp, Virgil Anderson, Lily May Ledford, Roscoe Holcomb, Tab Ward, Frank Proffitt, Tommy Jarrell, Kyle Creed, Lee Sexton, Morgan Sexton, Lead Belly, Pete Steele, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, JD Crowe, Clarence Ashley, Fred Cockerham, Dwight Diller, Gaither Carlton, John Snipes, Dink Roberts, Clifford Essex, Joe Sweeney, Archibald Ferguson, Dan Emmett, John Hartford, Picayune Butler, Gus Cannon, Art Rosenbaum, Grandpa Jones, Snuffy Jenkins, Buell Kazee, Bascam Lamar Lunsford, Uncle Dave Macon, Tommy Makem, Luke Kelly, Charlie Poole, Ola Belle Reed, BF Shelton, Hobart Smith, Samantha Bumgarner, Peggy Seeger, Mike Seeger, Jean Ritchie, Ralph Stanley, Odell Thompson, Wade Ward, Hedy West, Fred McDowell, Uncle Homer Walker, Mississippi John Hurt old time, folk, trad roots pickers songsters. #banjo #oldtimemusic #history Riley Baugus, Dirk Powell, Gillian Welch, Maybelle Carter Family. Morgan Sexton, Black Banjo Songsters, Lee Sexton, Clyde Troxell, Blanche Coldiron, Banjo Bill Cornett.