Clifton Hicks - Cluck Old Hen - Fretless Clawhammer Banjo

Banjo Heritage 👉   / cliftonhicks  
'CLUCK OLD HEN, gDGCD: A banjo tune popular in Knott County and throughout the mountains. Like many banjo songs it is also a fine dance tune. Often a lone banjo player would play for a frolic in the home, or for a square dance in a more formal setting. Banjo players needed to play loud and lay down a beat for dancers to follow. I call this type of lick the square dance shuffle. Rufus Crisp called this lick his "double shuffle."

'There is a version of Cluck Old Hen by Knott County banjo player Banjo Bill Cornett on the CD Mountain Music of Kentucky. He was one of the finest banjo players in the mountains. The CD also features Granville Bowling, another wonderful banjo player from Knott County. Locally, Granville was known as "Bad Eye." Glenn Thomas played with Bad Eye in the 1940s and said he played in the down stroke style as well as the driving two finger thumb lead style that is recorded on Mountain Music of Kentucky. I never heard Bad Eye play. He moved his family to Dayton, Ohio around 1950.

'The Oven Fork Baptist Church, established in 1820 in Harlan County, had ten written prohibitions for church members. The ninth read, "Frolics not permitted in the home of members of the church." Most Baptist church members were in their middle ages or older, and did not approve of banjo playing and dancing. Young folks, however, managed to play the banjo and dance in spite of this prohibition.' - George R. Gibson

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