Anthony Simpkins, "Beneath the Willows," ft. Matt Heckler // GemsOnVHS™

In today's episode, Matt Heckler and I are back in Ryan Navey's banjo building workshop (https://www.carolinabanjoco.com/cherr.... As I played a beautiful custom banjo he created for me, the master carver had a few words on practice, patience and the process of craftsmanship. He ain't wrong. At the beginning, it's hard to be proud of what you've created. It's over the course of time and progress that you start to take pride in your work and see results. No more true a lesson could be fitting of today's song, a traditional performed by me of all people, with the good folks Ryan and Matt on guitar and fiddle.

This is a song I recorded for a project some years back, in a whirlwind recording session with Damon Moon in Atlanta, Georgia. I've never been too keen to release my own recordings, and thus it sat in the dusty vault, lost to time. None other than Ashley Mae of Lost Dog plays fiddle on the tracks. This is one of my favorite ballads, "Beneath the Willows", a song done in countless ways by countless folks! If you trace the history of this song, you can find slight variations of it in places from Appalachia to England. We need more traditional songs on here, and I encourage folks to dig into the classics. Music didn't start in the 20th century!

Feel free to purchase the tracks here;
https://anthonysimpkins.bandcamp.com/

Want to learn how to play this song? Check out these tabs: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/...

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GemsOnVHS is a long running series of intimate, off-stage performances by songwriters we love.
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