· Guitar
· Five-string Banjo
· Autoharp
· Long-neck Old-time Five-string Banjo
· Washtub Bass Fiddle

The Guitar

The guitar is the original country and old-time musical instrument. The Oriskany Strings style goes all the way back to the days of Maybelle Carter, when her "Carter-picking" (a distinct style of picking out the melody on the bass strings and maintaining the rhythm with chords on the treble strings) became the popular technique in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Two guitarists play on Mostly Gospel: Gene Guilliams, our lead vocalist, and James "Junior" Christian, a good friend and guest artist on our album, who plays with the Craig County Boys, a popular bluegrass band out of New Castle, Virginia.

Want to hear how they sound? Just click one of these sound links.

Just Over In The Gloryland with Guitars Emphasized
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Five-string banjo, Scruggs style

Carol Lewis plays an old Gibson RB100 banjo that she bought at a flea market music store. These were lower-end Gibson banjos produced from 1948 until 1979. Carol’s banjo was manufactured in 1967, based on the serial number. It has great sound and good action, and is a solid, serviceable instrument. Carol uses the Earl Scruggs three-finger picking style.

Want to hear how it sounds? Just click one of these sound links.

Just Over In The Gloryland with Bluegrass Banjo Emphasized
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Autoharp

The autoharp was invented in Germany and began to appear in the United States around 1900. In the original Carter Family, back in the 1920s, Sara Carter played an autoharp, and Maybelle Carter often played an autoharp too in her later career with daughters June, Helen and Anita. In fact, she recorded an album called “Queen of the Autoharp.”

Since those days, autoharps have been commonly used in the U.S. as folk and bluegrass instruments. The most popular brand is Oscar Schmidt, but custom, handmade autoharps are also sought after by aficionados.

Want to hear how it sounds? Just click one of these sound links.

Just Over In The Gloryland with Autoharp Emphasized
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Long-neck old-time five-string banjo, clawhammer style

The earlier style of five-string banjo is an open back, or non-resonator, banjo, often called a “frailing” or old-time banjo. It is usually played clawhammer style, without picks, and is often tuned to different modal and minor tunings.

Folksinger Pete Seeger originated the long neck style, adding three more frets to give a lower tuning to better accompany his singing voice. This banjo gives great flexibility in the range of notes that can be played. It can be capoed at the third fret and played like a regular five-string banjo in the key of G, or it can be kept open and played in E for the lower singing range-good for sing-alongs.

Want to hear how it sounds? Just click one of these sound links.

Just Over In The Gloryland with Clawhammer Banjo Emphasized
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Washtub Bass Fiddle

The bass fiddle is now considered to be the main rhythm section of a bluegrass band. It is also used in the rhythm section of an orchestra and is often played with a bow in the same way a cello is played. Jack says he's never seen a bluegrass bass fiddle bowed and every bluegrass bass fiddle player he asks about bowing their bass looks at him in amazement (or possibly pity).

Old-time country folks, Jack says, could never afford to buy a bass fiddle so it was rarely found in the early bands. Instead, folks made an imitation bass fiddle out of a galvanized washtub and a sawed-off broom handle. A clothes line was tied to one end of the broom handle and the other end was tied to the bottom of the tub. The tub was turned over and the player held it down with one foot, being careful to touch only the rim so the sound from the bottom (drum head) was not muffled. The line was then pulled tight by the broom handle using one hand, and plucked once with the other hand. Then the line was pulled tighter to hit a second higher "note" and plucked again. The two "notes" were played alternately in time to the music without regard to playing in any key. It worked, sort of.

Jack's washtub bass was made for him by Kenton Owsley (Tele: 360-956-9322) who calls it a "Cable Tub Bass." It has two bass fiddle strings (A and E) running the length of the hand carved neck (or mast as Kenton calls it). Using a tuner, Jack found all the other notes on the two strings and marked them with scotch tape.

To learn how to play the washtub bass, Jack studied three instructional videos (beginner, intermediate and advanced bass fiddle) created by Marshall Wilborn and Murphy Henry (The Murphy Method, Tele: 800-227-2357). Jack says one of the biggest challenges was finding notes that were physically close together so he could play fast. If the notes are too far apart on the strings, he can't play fast tempos because it takes too much time to move his hand up and down the neck. Jack has learned a number of "runs" and "walks" and you can hear many of these as he plays the band's rhythm. He says he's still determined to learn how to bow his washtub bass.

How does his washtub bass sound? Just click one of these sound links to find out.

Just Over In The Gloryland with Washtub Bass Emphasized
RealAudio || MP3 (861 KB)

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