Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

The 9 Pound Hammer

#41

I like listening to a progression over and over, it seems that once you get intimate with a progression then you can start hearing alternative melody lines coming out of it. It really takes me awhile to get the melody down in my head and to not think about it…I think that is my problem in a jam scenario is hearing the change in the progression and knowing where the melody is.

I think that these exercises or “Netgrass” projects are a great thing, forces you to become intimate with the song and I become and “expert” on that song after our collaborations.

In other news, Momma and I are heading out to see The Travelin’ MCcoury’s and Yonder Mountain String Band tonight downtown Nashville. We also got a call from some friends last night from Ohio that are gonna be downtown Nashville tonight, so we are meeting up with them afterwards to run the strip/bars…gonna be a long night!

#42

Man, I love the Travelin’ McCourys. Those boys can play! They’re performing with YMSB down here in Jacksonville next week, but it’s Thursday night and Jacksonville is a little too far away for us on a week night.

My wife called earlier today and said a co-worker gave her two tickets for the Aaron Tippin, Joe Diffie, Sammy Kershaw show tonight here in town. Not the music I normally listen to, but hey, it’s hard to turn down free tickets.

#43

TGFB (Thank God for bluegrass)! That show was not our scene. Lot’s of law enforcement, lots of fighting and a pretty little 19 year old sitting in front of us got arrested for underage drinking. Joe Diffie did sound mighty good though. I’ve never really listened to him that much, but he’s got a great voice.

#44

Larry,

I ran into Joe last year here as he lives in my town, was at Publix super market…maybe I will PM you and tell you what I said to him.

Concert went great tonight. The Travelin’ McCoury’s were pretty darn good, straight up old school bluegrass and was great. As most of you know, the “bluegrass or Alt bluegrass” scene is pretty much a flash back to “hippies” of days of ol’ but the are wanna be’s as they are no older than 30…but a fun group of folks none-the-less and you gotta give them props for reviving bluegrass!

Well the McCoury’s got done and the stage was changed up and out comes YMSB, well one one of the boys is back in Colorado as he had a kid today, so the two McCroury brothers are now filling in along with the guitar player from Infamous String Dusters (he played guitar for the McCoury’s the entire set)…well anyway YMSB invites a “special guest” out on stage and it’s no other than Del himself! Del does 2 numbers and the crowd goes wild.

Now since the two McCoury boys are more “practiced musicans” you could tell they were just a slight bit out of place with YMSB as they are a “jam band”. After shaking off a break or two the McCoury boys finally got their feet under them and took some breaks…and I ain’t talking grass, I am talking disco, the Talking Heads, and a host of other stuff.

My highlight of the night is when they done “The Cuckoo’s Nest” and they raised the roof.

YMSB is probably the best “seat of the pants” jam band I have ever seen perform…those boys know their music. I’d say that this concert with both bands was as probably as good as a venue as I have ever seen and I’d suggest all go see this combo.

#45

Sounds like you had the more fun evening, oldhat.

I think Ronnie McCoury is making a deliberate effort to start playing with more jamgrass bands like YMSB. I read an interview somewhere I can’t remember and he was talking about the prospect of playing after his dad quits the road (which can’t be too many year away). He gave the impression that the Travelin’ McCourys are trying to establish a reputation separate from Del’s legacy. They played here last fall with Keller Williams which seemed like a strange pairing but it worked nicely. They’re playing Springfest here in March and they’re billed as both Del McCoury Band and Travelin’ McCourys. I’m hoping the Travelin’ version will sit in with Greensky Bluegrass.

#46

I pulled some candidate lyrics from CowboyLyrics. Some of them are a bit off… “Harian to get a little booz” as opposed to “Harlan to get a little brew.” Anyway, I figured I’d put this out there so we can start voting on which ones we want to include. Feel free to post other verses and I’ll add them to the list.

This nine pound hammer is a little too heavy
For my size, honey, for my size
Roll on buddy, don’t you roll so slow
how can I roll when the wheels won’t go

Up on the mountain just to see my honey
And I ain’t coming back, Lord, I ain’t coming back

  • Refrain

It’s a long way to Hazard a long way to Harian
Just to get a little booze, just get a little booz

  • Refrain

Ain’t one hammer in this tonnel
That rings like mine that rings like mine

  • Refrain

It rings like silver and shines like gold
It rings like silver and shines like gold

  • Refrain

Somebody stole my nine pound hammer
They’ve took it and gone, they’ve took it and gone

  • Refrain

That nine pound hammer that killed John Henry
Ain’t a gonna kill me, ain’t a gonna kill me

  • Refrain
#47

Good old Harian, Kentucky. That must be where the tonnel is. :smiley:
Seems like the lyrics I find online always have at least one mistake.

I think I’ve heard Jim & Jesse do one verse as:

Going up the mountain just to see may baby
And I ain’t coming back, no I ain’t coming back

and another verse later in the song as:

Going down the the mountain just to see may baby
And I ain’t coming back, no I ain’t coming back

The only other verse I can think of is:

When I’m long gone carve my tombstone
out of number 9 coal, out of number 9 coal

#48

Going up the mountain and down the mountain in the same song… baby must have rolled down the mountain :laughing:

I think at least one of those (going up/ going down) would be a keeper.

I didn’t even think about “Carve my tombstone…” when I cut and pasted. I can’t believe that’s not on there. That’s a must do in my book.

Of course the beginning verse is a must do (is a little heavy for my size).

That makes three verses by my count. If we do two verse length breaks (or even 4 length like the Rice All-Star version), that makes a kick off break, and 4 breaks in between the three verses. 5 breaks… might be enough.

Not to get into my personal life too much but… I am not much of a drinker, but oddly enough, I like Harlan/Hazard for brew verse. Growing up in KY, that’s a familiar concept… people travelling for adult beverages. Some counties are wet, and some are dry… in some places, people would drive an hour.

I also like “Now there ain’t one hammer in this tunnel that rings like mine…” Not sure why, but I like it.

#49

I’ve always liked this song, but kinda took the words for granted. Now that we’re doing a project with it, it sparked my interest to find out more about it. The words have never really made much sense to me and it seems like every artist that performs it not only changes the words, but also move the verses around.

So… I googled “Who wrote Nine Pond Hammer” and the best thing I found was a Wilkapedia of “Take This Hammer”. It seems as though it’s derived possibly from prison laborers after slavery was abolished working in the mines. Most likely they came up with chants to pass the time or maybe keep a rythym going while swinging their hammers and simply making the work more enjoyable. Check it out, it’s interesting. Sorry, I couldn’t post a link.

Later, Merle Travis wrote the Harlan/Hazard verse that Mike spoke of which I think should be in there too as well as the other verses that were mentioned.

I don’t think any one person can really claim to be the author of this one, at least from what I found. Someone may know much more than I do about it though.

J.W.

#50

JW’s post reminded me that I have a copy of Wayne Erbsen’s book, Rural Roots of Bluegrass. It devotes a couple of pages to the history of Nine Pound Hammer. Erbsen says that the version commonly heard in bluegrass circles can be traced to a May 13, 1927, recording by Al Hopkins & His Buckle Busters, though fragments of the song can be traced back as far as 1891. He credits Merle Travis for the song still being in active circulation.

He also lists one verse we don’t have:

Captain, Captain! My feet are cold.
Doggone your feet! Let them wheelers roll.

— Begin quote from ____

Going up the mountain and down the mountain in the same song… baby must have rolled down the mountain

— End quote

Could be, but maybe he has two women, one up on the mountain and another down in the holler, and he’s always hankering for the one he’s left behind.

#51

“Captain, Captain…” that would be a cool odd one to throw in there. I can’t seem to sing it with the tune, but that’s all good as I am not signed up for singing.

Ahhhhhhh up the mountain to see my baby, then down the mountain to see the other baby. The thought didn’t even cross my mind. I am not sure if it is because I am being successful at avoiding adulterous thoughts, or maybe because my brain is a bit too literal. After all, in both cases he ain’t coming back.

#52

— Begin quote from "mreisz"

Growing up in KY, that’s a familiar concept… people travelling for adult beverages. Some counties are wet, and some are dry… in some places, people would drive an hour.

— End quote

The county adjacent to mine (Suwannee County) just went wet with the last election. The law change put the “First Chance/Last Chance” liquor store at the county line out of business in about a month.

#53

That’s sad. The place was probably a fixture from before we were born and just like that… out of business.

I had another thought about the baby up and down the mountain… my wife is from eastern Ky (Allen, near Prestonsburg). Anyway, I lived there a while and there were occasionally mud slides that moved things off the mountains… maybe baby got swept down during a storm? Stranger things have happened.

#54

You guys ever consider that they live “half way up” the mountain, so he goes both “up” and
down" to reach a particular destination?

You can thank me later.

#55

Thank you :smiley:

#56

I take back what I said about it being nice to have so long between choosing a song and actually recording it. I fear we might be studying our project a little too closely.

Today I was compelled to research what exactly “number 9 coal” is. I couldn’t find a definitive answer, but apparently it has nothing to do with the grade of coal. The best guess I found was that number 9 refers to a particular vein of coal, presumably in Kentucky.

#57

I agree it seems to be taking a long time for “early February” to get here. Nice thoughts on #9 coal. I figured it was a grading or something.

Anyway, in order to seem like we are moving forward, I’ll post the tab for a mando break I have been fiddling with in case it’s needed. I figured I may as well write it out. It’s basically what Ben wrote (and published in his excellent build-a-break tutorial) that I played through months ago, then it transmogrified in my old tired brain, and then I polished up what resulted. I had some additional triplet licks in there, but I am not pulling off well on the mandolin. I’m not sure if it’s partly because it’s so dry or just that I am out of practice. Anyway, if we do need another break, I can probably work back in some flashier licks, but this is pretty much the level I am playing today. Even if we don’t need another break, I can work some of the elements into the rhythm track.

I post this for your enjoyment, critique, ridicule, humor… basically however you react is okeedokee.

How does it compare with what you all that have a break are doing? Too much or too little blues notes? Not flashy enough? As Emperor Joseph said to Mozart, “Too many notes?” As Nigel Tufnel would say, should it go to 11?

[attachment=0]NetGrass9PoundHammer.tef[/attachment]

#58

Since it’s been a few pages, here’s a roster update. If anyone else wants to get involved, speak up… things are going to get divvied and filled up before long.

Ozi - bass/lead vox
Jesse - GTR rhythm and break
JW - GTR break
Larry - dobro break and/or rhythm and/or noodling
Mike - mandolin rhythm (break if needed, might do some backing vocals)
Ben - unspecified instrument(s)
Fiddlewood - something to be named later (banjo, GTR, fiddle are open possibilities by my count)

With the known openings, and Dave’s update on fiddle availability, I think we could use some fiddle. If you (Dave) would rather do something else, that’s fine by me, but I like some fiddle in the tune (a break and some noodling would be awesome). Ben can also do whatever he wants, but from a need perspective, I think he could do Banjo and a mando break. I love volunteering other people for things :smiley:

I’ll shoot Ben an email and direct his gaze towards this thread to see if he has any preferences.

I’ll take a shot at roughly laying it out. If anyone has double verse length breaks worked out let us know:
Dave: kickoff and fiddle break
-perhaps a hard stop on 1 before the vox kicks in?
Ozi: traditional first verse (is a little to heavy for my size)
Larry: Dobro break
Ozi: Long way to Hazard verse
JW: GTR break
Ben: Mando break
Ozi: Up on the mountain verse
Jesse: GTR break
Ozi: Make my tombstone verse
Ben or Dave: banjer break and kill it

It seems that without any “bluegrass measures” each verse takes about 20 seconds at 200 BPM. So if we stick with 200 (which I think most were leaning towards), that would put this at about 3:20. I think that’s pretty reasonable. We could certainly go longer if anyone wants to add more, but it’s not too short as it sits. Feel free to jump in with other ideas… this is just to get the discussion going, not set anything in stone.

#59

Here is a rough recording of my few seconds of fame! (20 second guitar break)

Still a work in progress.

Also the Coal Numbering system refers to the “depth”. The higher the number the shallower it is. I think #9 is about 50-70 ft (In general) along the Ohio River Valley. #13 would probably have been the coal our forefathers dug out of shallow veins in the side of hills.

My grandfather still dug his own coal when I was young. I can remember being maybe 3 or 4 and him and my dad dynamiting (Boy have times changed) in the hole in back in the hollow to break coal loose. Guess he had a hole that went back in 50 yards and was pretty decent size that took him pretty much a lifetime of coal getting to make. It just so happen to be that from that point in the hollow to the top of the hill was about 60 ft or so…a good place to find a vein by digging into the side of the hill.

#60

Well alright, good deal! I like the arrangement! I like the blue notes. It sounds like ya’ll are getting geared up. I think this will be a fun project!