--- Waterways Journal ---
On January 5, 2006, my friend Orville Johnson came to do some
playing at the house. He brought along a banjo that once belonged to
John Hartford. It was the oversize banjo made by Tom Morgan that
Hartford used off and on during the Eighties. Doc Cullis down in
Chattanooga TN had the sister banjo. Tom made two, one for John, and
one for Doc. I believe the design to be Orpheum-like. The rim was 14
inch, and the fingerboard extended over the top of the head. In
1996 John sold the banjo through George Gruhn in Nashville. A
hand-written letter of authenticity from John was included.
He kept it in a 335
type electric guitar case and wrote his name and a California address
on the case lid. There was a pickup, a Barcus Berry, and various
banjo parts that came in the case. According to Orville, Doc's banjo
was used some on Mark Twang because John's wasn't ready yet.
Orville and I made up this tune, I had the A part already and
Orville got the B section together, and this is a recording of us
jamming in my living room on the tune. We named it after the Waterways
Journal, a magazine I get every week about tow boats and stuff. John
mentioned this magazine in the song "Steamboat Whistle Blues", though it
was misquoted on the lyric sheet that came with the LP as "looking at
the waterways churning" but the real line was "looking at the
Waterways Journal." It is a cool magazine to keep up with.
I played John's old banjo and Orville played the Dobro. It
really meant a lot to me to get to play this cool banjo and try to
emulate my hero. I tried to play some of those inside inversions that
I heard John play for thirty years. Nobody can play the banjo like he
did and that includes yours truly. But this is my effort to capture
some of what he did. It felt great to look down and see this banjo in
my hands. Music is good and God brings all kinds of cool stuff into
our lives if we just pay attention.
We drank coffee that Dennis Crouch sent over here as a
Christmas present and made it in a French press. My dog Skillet slept
and paid very little mind to the proceedings. It was an overcast day,
we had a marine layer of clouds at 1500 feet or so, and it was misty
rainy and in the forties. Thank you for taking time to listen to me
and Orville pick.
Sidenote, Orville was working on the Julia Belle Swain prior to
John, and recommended John to the Captain.
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