Truss Rods by Bob Smakula

I’ve recently been reading many newspaper and magazine articles on the greatest inventions of the last 98 years. You tend to see the same things over and over: air travel, nylon, transistors, and even Little Debbie Nutty Bars. My personal favorite is one that few people ever see, though most guitar, banjo, and mandolin players rely on it to keep their instruments in shape. This hidden treasure-the truss rod-has saved me countless hours of neck adjustments.

The earliest manufactured guitars were intended to be played with gut strings and neck reinforcement was a minor. As players demanded louder instruments, steel

Read the rest

‘I Wish I Was A Mole in the Ground’ – Clawhammer Banjo Tab

“I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground” was the very first tune recorded on the banjo in the style that would eventually be known as old-time music. Playing banjo and singing on this song was Bascom Lamar Lunsford.

Lunsford, who famously called himself “The Squire of South Turkey Creek,” was the first to record “I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground” on March 15, 1924. This recording marked the first time that anyone had recorded on the 5-string banjo in what would later be called country music. For that, we tip our hat to Mr. Lunsford.

Read the rest

High on a Mountain

by Ola Belle Reed, © Midstream Music (BMI). Used by Permission.

As I looked at the valleys down below,
They were green just as far as I could see.
As my memory turned, oh how my heart did yearn,
For you and the days that used to be.

Chorus:
High on a mountain, wind blowin’ free,
Thinkin’ about the days that used to be.
High on a mountain, standing all alone,
Wonderin’ where the years of my life have flown.

Oh I wonder if you ever think of me,
Or if time has blotted out your memory
As I listen

Read the rest

Wholesale Registration Page

This is the registration page to place your wholesale orders online. We will approve your account shortly and then you can place your orders on our online portal.  If you have not ordered from us before, please include what sort of store you have, where you heard about us, and your address in the notes. 

You can also order by phone at (800)752-2656 or by emailing us at info@nativeground.com. If you want to know more about becoming a Native Ground wholesaler, please visit nativeground.com/wholesale-getting-started.

[wwlc_registration_form]

Read the rest

Darling Cory

Clawhammer banjo for the complete ignoramus cover

Darling Cory

Wake up, wake up, darlin’ Cory,
What makes you sleep so sound
When the revenours are comin’
Goin’ to tear your still house down?

Dig a hole, dig a hole in the meadow
Dig a hole in the cold, cold ground
Go and dig you a hole in the meadow
Gonna lay darlin’ Cory down.

Go away, go away, darlin’ Cory
Stop hangin’ around my bed
Bad liquor destroyed my body,
Pretty women’s gone to my head.

Don’t you hear them bluebirds a-singing’?
Don’t you hear their mournful sound?
They are preachin’ Cory’s funeral
In some lonesome graveyard

Read the rest

Rain and Snow

Rain and Snow

Well I married me a wife she gave me trouble all my life
Ran me out in the cold rain and snow.

Rain and snow
Ran me out in the cold rain and snow.

Well she came down the stairs combing back her long yeller hair
And her cheeks were as red a rose.

Well I did all I could do try to get along with you
And I’m not gonna be treat this a way.

Well she came in the room where she met her fatal doom
And I’m not gonna be treat this a way.

Read the rest

Wild Bill Jones

Wild Bill Jones

As I went out for to take a little walk
And I walked upon that Wild Bill Jones
He was walkin’ and talkin’ by my true lover’s side
I forbid him for to leave her alone

He says my age it is just twenty-one,
Too old for to be controlled
I drew my revolver from my side
I destroyed that poor boy’s soul.

Well he kicked and he staggered boys he fell to the ground
And he give one dying groan
I throwed  my arms around my true lover’s neck
Saying baby you’ll be left alone.

I’ve

Read the rest

Little Birdie

Little Birdie

Little birdie, little birdie
Come and sing to me your song.
I’ve a short time for to be here
And a long time to be gone.

I’d rather be in some dark holler
Where the sun don’t ever shine
Than to see you with another
And to know that you’d never be mine.

Married woman, married woman
Why don’t you settle down
You are like a little birdie
A-flyin’ all around.

I don’t want your greenback dollar
I don’t want your watch and chain
All I want is your heart darlin’
Won’t you take me back.

Little birdie,

Read the rest

Bluegrass Banjo Lesson: Take Me Home, Country Roads

Howdy!

I remember back In the seventies and eighties, it was neigh on impossible to do a bluegrass show without performing “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” better known as just “Country Roads.” The audience would practically take us out to the nearest tree and hang us by our toes if we didn’t play it. And when we finally did play it, the audience would sing along, swaying back and forth and having a genuine feel-good “Kumbaya moment.”

John Denver“Country Roads” was actually written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver, who was the first to record it in 1971. It

Read the rest

They Gotta Quit Kickin’ My Dog Around

Ev’ry time I come to town
The boys keep kickin’ my dawg aroun’;
Makes no difference if he is a houn’,
They gotta quit kickin’ my dawg aroun’.

Me an’ Lem Briggs an’ old Bill Brown
Took a load of corn to town;
My old Jim dawg, onery old cuss,
He just naturally follered us.

As we drive past Johnson’s store
A passel of yaps come out the door;
Jim he scooted behind a box
With all them fellers a-throwin’ rocks.

They tied a can to old Jim’s tail
An’ run him a-past the county jail;
That just naturally made

Read the rest