DESCRIPTION:
A banjo tune played here clawhammer style; the video is a "memory aid" for my student Julie.
EDIT: I want to add that while commenter Paul Ritscher (see below) learned it in the key of C, from Kirk McGee in his living room, it was recorded by the McGee brothers Sam and Kirk (and is generally assumed to have been composed by Sam McGee) in the key of D, which is where almost every oldtime musician plays it today. (Here's a link to that:) http://www.folkways.si.edu/the-mcgee-brothers-and-arthur-smith/needlecase/country-old-time/music/track/smithsonian
Because of the certainty with which Mr. Ritscher declared that the tune as he learned it was played in classic C tuning (which of course I don't dispute) I wanted to be sure I was not leading folks who might learn the tune from me astray in the matter of the key most folks play it in. But a quick listen to all the people who had a version of the tune on iTunes demonstrated that the tune is indeed almost universally played in the key of D, at least these days. Bob Carlin, Dan Levenson, Brad Kolodner, Rafe and Clelia Stephaninni, and lots of assorted stringbands all recorded it in D. Indeed, there's even YouTube footage of Sam McGee's grandson Jimmy playing it in D. The only exceptions were on a children's album called "Banjo for Babes" (key of C) and Mike Seeger, who seemed to be splitting the difference by playing in C# :-)
In the matter of the melody, in Mr. Ritscher's comment he stated that it "almost sounds a little bit like the real tune. Kinda." So, while it was probably intended as a disparaging remark, I'm going to take it to mean that I've done my job of accompanying the fiddle, sketching out the melody, and providing some percussion. I realize that the finger picking style in which the tune was composed and recorded is not the same as the frailing/clawhammer style which I play, and which this video demonstrates. But it's a fine tune, deserving of being played, and I hope you all have a chance to enjoy playing it with lots of folks.