Tractor1 - Posted - 12/01/2016:  06:31:04

Murphy Henry mentioned Andy Boarman a lot in her old Banjo Newsletter columns,so i ordered the recording of his playing.Andy was influenced by the classic style.Jimmy Arnold  nodded to him on his Old Mosby CD

The other man here,Johnny Whisnant apparently from the liner notes, learned from local forward roll players.I would love to have heard their stylings

Trying to get these snips in the right order is beyond the scope of my getup and go

Edited by - Tractor1 on 12/01/2016 16:53:52

 

 

 

Tractor1 - Posted - 12/01/2016:  06:34:00

Andy Boarman

Tractor1 - Posted - 12/01/2016:  06:37:42

Johnny Whisnant

R Buck - Posted - 12/01/2016:  07:03:09

I knew Andy and to a lesser extent Johnnie.  Both fine fellows and Andy also played autoharp.  They were indeed and link to the older music.

Flange warp - Posted - 12/01/2016:  07:08:58

Very Fine!

bohemian - Posted - 12/01/2016:  07:52:02

About time Johnnie Whisnant is getting some recognition.

I was not aware of Andy Boarman, great playing.. nice touch.

Thanks for posting.

Edited by - bohemian on 12/01/2016 07:53:34

kmwaters - Posted - 12/01/2016:  08:18:27

Cool!

PeterKSiegel - Posted - 12/01/2016:  09:38:26

Wow, those clips are both beautiful, each in its own way! Can you tell us about the relationship between Johnny Whisnant's Home Sweet Home and Don Reno's playing of the same song? Obviously they have some common features. Did one learn from the other? Gary Reid wrote that Reno's Home Sweet Home was a quick cover of a regional hit. Does that have anything to do with it?

csacwp - Posted - 12/01/2016:  09:39:47

Andy Boarman's playing is essentially classic banjo, especially the finger waggle tremolo sequence, a classic banjo technique.  

Edited by - csacwp on 12/01/2016 09:40:32

Tractor1 - Posted - 12/01/2016:  09:54:32

The album j-pegs speak of Andy's stylings and influence,
If memory serves correct ,Andy was quoted as saying Don Reno was his favorite.

revellfa - Posted - 12/02/2016:  06:21:51

I also knew Amdy Boarman. An original man indeed

Kenneth Logsdon - Posted - 12/02/2016:  06:38:15

Boarmans picking/rhythm style is more two finger type to me... picks on three or not, I know an old timer that plays just about like that even today... Johnny could smoke it, but I wonder if the " later influences" came in to play on most of his stuff we hear??

olhoss18 - Posted - 12/02/2016:  08:08:27

Definitely can hear traces of Scruggs and Reno in Andys playing! Johnnie is more straight pre Scruggs style but played the way Reno played home sweet home. Not hard to tell these guys would've influence anyone in that time frame when Scruggs and Reno would've been coming up. Too many similarities.

Joel Hooks - Posted - 12/02/2016:  19:06:10

I took an interest in this topic right away but had nothing to add.  So I called someone that I thought might know something about Boarman-- he did.

Andy Boarman was a member of the American Banjo Fraternity, learn more about us here...

banjofraternity.org

He attended at least three if not four rallies.  At one rally he wanted to learn "Darktown Dandies" but could not read music to learn how to play it, so he had a member (the one I was talking to) play it over and over, but he just could not get it "right."

I have not listened to this record but reviews claim that his version is different then the written (and commonly played) version.

Two of the pieces he recorded, "Dancing Waves Schottische" and "Derby Polka," are straight out of the Stahl banjo instructor.  I scanned a copy for everyone to have and you can view and download it for free here...

archive.org/details/Wm.C.Stahl...njoMethod

He played using the basic mechanics of what is called "classic style" today.  That is picking with bare fingers (first, second and thumb plus any others needed to get the job done), though he played on steel wire strings (except at ABF rallies where he would have used nylon when he played).

His piece de resistance was his tremolo movement where he claimed, by accounts, that he was the only one who could do it (except for just about all "classic banjo" players) and this effect can be seen in his "Home Sweet Home" with variations posted above.  I suppose that this was new to "folk" style and bluegrass banjoists but it was a common technique that had been taught by teachers and written about in instruction books from the 1870s on (including the Stahl book on page 59).

The guy he said taught him to play, Charlie Stump, was a top "classic" banjoist.  He had ties to Fred Bacon could have even been a "friend" of Bacon but the guy I was talking to could not remember.

I invite people to look at some of the other material I have posted on the Internet Archive as most of it is finger style banjo that predates 1923.

archive.org/details/@joel_hooks

Jim Pankey - Posted - 12/02/2016:  20:28:18

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kenneth Logsdon

 

Boarmans picking/rhythm style is more two finger type to me... picks on three or not, I know an old timer that plays just about like that even today... Johnny could smoke it, but I wonder if the " later influences" came in to play on most of his stuff we hear??

---

Considering most of what we hear of Johnnie is from his album he released in 1974... Yeah, there's plenty of influences there at that point.

He's a great player, and like other great players he quickly adapts sounds he's heard to his own playing. By 1974, he would have heard a lot. 

chuckv97 - Posted - 12/02/2016:  20:37:03

Someone sent me some old sound clips of Johnny playing with Carl Story in 1939. They've been deleted ,darn. He sounds pretty bluegrassified then already.

Jim Pankey - Posted - 12/02/2016:  20:40:05

quote:

---

Originally posted by chuckv97

 

Someone sent me some old sound clips of Johnny playing with Carl Story in 1939. They've been deleted ,darn. He sounds pretty bluegrassified then already.

---

I have those recordings... Johnnie's playing on those seemed pretty oldtimey to me.  I'll see if I can host them somewhere...

Edited by - Jim Pankey on 12/02/2016 20:43:40

Jim Pankey - Posted - 12/02/2016:  21:08:25

Florida Blues - Johnnie Whisnant with Carl Story