Mel Bay has published a book of transcriptions and arrangements based on the playing of influential old time banjo picker Kyle Creed. It was compiled by two of today’s clawhammer masters, Bob Carlin and Dan Levenson, who take a complementary, side-by-side look at the man who was so consequential in developing what has come to be known as the Galax banjo style, so called for the community where Creed lived most of his life.
Kyle Creed – Clawhammer Banjo Master contains 27 tunes in a variety of tunings, each presented in two versions: an exact transcriptions from Creed’s playing, and a modern interpretation in a more contemporary style. All the pieces are included in the accompanying audio CD.
Tunes were chosen for their familiarity, and for their explication of Creed’s innovations in old time banjo. Included are Breaking Up Christmas, Buffalo Gals, Cumberland Gap, Fortune, Katy Kline, Lost Indian, Mississippi Sawyer, Sugar Hill and several more. The authors make plain that this is a tune book, not an instructional manual, but that these tunes should be within the reach of any player with a comfortable grasp of the clawhammer style.
A complete tune list and a number of sample pages can be found on the Mel Bay web site.
The book/CD set sells for $19.99.
