Songs with banjo

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im making an mp3 cd for a present for someone whos learning to play banjo. so far i have all the regular anthology of american folk music stuff, dock boggs, clarence ashley, bill monroe, but i also ahve ruby by the silver apples, ease on down the road by bonnie prince billy. i was wondering if you knew of any more less hillbilyl type stuff with banjo on it.

― tom cleveland (tom cleveland), Sunday, 29 February 2004 19:15 (twenty-two years ago)

"On Finding The Studio Banjo" Half Man Half Biscuit

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 29 February 2004 19:29 (twenty-two years ago)

This has banjo on it. I already sold my copy, but one track from it on a compilation might be good. I didn't find it really awful, just kind of boring.

― Rockist Scientist (rockistscientist), Sunday, 29 February 2004 19:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Dillard and Clark's 2 albums
Steeleye Span - 'The Brisk Young Butcher'
Hitchiker's Guide theme (some eagles thing, i dunno)

― pete s, Sunday, 29 February 2004 19:40 (twenty-two years ago)

there are some banjo tracks on the THinking Feller's "Strangers From the Universe" album... "February" I think is one of them.

― donut bitch (donut), Sunday, 29 February 2004 19:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Come on Eileen

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 29 February 2004 20:00 (twenty-two years ago)

The Grid -- "Swamp Thing" !!

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 29 February 2004 20:38 (twenty-two years ago)

some songs by The Monks, most of Petty Booka, some Moonlighters....

― eleki-san (eleki-san), Sunday, 29 February 2004 20:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Butthole Surfers: "Naked Man"

― Rockist Scientist (rockistscientist), Sunday, 29 February 2004 20:43 (twenty-two years ago)

For some "indierock" banjo I'd recommend two tracks of the next Modest Mouse album (dl it from slsk or any other p2p): "Bukowski" and "Satin in a Coffin". Judging by that last song, Brock has been listening to some Sixteen Horsepower lately... Which is also a great source for songs with banjo, obviously. If you don't know them, check them out. They're a great live band as well, and it seems they're finally going to do some gigs in the US outside of Colorado in April.

― willem (willem), Sunday, 29 February 2004 20:45 (twenty-two years ago)

There's banjo all over two of my favorites from 2003:

The Books, The Lemon of Pink
Sufjan Stevens, Greetings from Michigan

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Sunday, 29 February 2004 21:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I think there may be banjo on Asif Tsahar and Cooper-Moore's American (which I haven't heard yet, but would like to get).

― Rockist Scientist (rockistscientist), Sunday, 29 February 2004 21:21 (twenty-two years ago)

The Notwist's "Neon Golden" record contains banjo and it's pretty fantastic. Though, I must say, I haven't heard it in ages. But "This Room" and "Thrashing Days" are tops.

― Salvador Saca (Mr. Xolotl), Sunday, 29 February 2004 21:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Squeeze Box-The Who
Don't Forget the Flowers-Wilco
A Beck tune on Odelay (maybe Midnight Vultures instead)

― Speedy (Speedy Gonzalas), Sunday, 29 February 2004 21:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Travis's "Sing" has banjo. And I think there's a bit of banjo on Nelly Furtado's recent single "Powerless".

Gotta second the Notwist selection..."Neon Golden" puts that instrument to good use.

― abegrand, Sunday, 29 February 2004 21:32 (twenty-two years ago)

SPAZZ- spudboy

― chad (chad), Sunday, 29 February 2004 21:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Pelt - Ayahuasca has some drone / psych banjo work on it. I second 16 Horsepower too, esp. "Golden Rope" off "Low Estate".

― udu wudu (udu wudu), Sunday, 29 February 2004 21:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Soundgarden - Ty Cobb

― Cacaman Flores, Sunday, 29 February 2004 21:55 (twenty-two years ago)

george stavis "labyrinths" is all-banjo instrumentals that might appeal to anyone into the fahey/basho thing.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Sunday, 29 February 2004 22:43 (twenty-two years ago)

R.E.M. - Wendell Gee

― maypang (maypang), Sunday, 29 February 2004 23:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Led Zeppelin - Gallows Pole

― B61 (calstars), Sunday, 29 February 2004 23:18 (twenty-two years ago)

There's a track on the new Air album with banjo - can't remember what it's called. Also there's a jazz record by Andy Statman that has Bela Fleck guesting on banjo on a couple of tracks which are pretty good.

― o. nate (onate), Sunday, 29 February 2004 23:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Duelling Banjos?

― Sasha (sgh), Sunday, 29 February 2004 23:33 (twenty-two years ago)

FLATT AND SCRUGGS

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Sunday, 29 February 2004 23:50 (twenty-two years ago)

"Orange Blosson Special" is kind of the "Eruption" of three-finger bluegrass picking.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 1 March 2004 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

even as we speak 'anybody anyway'

― keith m (keithmcl), Monday, 1 March 2004 00:12 (twenty-two years ago)

There's loadsa banjo on Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs.

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Monday, 1 March 2004 00:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Get some, any for that matter, Del McCoury.

― Jim Reckling (Jim Reckling), Monday, 1 March 2004 01:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Matter of fact get Richard Thompson's 1952 Vincent Black Lightning as done by Del and the Boys.

― Jim Reckling (Jim Reckling), Monday, 1 March 2004 01:04 (twenty-two years ago)

South- "Loosen Your Hold" (a rather inexplicable use of banjo)
Shannon Wright- "Tin Crown for the Social Bash"
Geraldine Fibbers- "Get Thee Gone"
TFUL282- "Tell Me"
Neko Case- "Poor Ellen Smith"
Jim and Jennie and the Pinetops
(the last two may count as hillbilly music though?)

― Blood and sparkles (bloodandsparkles), Monday, 1 March 2004 02:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Bela Fleck

― jim wentworth (wench), Monday, 1 March 2004 03:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Excuse me Nate, I missed your post.
There is also "Old Man" by Neil Young / Harvest

― jim wentworth (wench), Monday, 1 March 2004 03:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh I get it - "any more less hillbilly type stuff," which I read as "any more OR less hillbilly type stuff." Please get your hyphens sorted kthx.

For the record I hate Bela Fleck's music.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 1 March 2004 03:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I haven't heard much of the music that Fleck releases under his name, but his guest appearance on that Statman album is pretty great. Who'd have thunk that banjo could go so well with klezmer-jazz?

― o. nate (onate), Monday, 1 March 2004 05:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Britney Spears feat the Ying Yang twins - "(I Got That) Boom Boom"

― Nick H (Nick H), Monday, 1 March 2004 11:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Krautbanjo:

Amon Duul II - Emigrant Song
Guru Guru - Samantha's Rabbit

― Dadaismus (Dada), Monday, 1 March 2004 12:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Half man half biscuits "If I had posession over pancake day" is a corker

― chris (chris), Monday, 1 March 2004 12:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Bluebird - Buffalo Springfield (The short/regular version.)

― dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 1 March 2004 12:50 (twenty-two years ago)

another good hmhb one = "does your heroin lose it's glamour on the washboard overnight"

which may not actually be called that thinking of it.

― chris (chris), Monday, 1 March 2004 13:45 (twenty-two years ago)

the first track on the new sufjan record is absolutely gorgeous with banjo. (The one that starts "will I be alive this time next year".) Also agree w/ the Books recommendation, Nick is making some amazing music these days. Some more: "Sylvan Screen" by Olivia Tremor Control, "Annabelle" by Gillian Welch (or is that a dobro, I'm talking about the quiet strings in the back), there's got to be some banjo somewhere on some of the Calexico stuff, right? For Mr. Fleck my favorites of his are the "Strength In Numbers" disc, the "Deviation" record and Edgar Meyer's great lost "Unfolding."

― caspar (caspar), Monday, 1 March 2004 16:40 (twenty-two years ago)

the sufjan track is "All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands"

― caspar (caspar), Monday, 1 March 2004 16:42 (twenty-two years ago)

A Beck tune on Odelay (maybe Midnight Vultures instead)

"Sexx Laws". It's on Midnight Vultures.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 1 March 2004 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Squirrel Nut Zippers' "Prince Nez"

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 1 March 2004 16:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Bad Livers (who were mostly hillbillies) Blood & Mood where they go G-Funk-meets-Butthole Surfers. It's really good, but I think everybody but me hated it.

John Millard & Happy Day, Banjo playing baritone Millard composes mainly for the stage and it shows in his Happy Day project. Weird-ass cabaret, vibraphones and Andrews Sisters-style backing vocals. Very high quality strangeness. And great lyrics. He plays banjo in more of a Rosco Holcomb stylee.

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Monday, 1 March 2004 16:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Beach Boys - Cabinessence
Kinks - Lola

― dleone (dleone), Monday, 1 March 2004 16:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I love Bad Livers!

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 1 March 2004 17:01 (twenty-two years ago)

"Idle Hands are the Devil's Plaything" -- Palace
"For the Turnstiles" -- Neil Young
"Squeeze Box" & "Blue Red & Grey" -- The Who
"He Was a Friend of Mine" -- The Byrds

― earlnash, Monday, 1 March 2004 17:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I haven't heard any of Danny Barnes's post-BL output. But I really want to. I just hate mail order. I do. I'm sorry everyone. I hate mail order. I like going to a store to buy stuff. Because otherwise, the only places I go are work and home.

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Monday, 1 March 2004 17:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Sandy Bull has some terrific banjo stuff -- "Carmina Burana Fantasy," "Little Maggie," assorted others. Kind of droney and modal, like his guitar playing, melodic and dark.

― spittle (spittle), Monday, 1 March 2004 17:17 (twenty-two years ago)

The Hollies' "Stop Stop Stop"
The Pogues (nearly everything)
Aerosmith's "Last Child" is alleged to feature banjo but I've never heard any sonic sign of it.

― Myonga Von Bontee, Monday, 1 March 2004 20:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Henry Gibson-"200 Years"(from the Nashville soundtrack)

― Doobie Keebler (Charles McCain), Monday, 1 March 2004 20:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Lots of Michael Nesmith's work (my favorite example: the Monkees' "Good Clean Fun")

also Sophie B. Hawkins, "Lose Your Way"

and Kermit, "The Rainbow Connection." :)

― Joseph McCombs, Monday, 1 March 2004 20:49 (twenty-two years ago)

There's a banjo in "Lola"?

I always thought it was a nylon stringed acoustic guitar.
I am going to have to get my hearing checked.

― jim wentworth (wench), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 03:39 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

First of all, do you know what kind of banjo this person is learning to play, whether it is clawhammer or scruggs. (or one of the other many ways to play) That would definately dictate what kind of banjo music you want to be looking for. For clawhammer I can recomend some good ones but by the sound of it, it's not what you are looking for. By the way if anybody knows where I may be able to find a tab for the banjo part in buffalo springfield's bluebird (which is clawhammer) I am looking to learn how to play that. thanks

― Dan Mckenzie, Tuesday, 13 April 2004 02:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Superstar - Hi Rhythm

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 09:01 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...

Eleanor Roosevelt - "Head In A Hummingbird's Nest"
Go! Team - Everyone's a VIP to Someone
Fink - Autobahn

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Wednesday, 15 November 2006 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

"I Keep Losing Heart" - Electrelane

― Turangalila (Salvador), Wednesday, 15 November 2006 16:40 (nineteen years ago)

Most of the songs listed above have banjo that is burried in the mix because burying the banjo is the best thing you can do (ba-dum-bump). So, most of these examples wouldn't work very well for someone trying to emulate a proficient player. Hell, Barkmarket-dude David Sardy utilizes banjo effectively on a bunch of tracks, but it's the last place you should be sent for learning.

Dan Mckenzie makes some real valid points regarding the style of banjo you're trying to lean, and Tracer makes a keen observation by pointing out friggin' Flatt & Scruggs as a bonafide benchmark (in which case, so too would be many-o-Bill Monroe records).

Banjo is a difficult instrument to play if only for all the different tunings one needs to know in order to play songs that even reside within the same genre/style. So, for learning, i'd recommend a banjo player who can demonstrate many different styles in the simplest manner possible; Bela Fleck. Just kidding, i'd say that for folks interested in regular folk music that Pete Seeger is about as prime as an example as your going to find and a great place to start. But, keeping in mind that this question was asked 2 years ago and whoever the original poster was making a mix tape for has most likely long since abandoned the unwiedly endeavor of banjoesque perpitudein favor of something more rewarding (like lawn darts).

― christoff (christoff), Wednesday, 15 November 2006 16:48 (nineteen years ago)

The Telescopes, "Flying"

― hank (hank s), Thursday, 16 November 2006 14:03 (nineteen years ago)

Eleanor Roosevelt - "Head In A Hummingbird's Nest"

!!!

Name drop alert: last night (as well as over the last 3 months), I was working with Eleanor Roosevelt founder Chris King on a 7 CD box set of foundational, but still overlooked, banjo player/songster/folklorist Bascom Lamar Lunsford (the dude behind "I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground" and "Mountain Dew" and so very much more). So I was psyched to see King's band mentioned in this context!

― Roy Kasten (Roy Kasten), Thursday, 16 November 2006 15:09 (nineteen years ago)

sufjan shits banjos

― pernicus (pernicus), Thursday, 16 November 2006 17:39 (nineteen years ago)

Lindstrom- Contemporary Fix

― mizzzell (mizzzell), Thursday, 16 November 2006 17:42 (nineteen years ago)

Pavement - "Folk Jam"

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Thursday, 16 November 2006 20:52 (nineteen years ago)

'The Swimming Song' by Loudon Wainwright III, which is so depressing it almost hurts to listen to, but is amazing.

― Tiki Theater Xymposium (Bent Over at the Arclight), Friday, 17 November 2006 15:30 (nineteen years ago)

Basement Jaxx - "Take Me Back To Your House"

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Friday, 17 November 2006 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

The Coasters - "That Is Rock And Roll" (!)

― The Redd 47 Ronin (Ken L), Friday, 17 November 2006 16:47 (nineteen years ago)

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