Pickin on a Park Bench

I guess pickin' in the park is the modern urban/suburban version of front porch pickin'; an opportunity to get out, get some fresh air, and share your music with your neighbors. One of my fondest memories of growing up on Long Island was our Sunday summer excursions into NYC during the mid to late 1960s. My dad would load the family up in the station wagon for an hour long drive into Manhattan. Once we got into "The City" we would head down to Greenwich Village, wander around the shops and art galleries, and listen to the city folk playing blues, jazz, and folk music in Washington Square. The day would usually end with dinner at Jimmy's, our favorite Chinatown eatery.

In this video I'm playing the classic American folk ballad "Wild Bill Jones" in clawhammer style on my Wildwood five string open back banjo. I guess "Wild Bill Jones" falls into that ever popular murder ballad category I mentioned in a previous post. A version of the song, as sung by Viney Norton of Big Laurel, North Carolina, was collected by Cecil Sharp in August of 1916. The first commercial recording was made in New York City on April 24, 1924, by Eva Davis, accompanying herself on the five string banjo, of course.