View Full Version : Tab for Ralphs Banjo Special (Daybreak in Dixie)
WVPastor
Aug-21-2006, 6:20pm
Anyone know where I can find the tab to Daybreak in Dixie which I guess is also called Ralphs Banjo Special?
Roger
Mandozine.com. In the tabedit files. You will need to download the viewer if you do not already have it. Then download and unzip the .zip files (bluegrass, waltzes,...etc). It's in the bluegrass zip file. It's a Sam Bush version.
I have a tab package somewhere of this tune, with 4 distinct versions - Steffey, Emory Lester, Bush, Mike Marshall, subtle yet different takes.
Who is on the original version, Pee Wee Lambert? Man, whoever it is rocks!
Jim Broyles
Aug-23-2006, 5:28pm
This is a very cool song, but the Stanley Brothers recorded two different arrangements of it. The first recording, from 1957, featured the mandolin, and I believe that it was probably not "Pee Wee" but "Curley" Lambert on the mandolin. Then in the early 60's they changed it to a banjo-led tune and added the bVII chord after the I chord in the first phrase of each A part (A G D E A, whereas the original went A D E A.) I learned the mando driven version which Ricky Skaggs did on 2nd Generation Bluegrass (which included Ralph on the 5 string) and was arranged like the banjo version (with the extra chord) before I heard the original. I do it both ways now. Lambert and Ricky both smoke on the tune.
Peter Hackman
Aug-23-2006, 10:21pm
Although Carter Stanley somehow appropriated the song I'm
pretty sure it was written by Bill Napier. So my guess is it's
him on the original version.
swampstomper
Aug-24-2006, 5:43am
Yes, it's Bill Napier on the Mercury (1957) version. Listen in the 2nd break when he gets too close to the mike and bumps it! Those were the days of live-to-tape recording.... He plays that smoking high B part the 2nd time around, all on the E string.
Jim Broyles
Aug-24-2006, 1:39pm
Thanks guys. I have a Stanleys' compilation CD which does not list the musicians and I couldn't find it online.
Yeah that high B part is cool and not all that difficult to learn. Ricky quotes Bill's licks a lot in his version.