Butch Baldassari Tunes

With the recent release of the recordings of Butch Baldassari playing Monroe tunes with the orchestra, I thought we should have a thread where people could post some of Butch's great tunes. Or you can post tunes you learned from Butch's great fiddle tune books. Or post videos of Butch playing. I'll start with Slocum Hollow, one of my favorite tunes that Butch wrote. I'm playing it on my Heiden A5 with iRealPro backing track.

Hope some other folks will join in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QC05rEi7D4

Don, nice picking! That's a great tune. I was picking that at a workshop with a friend when Butch walked in. He said "hey, I know that tune"
A short time later, I got to pick it with the master himself.

Wow Don you and the Heiden sound terrific on that tune! Your notes are very clear and distinct and your tone is beautiful. That’s probably my favorite among Butch’s compositions and you have inspired me to go back to it. Really well done!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Don Grieser

I'm playing it on my Heiden A5 with iRealPro backing track.

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I look forward to inheriting that mandolin, Don. Such great woodiness to the tone with no loss of note clarity. That’s how an archtop with f-holes should sound.

Skip, how cool is that!

Thanks, Andy. Let's play it at Monroe Camp next year! Maybe we could teach it to a bunch of folks.

Pat, yes, it's my all time favorite mandolin. I don't know about that inherit thing. :whistling:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Don Grieser

Pat, yes, it's my all time favorite mandolin. I don't know about that inherit thing. :whistling:

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I can assure you that your poor widow will never appreciate that mandolin as much as I would.

Yes that Heiden is sweet! A mandolin to die for....

Great job Don!

I have yet to learn any of Butch's original tunes, but one of my first instructional aides was Butch's "Bluegrass Mandolin Workshop" DVD. It really got me off on the right foot I think. Basic enough to grasp, but advanced enough for someone coming from playing guitar already to not feel too dumbed down. I liked his teaching style a lot.

Edited…
Just did the Baldassari artist search on the TablEdit Library, there are lost to learn!

Does anyone already have transcriptions of “Two Girls From Galax, or Minorsville”?

Matt, Two Girls From Galax is called Kitchen girl. It's a popular fiddle tune. That one and Minorsville are out there in tab form.

Here's a great video teaching Butch's tune "Old Town". I'm working on it now. Butch played it at warp speed. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiDKu07ExwE

After getting "Mandolin for Dummies", the next instructional book I got was "30 Fiddle Tunes for Mandolin". The choice of tunes plus Butch's effortless playing bowled me over, and continues to be an inspiration.

I still aspire to his playful, bouncing playing style, evident in slower tunes but equally at speed. As do we all!

Oh, and this is just two tunes, so you don't have to make as much of a time commitment as the title implies ;)

Sounding great Bruce!:mandosmiley: