"Down the Road" by Bertie Mae Dickens, banjo

"Down the Road" played on clawhammer banjo by Bertie Mae (Caudill) Dickens, 1903-1994, at her home in Ennice, Alleghany County, N.C. in 1985. The Caudill family were well-known as musicians around the Galax area. This is the first tune she learned. At the beginning of the recording she tells how she got started on the banjo as a child, picking out the melody with her thumb. Her brother told her she needed to come down on the strings with her fingers, clawhammer style, which she says was hard for her to learn. She always played two styles, a lyrical thumb-lead two-finger picking style that a lot of the old-timers in the area called "seconding," and classic Galax-area clawhammer style. Recording and photo by Linda Higginbotham, editing by Brad Leftwich. This is presented for your entertainment, no commercial use please.

[@guywolff]

She is wonderful ..Very joyful ... Thanks Brad !

[@banjopicker114]

Lovely. I hadn't heard of her.

[@ArkRed1]

Super.

[@gnarlyradical]

beautiful