Pastures of Plenty - a new banjo arrangement by Marc Nerenberg - 12 April 2024

It seems to me that the last time I played this song was almost 5 years ago, shortly after my stroke that forced me to reconstruct my banjo playing pretty much from scratch. At that time, I struggled mightily to get through this, and my playing was fairly laboured and unsubtle. I'm clearly much more comfortable with it now, and looking back I can see that my progress has been enormous. My playing improves so slowly, inch by inch, that it's hard to see any progress in the short term, so it's nice to be able to see it in the long term.
For as long as I've been playing this song (which is many decades by now) I've always played it with just one single chord - no changes - which is how I heard Woody Guthrie play it when I first encountered it a half-century ago. I was well aware that there were possible chord changes, and that most people did change chords, but I decided to stick to playing it the way I first heard it - until now, that is. I have finally succumbed to the temptation of varying the harmony, and worked some chord changes into my playing!
I admit, however, to not actually knowing what the chords are that I'm playing - I just know where they're found on the banjo, and what they sound like. That's enough for me - I usually don't know what chords I'm playing - mystery adds excitement!
This is played on an unusual banjo with a 10 inch head - a 1922 Vega Tubaphone - with a much, much more recent Dan Knowles' neck that, like everything Dan makes, is a work of art (and is not a copy of a Vega neck at all). It has a super high bridge that seems to defy physics, but it works. It's really a wonderful unique instrument, quite unlike any other banjo I've ever held in my hands
The banjo is tuned in "sawmill" tuning (gDGCD), with the four long strings capoed at the 5th fret to make the actual tuning into gGCFG, and it's played here in the C Dorian mode.
Most of the lyrics in this rendering are exactly the same as Guthrie's, though I have rephrased a few lines to make them more comfortable for me to sing, without really altering the substance of their meaning.
My playing here is a combination of old-time two finger picking (mostly thumb lead) and bits of clawhammer style scattered about, fused into a single hybrid style that's become kind of my personal "signature style". I worked out this new arrangement over the last couple of days, and recorded it on 12 April 2024 in Montreal West, Québec.

[@chuckjj5493]

Always good to turn on youtube and see you doing another song,well done.

[@marcnerenberg1]

Thanks very much, Chuck! Right after I posted this, I went and hosted the weekly Yellow Door Hootenanny, where I sang this again. This rendition was better though, so I’m glad I recorded it?

[@marclattoni1959]

I really like this arrangement and how you played it. I will do my best to learn and play it as well. Play on Marc, play on!

[@marcnerenberg1]

Thanks very much Marc! And I say back to you: Play on, Marc, play on!