“Salt Creek” is a fiddle tune that was popularized by Bluegrass legend Bill Monroe (1911-1996). The tune is a Bluegrass staple that originated as “Salt River,” an old Irish-American tune. Dave Hum recorded the song in standard tuning (gDGBD); capo 2nd fret, 5th string capo 7th fret for key of A. I have made backing tracks in the keys of A and G for your preference. Enjoy!
I used MIDI for the bass, piano and drums. I used real audio for the shaker and tambourine. I'm also playing my Cort 6-string acoustic guitar, and MD505CC Eastman mandolin.
Here's a Ragtime tune called, “Whisnant's Rag” (also called “Wiznant's Rag”) written by Johnny Whisnant (1921-1992), played on the 5-string banjo in standard tuning (gDGBD), key of G. I used Dave Hum's performance as a template to make backing tracks at various speeds in the keys of A and G for your preference. Tabs and the original backing track for this tune are available at Dave Hum's website. Enjoy!
I used MIDI for the bass. drums and piano, real audio for the tambourine and shaker. I found this old recording on YouTube of Johnny Whisnant playing “Home Sweet Home.”
Lou Ellen Wilkie on Facebook posted the following biographical information about Johnny Whisnant, which I reposted here to preserve. Good stuff! ...
Remembering Johnny Whisnant (December 12, 1921 - February 2, 1992) grew up being called "half pint," wound up underrated and under-recorded might have seemed predictable. They were still calling Johnny Whisnant that nickname when he went on the road professionally at the age of 11 as a member of J.E. Clark and the Lonesome Mountaineers, and he no doubt looked the part. But one thing should be clear -- there was nothing half-grown or dinky about this man's banjo sound.
It seems like Whisnant lived, slept, and probably ate banjos, and he could build them as well. He was known as a superb craftsman and instrumental builder, and also invented the most practical version of a quick-change banjo tuning peg, called a cheater. Why the man wound up with such a small recorded catalog is certainly a mystery, attributed to some by his unwillingness to compromise and his perfectionist nature.
Whisnant began playing banjo during a childhood illness, when he was handed the mighty five-banger as a proposed distraction. He was entering amateur contests by the age of seven, heavily inspired by his collection of Charlie Poole records.
In 1930, his father, Old John Whisnant, was working at a furniture factory and thought his son might enjoy meeting one of the other employees, a young fiddler by the name of Carl Story, who later went on to become a major bluegrass figure. After gigging together at parties and local square dances, they formed a group together with a local promoter, J.E. Clark.
It was 1932 and the beginning of Whisnant's professional career. The band began appearing over WSPA radio in Spartanburg, SC. Like many bands of the day, they picked up a commercial sponsor, Vim Herb, the patent makers of Scalf's Indian River Medicine. During this period, the band did their first studio recordings, a series of sides cut for Vocalion.
In 1936, they moved on to WHKY in Hickory, NC. And so it went until World War II broke out, the band shifting their allegiance from one radio station to another. Whisnant was drafted in 1942. He shifted his locale to Tennessee after getting out of the armed services, working with the Lane Brothers, Willie Brewster, and brothers Hack and Clyde Johnson. But something dissatisfied Whisnant and he wound up ditching the Tennessee bluegrass scene for a job as an auto mechanic back in Lenoir.
As the years went on, he kept bouncing back and forth between the latter form of work and bluegrass playing around the South, all the time changing and developing his banjo work.
In 1953 he developed a one-man act, billing himself as Cousin Johnnie and His Banjo. In the late '50s, he relocated to Florida, working with the Cherokee Ramblers and finally deciding to hang up his lug wrenches once and for all and concentrate on the banjo.Actually, he didn't hang up the tools, he just quit using them to work on cars. He invented his own set of banjo cheaters, a device that instantly switches the tuning a banjo player is in, allowing them to play in several tunings in the course of a song. Banjo giant Earl Scruggs created several famous tunes around one such device. But most banjo players are more aware of the Keith peg, invented by banjoist Bill Keith, that does the same trick. Being the underdog in such a competition was a familiar role for Whisnant, and there are fans of his who insist that some of Scruggs' trademark devices were actually learned from Whisnant.
In the early '60s, he headed up north a bit, beginning a stint of gigs in the Washington and Baltimore area that are remembered with enthusiasm by local bluegrass fans. A box set of his recordings entitled The Rebel Set was said to have existed at this time, but seems to have vanished off the face of the earth.
After fronting a band called the Countrymen for several years, Whisnant finally got an opportunity to release an album of his own on the well-distributed Rounder label. Although banjo players and bluegrass fans were thrilled with this album and the Whisnant version of "Maple Leaf Rag" on a Rounder banjo anthology, there was never a second album released.
In the style of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' kin, Whisnant's daughter, Judy, has written on the Internet in search of a half sister from her father's first marriage. She also reminisces about a banjo her father had made: "...with an Eagle perched on top carved and a colored eagle with spread wings on back of the resonator... beautiful... I'd like to know if it ended up in a good home."
I periodically search the internet, intrigued to find anything about Dave Hum (1966-2012). That is how I found his backing tracks in 2024. I recently found an obscure YouTube channel called 'The Huckleberries,' which features four different albums and a total of 57 songs, all featuring Dave Hum on his majestic 5-string banjo. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!
Live In The Garden(1995)
The following 18 recordings are all LIVE PERFORMANCES...
I cherish all these albums! Humbly said, I am probably the biggest Dave Hum fan on the planet. I love the guy and feel like I've know him my whole life, although sadly I never had the privilege of knowing him. I didn't find his music until 2017. Instead of wallowing in depression while dying with Myeloma cancer, Dave made hundreds of precious banjo recordings to leave as his legacy. I thank God for Dave's good heart and amazing banjo skills, whose music is a constant source of inspiration for me. God is so good.
I used 'VIDEO 4K DOWNLOADER' to freely download all of Dave Hum's songs and albums from YouTube. For just a one-time $10 fee, you get a lifetime license, which is not bad at all! This enables you to download unlimited YouTube video as either audio (MP3, M4A, OGG) or video (MKV, MP4) formats. You never know when something will vanish from YouTube, so download your favorite videos while you still can!
I made this simple backing track for the popular tune, “Irish Washerwoman,” a traditional jig known to have been played throughout Britain, Ireland and North America. Dave Hum didn't record this song, but it is a fun song to play on the 5-string banjo. I found this performance on YouTube which gives you an idea of what to play. I've made backing tracks at various speeds in both keys of G and A for your preference. Enjoy!
Dave Hum did a quick take of “Cluck Old Hen,” a popular Appalachian fiddle and banjo tune; played on the 5-string banjo in standard tuning (gDGBD); capo 2nd fret, 5th string capo at 7th fret for the key of A. Original backing tracks are available from Dave Hum's family. I used Dave's YouTube performance as a template to make backing tracks in the keys of G and A for your preference. Enjoy!
This is one of my favorite songs—a traditional Irish slide played on the 5-string banjo (gDGBD); capo 2nd fret, 5th string capo 7th fret for key of A. Also known as: Kiss The Crater, Kiss The Quaker's Wife, Merrily Danced The Quaker's Wife, and Merrily Danced With The Quaker's Wife. I originally made this backing track in 2024 in which I played the bass, but I recently redid it using MIDI bass, and added some fine touches, which I humbly think sounds better. Here's backing tracks in the keys of G and A for your preference. Enjoy!
This is a cheerful song to learn and play. Dave Hum said he heard this tune played on the bagpipes and thought it would sound great on the banjo. Dave was right!
By the way, if you have a favorite song that you'd like for me to make a backing track for, just email me the original song and I'll see what I can do. I enjoy making backing tracks, for free, so I don't want nor would I accept any money.
I was studying Dave Hum's video for “Down The Road,” one of my favorite songs to play on the 5-string banjo. Then I noticed that he is playing his cheaper Chinese-made MB-250 Epiphone banjo. You can easily tell because his 1992 ESS Gibson and 1970's Baldwin ODE banjos both have inlay at the first fret position, but the Epiphone doesn't. Also, later in the video when the headstock is closer to the camera, you can read “Epiphone” on the headstock.
Dave Hum Playing His Chinese-made Epiphone Banjo
I've seen MB-250 Epiphone banjos sell between $450 to $900. A used Gibson ESS will cost you between $4,500 and $5,500. And if it was made during the 'Greg Rich Era' (1987-1994), it'll cost you upwards of $7,000. I don't know about you, but seeing Dave Hum play masterfully on a cheaper Chinese-made Epiphone encourages me. Like most players when I started learning the 5-string banjo, I had the wrong impression that you must spend several thousand dollars if you want to produce a great sound, but this is simply not the case at all, which Dave Hum proves in this video and others.
If you watch Dave play “Arkansas Traveller,” he is playing his Baldwin ODE banjo, which was made in Arkansas in the 1970s. I think it is pretty cool that he chose to use the Baldwin ODE to play 'Arkansas Traveller.'
It has been my humble opinion for many years that most expensive banjos today are highly overpriced. Ultimately, something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Dave said that he would regularly tinker with his banjos in pursuit of the ideal tone. I share his quest.
