Hi everyone,
The song of the week is 'My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains' in the key of G.

Recordings 
Flatt & Scruggs - key of G
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNapvXhcNS8

The Mashville Brigade - key of A
My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains - YouTube

Jason Homey & The Snake River Boys - key of G (starts at 2:37)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1NKw99Anlo  
 

Jam Videos 
Here are three youtube jam videos I have made for My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains.
Jason’s YouTube Links – Alphabetical Listing – Parisology (cyberplasm.com)


Progression
The chord progression for My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains is:

1111
5511
1111
5511
This is Prog. W5 on the 'Basic Chord Progressions' handout. 
  
In the key of G: 1=G; 5=D. The G chord consists of the notes G, B, and D. The D chord consists of the notes D, F#, and A.

Notice that the second half of the progression is identical to the first half of the progression. Therefore, there are really only two lines (8 measures) to memorize. 

Be prepared, however, to add an extra measure or two of the 1 chord to the last line of the progression for a break that occurs right before the singing starts up again, and the progression starts again from the beginning. This is common in bluegrass arrangements of songs. On the Flatt and Scruggs recording of the song, all three of the breaks are played as:

1111
5511
1111
55111

On the Mashville Brigade recording; the first three breaks, the last (fifth) break, and the first chorus are played as:

1111
5511
1111
551111


Melody
In listening to the Flatt & Scruggs recording and/or from looking at the melody sheets in the files included at the bottom of this write-up, notice that the melody of the song has only 5 notes in it. In ascending order of pitch, these are: E, G, A, B, and D. To make the melody slightly more interesting, the banjo, in its intro break lowers the G note in measures 3 and 11 to the D below the E note that is the lowest note in the vocal melody; the dobro break which occurs in the song after the second chorus does this same thing in measure 3, but not in measure 11. On this point, the sung melody on the Mashville Brigade recording coincides with the version of the melody played in the banjo intro break on the Flatt & Scruggs recording.  

Make it a point to remember this sequence of notes, and be sure that you can locate them on your instrument: D E G A B D. There are many songs that, when played in the key of G, have this same range of notes (lowest note D, highest note the D an octave higher) and have no other notes than G's, A's, B's, D's, and E's. Songs like this on the current main list and additional songs list for the beginner jam include 'Foggy Mountain Top', 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken', 'Amazing Grace', and 'Long Journey Home'. 

When transposed to each of the 7 other keys that these songs may be played in at the jam, these notes become:

key of A:    E   F# A   B  C#  E
key of Bb:  F   G  Bb C   D   F
key of B:    F# G# B  C# D# F#
key of C:    G   A   C  D   E   G
key of D:    A   B   D  E   F#  A
key of E;    B   C# E  F# G#  B
key of F:    C   D   F  G   A    C 

On the Nashville Number Charts included in the handouts for the beginner jam, these notes correspond with the numbers 5 6 1 2 3 5.


Melody/Progression Relationship
Notice that in the melody for My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains, the only notes that are dwelt on for half a measure or more are notes that belong to the chord being played at the time: G, B, or D notes during G chord measures, and A notes during D chord measures. It is because of those A notes at the beginning of lines 2 and 4, that a chord change occurs at the beginning of those lines, for the A note is not part of the G chord. It is typical, in the key of G, for a D chord to be played when the melody of a song dwells on an A note, for of the 1, 4, and 5 chords for the key of G, namely, G, C, and D, the D chord is the only one that contains an A note. 

Breaks
In the breaks on the recordings, the measures that have only one or two melody notes in them sometimes have what sound like extra 'melody' notes added to them in addition to the many filler notes that are placed around the melody, whereas the measures that have 4 melody notes in them often have one or two of these notes deleted from them, and when not deleted, they sometimes get displaced within the measure.

For a slow-moving melody, as this song has, it will not work well to play for your break only what you see written on the attached melody sheets. In order to maintain good control of the rhythm, tempo, and feel of the song during your break, so that everyone who is playing backup during your break can be following you rather than the other way around, your break needs to consist mostly of eighth notes and quarter notes, not half notes and whole notes. 


Simple Guitar, Mandolin, and Fiddle Breaks
If you don't know what other notes would work to put around the melody, then for lack of anything else to do, keep to the melody notes, but - on guitar, mandolin, and fiddle - change half notes to a quarter note followed by two eighth notes, and for whole notes, do this twice: i.e., quarter, eighth, eighth, quarter, eighth, eighth. To see what this rhythm looks like when written out, refer to the 'guitar break' in the files at the bottom of this write-up. I have not included a fiddle break sheet or a mandolin break sheet in the files, because the guitar break tab suffices to show for the sake of all three of these instruments what the rhythm is that is being applied here to the melody. 


Simple Banjo Breaks
The banjo is a different story than guitar, mandolin, and fiddle (repeating the same note several times in a row in the manner described above doesn't work so well when playing with finger picks), so I have also included a 'banjo break' sheet in the files. This is a very basic break (a lot more is going on in the banjo breaks on the recordings than in the banjo break given in the attachments) which is given here to demonstrate how one can take one roll pattern (in this case, the alternating thumb roll) and place it around the melody, turning quarter notes into a pair of eighth notes, half notes into a series of four eighth notes, etc. To avoid the monotony that results from playing nothing but eighth notes in one's break, I have substituted for the roll in a few places a single quarter note followed by a quarter note double stop (called a 'pinch' on the banjo).   


Pickup Notes
On the break sheets, I have also included a pickup measure for each of the 4 instruments. You will need to use these, or something like them, in order to kick off the song effectively on your instrument without having to count into the song. Remember these three notes: D, G, A. These will work well as pickups for nearly any song in the key of G in which the first complete measure of the melody starts with a B note while a G chord is being played.

The corresponding notes for the 7 other keys used at the jam are:

key of A:   E,  A,  B leading to a C# note on an A chord.
key of Bb: F,  Bb, C leading to a D note on a Bb chord.
key of B:   F#, B, C# leading to a D# note on a B chord.
key of C:   G,  C,  D leading to an E note on a C chord.
key of D:    A,  D,  E leading to an F# note on a D chord.
key of E:    B,  E, F# leading to a G# note on an E chord.
key of F:    C,  F,  G  leading to an A note on an F chord.  


Song List
20 songs were played at last night's jam: 13 from the main list, 6 from the additional songs list, and 1 that is on neither list:

All The Good Times Are Past And Gone - A
Beautiful Brown Eyes - G
Blue Ridge Cabin Home - A
Boil The Cabbage Down - A
Buffalo Gals - A
Bury Me Beneath The Willow - G
Foggy Mountain Top - G
I'll Fly Away - G
My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains - G
Shortnin' Bread - A
Soldier's Joy - D
Way Down Town - E
Will The Circle Be Unbroken - A
Angeline The Baker - D
Gold Watch And Chain - D
Little Cabin Home On The Hill - C
Lonesome Road Blues - A
This Land Is Your Land - G
Worried Man Blues - A
Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms - G

Happy Pickin',
Jason


My Home's Across... - melody in G
Download File

My Home's Across... - mandolin tab
Download File

My Home's Across... - guitar tab
Download File

My Home's Across... - banjo tab
Download File
​
My Home's Across... - guitar break
Download File

My Home's Across... - banjo break
Download File
​

Hi everyone,
I had a wonderful time leading the jam on Tuesday. Thank you to all who participated in the jam. I am looking forward to next Tuesday evening. (For more on how the jam went, scroll down to the bottom of this email message.)

The song of the week is 'My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains' in the key of G.

On the Idaho Bluegrass Association's website idahobluegrassassociation.org there are a few song of the week write-ups for My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains that I have written. The write-ups include youtube links to recordings of the song, melody sheets for the song (written in standard notation, mandolin tab, guitar tab, and banjo tab), the chord progression for the song, plus more as regards explanations and tips about playing and singing the song. Song of the week write-ups also often include general information and tips about playing (and singing) songs at the jams.

Also on the website there are youtube jam videos that I have created for My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains. There are three of them: one each with me leading the song on guitar, banjo, and mandolin. For those who are new to playing along with a youtube jam video, I recommend starting with the guitar video. In the videos, when I say 'together' this means that we play a break together; when I say 'your turn', this means that you play your break while I accompany you/back you up; but, of course, you are free to play along with the videos in any manner that you desire to. When I raise my leg near the end of the song, that means that the song is about to end.

Remember also that on a laptop, you can slow down and speed up youtube videos without altering the pitch of the audio by clicking on settings and then clicking on playback speed.

In the following link, there are three youtube jam videos for My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains. In order from top to bottom, I am on banjo, mandolin, and guitar. And below this, there are two identical song of the week write-ups for the song.
Beginner Bluegrass Jam Songs - Idaho Bluegrass Association

A more convenient way, though, to access the youtube jam videos is by clicking on the following link, and then scrolling down to the song title, which is listed three times, since there are three videos for the song on the website. Click on the version that you want to play along with, and it will take you right to the point in the video at which I start the preamble to the song. That way you don't have to hunt around in the video to find the song. (Each youtube jam video contains three songs.)
Jason’s YouTube Links – Alphabetical Listing – Parisology (cyberplasm.com)
If no instrument is specified beside the song title, then on that video I am playing guitar.

For a shorter song of the week write-up on My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains, click on:
Beginner Bluegrass Jam Songs - Idaho Bluegrass Association

Finally, here is a live band performance in which I am playing mandolin (instead of banjo) for our song of the week, that is not included in the song of the week write-ups on the website.

Jason Homey and The Snake River Boys, IBA Open Mic, 2_24_20 - YouTube
The song starts at the 3:42 mark in the video.

For a copy of the jam handouts, and an explanation of the handouts, here are the PDF files that can be downloaded and printed off. There are 5 attached files total. (four at the bottom of the page, and one - the Main Song List - that comes earlier than at the bottom of the page)
Idaho Bluegrass Association - Beginner Bluegrass Jam Songs

14 songs were played at the jam on Tuesday: 10 from the main list, and 4 from the additional songs list:

All The Good Times Are Past And Gone - A
Boil The Cabbage Down - A
Buffalo Gals - A
Bury Me Beneath The Willow - G
Cripple Creek - A
Foggy Mountain Top - G
I'll Fly Away - G
My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains - G
Nine Pound Hammer - B
Will The Circle Be Unbroken - A
Angeline The Baker - D
Jambalaya - D
A Memory Of You - G
Old Joe Clark - A

There were about 20 people at the jam on Tuesday evening outdoors at the Powderhaus. I think that the jam went really well. Distancing was easy, not awkward, to achieve for all those who desired distance between them and their neighbours in the jam circle. The option of forming an outer ring outside the main jam circle, to help accommodate distancing, was also made use of. As far as I could gather, the jam was a positive and fun experience for everyone involved. People were mindful, respectful, and accommodating of their neighbours. It appeared to me that everyone was at ease, with each person's comfort zone being respected. If, however, you were at the jam, and your experience fell short of my assessment of how the jam went, please feel free to contact me to express your concerns. For, my goal is to provide a positive, healthy, comfortable, and accommodating environment for all who wish to participate in the jam. And, if you were not at the jam, but would like to hear more details as to how the jam went before deciding whether or not to come to future beginner jams that I'll be leading in the weeks to come, also please feel free to contact me with your questions. 

Happy Pickin',
 Jason