Hi everyone,
I will not be available the next two Thursdays to lead the High Beginner - Low Intermediate Bluegrass Jam. 

I'll lead the next H Beg. - L Int. Bluegrass Jam three Thursdays from now, on Nov. 2nd. 

For the jam on Thursday, Nov. 2nd, the song of the week will be 'My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains' in the key of G. I'll send out the song of the week email two weeks from now.

At last night's jam, 19 songs were played: 12 from the main list, 3 from the additional songs list, and 4 that are on neither list:

Clinch Mountain Backstep - A
Columbus Stockade Blues - G
Gathering Flowers From The Hillside - G
I'm Waiting To Hear You Call Me Darling - Bb
In The Pines - E
Leaning On The Everlasting Arms - A
Little Birdie - Bb
Lonesome Road Blues - G
A Memory Of You - D
My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains - A
Nine Pound Hammer - D
Will You Be Loving Another Man - A
Cryin' Holy - G
Red Wing - G
Reuben - D
Are You Washed In The Blood Of The Lamb - A
Big Sciota - G
Little Maggie - G
Red River Valley - A

Happy Pickin',
Jason

Hi everyone,
The song of the week is 'Clinch Mountain Backstep' in the key of A.


Recordings 
Ralph Stanley - key of A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcDtNcbcJ2Q

Blue Highway - key of A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTEF5keaPhk


Jam Videos
Jason’s YouTube Links – Alphabetical Listing – Parisology (cyberplasm.com)


Progression
The chord progression for the A-Part is:
1115
1151
 
The chord progression for the B-Part is the same, except that there is an extra 'half-measure' of the '1' before the first '5'.  If one is counting the beats in the first line of the B-Part in cut common time (2/2), one would count it as: 1,2,1,2,1,2,1,1,2.
(On the sheet music attached here, I have written the first line of the B-Part as 3 measures in 2/2, followed by a measure in which the time signature changes to 1/2, followed by a measure that returns to 2/2.)


Melody & Key
Although the melody of Clinch Mountain Backstep consists only of the notes of the Am pentatonic scale, it is called at jams in A (Major) rather than Am because the '1' chord that is used in the chord progression for the song is an A Major Chord rather than an Am Chord ('1m'). To call Clinch Mountain Backstep in A Minor instead of in A (Major) at a jam would imply that 1m Chords are to be played in place of 1 Chords.

In the attached melody sheet for Clinch Mountain Backstep, I have used the key signature for Am (no sharps or flats, same as the key signature for C Major, the Relative Major of Am) instead of the key signature for A Major (3 sharps) to avoid the need to write natural signs in nearly every measure. I hope that my doing this makes the sheet music easier to read than if I had used the key signature for A Major.

The notes that make up the Minor Pentatonic Scale, or as I like to call it sometimes 'The Clinch Mountain Scale', are: 

                    1, b3, 4, 5, b7
Key of A:    A  C   D  E  G

Key of G:   G  Bb C  D  F
Key of D:    D  F   G  A  C
etc.


Song List
16 songs were played at last night's jam: 12 from the main list, 2 from the additional songs list, and 2 that are on neither list:

Clinch Mountain Backstep - A
Forked Deer - D
Gathering Flowers From The Hillside - G
Leaning On The Everlasting Arms - A
Lonesome Road Blues - G
A Memory Of You - A
Mountain Dew - A
My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains - G
Nine Pound Hammer - B
Way Down Town - E
Will You Be Loving Another Man - B
Worried Man Blues - G
Red Wing - G
Turkey In The Straw - G
Head Over Heels - B
Foggy Mountain Breakdown - G

Happy Pickin',
Jason

​
Sheet music for Clinch Mountain Backstep:
Clinch Mountain Backstep - Banjo tab
Clinch Mountain Backstep - Guitar tab
Clinch Mountain Backstep - Mandolin tab
Clinch Mountain Backstep - Melody in A