Author Description

Tommy Thompson brought a special touch to the five-string banjo in both his work with the Hollow Rock String Band and the Red Clay Ramblers that contributed to the distinguished musical accomplishments of those two bands. In the mid-1970s, Tommy decided to take a crack at developing an inventory of banjo tablature with the assistance of his friend Patrick Couton, a French musician who traveled to North Carolina with the goal of learning some banjo from Tommy. Patrick's tabs are an artifact of Tommy's playing in the 1970s, reflecting the influence of his Hollow Rock String Band years, playing, and showing at least glimpses of the clawhammer style banjo playing that would be shaped in the context of Red Clay Rambler musical anarchism that opened Tommy's five string work to a lot of non-traditional influences. This book begins with an essay depicting Tommy's banjo playing, provides reformatted versions of the original banjo tablature undertaken by David Brooks, utilizing current tablature conventions. The book also contains digitized scans of the original handwritten tabs done by Patrick Couton, in cooperation with Tommy Thompson - using Tommy's arrangements of the tunes presented.