Will Davenport’s Tune

"I learned this 19th century banjo piece during my visits with the great fiddler and banjo player Clyde Davenport in Jamestown, Tennessee. An unnamed tune from his father Will Davenport’s (1868-1950) repertoire, it existed only in the Davenport family. I began visiting Clyde and his wife Lorene in the early aughts. Clyde was in his 80s at the time, had received a National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship, and probably maintained the largest repertoire of old fiddle and banjo music of any traditional musician in Southern Appalachia. It was magical to sit with him and absorb the intricacies of his playing and twisty repertoire. He died in February 2020 at 98 years old, and Lorene died later that October. I miss visiting them. They were profoundly generous people." - Joseph Decosimo

Video by Gabe Anderson//Strange Bug. Additional editing by Kethan Fadale. Watercolor assets by Larissa Wood

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Performance Credits

• Banjo - Joseph Decosimo

• Percussion - Matthew O’Connell

• Pump Organ - Cleek Schrey

Production Credits

• Recorded by Joseph at home in Durham and at Princeton University and by Matthew in Raleigh

• Mixed by Alec Spiegelman

• Mastered by Mike Monseur

• Cover Art by Gabe Anderson using watercolor assets by Larissa Wood

• Video by Gabe Anderson with assistant editing by Kethan Fadale and watercolor assets by Larissa Wood

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