Gigging with an old banjo

[nick Kelly]

Yesterday I played for a couple of hours at the Broadstairs  Dickens/Victorian festival, I am quite seriously amazed at how well this style of banjo playing is received before this kind of an audience , I had prepared around 18 tunes which I thought with a bit of chit chat would suffice, When I got home I looked at my list and found I had actually played about 8 tunes such was the enthusiasm of everybody to talk/ask questions. I discussed tone rings, makes of banjos, the Prince of Wales (Edward) Lily Langtrees' yatch and much else besides, none of which was planned and, I am booked back plus it was a paid job to boot ! Finding a receptive and enthusiastic audience is not always an easy task but, I think I did exactly that yesterday, roll on the next one !

[thereallyniceman]

Well done Nick. It is great to have another ambassador for Classic Style Banjo!

[nick Kelly]

Thanks Ian, there really are many people about who appreciate what we do, it is just a question of finding them sometimes.

thereallyniceman said:

Well done Nick. It is great to have another ambassador for Classic Style Banjo!

[Russ Chandler]

What a brilliant thing - well played Nick!

[carrie horgan]

Cool Nick - what tunes did you play?

[nick Kelly]

Well thanks Y'All, Yes enthusiastic listeners are out there, it has now been three days and another paid gig has come in as a result of Sunday, I have found Carrie that audiences are comfortable with tunes they are reasonably familiar with or that have an exciting hook and/or foot tapping tempo I played; inevitably, Whistling Rufus, The Smiler Rag, Mill Dam Gallop, Blaze Away, Dixie/Under the Double Eagle medley, Calliope Rag, Waiting for the Robert E Lee and Maple Leaf Rag, this last tune of scott Joplins was repeatedly requested, I could have played it all day most likely but, as you can see from this small sample of eight tunes, All are popular and well known.

[carrie horgan]

Toe-tapping tune selection. 

nick Kelly said:

Well thanks Y'All, Yes enthusiastic listeners are out there, it has now been three days and another paid gig has come in as a result of Sunday, I have found Carrie that audiences are comfortable with tunes they are reasonably familiar with or that have an exciting hook and/or foot tapping tempo I played; inevitably, Whistling Rufus, The Smiler Rag, Mill Dam Gallop, Blaze Away, Dixie/Under the Double Eagle medley, Calliope Rag, Waiting for the Robert E Lee and Maple Leaf Rag, this last tune of scott Joplins was repeatedly requested, I could have played it all day most likely but, as you can see from this small sample of eight tunes, All are popular and well known.

[Richard William Ineson]

My wife and I used to play at all kinds of events, new car launches, antique fairs, art exhibitions, etc. but the best events were weddings where we just played a selection of tunes while the guests were having a welcome drink or perhaps during an interval when the venue was preparing  for the evening entertainment. We just played the standard classic banjo repertoire with perhaps a few 'popular tunes' 'Carolina in the Morning', 'You made me Love You' etc. as a contrast. We always got a few new bookings whenever we played and many of the wedding venues had us on their books as an additional service for their customers, they also very kindly advised us of the fee we should be charging. We retired from public performance some time ago but we played at our Grandaughter's wedding about three years ago and were asked to join the list of performers at the venue she had chosen; we got a lot of repeat business and could easily have made good money had we wished to continue but we value our free time nowadays and didn't want to get on the treadmill again. If you can play a few tunes on the banjo, you can make a nice living.