Early Irish-American Banjo

Here is the Lost Heritage of the Irish-American Banjo!


The Irish-style Tenor banjo has become immensely popular of late, yet the roots of Irish influence on American banjo music extends right back to the 1840s, when the legendary Joel Sweeney picked up a gourd banjo from Black American banjo players, and proceeded to perform 'jigs, reels and breakdowns'. Other Irish-Americans played a leading role in the development and popularity of the banjo in America, and Rob MacKillop has collected 27 of their finest pieces in this collection, the first of its kind. 


Early Irish-American Banjo is a solo instrumental collection written in standard notation plus 3 lines of tablature for the 5-string banjo, the 4-string tenor banjo in standard tuning (CGDA), and for the Irish tenor banjo in octave-mandolin tuning (GDAE low-to-high). Lyrics are not included in this volume.


Can be played with either a flat pick or fingerstyle.


The online audio recording contains brilliant performances of all 27 pieces by Rob MacKillop, a leading performer of historical banjo music. Rob performs fingerstyle, with the flesh of his fingertips on gut strings, on a period-appropriate banjo, in the old American tuning. This audio is a treasure in itself.


Tunes included: St Patrick's Day; Rocky Road To Dublin; Savourneen Deelish; McCormick Party Reel, Sheridan's Hornpipe, Connaught Man's Rambles, and many others. Includes access to online audio.