Sule Greg Wilson plays "Jump Jim Crow"

[Zerojumpy]

What verse do you start with? Sorry but I can hardly hear it out.

[SuleDrum]

@Zerojumpy I start with "Hello there all you people; I come from Tuckahoe. I guess you've heard about me; my name is old Jim Crow"

[Zerojumpy]

@SuleDrum Thanks a ton!

[SuleDrum]

@Zerojumpy Bitte shoen!

[Naahnikki]

follow the drinking gourd

[dudeofdixie]

Great skill, thanks for putting a piece of American history on youtube.

[SuleDrum]

@dudeofdixie Glad you liked it. It's a funky tune, for sure! tune

[SuleDrum]

Tha's a joke, right?  Good ol' days of segregation, lynching, mysogyny & all that.....

[thekkl]

Maybe he just means the music... Or maybe the music just reminds him of happier days.

[mrnalbuphine]

all you need is blackface and you are daddy rice. lol

[SuleDrum]

Then I'll be the black guy imitating the white guy imitating the black guy....

[ikachina]

If you could do a version that is authentic and produce a better quality video, you'd be doing a great service for the folks like me who are interested in the history of this song.

I have searched quite a bit and so far only found an instrumental version of "Jump Jim Crow" that was authentic. I wish there was a video somewhere that showed exactly how it was sung and danced during the minstrel era.

[SuleDrum]

@ikachina The minstrel era goes back about 50 years before audio recordings were invented and about ten years before photography was invented, much less film or video. So, chances of finding a video are pretty slim. The version I'm playing came from the sheet music, as published in Hans Nathan's book, "Dan Emmett and the Rise of Negro Minstrelsy". From there, I funked it up. How much more "authentic" do you mean? Can you share the "authentic" instrumental version you found?

[ikachina]

@SuleDrum

I appreciate what you're saying. This is just something on my "wish list."

The recording I was talking about is located here:

The Library of Congress, Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier: The Henry Reed Collection:

memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h­?ammem/afcreed:@field(NUMBER+@­band(afcreed+13035a39))

[SuleDrum]

@ikachina Domo arigato. It was a pleasure to hear that source recording. The fiddle tune definitely is an "outgrowth" of the A part of the song, the part--I believe--that was created by the Irish-American Rice. The B part, the chorus, is the part Rice got from the African American stablehand, I believe. And that part's not in the Euro-American fiddle tune. Interesting.

[Songsmirth]

Thank you Sule,

I was looking up the history of Jim Crow and wondered about this song that started so much.  :) Great banjo playing.

[oldieschick24]

it is songs like these that show how ignorant people were in the eighteen hundreds!

[aldiboronti]

Compared to how noble, wise and beneficent we are in the 21st century.

Believe it, people a couple of hundred years down the line will look back on us with horror and say how ignorant we were.

[thekkl]

If only you knew the banality of evil...

[MightyAlz]

Well, no, actually, people in the 21st century ARE much more tolerant, open-minded and generally more intelligent than in the 19th century.

In fact, I think you'd have to be pretty much insane to think otherwise.

[Hikikomori013]

People of the 21st century seem more tolerant, but not more intelligent. Intelligence is what you can do with what you know, not how much you know.

We know more now then we did then so we can make better choices, but in a battle of raw wits I wouldn't bet on the lazy thinkers of today against people who lived when your wits were what kept you alive.

Don't under-estimate the people of olden times.

[thekkl]

I like how some people feel better about calling people ignorant when they in the same situation would probably be just as ignorant. Oh by the way, that's not actually what's happening here. Truth is, it seems you are ignorant of the definition of the word ignorant. Here's a hint: It has nothing to do with ignoring anything.

[d0ct0rstrangel0ve]

racism aside, i like the song.

[Reyveuze]

Jim crow laws...

[leslieadisakyle]

ammmmmmmmmmmm, are u ppl serious?? i'm from trinidad and i know the history of this song. Do some research before you fall in love with it.

[SuleDrum]

My father-in-law's from Trinidad. Tell us, please: what's the history of the song? Don't just allude--enlighten...please

[maman666]

@SuleDrum its a racist stereotype of black people, thats why anti-black laws are called Jim Crow laws

[doubleghod]

@leslieadisakyle Please return to Trinidad, bumba clot.

[ebotusbanjar]

What a roll you were on. . .thanks for posting!

[lokallize]

i just love hearing the bajo thnx

[speedbag1]

Very nice. Love to hear you sing.

[SuleDrum]

Thanks; I'll try to do some more. Push me to get in shape!

[speedbag1]

ME push you? surely you jest. But I can teach you to hit the speed bag. With your rhythm ability, you would be awesome under the board.

[BanjoPariah]

Wow, very tight performance. Well worth the wait, Sule. I love the tune & the tone of that b'jo. Steel strings? Please bless us some more, man.

[SuleDrum]

Thx for pushing me to post something; you have so much you've shared already...

That turn-o'-th-century banjo has new "Nyl-Gut" strings, nylon strings formulated to act like gut. My local music store hooked me up...

[BanjoPariah]

Man, I had to hear something from ya. I'm so glad you complied. I'm gonna order some of those strings for my gourd & the older banjo, asap. All right, I'm ready for some more now, lol.

[BeautifulGirlByDana]

Performed the first time around the year 1820 ,thats almost 200 years ago ,its truly a masterpiece and you tube is now a better place for having it and you on here,,,,,,Dana

[SuleDrum]

thazz true... a very old tune. Thx for the humbling welcome, D!

[polishcandy]

Go, Sule, GO!