14709 I downloaded quite a few of the recordings in the "78s" category, but this is the one I found myself listening to repeatedly. Expert, intense banjo pickin' ...the musical equivalent of two cups of coffee. And Ashley's voice has a haunted, obsessive quality I haven't the right words to describe. Oddly compelling paulcurtis 2004-06-12 05:34:05 2004-06-12 05:34:05 5 24567 For those who don't know this, Clarence "Tom" Ashley was mainly responsible for guitar great Doc Watson's "discovery" in the early 60s. Ashley plays in a style of banjo which was very prevalent at that time in the Southern mountains, called by various names such as: "clawhammer", "frailing" "rapping", and the like. The technique is to hit some banjer strings with a fingernail and hit the head at the same time. Mr. Ashley's singing style is though, what a lot of oldtime banjer pickers like me would call "the high lonesome sound". But, there is one singer who went even higher and more lonesome than he. It was Roscoe Holcomb. Cuckoo Bird bluesbanjoman 2004-11-08 15:24:56 2004-11-08 15:24:56 5 2 5.00