Hope ya'll enjoy this ''Skeeter Davis'' country hit from 1962. ''Chet Atkins'' stamped his arranging polish on this one, as he did with so many other legends, back then. ... Thanks for tunin' in. ... Don. ... Key, Eb - tuning CGBD.

An old pop tune from McGuire and Andrews sisters and from Les Paul and Mary Ford. Travis picking.

A tune collected by Tom Sauber & recorded on the Banjo Gathering album produced by Steve Baughman as a fundraiser for the Swannanoa Gathering. Tom learned it from Peter Tomlinson Bell, who learned it from his father during the Civil War. It's a version of 'Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine.' I play it here out of A modal. Thanks to my wife Lucy for backing me up on guitar.

Original tune on cigar box banjo and guitar

Original tune on cigar box banjo and guitar

This year I have recorded a simple version of Frosty the Snowman. It was written for Gene Autry in 1950 by Walter "Jack" Rollins and Steve Nelson. It became a hit for many others as well and also became the centerpiece of a television special. One of my favorite uses of the song is as the ironic background that it provides in the "Don’t Buy Anything” scene (R rated) in Goodfellas. That version was sung by the Ronettes. This song has no mention of any holidays, so please accept my holiday wishes for kindness, compassion, and generosity in this season and for the new year.

This is the arrangement from my new Mel Bay book "The Best of Jack Hatfield"

Just holding the banjo and fooling around, sometimes you come up with a sound you like.

Me and Ivan Rosenberg (Dobro)...from our album Farewell Trion

American The Beautiful, Battle Hymn of the Republic, and God Bless America. I really enjoy playing this and seems people enjoying hearing it. I recorded it in the Key of 'C'. Hope you enjoy it also