I’d been working out ukulele arrangements of some country and bluegrass waltzes, when I stumbled upon this in a songbook my wife picked up. It derailed my waltz project for a little bit, but I like the way it came out.

St. James Infirmary Blues

One of the waltzes I’m working on. I did this one pretty strait with almost no dynamics. I like the idea of bringing out the structure, but I may spiff it up a bit. Bill Monroe’s vocal phrasing is really great on this tune, so I’ll probably try to emulate that.

Kentucky Waltz

One of my all-time favorite Bill Monroe waltzes, this arrangement by YouTube’s ukulelezaza is what inspired me to record these country and bluegrass waltzes on the ukulele. Ukulelezaza epitomizes everything I love about this instrument. He doesn’t post enough, but his channel is very worth subscribing to.

Lonesome Moonlight Waltz

In honor of the fall equinox in the northern hemisphere, a lovely waltz about the end of summer and walking in the moonlight.

Summertime Is Past And Gone

A waltz I wrote in G minor. Inspired by memories of driving home from band practice in Dixon and pulling over at a dark sky spot beside Putah Creek to look at the stars. We were playing Lonesome Moonlight Waltz a lot at the time.

The Creekside Serenade

Hoagy Carmichael has always been a huge favorite of mine. A legendary songwriter, and under-rated performer. I have always been a sucker for songwriters performing their own songs. Hoagy is at the top of my list.

I took this arrangement from my official Hoagy Carmichael songbook and reworked it for ukulele. Hoagy is known for his difficult songs. Stardust in particular is often lauded as difficult to sing. Baltimore Oriole is no exception. This tune took me about two months to nail down.

There is chart on my website:
http://thebigreason.com/music/2015/11/20/baltimore-oriole/

Baltimore Oriole

An original composition inspired by Leigh Nash’s Cruel Heart (her song, not her attitude). Totally different, though. This recording features my daughter Ella on rhythm ukulele. She is a hoss.

The Cruel Minuet

Some months back I was on the hunt for a California waltz. There seems to be a waltz for every state, and I wanted to learn one for my state. I found this great record of forgotten fiddle tunes by Chirps Smith on iTunes (https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/album/down-in-little-egypt/id301373377?at=1001l7wh&app=itunes) and came up with my own little ukulele arrangement.

California Waltz

In the victorian era, music boxes were commonly made from old snuff boxes. There were personal-sized pocket boxes that you carried around with you, and tabletop boxes for your parlor or coffee table. These old tabletop boxes were the ones commonly used for music boxes. I though this tune sounded like an old music box on the ukulele, and I like the occasional snuff… so there you are.

Tabletop Box

This is another take of Table Top Box in the same key and tempo as the last version, only this time with gut strings. In the previous version, I’m using Aquila Lavas. I thought it would be cool to do a back-to-back comparison, since most people don’t use gut strings on their instruments.

Gut strings have quite a bit less tension than nylon or fluorocarbon, so intonation is quite a bit less forgiving. This recording is also a bit more raw. I had to do it in the garage, so you can hear birds, cars, and my kids playing video games in the next room.

Tabletop Box (Gut Strings)

I woke up with a cold and a deep voice, so I took the opportunity to sing my favorite Dick Curless tune.

Bury the Bottle With Me

Sticker

I play bluegrass, honky tonk, and rockabilly double bass. I took up the ukulele in around 2006 because it’s more portable. I didn’t count on falling in love with it so much.

Mark Eagleton

Popular tracks