Little Birdie - a traditional song - Marc Nerenberg - 21 April 2020

Little Birdie is a traditional Appalachian Mountains banjo song, that has a distinctive banjo tuning all its own, called, unsurprisingly, "Little Birdie tuning". I've heard it said that nothing else is played in this tuning, and Little Birdie can't be played properly in any other tuning. Truth be told, over the years I've played this song in a variety of different tunings - but today I decided to play it "properly" and I worked out this particular arrangement in its proper tuning: eCGAD.
Traditionally, this is an index lead two-finger picking song, though I first heard it done by Pete Seeger in a wonderful clawhammer arrangement, and in the past have generally played it clawhammer style. Seeing as how I'm playing it "properly" today, I'm using two-finger picking here - though I think most of it is thumb lead instead of index.
As is appropriate for an old song, this is played here on a 1927 Whyte Ladie banjo. It was recorded during the 2020 Pandemic Lock-down, in Montreal West, Québec, on 21 April 2020.

Little Birdie,2 finger thumb lead banjo,Marc Nerenberg,Whyte Laydie banjo,