Free Banjo Music & MP3 Audio
Original Bluegrass-style songs featuring banjo that you can freely perform and shareIf you are a banjo player, or you play in a Bluegrass or other type of band and you are looking for Bluegrass style songs that you can freely perform live without running into copyright problems, or if you just want some free MP3 music with banjo, this page might interest you. Here are links to my original contemporary Bluegrass style songs, all licensed under Creative Commons Noncommercial-Attribution-Share Alike License version 3.0.
In addition to the provisions of that license, I expressly give permission for the following:
- Live performance in bars, cafes, coffee/tea houses, and similar venues where the maximum legal capacity of the venue is not more than 500 persons
- Live performance in concert halls music festivals of any capacity EXCEPT in cases where the live performance of the work will be recorded, and any type of commercial use whatsoever (including charitable fund-raising) will made of any recording of the work.
MUSICIANS! If you cover any of my CC tunes in your show, I'd love to know about it (contact info here) and I'd be happy to make a link to your site.
Robert's Creative Commons Banjo and Bluegrass Songs
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Firefly Days (Traditional Style Bluegrass) |
A Bluegrass, somewhat traditional style, tune featuring banjo. Inspired by and dedicated to my cousin Paula who used to chase these critters with me, and without whom leading the life I've lead over the past decade would have been a whole lot more difficult. Where have they flown, eh? |
| Next Train Comin' (Traditional Style Bluegrass) |
Another more or less traditional Bluegrass style tune. Kind of spritely, up-tempo, and cheery with doom and gloom lyrics – true Bluegrass spirit at least as dismal as "Old Home Place"! Dedicated to the many friends I've made (and am still in the process of making!) on the Banjo Hangout, in hopes that a) someone will like it enough to add it to their band's repertoire and b) maybe a real banjo player will learn it and really play the #$*% out of it! |
| I-29 (Country-Bluegrass Trucking Tune) |
If you're gonna write country/Bluegrass tunes, sooner or later ya gotta write a Truckin' song — so here's mine. This is
more Country than Bluegrass, but I put in a banjo track 'cause that''s what I can play. Inspired by the days when I used to drive Interstate 29 through
the Dakotas and Iowa with a country band that played the US upper mid-west club circuit. Never trucked myself, but did caravan a big van dragging a double-axle
equipment trailer through frigid nights with a lot of truckers. Running behind five 18-wheelers was sometimes the only way we got through the drifts and made the
next gig. (Winters up there really suck — St. Petersburg is warmer!) Occasionally we'd pull off and meet up with some of the gents for coffee. Now and
again our "chick singer" would ride a stretch with one of them. That made for some entertaining CB radio chatter late at night on I-29. I think that
band's only radio airplay was over the CB! I used my best Waylon Jennings voice for this one. :-)
|
| Irish for a Day (Irish + Banjo) |
The Mutt* dances a little Irish jig. A fellow member of the Banjo Hangout, a self-described "purveyor
of fine hot dogs" whose surname is Connor and who is also something of a songwriter, posted that St. Patrick's Day was near and he could find no Irish
songs on the site's jukebox. In his post he asked "Do you have an Irish song in you?". Unbeknownst to me, a mad Yankee of Hispanic descent living
in Russia, I actually did have an Irish song lurking in there! And it just tumbled out almost effortlessly. So you can thank (or blame) Mr. Connor for
this tune. Yer strongly advised to take this wid a pint o' Guinness. I warn you: the tune is kind of infectious. Kinda like Guinness. * (A 70s vintage Stew-Mac kit banjo with archtop aluminum pot that has been hacked a lot over the years and which sounds surprisingly good when tuned down to open E.) |
| Je Donnerai Québec (Banjo Chanson) |
A Bluegrassy banjo tune with an international flair and a little resophonic guitar. A weird hybrid actually. The first verse and chorus (in French)
are from chapter 5 of Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous. For some reason when I read it I heard it as a Bluegrass style tune - weird
considering Bluegrass didn't emerge until the 1940s and Kipling wrote his novel in 1897. So far I have not been able find the rest of the words -
I have no clue where Kipling got the song. Maybe it's some old French Canadian ditty? Anyway I took my guitar and came up with kind of a catchy tune. But the song was short. So I mustered up my 1 semester of college French and wrote a second verse in French. The song was still short. So I decided to see if I could express the ideas and feelings of the French lyrics in English. I think it falls out kind of nicely. My Bishline banjo liked the summer humidity and is really startin' to snort! Anyway, have fun with this one - I did! |
| Neva Nights (Bluegrass-Jazz) |
Another tune with an international theme, and a kind of weird Bluegrass-Jazz (Jazzgrass??) flavor. I guess it could be the first banjo tune written in (and about) St. Petersburg (for whatever that's worth). Seemed appropriate to write a tune about the city that's been my home for over a decade, not to mention being the native city of my wife and daughters. The weird effects at the beginning are jet lag, in case you weren't sure. I actually wrote the tune back in 2006 or 2007 but I had a really hard time making a decent recording of the tune. This one has its glitches and glops (as does everything here) but you'll get the idea. I hope. |
| Samuel Adams Waltz (Oom-pah-pah with banjo in it) |
Grab those waltz partners folks! This waltz tune has in infectious three-four waltz beat modeled on the tradition of the great oom pah pah beer swilling songs
I have experienced with my friends and colleagues in South Germany. A country flavor is added with banjo, Dobro (resophonic guitar), flat-picked acoustic guitar, and
thick 3-part vocals. The tune is dedicated to Douglas and the folks at The Other Side Gastro-bar & Refuge in St. Petersburg, Russia who managed (until their distributor went stupid) to introduce Samuel Adams Boston Lager to the city and to Russia. As a result of their persistence with the brewery, local distributors, and Russian Customs, we American expatriates were able to hold up our heads around our Brit counterparts around town (until the beer distributor went stupid). |
| Funk-a-Duck (Funk Banjo) |
Bizarre banjo-country-funk instrumental, the result of screwing around in the old home studio late one night (and a few stiff cognacs). I re-recorded it later after I got the use of my fingers back. No lyrics page, just download the MP3 (at your own risk). |
More tunes on my Creative Commons Project »