Johnny Foodstamp plays "Downhill"

Johnny Foodstamp - Ludwig banjo-uke - instrumental by Remco Houtman-Jannsen (Ukulelezaza)



Now wasn't that fantastic?

The tab for the instrumental is in Remco's latest book, "The Glory of Love". Get it here.....

That was a quick one, wasn't it..... I know, sorry.... better a quickie than none at all!

Johnny Foodstamp, my Kiwaya KTS-4 and a bit of Roy Smeck - what a combination!

I told you that Johnny Foodstamp (from Nashville, Tennessee) made the pilgrimage to a George Formby Society convention in Blackpool again... just a week or so ago...

He was interested in my Kiwaya uke, knowing how George Elmes (read about George here on Uke Ireland ) thinks so highly of his Kiwaya ... and as he wanted to play it, and I wanted to hear him play it, the result was this lovely impromptu performance of Roy Smeck's Music Box Waltz.

Pure magic.

Please enjoy....



Mmm, delicious!

Thanks for dropping in....

Look out - Johnny Foodstamp hits the GFS September 2014 Convention!

I've been featuring Johnny Foodstamp in my blogs for exactly two and a half years. The first time was 22nd March 2012, very soon after I started this blog. I named him as one of my ukulele heroes, for helping me over a ukulele forum to sort out little problems with my very first (and very old) banjo-uke. So kind and helpful. Go back and read it and you'll see. Since then I've posted about Johnny lots of times. I love it that he, a young fella from Nashville, Tennessee, plays George Formby, Formby-style, split-strokes and everything and brings it to the Nashville folk. What a star. And last weekend he and his lovely wife made their second trip across the Atlantic to attend their second Formby convention. How fantastic is that! And I can tell you, he got a very warm welcome from the friends he made last time!

He didn't bring a banjo-uke with him this time, just his lovely vintage Gibson soprano uke. It sounds gorgeous. And he says that the strings are just the cheapest nylon uke strings from his local music shop.... food for thought there!

He gave us two Formby numbers on Saturday - "Little Ukulele" and "The Lancashire Toreador". Now, the purists will say that Johnny's vocal style "isn't Formby".... well, how can he sound like a Lancashire lad, coming from Nashville Tennessee, for goodness sake? Sure he has a very personal style of delivery, but whether you like that or not, the uke playing was excellent. Me? I loved it.

Here's the Lancashire Toreador....


Thanks to Pauline Aitken for the video

More Johnny to come...

After a monster couple of Ukafrolicking weeks, coming up...

Two weekend uke festivals in nine days takes some reporting on.... but I'm getting there, honestly, in between washing, various other bits of housework and sick-visiting - so, coming up...

(I love this pic of me with Johnny Foodstamp thanks to Kate Howard!)

The September convention of the GFS (George Formby Society) in Blackpool - a bit of a spotlight on the band, Johnny Foodstamp visits from Nashville, and as many more delights as I can possibly cram in before life tears me away....

Also - The GNUF (Grand Northern Ukulele Festival) in Huddersfield - this was two weekends ago, but I still have lots that I want to tell you about in my own way and from my own perspective. So bear with me and I'll be with you shortly!

Johnny Foodstamp does Formby Nashville style at the George Formby Society Convention, Blackpool June 2013

Well - the GFS has surely never seen "Formby" done quite like this! Johnny Foodstamp and his lovely young wife made the trip over from Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday especially to attend the George Formby Society Convention. They flew in at 8.30 am and brought the Nashville sunshine with them. They saw Blackpool under blue skies with a blue sea, with people enjoying the beach, just as Blackpool should be.

In spite of the overnight flight and the jet-lag, Johnny was up for making the most of every minute with the Formby fans and star players, and he did.... the fun went on for those with strong enough constitutions well into the early hours! Johnny was made as welcome as the lovely weather he'd brought with him. The above performance of the George Formby numbers "She's Got Two of Everything" and "Under The Blasted Oak" was on the Saturday afternoon concert. Suited and booted for the occasion, you would never have known that he'd been travelling all night without a wink of sleep! Thanks to Pauline Aitken for the video! On Sunday, Johnny gave us "The Dumber They Come, the Better I Like 'Em", a deliciously un-PC Eddie Kantor number from the 1920's. John Bianchi did a lovely Youtube of this song last year... (see blogpost here 7th June 2012) and I'm sure Johnny Foodstamp's version from Sunday will be video'd and up for viewing soon.

And as for the June convention in general ... I can only say that it was one of the very best. I could never have hoped to see so many of my named ukulele heroes on one stage all in one day... just listen to who was there!

Johnny Foodstamp all the way from Nashville as I've said; Matthew J Richards, Mike Warren, Alan Yates, George Elmes was over from Ireland and gave us Limehouse Blues and lovely renditions of some of his short original pieces for soprano uke, Andy Eastwood managed to make the convention on both days even though he's very busy on the professional stage, and even.... wait for it... Ken Middleton. Yes, that's right, Ken Middleton, who came along to see what all the fuss is really about. He gave us a beautiful performance on stage of "I'll Fly Away" and "Try a Little Tenderness", jammed outside in the sunshine with George Elmes, and left with an inkling of what the GFS is all about, even if we didn't exactly manage to make a Formby fan of him! So glad you made it, Ken, and it was lovely to meet you in person at last!

Unfortunately, Ken had to leave before the 9.00 pm Sunday concert, and missed some highlights which I know he would have enjoyed... particularly Andy Eastwood playing Chopin on his soprano wooden uke. Absolutely breathtaking. Add Alan Yates on solo electric guitar with "Apache"; "I'll See You in My Dreams" beautifully performed and sung by Caroline Robson ... once more at the GFS I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Add in all the lovely performances by the wonderfully skilled split-strokers young and old, and the all-inclusive and well-named "thrash"... you know, there are just a few who just "don't get it"... but I get it... and I just love it.

More later. Thanks for dropping by... I have to go and massage my face. I've got face-ache because I still haven't stopped smiling....

Mr. Wu's a Window Cleaner Now - Johnny Foodstamp - George Formby

Once more, Johnny Foodstamp gives an old George Formby number the Nashville touch! I think this is his best yet - one take before coffee must have something going for it, Johnny! This version also features his uke in D tuning with a new calf-skin vellum - big improvement on that nasty plastic head! All the better for that old-time Formby sound!

And Johnny will be making the pilgrimage to the George Formby Society Convention in Blackpool in June! And we can't wait to see that!

Happy Halloween! Here comes Johnny! - JOHNNY FOODSTAMP - "She's Got Two of Everything"

Johnny Foodstamp is one of a rare kind - a George Formby fan and banjolele player from America - Nashville, to be precise. And his favourite song is "She's Got Two of Everything". He's certainly done a great job with the Halloween make-up - a great job of the instrumental solo was never in question.



And I drool over that 20's Gibson UB2...

The 2012 November convention in Blackpool is not far away - 17th-18th November.

Unfortunately, Johnny will not be there...

BUT - just wait til June.....oh, yes.....

Find the lyrics to "She's Got Two of Everything" here.

From the 1945 Film "I Didn't Do It"

JOHNNY FOODSTAMP - With My Little Ukulele in my Hand - George Formby

Johnny Foodstamp of Nashville certainly knows how to put a different spin on a George Formby number.... and.... (shhhhhh......) STOP PRESS.....I do believe..... he's going to be there at GFS Convention in Blackpool next June! I don't think Blackpool will quite know what's hit it.... and as for myself, well, I can't wait!

And Under The Blasted Oak - here's Johnny Foodstamp, with George Formby Nashville-style!

I just love his style - and that Gibson... and it's such a shame that this weekend Johnny will be in Nashville and John Bianchi, (another big George Formby and banjolele man) will be in Manhattan... not at the next meeting of the George Formby Society in Blackpool, this Saturday... oh, how they would love them both up there.....

For my part, I have just learnt "When I'm Cleaning Windows" - God, who'd have thought it....but not the solo - of course. Far too hard for the likes of me.

But I can do the split-stroke and the triple now. And tuned up to D, with GFS nylon strings on, my little Slingerland is sounding quite nice...

Oh Yes.

Must go and titivate my genuine 40's hat....

Our Sargeant Major - George Formby Nashville-style, by Johnny Foodstamp!

Johnny Foodstamp of Nashville, badass banjolele player, is now a fully-fledged member of the GFS, the George Formby Society. Oh how he would have loved the Convention in Blackpool in June!



And I just know they would love him. Go, Johnny!

I don't know how many Formby fans in the US play the banjo-ukulele Formby -style, but I suspect there aren't that many. There's John Bianchi in New York, and ..... anybody else out there?

There's no middle ground with George Formby - you either love him and his music or hate them. George had a huge, cheeky, goofy grin, a broad Lancashire accent and an innocent way with saucy lyrics, brimful of double-entendres. He was a huge star until his untimely death in 1961 - read more about him here.

To this day, his skill as a banjo-ukulele player wins him new fans. The "Formby" strum, or split-stroke, is the one that wins the most admiration, especially delivered in fast, complex syncopated cross-rhythms. No two people play Formby-style the same, and no-one plays it quite like George did - it's like a personal fingerprint. But if you can play it at all..... respect!

So, respect to Johnny - flying that Formby flag across the Pond!

To Follow up Ken, Here Comes Johnny! Are Ukuleles Allowed in Bluegrass?

The first thing I thought of to follow Ken's Wildwood Flower bluegrass piece, was this offering from Johnny Foodstamp of Nashville, a cover of "Ukuleles Aren't Allowed in Bluegrass!"



I just love that banjo-uke delivery! Written by Bob Gross.

Nice one, Johnny!

Johnny Foodstamp - A Banjolele Player among the Nashville Guitarists

JOHNNY FOODSTAMP - "I'll Take the Rest" - Douglas Corner - In the Round


Since the late 50's the guitar has reigned supreme..... and I love to hear a guitar, whether it's being played superbly by someone who has mastered their art, or strummed by an amateur for a sing-song. But - many would agree with me that there's something about the sound of a ukulele that touches parts that the guitar cannot reach... and the same can be said of the banjo-uke. In an earlier post I told how I first experienced that all those years ago at the Jug O'Punch.

What that unnamed hero was doing in the late 60's at the Jug, Johnny Foodstamp is doing now at Douglas Corner, a premier Nashville folk club - showcasing the banjo-ukulele George Formby-style to a folk audience - and wowing them. Here Johnny is singing a song he wrote himself, just the day before. The guitarists sitting either side of him on-stage look a little skeptical at the beginning - but end up rather impressed!

My third ukulele hero - Johnny - Johnny Foodstamp

"Get that wound string off there right now, Missy!"

It all started when I discovered that the lovely set of Aquila new nylgut strings that I'd put on my "new" vintage - no - antique - 1920's Slingerland banjolele were looking sick. Or at least, the wound C string was - and because of "issues" with the little baby that I was still trying to fix, I'd actually hardly played it. Notches all the way up it, tiny bits of wire sticking out and almost broken through in one place. Not for the first time, shock horror! I don't really know why, but the strings that Aquila supply especially for the banjo-uke have a wound third string - nylgut, with fine wire wound around it. But there was something definitely amiss, apparently with the frets. Slipping friction tuner - I'd fixed that. Action much too high at the nut - well, I was working on it. All with advice and instruction from heroes and friends on the wonderful Ukulele Underground Forum. But now the frets.

Well, they looked fine to me - but perhaps they were a little bit rough - and a bit tarnished. "Help! What to do?" goes out the plaintive call to the UU forum once again. And once again, I'm furnished with all the information I need. Well, I'm all geared up with wire wool, Brasso, masking tape for the fingerboard.... when the advice comes over, "Get that wound string off there right now, missy! Go with some fluorocarbon strings....they sound great on a banjo-uke!" Now this advice comes from one of my ukulele heroes, Johnny Foodstamp, who hails from Nashville, Tennessee, and plays a real badass banjo-ukulele Formby-style with added attitude, for audiences all over the state, and beyond. And he has one like mine... an antique Slingerland.

Next, he sends the advice "It sounds like they need more then a cleaning. My frets are sort of sharp on my old Slingy too. Any luthier should be able to fix that and usually uke repair is pretty cheap because they are so small."

So - I have managed to find a luthier in my area, a lovely man who has taken her in and agreed to do the necessary. By the end of next week, I should have her back, spruced up and ready for some serious strumming, tripling and split-stroking... well, some serious practice, anyway.

And as for the recommended fluorocarbon strings, they are on order and I'm going to try them out.

I wonder whether I'll ever be able to play like this - click here for Johnny Foodstamp playing some real mean banjo-ukulele on a Slingerland like mine.