Since my recent attempts to relearn how to play the banjo, I have been reminded of the following story.
Back in the late 1960's some of my classmates and I used to do a lot of stomping around in the mountains of SW Virginia on the weekends. We did run into some interesting situations but we knew the basic rule: the first shot never hits you, but do turn around immediately and you'll be just fine.
One of my buddies ran into an old guy playing a banjo on a porch or at a general store or something down in the Saltville area. My buddy knew enough to be able to recognize frailing as practiced by HonketyHank and Scruggs picking as not practiced by HonketyHank, but not much more. He said the old guy was playing some kind of style he called 'dead hand' or maybe even 'dead man'. Thinking back on it now, his description sounds maybe like some kind of two finger picking. But back then all I knew was what was in Seeger's book and it didn't make any sense at the time.
Anybody here ever hear of 'dead hand' (or 'dead man')? Can you describe it?