Kalimba Americana – it is it’s Own Genre!

I grew up strumming folk guitar and singing the songs of my country. I had a wonderful music teacher in elementary school, and I quickly learned to love music – especially the Americana songs we sang in music class.

As I grew up, I learned a deeper and more present side of Americana – Bob Dylan, The Band, Woodie Guthrie… and the diverse strands of the fabric of our country’s rich tapestry of musical traditions.

And then, in 1986, I fell in love with the kalimba, and started my own kalimba journey. I played Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan songs on the kalimba. The kalimba is like that. It will play whatever type of music it needs to. It is flexible. It is an open window.

As the years went on, I collected more and more American songs that work on kalimba.

Wildwood Flower isn’t in any of my books. Beautiful isn’t it?

And then I wrote these songs down in tablature for the various books.

Remember, kalimba is not just for melody. You can do boom-chink-boom-chink or chordal accompaniments – even while playing melody at the same time. And that is where kalimba and American music intersect – with the rhythmic chordal guitar accompaniment that has shaped American music, from bluegrass and old time to country, folk, and rock and roll.

That is where I am coming from. And below are the various Kalimba Americana resource I have created to help you get to the same place I stand.

A list of the songs in the Kalimba Americana collection is included in the product pages below:

Kalimba Americana for the 17-Note Kalimba in C (Download)

Kalimba Americana for the 17-Note Kalimba in C (Hard Copy)

In addition to classical music and African music, this collection has 16 songs of Americana and African American spirituals. This collection has no overlap with the “Kalimba Americana” collection. Hard copy book with QR code.

33 Intermediate Songs for the 17-Note Kalimba in C (Hard Copy)

33 Intermediate Songs for the 17-Note Kalimba in C (Download)

Kalimba Americana for the 15-Note Alto Kalimba (Download)

Kalimba Americana for the 15-Note Alto Kalimba (Hard Copy)

21 African American Spirituals, arranged for the 15-Note Hugh Tracey Alto Kalimba. Each song has a basic, melody-only arrangement and an advanced arrangement with melody and harmony. That is, the melody-only arrangements will help you to play the advanced arrangements. Tablature and links to sound recordings.

Alto Spirituals (Book)

Alto Spirituals (Download)

The “66 Songs” Collection is a primitive (ie, ZIP file of dozens of individual files) version of the songs that became “44 Beginner Songs” and “33 Intermediate songs”. (Good trick, starting with 66, and getting 44 + 33 = 77 songs!) So, it has a good amount of Americana, but arranged for: Treble, C-Alto, Bb Treble, and 12-Note Kalimba. This material won’t work for the 17-Note Kalimba in C.

66 Songs for the Treble Kalimba (Download only)

66 Songs for the C-Alto Kalimba (Download Only)

66 Songs for the Bb Treble Kalimba (Download Only)

66 Songs for the 12-Note Kalimba (Downwload Only)

There are several Americana songs in this smaller collection.

32 Songs for the 8-Note (or 10-Note) Kalimba (Book)

32 Songs for the 8-Note (or 10-Note) Kalimba (Download)

Amazing Grace and I’ll Fly Away