Any Woman’s Blues #2 – Precious Bryant

Last week we got the Any Woman’s Blues series underway with the music of Sue Foley—electric (in more than one sense of the word) & contemporary, tho with a sense of deep roots.  One of the two Foley tunes I picked was her cover of a Precious Bryant tune: “Fool Me Good,” & in introducing the song, Foley spoke highly of Bryant’s musicianship.

But unless you’re a real blues aficionado, you may not be familiar with Precious Bryant & her music.  Born in Talbot County, Georgia in 1942, Ms Bryant has been playing guitar since she was nine years old—she started out on ukulele, & her first guitar was a Sears Silvertone—gotta love that.  She performed as a teenager, & then again in the 1960s as a married woman, often playing simply for the tips she could collect in her guitar case. 

Then she was recorded by folklorist George Mitchell in 1969, which led to some more exposure, tho it wasn’t really until the 1983 Chattahoochee Folk Festival (which Bryant played with Mitchell’s enthusiastic encouragement) that she began pursuing a wider audience—&, field recordings aside, it wasn’t until 2002 that she released her debut album at age 60—this was Fool Me Good on Terminus (which brings us full-circle to last week’s Foley post).  Fool Me Good was nominated for two Blues Music Awards, & in 2006 she was nominated for "Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year," eventually losing out to the great Etta James.  She released two more albums in 2005, The Truth on Terminus & My Name is Precious on Music Maker.

Bryant is an acoustic player who uses a fingerstyle form of playing sometimes referred to as Piedmont picking.  A number of well-known blues artists have played in this style, which is usually characterized as “lighter” than styles used in Mississippi & Texas, for instance.  Among the prominent Piedmont style players are Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Blake, Etta Baker, Elizabeth Cotten & Blind Boy Fuller—quite a line-up, & Precious Bryant’s talent puts her right in the heart of this tradition.

Once again we have two songs: Precious Bryant's cover of the great Memphis Minnie's "Black Rat Swing" from Bryant's Fool Me Good album & a live version of "My Chauffeur." Hope you enjoy the songs!

Any Woman's Blues #1 - Sue Foley

Greetings, folks!  The music continues here on Robert Frost’s Banjo with a brand new series for your listening pleasure. 

When we speak about women & the blues, we tend to think of the great vocalists first.  After all, the first blues recording stars were women like Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith & Ida Cox—it wasn’t until Blind Lemon Jefferson hit the scene that a man achieved similar stardom.  But when we think about blues guitarists—& let’s face it, the guitar is the instrument probably most associated with blues (with apologies to piano players, who could make an argument for the 88s)—women tend to get short shrift.  If you asked the average blues fan to come up with a list of great guitar players you’d probably see names like Robert Johnson, BB King, Lightnin’ Hopkins & Eric Clapton; if the fan was a devotee of old-time blues you’d probably see the likes of Charlie Patton, Son House & Blind Willie McTell on the list.

But the fact is there are lots of extraordinarily talented blues guitar players who also happen to be women.  I’ve often said that I might never have gotten into the blues as a performer were it not for the great Rory Block.  Seeing her perform this spring in Montana was a real highlight of 2010, & I can say that both her playing & singing live were every bit as good as expected.

So we’re going to devote our Saturdays for the foreseeable future to featuring some of these great blueswomen.  Now, you’d think given my high regard for Rory Block, she should be the lead-off feature.  I certainly considered that—& have no fear, she will be featured!—but since I’ve written about Ms Block in the past, I decided I’d start with an artist who hasn’t appeared on this blog before.

& we have a terrific guitar player to get the series underway.  Sue Foley hails from Ottawa, Canada.  She came to music early, & was already performing & composing by her teens.  She left home at age 18 & wound up in Austin, Texas by way of Vancouver & California.  In 1992, still in her early 20s, she released her first album, Young Girl Blues on the Antone label (now on the Discovery label), & has followed this with eleven more albums, most recently He Said, She Said in collaboration with Peter Karp. 

Ms Foley won the Juno Award in 2000 for best blues album for Love Comin’ Down; she’s also a 14 time winner of the Maple Blues Award & a three time winner of the Trophee de Blues de France.  But let’s face it: the proof is in the hearing, & I guarantee Ms Foley won’t disappoint on either of today’s tunes.  I’ve got to say: listening to Sue Foley reminds me why I occasionally have a yen for a Fender Telecaster—listen how she makes her Tele sing!

Slide Guitar in Standard Tuning

In this lesson Allen Hinds talks about a number of elements regarding slide playing, in particular "Slide Guitar in Standard Tuning".

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Old Time Holiday Train #4

A happy Sunday & a happy Boxing Day.  Although it was much delayed, it’s now time for the last run on the Old-Time Holiday Train, so let’s get on board with a couple of great tunes!

The Memphis Jug Band: K.C. Moan (1929)

Is there anything quite like jug band music?  A sound that hovers between the blues & hot jazz, with any number of other elements thrown in—& to top it off, a “homemade,” “do it yourself” aesthetic that can rival even the most punk of punk rock bands.  After all, by definition, jug bands use “found” instruments , starting with the jug itself, & continuing thru washboard bass, tissue & comb kazoo, bones, & even homemade guitars, mandolins & banjos.  Gus Cannon of Cannon’s Jug Stompers learned the banjo on an instrument made from a frying pan & a raccoon skin, & while Cannon played a more conventional instrument by the time he was a known musician, there are records of jug band musicians playing pie plate banjos & gourd guitars.

The Memphis Jug Band was a very loose confederation of musicians gathered around Will Shade, who sang, wrote songs, & played guitar & harmonica.  The group at various times included musicians who also had significant solo careers, such as Memphis Minnie & Casey Bill Weldon.  “K.C. Moan” is a wonderfully straightforward blues song that was later covered by the Jim Kweskin Jug Band.



Charlie Poole & the North Carolina Ramblers: White House Blues (1926)

Speaking of a tune that mixes genres, we end this season’s holiday train tour with the “White House Blues.”  These days the “White House Blues” is considered a “bluegrass” or “old-time” tune, in the sense that it comes thru the Euro-American old-time tradition.  But structurally, “The White House Blues” is as much a “blues” as “K.C. Moan,” even if it isn’t given the syncopated inflection we generally associate with blues & other forms of African-American music.  It wouldn’t be hard to adapt the song to that kind of treatment, however, especially given the underlying 12-bar blues structure.

“The White House Blues” is itself an adaptation of an earlier song, “The Battleship of Maine.”  The latter is a satirical song of Spanish-American War vintage, & it provided the melody for its equally topical descendant.  For those who are interested, the New Lost City Ramblers covered “The Battleship of Maine,” & you can hear a live version of that here.

Charlie Poole & the North Carolina Ramblers were a popular string band of the 1920s, & their music certainly has an eduring appeal.  Poole played banjo & developed a three-finger picking style that provided rhythmic drive to the band.  By the way, in banjo (& guitar) terms “three-finger” means “thumb, index & middle fingers”—despite what your 1st grade teacher told you about the “thumb not being a finger.”  Although modern bluegrass banjoists use three-finger patterns based on those developed by Earl Scruggs, Poole’s patterns were less syncopated.

Hope you enjoy “The White House Blues!”

Old Time Holiday Train #3

Hello, folks—the train’s running behind time this morning, which is more than a little appropriate to the two songs.  Fortunately, no actual wreck seems imminent.  Also: apologies to aficionados of Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music, who will see that today’s pairing comes straight off the first “Ballads” record of his compilation.  The pairing of “Engine 143” & “Kassie Jones” was just too good to pass up.

Carter Family: Engine 143 (1929)

The Carter Family from southwestern Virginia have had a profound impact on U.S. popular music, from country & folk to gospel & even rock (rockabilly in particular).  Perhaps the greatest single influence on future musical styles came from the guitar-playing of Mother Maybelle Carter.

In the 1920s the guitar was still primarily a rhythm instrument.  Even if we look at the great blues guitarists of that time, we don’t hear much in the way of “lead” playing such as we’d think of the thing nowadays.  The rhythmic backgrounds could be quite intricate—they could be contrapuntal, both in terms of harmonic lines & actual rhythm—but they didn’t tend to be break out into “melody.”  At least in terms of what would later become country music, Maybelle Carter’s playing changed this, as she perfected a style that incorporated melody with rhythmic playing.  This style is called “Carter picking” or “Carter scratch” in her honor. 

Although most folks nowadays play Carter style using a flatpick, Maybelle Carter played with a thumbpick & a fingerpick on her index finger—in this, her style was closely related to what is called “two-finger” banjo picking (she also played banjo, in fact, which she learned from her mother).  There has been some controversy as to how much influence African American musician Lesley Riddle had on her playing, but her connection to the banjo means at the very least that her innovative guitar style had some deep roots. 



Furry Lewis: Kassie Jones, parts 1 & 2 (1928)

Furry Lewis was, quite simply, an amazing singer & fingerstyle guitar player, equally adept at playing music from ragtime to blues.  His roots go way back.  He was born some time in the 1890s—the exact date is uncertain, as he gave various dates over the course of his life—& he had some success as a traveling musician in the ‘teens & early 1920s.  But apparently with an eye on some financial stability, Lewis took a job as a Memphis city street sweeper for his main source of income—a position he held from 1922 until he retired in 1966.  Fortunately for us, he had a brief but fruitful stint making records for Vocalion & Victor in 1927 & 1928; he might have even continued as a recording artist, but the Great Depression had a major impact on the recording industry in general, & so-called “race records” in particular.

So again, as with a number of artists, Lewis was re-discovered in part because of Smith’s Anthology, as well as by the interest in his 78 sides from within the 1950s & 60s folk movement.  He had a second musical career in his retirement that included recordings & a number of live appearances—for instance, opening for the Rolling Stones & appearing on Johnny Carson! 

Lewis played an old-style form of fingerpicking that in its own way is also closely related to banjo playing.  In fact, it would be hard to over-state the influence of the banjo on all forms of old-time music, even the blues where the banjo itself rarely was featured.

You’ll notice that Kassie Jones in appears in a part one & a part two.  The reason for this is actually quite simple.  The standard size ’78 rpm record was 10 inches, & this record held approximately three minutes per side.  If a song was longer than three minutes, there was a part one & a part two—another well known example is Robert Wilkins’ great blues song “Rolling Stone.” 

Enjoy!

Old Time Holiday Train #2

Happy Saturday, folks!  The Old Time Holiday train is pulling into the station (just a bit behind time) with two more great tunes for your enjoyment.

Critic Greil Marcus wrote about Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music as portraying the “weird old America.”  Today’s two examples are definitely from that same place, tho neither song is found on the Anthology (Dock Boggs, who performs “Danville Girl” is found on two songs on Smith’s magnum folk opus, however). 

In old-time music, we often hear about “modal” songs—songs that are built less on the harmonic structure of chord changes & more on the use of a certain scale.  In particular the modal songs tend to use either a variation of the minor scale called the “Dorian mode” (what Pete Seeger called “mountain minor” in reference to a banjo tuning used for playing in this mode) & the “Mixolydian mode,” which is a more or less major scale with one tone altered.  If you have a piano, you can hear an example of the Dorian mode by starting on a D note & playing all the white notes in ascending order until you reach the next D; you can hear an example of the Mixolydian mode by starting on a G note & then playing all the white notes in ascending order until you reach the next G.

What may not be quite as well known is that the blues also ventured into modal territory, particularly in the Mississippi Delta & environs, & particularly in the hands of slide guitar players.  While we tend to think of blues songs having a very defined chord structure (the “12 bar blues”), in fact a fair number of early blues songs relied much less on those changes & only hinted at them.  On to the songs themselves!

Dock Boggs: Danville Blues (1927)

Dock Boggs was an extraordinary banjoist & singer who made some records for Brunswick back in the 1920s.  He sang with a raw emotion & urgency that really seems to come from some weird old world, & his style of 3-finger banjo picking was intricate & beautiful.  As with many of the old-timers, Boggs used banjo tunings that accomodated his music’s modal character.  For “Danville Girl,” he tuned the banjo to #fDGAD, a series of open string notes that allow him to hover between major & minor modes.  If you know the song “Danville Girl” from its later major chord incarnations, you won’t even recognize this version. 



King Solomon Hill: The Gone Dead Train (1932)

Not very much is known about King Solomon Hill.  He was born Joe Holmes in 1897 (at least that’s generally accepted, tho it’s not certain), & took his later stage name from his address in Mississippi: King Solomon Hill Baptist Church.  We do know that his playing was memorable & powerful, tho unfortunately he left behind only 8 tracks (a total of six songs, with two takes each of “Whoopee Blues” & “Down on Bended Knee”); we do know that the tracks were recorded for Paramount in Grafton, WI in 1932. 

Hill played slide style guitar & favored the open D tuning (in other words, the 6 strings of the guitar, when unfretted, will sound a D major chord).  Because of the way open tunings typically work on a guitar, however, it’s pretty easy to make the sound drift between major & minor in true bluesy fashion.  As far as the guitar part goes, Hill essentially stays on the D chord throughout, & any hints at chord changes come thru in the vocal & chord fragment riffs.

You may be interested to know that King Solomon Hill used a cow bone as a slide!

Hendrix Tribute - "Fire"

Off the back of the Experience Hendrix tribute tour, Jonny Lang, Chris Layton of Double Trouble, Brad Whitford of Aerosmith and Billy Cox took to the Tonight Show with Jay Leno to perform Jimi Hendrix’s classic “Fire.”



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Old Time Holiday Train #1

Two things I like a lot: old-time music & trains.  I say, why not combine them?  Especially when you consider the fact that the most popular post all-time on Robert Frost’s Banjo was one of the segments from last year’s Blues Christmas Train series.

So you can understand why I’m returning to a similar series this year.  Except this time around, I’m not sticking simply to the blues—nor am I sticking to what generally falls under the rubric of “old-timey” music—namely, old-time country & fiddle tunes.  Instead, I’ll be looking at songs from the 1920s & 1930s, & in each post comparing & contrasting a selection from the “hillbilly” genre (as it was known at the time) with one from a “race” record—again, using the parlance of the day.  The fact is, even these early attempts at genre creation were to a large degree dictated by the biases & tastes of the recording companies & the field recorders.  In fact, the lines between “hillbilly” music & “race” music were often crossed by the musicians themselves—we need only look to Jimmie Rodgers, the “father of Country Music” to find a hillbilly musician who played the blues, while there’s documentary evidence that a number of African-American blues musicians—including such luminaries as Robert Johnson & a young Muddy Waters—crossed over into cowboy music in the 1930s when their audiences demanded it—see Elijah Wald’s Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson & the Invention of the Blues.)

Today, we start with two classics!

Delmore Bros: Blue Railroad Train (1933)  What was there about brother acts in old-time country music?  In addition to the Delmore Brothers, there were the Blue Sky Boys, Bill & Charlie Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, & later on, Jim & Jesse McReynolds & the Louvin Brothers.  All of these acts had distinctive sounds, & the Delmores were no exception.  Alton & Rabon Delmore came out of Alabama to become early stars of the Grand Ol’ Opry.  In addition to their smooth harmonies, the Delmores were also notable for using the tenor guitar (played by Alton), a somewhat uncommon instrument, especially in country music.  The tenor guitar is tuned like a tenor banjo in fifths (C-G-D-A) & was a transitional instrument in some hot jazz bands as the sound began to steer away from banjos toward the more mellow guitar.

The more mellow sound of the Delmores’ certainly constrasted with the more strident sounds of mountain music recorded in the 1920s—think of Dock Boggs, Uncle Dave Macon or Charlie Poole.  But particularly like Boggs (in this way & perhaps no other), they did inject a blues feel into the music—flatted thirds, a certain “bent note” inflection in the vocals.  The Delmore’s had what Bill Monroe would late call “the high lonesome sound.”  It sure sounds good on “Blue Railroad Train.”


 
Tommy Johnson: Cool Drink of Water (1928)

Tommy Johnson was a singularly talented musician & one of the most memorable of the first generation of Delta bluesmen.  He recorded only 16 songs in two recording sessions, one in Memphis & one in Grafton, Wisconsin, but every one of those is a classic.  Johnson’s guitar playing is intricate & powerful—sometimes paired, as in this song, with Charlie McCoy’s mandolin playing—& then there’s his voice—

for my money, he had the most compelling falsetto in old-time blues—a sound that brings to mind the great “high lonesome” voices of Appalachian or “hillbilly” music—that tingling sense of existential despair that rings true whether it’s sung by a white banjoist from the mountains or an African-American guitar player from the Mississippi Delta.   Of course, the “high lonesome sound” was actually used by a number of blues singers: just think of Robert Johnson’s vocal on “Hellhound on My Trail,” or any number of vocals by Skip James, just to name to well-known bluesmen. 

“Cool Drink of Water” is one of the best old-time songs, whatever the genre.  Enjoy!

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"Cool Drink of Water"

Happy Monday everybody.  As you’re reading this, I’ll be traveling in the Golden State on my way to see the Carolina Chocolate Drops perform at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico.  Wish you were here, as the post card says!

So it will certainly be a musical Monday for me, at least in the evening, & I’m hoping to make it a musical Monday for you as well with another edition of the Monday Morning Blues.  Today’s song is a true classic—a blues by the great Tommy Johnson, one of the real Delta blues’ legends.  Although Johnson only left a recorded legacy of 16 songs from two recording sessions, several of these are standards: “Big Road Blues,” “Canned Heat Blues,” “Maggie Campbell,” & “Cool Drink of Water” are all songs any acoustic blues musician should know.

Johnson’s version of “Cool Drink of Water” is characterized by his trademark singing range, which could go from a baritone growl to a haunting falsetto—similar in some respects to the “high lonesome” sound we associate more with “mountain music.”  Now I can do a baritone growl, but I can’t reproduce those high tones—however, I’m satisfied overall with the way I perform this song.

I play “Cool Drink of Water” fingerstyle on my Gold Tone roundneck dobro (see pic)—no slide.  The guitar is tuned to an open D (I believe Johnson recorded this in E & in standard tuning).  As far as the recording goes, I’m experimenting with a one mic set-up.  Although I’ve always recorded “live” (i.e., I don’t record either the vocal or the guitar as discreet takes), I’d mic the voice & guitar separately, the way I do in live performance.  Yesterday I recorded a few songs with our Shure KSM 27 condensor mic, which picks up both the voice & the guitar, & overall I was pleased with the results.  It does, I think, bring more immediacy to the recording, tho it also limits the adjustments in balance you can make when processing the sound.

Hope you enjoy it, & have a great Monday.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops – 21st Century Heritage Music

Happy Monday, everyone!  It’s a Musical Monday on Robert Frost’s Banjo, & a special one at that, as I’ll be writing about some truly superlative & inspirational musicians, the Carolina Chocolate Drops. 

If you’re not familiar with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, you are in for a treat—there are two videos at the bottom of the post that will introduce you to their sound.  I must confess: one of the hardest things about writing this post was limiting myself to two embedded videos—the Carolina Chocolate Drops are so good & so versatile, & fortunately for all our listening pleasure, YouTube has a generous selection of clips from various live performances.
 
The Chocolate Drops is the trio of Dom Flemons, Justin Robinson & Rhiannon Giddens, tho they expand at times to include percussionist Sule Greg Wilson, Giddens' sister, singer & poet Lalenja Giddens Harrington, & also their mentor & inspiration, octogenarian old-time fiddler Joe Thompson.  You can read more about their connection with Thompson, which is seminal to the band's existence, on their band bio page here.

In brief: the members of the band met at the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, North Carolina in 2005, & as a result they began visiting Thompson for frequent jams accompanied by much learning about the heritage of this music—& this idea of heritage is important: in fact Heritage is the title of the Chocolate Drops’ superlative 2008 release on Dixiefrog.  Pigeonholing music into “genres”—largely a maketing device of the recording industry—does many things; one of those things is create a history that folks take as being true.  I once told a young banjo student of mine that the banjo is African in its origin: he was shocked, telling me he thought they’d been “invented in Tennessee.”  One thing that genre creation has done to old-time music has been to create artificial divisions that are anachronistic.  For instance, what do we make of the fact that Jimmie Rodgers, the “father of country music” recorded with Louis Armstrong & Lil Hardin?  It’s convenient to see old time music as dividing along racial lines: what’s now called “old-timey music” (think fiddles & banjos—despite the latter instrument’s African origin) is “white,” while blues & jazz are “black.” 

In fact, the real situation in “old-time” music in the old times themselves was much more complicated.  I’d vaguely known that there was a strong African musical connection with old-time fiddle tunes, but hadn’t known much in detail until I read Elijah Wald’s excellent book Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson & the Invention of the Blues (note to self: will write about this on the Banjo soon!)  Wald points out that there were many African-American string bands, that African-American communities participated in square dances or “frolics,” & that the fact that African-American string bands weren’t recorded, while European-American string bands were, actually says a lot more about the biases of the early recording companies & field recorders than about the prevalence of musical styles in various late 19th & early 20th century southern U.S. communities.  For instance, the band's name comes from the 1930s African-American string band, the Tennessee Chocolate Drops.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops are articulate about these problems with music history, & a big part of the band’s mission seems to be raising consciousness about this heritage.  However, I must stress that the Carolina Chocolate Drops are far from “mere” revivalists—as Justin Robinson has said, “Tradition is a guide, not a jailer. We play in an older tradition but we are modern musicians.”  They are modern musicians indeed—not to mention being classically trained (for example: Giddens studied operatic singing at the Oberlin Conservatory); their Facebook page lists influences ranging from the Mississippi Sheiks to the New Lost City Ramblers to the Notorious B.I.G.  Robinson, for instance, can switch from hot old-time fiddle playing to beat boxing, while Giddens can move with ease from an old blues like “Wayward Gal” (see below) to her show-stopping cover of Blu Cantrell’s “Hit ‘Em Up Style.”  While their repertoire is old, it comes beautifully alive in their music making.  The clip of “Don’t Get Trouble in Your Mind Below” should provide all the evidence you need of both their vitality & their virtuosity.

In addition, all three band members are versatile.  Dom Flemons is a wiz on guitar (typically resonators—a man after my own heart); one thing about Flemons guitar-playing: he knows that the guitar in this music is at least half percussion instrument—listen to the effects he gets on “Wayward Girl.”  Amazing!  As someone who has had to put a lot of effort into bringing percussion into his own blues guitar playing, I have a lot of admiration for Flemons’ technique.  But his prowess doesn’t end with the guitar.  He plays a unique but highly effective form of frailing on a four-string banjo, he can really blow a jug (this is no mean feat—& Robinson is also a good jug man), & play the harmonica, bones & snare drum, & he has a powerful singing voice that's comfortable in several old time styles.  Giddens is an excellent clawhammer banjo player & also plays a mean fiddle; & she can really play the kazoo—if you’ve ever wondered if the kazoo is a “real” musical instrument, just check out Giddens play one on “Memphis Shakedown” or “Your Baby Ain’t Sweet Like Mine.”  Her singing is pretty much transcendant.  Robinson, meanwhile, plays an exquisite & energetic fiddle as well as the autoharp, & also plays the banjo occasionally, in addition to blowing the jug & beat boxing. Robinson’s vocals are always a delight, & can range from an exuberant old-time style to something as dark & soulful as "Kissin' & Cussin'" on their 2010 Genuine Negro Jig.

As was the case when I profiled the Mad Tea Party last month, I’m stuck on which of the Carolina Chocolate Drops albums to recommend if you want to check out just one as an introduction.  They currently have four available, plus one (Colored Aristocracy, Music Maker) from an earlier incarnation of the band, called Sankofa Strings.  The four cds are Dona Got a Ramblin’ Mind (Music Maker); Heritage (Dixiefrog); Joe Thompson and The Carolina Chocolate Drops (Music Maker); & Genuine Negro Jig (Nonesuch).  I should mention that Dom Flemons also has two solo albums out—all of these can be purchased thru the band’s website, & most are available on iTunes.  If pressed to give an answer, I’d narrow it down to Heritage & Genuine Negro Jig & suggest one of two things: flip a coin or decide you really need both!

This is great music—some of the most inspiring I’ve heard in a long time.  Please check out the Carolina Chocolate Drops!

“St James Infirmary”

Happy Monday folks!  Due to technical difficulties I’m not bringing you the Monday Morning Blues song I’d intended—I’m way behind on my amorphous & self-determined recording schedule, & yesterday afternoon’s prime recording time found me with nary a microphone stand in sight—they were all still in the car from Saturday’s gig & the car was not near at hand. 

Fortunately, I’m able to substitute a song that I recorded last year in place of the offering I had in mind for today.  This is my take on the great song “St James Infirmary.”  It’s a song many of you will know as it’s been recorded by countless artists—everyone from Dave Van Ronk to Bobby Bland, from Danny Barker to Janis Joplin, from King Oliver to the White Stripes. 

According to all the sources I’ve ever seen, the song dates back to a British folk tune called “The Unfortunate Rake”—interestingly, “The Unfortunate Rake” is also an ancestor of the old western song, “The Streets of Laredo.”  You will notice some similarity in the lyrics tho musically they are very different tunes both in terms of melody & harmony.  The song is sometimes credited to “Joe Primrose,” which was a pseudonym of Irving Mills.  However, there’s no evidence the song was “composed” by Mills any more than “Wabash Cannonball” was actually written by A.P. Carter.  For an industry that seems to enforce copyright so stringently, the music business has played pretty fast & loose with the rules when this was in its own interests.

Were I to record this song again, I’d probably do a few things differently, but all in all I can stand by the take.  It's funny—I really don't get thrown by little glitches in live performance, but I sometimes think I'm too much of a perfectionist for my own recording good; I rarely come up with a recording that totally satisfies me.  I recently read on Ami Worthen's Ukulele Rockstar blog about thinking of each recording as a snapshot of one moment in time, & I'm thinking this is good advice.

By the way: Kat Mortensen will be this week's featured writer on the Writers Talk interview series.  I know many of you are familiar with Kat's work & won't want to miss this.  Kat's interview will be posting Thursday morning (US Mountain Time!)

& for now: hope you enjoy "St James Infirmary."

“Bird’s Nest Bound”

What if you were so blue you still had the Monday Morning Blues on Tuesday?  Well, figuratively speaking, that’s what’s happening here.  The Monday Morning Blues was displaced by one day by yesterday’s blog anniversary.  But to my mind, the old-time blues are good on any day of the week.

Today’s song is by Charley Patton, & it’s been passed down to us from a recording he made in 1930 in Grafton, Wisconsin for Paramount Records.  He’s accompanied by Willie Brown on second guitar on the recording.  Although he’s not well known outside of blues aficionado circles, Willie Brown was one of the great Delta blues guitarists.  Once Son House (who was also at the same 1930 Grafton recording session) was asked about Willie Brown’s & Charley Patton’s comparative guitar-playing abilities:

House: Well, now Charley…I thought Charley was the best player because I met Charley first, but I had never heard Will.
Q: When you first heard them together who was better?
House: Then I knowed it was Willie.
Q: Do you suppose that Charley knew he couldn’t play like willie?
House: Yeh, yeh, Charley knew it. Yeh, he knowed it, ‘cause a lot of times we’d be together & Bill, he called him Bill…Bill you c’mon play that piece….Charley could beat him singing, but those beats & things, Willie could beat him on that & he knowed it

from Oak Anthology of Blues Guitar: Delta Blues by Stefan Grossman

Patton & Brown played the song in open G, which is also called “Spanish tuning.”  This name comes from the song “Spanish Fandango,” a tune that many country blues guitar players had in their repertoire that was invariably played in open G tuning; for those of you who don’t know, “open G” means that the 6 guitar strings are tuned so that if you play them without fretting any strings, a G major chord is played.  In standard tuning, the open strings don’t produce a common major chord.  My version is done in drop D tuning, (the bass string tuned down to D rather than E) & there’s only one of me, so the arrangement is quite different.  I’m playing my Regal resonator guitar.

Hope you enjoy it & that it drives your Tuesday blues away!

"Levee Camp Moan"

Happy Monday!  It’s time for the Monday Morning Blues again, but I’m doing things a bit differently from here on out—the tune is embedded in mp3 form, not as a video.  Why this change?

A few reasons.  First, I’ve been procrastinating recording a cd, & that’s something I really should get done because it will add at least a little more "mad money" from gigs.  While I have a high tolerance, & indeed great enjoyment, for playing & performing, I tend to have a low tolerance for the recording process—while I generally like having done it, I don’t so much like doing it, & it’s always a bit of a problem with anything creative when result is valued over process.

So I’m hoping that the shift to mp3s on the Monday Morning Blues will be a motivating force.  In addition, tho, I can get much better quality recordings with our digital workstation than I can with our webcam; & on top of the marginal sound quality on the webcam mic, there’s the problem that the audio & the video are a split second out of sync, which can be a bit “crazy-making” to anyone trying to watch.  & at this point, anyone who’s followed the blog for any length of time knows what I look like when I play guitar & sing!

Today’s song is by the great Son House, one of the real masters of the delta blues.  Actually, House did two versions of “Levee Camp Moan” that are quite different—this one is based on the first version I heard, on his Delta Blues & Spirituals (Capitol); there’s also an older take of a similar version that I believe was recorded prior to son House’s “re-discovery” in the 1960s.  House was certainly important to the history of blues as a mentor to Robert Johnson, but he was a first-rate blues musician in his own right, with a powerful slide style & vocals of amazing power.  In addition to serving as a mentor to  Robert Johnson, House also mentored Howlin’ Wolf & Muddy Waters, & was close to his Charlie Patton & Willie Brown.

The tune was recorded on our Boss digital workstation.  It’s a “live recording”—no overdubs, vocal & guitar performed together.  There was some minor tweaking with EQ & reverb, but all fairly minor stuff.  I record using an AKG 880D mic for the vocals & a Shure Beta 57a mic for the guitar—same set-up as when I play live.  The guitar is my Gold Tone resonator, in open D tuning—&to any purists: yes, I know Son House recorded this in open G.

Hope you enjoy it!

“Hobo Blues”

Do you have a case of the Monday Morning Blues?  If so, you're in the right place! 

“Hobo Blues” is a classic John Lee Hooker song, first issued in 1948.  For those of you who don’t know, Hooker was born near Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1917, right in the midst of the Delta blues country.  Although he is best known for his electric, riff-based songs (which have been covered by everyone from the Animals to ZZ Top), his material had roots in what music critic Robert Palmer termed “the Deep Blues”—music typically associated with artists like Charlie Patton, Son House & Robert Johnson (to name the best known practicioners).  It wasn’t uncommon for this type of music to use a drone-like background, with the 3-chord setting that now typifies the blues being at most implied.  Actually, Hooker wasn’t the only one to bring this type of roots music into the electric blues arena; Muddy Waters & Howlin’ Wolf (to name just two) also had big hits that—in musical terms—never stray far from the “I chord”—you might think of “Catfish Blues” & “Smokestack Lightnin” (again, to stick to two well known examples). 

“Hobo Blues” is just such a song—in my version, it sticks to a D chord (more minor than major), & has two riffs—one copied from Hooker & the other my own invention.  John Lee Hooker played this in open G (guitar’s unfretted strings tuned to a G major chord), while I’m playing in drop D tuning (guitar in standard tuning except the lowest sounding string is tuned from E down to D), so there are significant variations in the arrangements.

Hope you enjoy it. 

Spirit Music: Rory Block in Eureka, MT 6/30/10

Happy Saturday, all—& a happy holiday weekend to readers here in the States.  As regular readers know, I drove up to Eureka, Montana on Wednesday to see Rory Block perform, & I wanted to share some thoughts & impressions about her performance.

I’ve written about Ms Block in the past on Robert Frost’s Banjo, & it would be accurate to say that I’ve been a great admirer of her work for a number of years; however, in all that time I had never seen her perform live.  Eureka, MT is about a 10-hour drive from Indian Valley, but I can assure you, it was worth it!

Actually, I didn’t know what to expect of the venue, which was Lincoln County High School auditorium—but I was pleasantly surprised to find a room with plush theater seats & good, warm acoustics.  An audience of roughly 150 people didn’t fill the room, but made a respectable showing; & after all, Eureka is a town of only 1,000 plus folks, with the closest thing to a city, Kalispell, being an hour south. 

Rory Block began her set with an impassioned version of Robert Johnson’s “Cross Road Blues,” then moved to an equally fervent cover of Son House’s “Death Letter Blues.”  Words like “fervent” are not an exaggeration—Rory Block's guitar playing & singing are passionate, while at the same time displaying a virtuosic skill & technique.  One thing that becomes immediately apparent is her uncanny sense of rhythm—the old Delta blues was dance music, & Ms Block’s playing brings that out, especially with the many percussive effects she renders along with her masterful fingerpicking & slide playing.  She snaps strings; she beats on the guitar’s soundboard; she uses a heavy damping technique; & all along, she’s stamping out a rhythm with her foot—it’s a powerful & moving display. But the blues is first & foremost a vocal music, & Rory Block is perhaps the most gifted singer I have ever heard live.  Her voice often falls in a rich lower range, yet she’s able to employ a clear & strong high range as well: almost the equivalent of a male falsetto, but more full.  Obviously, this works extremely well with her material, as many of the great Mississippi blues players were known for their falsetto singing: Robert Johnson, Skip James & Tommy Johnson, just to name a few.

Ms Block performed a 2-hour set of old blues, originals & even a few country tunes, including a remarkable a cappella performance of the old country gospel tune “Daniel Prayed.”  At one point, she discussed the long-held distinction between blues as “the devil’s music” & gospel.  She observed that for her, there was a continuum—they’re both “spirit music.”  Anyone listening to her performance would be convinced that this is true for her; she seems to put her whole being into each song.  Yet her performance is never frenetic—she has to be one of the most physically relaxed musicians I’ve ever seen, even when she’s playing at lightning speed or singing an ardent passage.

I’d also have to say that Ms Block is an engaging presence; she interspersed various stories & observations in a relaxed & open manner—funny, moving & sometimes simply “right on.”  She also seems very open to her fans & audience—she manned the cd table along with her husband, & talked with folks about how they were learning from her instructional dvds or how they felt about her music & the concert.  I got a chance to meet her myself, as well as a signed concert dvd, & this was a great topper to a wonderful evening.

Ms Block was brought to little Eureka, MT by an organization called the Sunburst

Foundation.  The group certainly should be applauded for bringing a performer of this stature to a rural western community, just as Rory Block should be applauded for bringing her music to this venue. 

I’ve included two videos because I couldn’t settle on one!  The first, “Cross Road Blues” is Rory Block inhabiting a Robert Johnson song; the second, “Lovin’ Whiskey” is one of her original compositions.  She performed “Lovin’ Whiskey” on Wednesday & told the story behind its composition.  I’d always assumed it was based on a true story, & that is indeed the case.  It’s such a moving & “real” song.

“Real”—that may be the best way to sum up Rory Block’s music.  Hope you enjoy the videos, & if you ever get the chance to see her perform live, please do!

“Banty Rooster Blues”

Hi folks—yes, you’re in the right spot: this is Robert Frost’s Banjo.  I’d never tinkered with the blog’s overall look since starting it up in 2008—added a gadget here or there & re-arranged things, but had kept the same background & layout.  Hope you like the new look; I’d be interested in getting feedback.

This is Monday, of course, which means music, & because I have a plan for next Monday’s musical offering, I’m doing something a bit unusual in posting the Monday Morning Blues two week’s running. 

Today’s song, “Banty Rooster Blues,” is associated with, & probably composed by the now-famous Delta blues musician, Charley (or Charlie) Patton.  I’m a huge fan of Patton’s work, & I perform several of his songs.  Patton lived in the Clarksdale, Mississippi area, around the large Dockery Plantation.  He was born sometime between 1887 & 1891, & died in 1931, & is generally considered to be a seminal figure in the development of the blues form, especially in the style that music critic Robert Palmer called “the Deep Blues.”  Palmer uses this term to describe the blues as performed in the Delta region by Patton, Son House, Robert Johnson & others, which later transformed into the electric Chicago blues typified by Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Otis Rush, etc.  Although some have questioned Palmer’s assessment of Patton’s historical importance, no one questions that he was an extraordinary musician, with a powerful voice, a vigorous guitar style, & an ability to incorporate complex polyrhythmic textures in his songs.

In other news: I’ll be heading to northern Montana on Wednesday morning to see Rory Block  play!  Looks like Eberle will be coming with me, & we’re both looking forward to it.  I do plan on having scheduled posts for both those days.

& now—hope you enjoy my humble version of this great song!

Hellhound On My Trail

It’s the Monday Morning Blues again, folks! The selection this time around is my version (humble as it is) of what is certainly one of the greatest blues songs, Robert Johnson’s “Hellhound On My Trail.” By the way: see below for an explanation of this pic, which may seem incongruous!

There are several stories that can be told about “Hellhound On My Trail”—some Johnson fans look at it as evidence of Johnson’s pact with the devil; the hellhound in that sense is the devil coming to collect his end of the bargain for giving Johnson his “supernatural” guitar-playing ability. Of course, there’s no real proof that Johnson himself believed in this legend; Son House made reference to it in the 1960s, but given House’s health problems, including his proclivity for strong drink, he was not necessarily the most reliable witness. Still, there’s no denying that Johnson’s songs are dark, & this—perhaps his strongest set of lyrics—seems particularly chilling, especially when rendered in Johnson’s eerie falsetto.

Moving away from the stuff of legend & the supernatural, it’s also interesting to see how this song places Johnson within the larger blues tradition. For lack of a better term, blues is a “folk” tradition, & as such, doesn’t value originality in the same way that this is valued in our current culture. Putting one’s stamp on material is valued in such a tradition, but there isn’t the same imperative to make something completely new. In fact, from a musical standpoint, “Hellhound On My Trail” is recognizably a re-working of Skip James’ great song “Devil Got My Woman.” As sung by Johnson, the melody is very close, & the basic musical background has many similarities. Would Johnson have been able to record “Hellhound On My Trail” under copyright laws as they’re currently enforced? I’m no lawyer, but I think it's an open question. For those who wonder what has happened to evolving folk music, this is worth considering—especially when we consider how many prominent traditional musicians played repertoires that contained many “re-worked” songs—not just Johnson, but a number of other old-time musicians, including such notables as the Carter Family & Woody Gurthie.

Before moving on to the song, I should explain the third verse: “She sprinkled hot foot powder all around my door; it keeps me with ramblin’ mind, rider, any old place I go.” Here’s the lowdown from Harry’s Blues Lyrics Online:

Hot Foot Powder and Hot Foot Oil are old Southern hoodoo formulas that are used to rid oneself or one's home of unwanted people, to send enemies packing and to keep peace in the home by eliminating troublemakers. Similar formulas, known as Drive Away Oil or Get Away Oil contain virtually the same ingredients, namely a proprietary blend of Guinea Red Pepper, sulfur, and essential oils that include Black Pepper and other herbal extracts. The scent is hot and spicy, but it is not at all unpleasant.

Hope you enjoy the song!



Top pic: Eberle & I playing “Hellhound On My Trail” at the opening of the Wild Hare Salon in Cambridge, Idaho earlier this month. We were joined by Valerie on slide whistle. I believe this could be the only time the song was ever played by a young girl on a slide whistle. Valerie was good—she & Eberle rocked out!

"The Gone Dead Train"

It’s time for another edition of the Monday Morning Blues, & today’s featured song is a wild romp even by the standards of old blues. It’s called “The Gone Dead Train,” & it originated with a singer-guitar player who went by the name of King Solomon Hill.

It’s thought that King Solomon Hill was one Joe Holmes, who was born in Mississippi in 1897 & lived much of his life in Louisiana in the Minden area, & specifically in a place called King Solomon Hill Baptist Church. Holmes recorded six songs during his lifetime, tho there are no known copies of two of them. The four that survive are “The Gone Dead Train,” “Whoopee Blues,” “Down On My Bended Knee” & “Tell Me Baby.” A small output, but at his best he was a guitarist & singer with uncanny power & range. He did play slide style—reportedly using a steakbone as a slide—& from what evidence we have in his four surviving songs, he played a spare & highly individual guitar style. King Solomon Hill was apparently was a friend of the great Blind Lemon Jefferson, & like Blind Lemon was probably a street musician.

As per usual, the song is my version, not an imitation; for one thing, King Solomon Hill had an amazing falsetto, which I don’t possess. One of the riffs I use came from his song “Whoopee Blues”—a truly disturbing song about vengeance, but one that contains some interesting guitar work. “The Gone Dead Train,” on the other hand, is a hobo’s story about displacement & alienation & the inherent dangers of a life riding the blinds on freight trains.

Hope you enjoy it!