Topic: Barrel House Blues - Ed Andrews: Backporch Recording

[bayrum78]

I was organizing and going through my cds and ran across DOCD-5169 Country Blues Collector Items which I don't remember buying or ever listening to. I instantly fell in love with and was mesmerized by track 1 Ed Andrews Barrel House Blues. I decided to take a stab at it, and just uploaded it to YouTube.  I wanted to share it with the weenie community because I couldn't find it elsewhere on the backporch.  I would have played it on a 12 string and actually thought about buying one just so I could get closer to his sound but I just couldn't wait! The chord progression as I hear it is G, G7/G6 (with 1st string open and the 7th is played on the 4th string), C, C#, G, E,A7,D. I really like his simple but effective bass runs and the variations he plays around the G chord.    Interestingly, the between-verse G lick is identical to the one Riley Puckett plays in Going to Georgia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azcp9svrGWM

[Mr.OMuck]

Terrific.

[uncle bud]

Great. A really cool song. For some reason, that descending bass line always reminds me of Rev. Gary Davis' "Crucifixion".

edited to add: Just thought I would refer people to Bunker Hill's post about Ed Andrews of some years ago in which he shared a short piece from Tony Russell about this obscure player. http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?amp;Itemid=128&topic=1869.0

[Johnm]

That is a really nice job, Nate.  Your vocal tone really projects and I like your time, very straight-up-and-down.  I don't hear that so often nowadays and so much of the music back then was done that way.
All best,
Johnm

[frankie]

love it, Nate!

[bayrum78]

thanks for the feedback everyone!

JohnM- if you don't mind, can you explain what straight up-and-down time is and how it differs from other types of time keeping? I found this term in some of your other posts, but don't feel that I really have a good grasp on the concept. I take it to mean steady, predictable time but I think that is an oversimplification - right?

[Johnm]

Hi Nate,
By straight-up-and-down time, I mean a 2-beat feel in which the smaller subdivisions of the beat, as in 1 + 2 + are divided evenly, and not "swung", so that the straight-up-and-down rhythmic feel doesn't have any element of a shuffle or an underlying triplet feel to it.  It's a kind of time-keeping I associate with the music of Henry Thomas, Frank Stokes, or in the Old-Time realm, the Leake County Revelers, and most especially their guitarist Dallas Jones, as on "Lonesome Blues".  I think that when a lot of music of this era is played with swung eighth notes it ends up sounding too bouncy (for my tastes), and ends up sounding "modern" in a way that doesn't suit the music.
All best,
Johnm

[bayrum78]

Thanks John. The term makes perfect sense to me now.