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I'll give you a little tune entitled to You Can't Get Milk from a Cow Named Ben - Fiddlin' John Carson, You Can't Get Milk from a Cow Named Ben

Author Topic: Smith Casey  (Read 5824 times)

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Offline Johnm

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Smith Casey
« on: June 22, 2005, 10:51:30 PM »
Hi all,
I was talking to my friend Michael Roach the other day and asked him if he had been listening to anything recently that he was excited about.  He played me a cut over the phone (from England) and told me it was Smith Casey, a musician who had been caught on some Texas field recordings.  What I heard was great, but hard to put together over the phone.
Today I bought the reasonably new JSP "Texas Blues" set, which includes 7 cuts by Smith Casey.  I have heard people bemoan JSP's notes etc., before here, and in this instance, I agree.  Here is the sum total of information in the set on Smith Casey:
   "Clemens State Farm, Brazoria, Texas, April 16, 1939"
Fortunately, the most important thing made it onto the set--Smith Casey's music.  He was a perfectly amazing musician, I think the best musician that I have not heard previously in this style in over thirty years.  The cut Michael Roach had played for me was "Santa Fe Blues".  It is an absolute killer.  Casey is quite low-tuned, over two whole steps, and just tearing it up.  He is one of the hardest swinging guitarists I have ever heard--you hear him play two beats and you're completely sucked in.  Also included are "Shorty George", a beautiful version of the song that Dave Van Ronk recorded many years ago as "He Was A Friend Of Mine", with a very soulful vocal and a great guitar part that incorporates a rhythmic feel showcasing what Jellyroll Morton called "the Spanish tinge".  A distinctive version of "Hesitation Blues" follows, with a different refrain and many different verses than those I have previously heard.  He plays four slide tunes, as well, including great versions of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (called "Two White Horses In A Line") and "Jack of Diamonds".
Casey's musicianship is stellar throughout, on a par with anyone you might care to name:  Blind Blake, Papa Charlie Jackson, Lemon Jefferson, et al.  One of the really tantalizing and frustrating things is that several of the cuts end with fades.  I have looked in the Document catalog, and on the release "Texas Field Recordings", DOCD-5321, Smith Casey has eleven cuts, including all six on the Document JSP set.  It looks like I will be getting that Document CD!
It appears that Smith Casey was never commercially recorded, and so was probably recorded by a folklorist at the prison farm.  If you can hear this man's music without becoming really curious, you're a more complacent person than I.  Hearing his kind of absolute mastery serves as a reminder that of the many older musicians I have spoken with, a tiny minority named a recorded musician as the best player they ever saw.  There can be a tendency to think of the music that made it onto recordings as the sum total of the musical universe--not so.  I strongly urge anyone who loves country blues to hear Smith Casey's music.  It could so easily not have been preserved.
All best,
Johnm

Offline waxwing

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Re: Smith Casey
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2005, 01:07:49 AM »
Dang John, you sound pretty excited. Make sure Quimper has a few of both the JSP and the Document on hand, eh? And what are the chances we might investigate one of Smith's easier numbers in an an afternoon class? You've whetted my appetitie.
All for now.
John C.
"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it."
George Bernard Shaw

“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.”
Joseph Heller, Catch-22

http://www.youtube.com/user/WaxwingJohn
CD on YT

Offline frankie

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Re: Smith Casey
« Reply #2 on: June 23, 2005, 04:03:28 AM »
"Santa Fe Blues".  It is an absolute killer.  Casey is quite low-tuned, over two whole steps, and just tearing it up.  He is one of the hardest swinging guitarists I have ever heard--you hear him play two beats and you're completely sucked in. 

For a long time, the only song from him that I'd heard was "East Texas Drag" - a fantastic slide piece.  SC has it all as a slide player - a perfect balance of drive and finesse.  Good intonation, too.  Todd turned me on to some of his other recordings - "Santa Fe Blues" is outta sight!  It's scary to think that a guy who played like this might easily have gone completely unrecorded.  The tracks from the JSP set are all on the Juke, in case anybody needs to hear him now.

If you can hear this man's music without becoming really curious, you're a more complacent person than I.

You'd have to be dead!

Offline Cambio

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Re: Smith Casey
« Reply #3 on: June 23, 2005, 06:44:18 AM »
According to the Document notes:
 "Smith Casey's father's surname was Smith , so it's likely his name was really Casey Smith.  He was born in 1895, probably in Riverside near Huntsville, and learned music in San Jacinto and Jackson Counties.  While serving time in prison, he performed on a remote weekly radio program from the Huntsville Penitentiary called 'Thirty Minutes Behind the Walls'.  He was paroled in 1945 and moved to Huntsville, dying of tuberculosis in 1950." 
He was recorded by the Lomaxes on April 16th, 1939.

Smith Casey is one of my absolute favorites.  Marc Silber initially turned me onto him, playing me a couple cuts of his music in his shop in Berkley.  I searched for years to find more of his recordings and finally came across the Document CD.  He is a fantastic guitar player and just about the best singer that there is.  His voice is absolutely huge and he really seems to be having fun doing what he's doing.
The Document CD also features Pete Harris, who was recorded by the Lomaxes in 1934 in Richmond Texas.  He has 12 tracks, all of which are of an older variety.  Really wonderful stuff.
The great thing about these recordings is that they are not commercial and have a little more of a spontaneous feel to them.  In Buffalo Skinners Blues, we get to hear Pete Harris tuning,  Those few seconds are almost as priceless as the song itself.  The same can be said of Casey's Jack O' Diamonds, when he starts the recording with "Again?!"  You can imagine how many times they've made him run through the tune because they couldn't get the recording process right.

Offline uncle bud

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Re: Smith Casey
« Reply #4 on: June 23, 2005, 08:45:00 AM »
Yeah, the fades are from the Lomax gang. Lots of the tracks cut or fade as I recall from te Document disc. The folklorists seemed interested mostly in the song as a melody and artefact, not a complete performance by a specific person. Recall the McTell LoC recordings, with Lomax pushing him for this and that type of song ("complaining songs" etc).

I thought the Document was on the Juke. Hmm. Will look into that...

Offline Johnm

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Re: Smith Casey
« Reply #5 on: June 23, 2005, 09:04:05 AM »
Hi all,
Thanks for explaining the fades, Uncle Bud.  I don't know if I have worked the quote function correctly, but with regard to the idea of a song being interesting as a melody and artifact and not interesting as a complete performance by a specific person, I would observe, what an idiotic idea!  Way to be in the moment, folklorist!  If the song is so important, why not preserve all the lyrics?  This kind of stuff drives me nuts.

The folklorists seemed interested mostly in the song as a melody and artifact, not a complete performance by a specific person.

Yecch!
All best,
Johnm
« Last Edit: June 02, 2007, 05:41:22 PM by Johnm »

Offline Stuart

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Re: Smith Casey
« Reply #6 on: June 23, 2005, 09:39:02 AM »
I'll put my two cents in if only to support your position. What predisposes people to treat these performances as "[historical] curiousties" and not as complete performances by the whole person is another topic altogether. To steal and paraphrase from some of the current jargon, perhaps they were only interested in data and not in knowledge and understanding (and appreciation). There's a lot more to a person's music and life than what can be captured in a (field) recording or on the printed page. But I'm preaching to the choir on this one.

Stu

Offline uncle bud

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Re: Smith Casey
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2005, 10:17:33 AM »
Hi all,
Thanks for explaining the fades, Uncle Bud.  I don't know if I have worked the quote function correctly, but with regard to the idea of a song being interesting as a melody and artifact and not interesting as a complete performance by a specific person, I would observe, what an idiotic idea!  Way to be in the moment, folklorist!  If the song is so important, why not preserve all the lyrics?  This kind of stuff drives me nuts.

I was maybe phrasing that with a bit too much negative bias, having been annoyed like you John by clipped field recordings before. I believe there have been several reasons given in liner notes and other sources for these abbreviated performances, one of which I cited. Others though include limitations of the field and the available unwieldy technology. For instance, they were trying to gather as many song examples as possible in as little time as possible with huge crappy equipment. Stuart is right I think in using the example of "data". The meaning, significance and quality can be sorted out later. The discs they recorded to were only so long and in limited supply and fragile etc etc and perhaps treated as more valuable than capturing an entire performance.  The complete lyrics could always be transcribed, as opposed to recorded. It's a rather different approach to country blues than the commercial people like HC Speirs or Art Laibly would have had.

I think I recall reading somewhere that Alan Lomax was less inclined to fades and cuts in field recordings than John Lomax. I could be misremembering though...  Smith Casey was recorded in 1939, so not that early. The Son House and William Brown recordings a couple years later aren't clipped like Casey's.

Below, the trunk of the Lomaxes' car, with recording equipment. I prefer minidisc!

[attachment deleted by admin]
« Last Edit: June 23, 2005, 10:28:07 AM by uncle bud »

Offline Slack

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Re: Smith Casey
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2005, 05:10:23 PM »
Johnm, you didn't mention 'East Texas Rag' which is a favorite of mine -- whenever I hear it I'm always wishing it would continue on for about 30 more minutes! --- love his soulful vocals, but East Texas Rag is a powerhouse of funky slide!

Cheers,
slack

Offline Johnm

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Re: Smith Casey
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2005, 05:54:05 PM »
Hi all,
Of course you are right, John D., "East Texas Rag" is muy, muy funky.  Smith Casey had some of the greatest time ever, and as Frank pointed out, his intonation on slide was perfect, too.  Thanks also, Andrew, for pointing out the various financial and technological impediments standing in the way of a free and easy attitude toward the recording of this music in its completest form.  When you have limited resources, you have to make them stretch as far as they can, particularly in an environment where there appears to have been a host of individuals worth recording.  That having been said, when I hear Smith Casey play, my attitude is, "I don't want the music to stop until HE'S ready to stop!".  Wow, what a player!
All best,
Johnm

Offline uncle bud

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Re: Smith Casey
« Reply #10 on: June 24, 2005, 09:58:24 AM »
Just a bit more on the stops and fades, from David Evans' liner notes to the Document CD Texas Field Recordings. Evans writes, "Lomax' primary purpose seems to have been not so much to make permanent recordings, for he never took an interest in issuing them to the public, but in documenting the songs he encountered in the field.... essentially the recordings served to capture words and melodies, which he could later select and transcribe for publication in the folksong anthologies that he and Alan published... Therefore if he was running short of space on his recording discs, he felt no compunction over just recording a fragment, sometimes beginning the recording after the performance had started and more often lifting the recording stylus abruptly before the end. (His son Alan eventually learned to reduce the recording volume gradually and may well be the inventor of the 'fadeout' technique.)"

Offline Johnm

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Re: Smith Casey
« Reply #11 on: July 02, 2005, 10:29:49 PM »
Hi all,
A more thorough reading of the notes accompanying the JSP "Texas Blues" set revealed that they do have more information on Smith Casey than I originally represented them to have.  His songs appear on Disc C, the info is in the notes to Disc D.  Sorry about that.
All best,
Johnm

Offline MTJ3

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Re: Smith Casey
« Reply #12 on: August 25, 2005, 06:06:02 AM »
Further to Cambio's post citing Evans's notes, according to B&GR, the Library of Congress Checklist shows his name as Cason Smith, the issued titles are labelled Smith Casey, Smith Casey appears on his death certificate, but his birth name was Casey Smith.

Offline CF

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Re: Smith Casey
« Reply #13 on: October 30, 2007, 11:39:56 AM »
Apologies for rejuvinating an old thread but this is a worthy artist to re-recommend to those who haven't heard him before . . .
I've come across them on the John A Lomax 1939 Field recordings site (which you can access here through the Weenie Links) & found them stellar as well . . . a harmonica/guitarist named Ace Johnson is worth checking out too . . .
A couple problems with the audio samples tho': there was mention of early fades on some of the recordings, well, is there skipping as well? On the Lomax page, Casey's material especially tends to skip & then end abruptly . . . is this only on the site or present as well on the JSP & Document recordings? Also, what sounds to be his masterpiece 'Santa Fe Blues' doesn't work on the site at all!
& Re: Son House's LOC recordings & fade outs: Don't some of the longer ensemble pieces fade as well? 'Gov't Fleet' & one or two others or do I just have abridged copies?
Smith Casey/Casey Smith is pretty great even with skips or early fades tho' & everyone who hasn't heard him should seek him out
Stand By If You Wanna Hear It Again . . .

Offline Johnm

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Re: Smith Casey
« Reply #14 on: October 30, 2007, 12:26:52 PM »
Hi cheapfeet,
I've encountered no problems with Smith Casey's cuts on Document and JSP skipping, just the occasionally brutal fades.  Some of the cuts, like "Buffalo Skinners" are faded almost right after they start.  Grrrr.
All best,
Johnm

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