Topic: Mandolin Blues

[frankie]

A conspiracy?  I wish...  that'd mean there's more than two of us that are hare-brained enough to try and play stuff like that.

[uncle bud]

Prewar gospel, not blues, but still fits our purposes for this thread I think: four songs recorded by Arizona Dranes feature an unknown mandolin player. Piano-mandolin duets w/ vocal chorus from a session on July 3 1928. The songs are on Document's Arizona Dranes 1926-29 DOCD-5186 and JSP's Spreading the Word set. "I Shall Wear a Crown," "God's Got a Crown," "He Is My Story," and "Just Look."

[BottleneckJohn]

I'd like to recommend a listen to a guy called Christer Lyssarides who plays some awesome blues mandolin on Eric Bibb's two first CD's "Good Stuff" and "Spirit & the blues"..
If you haven't heard it already? 
He plays both wood top mando's and a banjolin there and it's really nice!

[67rene]

this is my version of Grind So Fine from the CD Walter Vincson & Charlie McCoy BD612 recorded Jan 17, 1931

let me know what you think !

http://www.youtube.com/v/0f_iTO5t3hU&hl

not sure why the screen shows twice ? can one of the moderators correct this pease ? thanks

[Slack]

67rene, no need to include all the embedded stuff - a simple link to youtube will do and the forum software takes care of the rest.

Fine song and an excellent job!

[unezrider]

hello friend,
cool performance! i love blues played on the mandolin. & in my opinion, we don't hear enough of it. (& for fear of being banned from this site, i wont mention how i love blues played on a banjo as well  )
chris

[Parlor Picker]

Most enjoyable, thanks!

[Pan]

this is my version of Grind So Fine from the CD Walter Vincson & Charlie McCoy BD612 recorded Jan 17, 1931

let me know what you think !

http://www.youtube.com/v/0f_iTO5t3hU&hl

Very nice indeed! Thanks for posting!

Cheers

Pan

[btasoundsradio]

one of my favorite mando blues cuts - Yank Rachell and Shirley Griffith "Mellow Peaches" off of The Art of Field Recording Vol. 1, the blues disc. Yank has inspired my playing more than anyone I think. 2 Poor Boys as well. My band:
Baltimore String Felons - myspace.com/thefelonfamily

[67rene]

thanks Slack for correcting the link and thanks everybody for the kind words, glad you like !

I feel encouraged to place another link 



cheers Ren?

[MuddyBuddy]

great stuff Ren?!

cheers
BERT

[uncle bud]

Hi all,
I was wondering if any of you mandolin-playing Weenies had ever figured any of Furry Lewis's first three recorded cuts, "Everybody's Blues", "Mr. Furry's Blues", and "Sweet Papa Moan", all of which had Charles Jackson (or Johnson, according to Document) playing mandolin.  They are all good numbers, and I have never heard anyone do them.  

"Sweet Papa Moan" is particularly cool; it is modeled melodically on "Black Snake Moan", and Charles Jackson does some great things on it.  The song is played out of a C position, and Jackson starts out holding a double stop over the I chord that you would nornally associate with the V chord--G on the E pair (third fret) and B on the A pair (second fret).  The sound of that double stop against the C chord Furry playing is pretty exotic.  It suggests a C major 7 chord, not a sound you normally associate with Country Blues, but not at all "loungy" or uptown-sounding, as it might be in other contexts.  Jackson continues to play the same double stop against the IV chord, and the effect is even more exotic--against the F chord, the G note is a 9 and the B note is a #11, or flat 5.  Once again, the sound is not sophisticated or Jazzy, but really just a neat kind of droning, like holding an open fiddle string against a melody as it passes through a chord change.  It sounds great.

Hearing a Lemon-ish model for a mandolin tune made me think how much more of his material might really suit the mandolin.  "Black Horse Blues", which has gotten a lot of attention on this site, could be a real mandolin tour de force, and I think "Easy Rider" would be great, too, with it's signature lick repeating over and over in between the vocal lines.  It's kind of a way to make something new from something old.
All best,
Johnm

Was just listening to Sweet Papa Moan this morning and 5 years later it sounds even more like Black Snake Moan to me  , the melody basically lifted and set down on some different chords. It sure is a great tune. I agree, time to revisit Lemon on mandolin.

[uncle bud]

Another to add to the list. In April 1929 in Chicago, Clara Burston recorded "Weak and Nervous Blues" and "Georgia Man Blues" with an unknown mandolin player. You can find it on Barrelhouse Women 1925-30 Vol 1 DOCD-5378.

[67rene]

this is me on mandolin backing up Willie Salomon

hope you like it



cheers, Ren?

[Parlor Picker]

Sure would have liked to have been at that gig!