Topic: Adventures in Spanish

[frankie]

Also, for suggestions, maybe the Jack Kelly tunes we've discussed before?

Definitely...

Also, I know he counts as a "Mississippi heavyweight," but Skip James' "Special Rider" is an interesting spanish piece.?

True...? there may be a special dispensation for that one.

Roosevelt Graves...
I've always found it hard to play those 2 gospel tunes.? Do you think he was using a National?

Doesn't sound like a National to me, but he was tuned pretty high, I think.? I've messed around with "I'll Be Rested"...? getting the notes in the treble to sound right is very challenging for me...? haven't yet tried working "Woke Up This Morning", but that's the one that I'll spontaneously sing whenever it comes into my mind.? Like when standing on line at the grocery store...? people have no sense of humor about that kind of stuff.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I just got back from England, had a great time, but am also glad to be back home--it has been a while.  I agree with you, Montgomery, the Roosevelt Graves tunes are tough.  In truth, I have never tried them, though "Woke Up This Morning" is one of my absolute favorite tunes.  I think the thing that is especially tricky about it is that he is working with two string units (diads?) in the right and left hand a lot, and they require a tremendous degree of control when working with a pick.  If I start now, I may be able to do it by next Summer!  Re Lil Son Jackson,  you are dead on the money, Frank.  I love the way he favors a triplet that goes thumb-index-thumb in the right hand, and then lands squarely with the thumb on the next beat.  It is not so easy and takes some getting used to.  What a singer, too!
All best,
Johnm

[frankie]

Hearing this on the juke brought it to mind:

Teddy Darby - Lawdy Lawdy Worried Blues

nice one!

[uncle bud]

I believe when John Miller taught this tune this year at PT, he did it in open Dm. If memory serves right (which it often doesn't for me).

[frankie]

Isn't there a tune by Henry Townsend called Henry's Worried Blues - that might be in Dm tuning (cranked up to E? - haven't heard it in a while).? I'll listen to it again if I get a chance tonight - wasn't really listening carefully, just daydreaming instead of being productive!

Edited to add - sure enough...? I listened again and Lawdy Lawdy Worried Blues is clearly not in spanish - don't have a guitar handy, but open Dm, maybe tuned high, sounds right to me...

I'll strike it from the list!

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Yes, Henry Townsend did a slew of one-chorders, his first batch of solo recordings in Open D (E) minor.  I've been messing with it a bunch lately, and it is amazingly versatile.  It can be made to sound like E standard (which it is, essentially, on the top three strings), Open D, or Open D minor, a la Skip James and others.  On "Lawdy Lawdy Worried Blues", Teddy Darby keeps sliding to unisons between the fretted third and the open second strings and the fretted second and open first strings, all the while droning intermittently on a V note in the bass, which sure sounds like an open fifth string.  The whole thing, but especially the melodic phrase behind the refrain "Lawdy Lawdy Lawdy" seems to fit more gratefully in Open D minor than Open D.
All best,
Johnm

[frankie]

This one by R.L. Burnside:  Long Haired Doney

Holy smokes!

[uncle bud]

This violates your Delta rule, doesn't it?

Great tune though. Those first sessions of Burnside's are great. Not enthusiastic about later stuff but the stuff I have on Arhoolie smokes (which is the same? similar? to the Fat Possum early stuff).

[Johnm]

I'm with you, Frank and Andrew, that "Long Haired Doney" is tremendous, and what singing!  Oof!
Another Spanish one occurred to me, I think, Leadbelly's "Poor Howard".
All best,
JohnM

[Cambio]

Pat Conte was playing Poor Howard on a 12 string tuned to Spanish, at the Lake Genero festival.  I haven't been able to get it out of my head since.  I've have one of the 12's tuned to Spanish so that I can play that song.  Outrageous!

[motmot]

Pat Conte was playing Poor Howard on a 12 string tuned to Spanish, at the Lake Genero festival.? I haven't been able to get it out of my head since.? I've have one of the 12's tuned to Spanish so that I can play that song.? Outrageous!

The Volo Bogtrotters, a band that may be more familiar to the old-time crowd, does "Poor Howard" complete with fiddle and banjo, and to my ears and taste, it works beautifully!? Great song, and one that really catches and sticks in your head.

This is on frankie's list (way back early in this thread), but John Hurt's "Frankie" is another one in spanish tuning that can keep me playing and fascinated for long periods of time.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I was thinking about this topic and realized that after Peg Leg Howell, I am hard put to think of an East Coast Country Blues player playing any non-slide pieces in spanish other than "Spanish Fandango".  Of course you had the Georgia contingent doing slide pieces in spanish--Barbecue Bob, Charley Lincoln, Fred McMullen, Curley Weaver, Blind Willie McTell, et al, but can you all think of any pieces played in Spanish not using a slide by Pink Anderson, Josh White, Rev. Davis, Blind Boy Fuller, John Jackson, Etta Baker or anybody else from the Carolinas on up to Maryland?  Apart from a couple of hymns Elizabeth Cotten played in spanish, I can't think of any, but maybe some of you Rev. Davis or Blind Boy Fuller completists know of some tunes I haven't heard that are in spanish and are not slide pieces.  Kind of a weird void if there aren't any.  Just thinking.
All best,
Johnm
 

[GhostRider]

Hi John:

Heck, that East Coast contingent was adverse to most open tunings. I can think of only one tune by Fuller in Open D out of 80 or more and only two by Blind Blake. I can't think of any open tuned pieces by Big Bill at all (correct me!).

 Of the "hitmakers" I can only think of the few Open G pieces by Memphis Minnie and one by BL Jefferson.

A parallel list of fretted tune in Open D might be interesting.

Alex

[uncle bud]

I can't think of any from Fuller or Davis. Frank may pipe in about RGD.  I have been listening to a lot of Fuller lately and haven't noticed anything in spanish. I was rereading the liner notes for Yazoo's Fuller record which I hadn't done in years and came across the claim that Walking My Troubles Away was in open E minor, or crossnote, tuning. I didn't test this yet, but it seemed a very weird idea, and I've always played that tune in E, standard tuning.

A separate thread for Vestapol is a good idea, Alex. I can't think of any right now!

And it doesn't count I guess since it's contemporary and all, but Paul Rishell wrote a great little tune called I'm Gonna Jump and Shout in spanish (no slide) that's really fun to play.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
You're right Andrew, "Walking My Troubles Away" was in E standard.  I think what may have made Steven Calt think it was in open E minor was the octave passage--there's a tendency to think that octave passages require open tunings to be technically feasible, but Carl Martin did octaves in E standard on "Crow Jane", as did Furry Lewis in "Mistreatin' Mama" (and Lemon in A standard in "Rabbit's Foot"). 
Re use of vestapol among East Coast players, I think the most notable would be Josh White and Blind Connie Williams, both of whom were absolute aces in that tuning.  So far it doesn't look like other spanish tunes have shown up in the East Coast--weird!
All best,
Johnm