Topic: Adventures in Spanish

[frankie]

one for you and Kim

Kim and I have batted around a few blues - one is a weird tune by the Georgia Yellow Hammers called Rip Van Winkle Blues.? The guitar is played by Melvin Dupree out of vestapol tuning - very odd in a string band setting!? The fiddle is playing out of standard tuning in the key of E - pretty challenging for Kim, but she's doing ok with it.

Of course, since this is in vestapol, all this is totally OT for this thread .? Aren't there a couple of Mississippi Sheiks tunes where Walter Vincson plays in spanish?

[frankie]

Aren't there a couple of Mississippi Sheiks tunes where Walter Vincson plays in spanish?

I was thinking that "The World Is Going Wrong" might be in spanish, but after listening to it again, I think it's played in std tuning, key of G.  Bummer...

[Johnm]

Hi Frank,
You mentioned a couple of posts back that you had never heard Li'l Son Jackson.  Boy, are you in for a treat!  He was a Texas guy who, as far as I know, recorded only in the post-WWII era and had some regional hits in the late '40s and early '50s, most notably with his signature tune "Roberta".  Played a lot in Spanish with a very low-down, driving sound, but also did some Lemon covers and other blues of his own in standard tuning.  Chris Strachwitz put out one album of him in the early '60s in a period in which Li'l Son was working as a mechanic and had given up performing.  As far as I know, he was never coaxed into performing again, despite being a pretty young guy, born circa 1912-1914.  The Arhoolie album has been re-issued on CD.  I taught one of his tunes, "Gambler's Blues" at PT last summer, and felt upon re-hearing his music that, like Lemon, he would have been one of the really great Blues musicians even if he had never touched the guitar.  What a great singer!  He had a slippery, kind of whiny tone to his voice that was really something.  I hope you get a chance to hear him some time soon.
All best,
John

[Rivers]

Thanks for reminding me of LSJ. When Mick & Fi Knight moved to Seattle I scored that Arhoolie vinyl off him, and, as is typical for Mick, it was in A+++ condition. 

Great photos of the man, and the music was a revelation. Need to get the reissue CD so I can plunder it for licks and songs more easily now my turntable has packed a permanent sad.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I just thought of another player in Spanish, and a very unorthodox one, at that:  Blind Roosevelt Graves.  He sounds like he played either with a flat pick or a thumb pick, and he was really nifty.  I have never heard anyone play his "Woke Up This Morning With My Mind Standing On Jesus", also beautiful is his version of "I'll Be Rested When The Roll Is Called".  I just got out the document CD of his complete works and was listening to it tonight.  Unfortunately, on the great majority of his cuts he was almost inaudible, due to the expert but powerful pianist Will Ezell drowning him out.  There's a good piece on him in Gayle Dean Wardlow's "Chasin' That Devil Music".
All best,
John

[Slack]

I'll add Smokey Babe's "Boogie Woogie Rag"... which Johnm taught last year.  Worked on it a bit this weekend and now cannot get the thing out of my head! Half guitar/half drum.  Infectious.

[lindy]

I'll add Smokey Babe's "Boogie Woogie Rag"... which Johnm taught last year.  Worked on it a bit this weekend and now cannot get the thing out of my head! Half guitar/half drum.  Infectious.

Amen, Slack.

The three songs I've spent the most time on since last summer are two versions of Black Mattie--Wolfman Belfour's and R.L. Burnsides'--and "Boogie Woogie Rag." 

I didn't start playing guitar until about 2 months before my first PT experience in 1996, meaning that my orientation is almost completely fingerpicking.  Most of my playing time has been spent hunched over with furrowed brow trying to figure out or practice intricate fingerpicking patterns.  In the past few months I've been trying to learn right-hand technique that I never worked on before--I never went through the stages of basic strumming that many guitarists did when they were learning Beatles tunes or folk songs or swing backup.  Boogie Woogie Rag is a little tricky because Smokey Babe seems to go back and forth between straight up-and-down strumming and syncopated, swing-like riffs--at least that's how my ears pick it up.  With Burnsides' version of Mattie there's not much room for error in using the meat of the right hand to dampen the strings and letting them ring just enough to get that funky feeling of his.  With Belfour's version, the challenge is experimenting with all those pull-offs and hammer-ons in his many variations on the basic riff that JohnM taught last summer. 

Lots of fun trying to figure out the rhythmic components of these songs and re-training my right hand.  I'd love to sit in on a PT session where the emphasis is on right hand technique. 

Happy Lundi Gras from New Orleans, where about an inch-and-a-quarter of rain has fallen since I woke up. Here's hoping it dries up so the Mardi Gras Indians can come out tomorrow morning.

Lindy

[Slack]

In the past few months I've been trying to learn right-hand technique that I never worked on before--I never went through the stages of basic

That may be an advantage - you don't have anything to unlearn!  Smoky Babe has a monumental thumb, part of the great rythmic sound are the strings slapping against the fretboard.  I haven't a clue what he's doing, so if you figure it out please let me know!

cheers,
slack

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Fun to re-visit these old topics some times, and this one really has some staying power.  What made me think about it was Andrew's observation over on "Moanin' and Groanin'" that he needed to pick up some more Peg Leg Howell, since everything he'd heard was really good.  Here's another good one, and in Spanish, too:  "Tishamingo Blues".  I listened to it for the first time in years the other day and it sounded great.  Elmore Leonard stole the title for one of his recent novels.
All best,
Johnm

[Slack]

HI John,

We'll just move this topic back to the main board - you are right, it has some staying power.  I need to pick up more Peg Leg Howell too (and the Red hat releases) - first time I'd heard "Moanin' and Groanin" - great stuff.  Seems like there is no end to the great new(old) music you can discover in this genre!

Cheers,

[Johnm]

Hi all,
For any of you who will be at Port Townsend this summer who like the Peg Leg Howell "Moanin' and Groanin", Suzy Thompson and I did a workshop last year in which we went through several Peg Leg Howell/Eddie Anthony tunes, as well as others by Henry Sims/Charlie Patton, Mississippi Sheiks, and the Leake County Revelers.  I will contact Suzy and see if she wants to reprise the workshop this year, maybe with some different tunes.  It was a fun workshop, because we got into both the fiddle parts and the back-up, mostly demoing as opposed to actually teaching the tunes.  Suzy is as good as anybody out there now at those fiddle blues.
All best,
Johnm   

[waxwing]

Having seen Susie a lot lately, I would have to agree. And what a voice, too. Saw her and Eric, and Del and Steve, all doing a benefit for Jimmy Borsdorf last night at a little divey club ten blocks from my house. She really makes me think about wanting to team up with a fiddler for a couple tunes. I'd be real interested in that workshop this summer, John. Boy, what a great little impromptu gig it was. And Jimmy, who has recovered from his illness(?) was in great form, also playing some killer fiddle duets with Susie, and playing his resonator bedpandolin, too. And to add to the already stellar vocals of Susie and Del, Maria Muldaur got up and did a hilarious Memphis Minnie number. Good time had by all.
All for now.
John C.

[uncle bud]

JohnC, I continue to be jealous of the shows you get to see in Californee. Dang. 

[frankie]

You mentioned a couple of posts back that you had never heard Li'l Son Jackson.? Boy, are you in for a treat!

I just caught his Cairo Blues on the juke a little while ago - man!? It's in spanish tuning, but he sounded as if was alternating between the 6th string and a brush on the inner strings.? The effect was strange & cool, leaving this big harmonic hole where his voice would fit in.? I think the way he uses his thumb is pretty varied but understated - the way he'll put a little anticipation into the bass before he plays a riff in the treble is just wonderful.? During breaks, he drags his thumb across the 6th & 5th strings - a pretty stock device, but he makes it sound fresh & never draws attention to it - it's always in combination with some snakey riff in the treble register...? can't wait to hear more!

[Montgomery]

Is Buddy Boy Hawkins' "A Rag" really in spanish tuning?? I'm very surprised, I can't wait to try it out.? I've always played it in C Standard.? And that leads me to another question: how many other "rag" pieces are in spanish tuning?

Also, for suggestions, maybe the Jack Kelly tunes we've discussed before?? Also, I know he counts as a "Mississippi heavyweight," but Skip James' "Special Rider" is an interesting spanish piece.?

John: I love those Roosevelt Graves recordings, and wish more tunes from that session had been issued (if I recall, there were more, but I need to check again).? I love many of his recordings though, bad sound quality aside.? I've always found it hard to play those 2 gospel tunes.? Do you think he was using a National?