Topic: River Line Blues

[Mr.OMuck]

This has been a favorite song of mine since I first copped Shirley Griffith's Saturday Blues on Prestige in '69?
Frankie loves this song too and posted an excellent version a short time ago.

[slideaway]

beautiful job! as always .. i love this forum!

[uncle bud]

Great! Very cool version.

[Mr.OMuck]

Thank you Andrew!   And mr. Slideaway too.

[Norfolk Slim]

Great. 

[Pan]

Liked it there and I like it here.

Cheers

Pan

[Johnm]

I really like Shirley's version, and I really like the extent to which you did NOT do what Shirley did, Phil.  Good on you for doing it your own way.
All best,
Johnm

[Mr.OMuck]

Thanks all. As I've said in the past its never been my intention to do absolutely exact transcriptions of songs. The model of being the undiscovered down the street neighbor of the artist who made the record, working out of the same bag of material, has sort of been my guiding thought. Even though I know the "right" way to do this song (I actually consulted JohnM on a part that was eluding me...that guy knows EVERYTHING!), I opted for working from my memory of how I first attempted to play it, after first hearing it lo these many years ago. Why? Can't say for sure. Something about the honesty of a first response perhaps? In any case like many of the recordings I do, I just press the record button and try to do something, I don't even always know what. If folks like it..gravy!

[daddystovepipe]

Love it, great imagery too.

[Mr.OMuck]

I thanks ya D.S.    And thanks for commenting on the pictures. We here at O'Muck Studios try to produce interesting looking videos as well as interesting sounding ones.

[Rivers]

The model of being the undiscovered down the street neighbor of the artist who made the record, working out of the same bag of material, has sort of been my guiding thought

Interesting idea Phil. I'm just a skinny ass white boy though with a less than stellar voice and an authentic british accent but I suppose anything is possible. 

Love the recording and visuals.

[Mr.OMuck]

I guess it would be more accurate to say the guy that learned the song from the undiscovered down the street neighbor of the artist who made the record, working out of the same bag of material. It occurred to me while chatting with Frank earlier today that the guy I'm describing is like almost everyone George Mitchell recorded.

[Johnm]

I very much like the notion of playing like the neighbor, or someone who learned from the neighbor of the more well-known musician.  There's something to be said for the non-exact copy or cover of a very strong performance.  I think it introduces an element of musical hybrid vigor.  In the "Blues In St. Louis" thread a couple of years ago, I thought of the musician Arthur Weston along such lines.
   "I really like Arthur Weston's music and would recommend it very strongly to anyone who likes players out of Mississippi who were in their sixties in the '60s.  Arthur Weston sounds sort of like the guy down the block from you that played music, if you lived in a Southern or Eastern city back then and were incredibly lucky."

Non-exact copies enlarge the musical universe by suggesting slightly different takes on the same basic musical ideas.  The exact copy just maintains the status quo.
All best,
Johnm