Topic: Introductions: When the Roll is called...

[Slack]

Welcome Justin!   Glad you found us!

[ben j]

Hello Weenies (or whatever we call ourselves here)

I have been a devotee of Little Brother Doug Jones for years. Recently he appears to have closed the doors on his Blues Shack (we were Shackers over there) Anyway, hoping to join the fun here. I notice some of the member names here are familiar. Shoutout to you Shackers

Lotta respect for John Miller. Have one of his DVDs and have seen some of his Youtube stuff. Another master blues teacher for sure!

Ben

[Slack]

Welcome Ben!

[eduardosanz]

Hello everyone. I am Eduardo, from Spain.

My guitar playing background is mostly jazz (at a pretty undecent skill), but I am really touched by the hearty sounds of the country blues, maybe due to the fact that here in Spain we also have our music roots (say flamenco guitar) which has always been played in our country by players with almost non music theory education.

I do have a spanish nylon guitar, as I do have an acoustic guitar (steel strings), and of course my electric Ibanez for jazz. However weird may seem, I really prefer the sound of my electric jazz guitar for playing this country blues music.

Why is it that most people play this style with acoustic guitars? Is it due to respect of the tradition? Or is it due to any kind of sounding posibbilities of the acoustic axe imposible to achieve with the electric one?

On the other hand, I am trying to learn the style following some DVD and books by David Hamburger and Steffan Grossman... any input on these?
Anyhow, I guess I should post this question on the main forum.

Hello everyone!

[EddieD]

Hi all,

My name is Eddie, I'm a 26 year old from Canada. I've been playing guitar for 11-12 year. I started out playing punk rock. I moved through some different styles and genres and one day I heard some insanely fast blues played on a 12 string guitar. A friend of mine was watching Stevie Ray Vaughan unplugged. It blew me away. I didn't know anything about the blues then but that's where it started. I learned how to play pride and joy and rude mood. Then I traced back a lot of SRV's cover songs and found Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Albert King, Freddie King etc. So I was playing electric blues for a while.

Then I was watching the documentary "It Might Get Loud" and when the clip of Reverend Gary Davis playing "Death Don't Have No Mercy" it blew me away. I tracked down everything I could find from the Rev. It completely changed the way I played guitar. I tracked down all the old Country Blues, Piedmont, Delta, Ragtime, and Gospel recordings. I can't get enough of this stuff.

Rev Gary Davis is my all time favorite these days along with Blind Blake and Blind Willie McTell. Charlie Patton has been on heavy rotation of what I've been listening to lately as well.

Ernie Hawkins is one of my favorite teachers for obvious reasons. He knows the Rev's stuff inside out. Ari Eisinger is also great. He is very authentic and a great teacher. I have been using some of Tom Feldmann's lessons and I have been enjoying them as well. I like to pick things out by ear as well. But when I started with Rev Gary Davis I needed help big time. haha

I play a Gretsch New Yorker arch top acoustic and a Dobro resonator for slide. I also have a Gretsch centerblock electric guitar. The electric hasn't been getting much attention lately though.

Anyway that became long winded. Glad to be here. There is lots of great things going on here. I love that Blind Willie McTell tuning/position/key chart.

Thanks,

[arg6442]

Well, I'm not that new, but I haven't really been on here much and certainly haven't posted much, so I feel an introduction is in order. I am 14 and have been playing guitar since I was 10. When I was 11 I first heard the blues in a music class and began listening to muddy waters, BB king, Albert king, SRV, etc. Later that year I heard Robert Johnson for the first time. Robert became my favorite, and in the last 2 years I began digging further and have a pretty large repertoire of country, delta, Piedmont and other types of pre war blues. My favorites are Son house, Bo Weavil Jackson, King Solomon Hill, Bukka White, Robert Johnson, Willie Brown, Skip James, Blind Blake, Big Bill Broonzy and many others. Hopefully I'll be here more than I have!

[Slack]

Welcome Eduardo, Eddie and Arg!  glad to have you with us.

[Washburner]

Hi, my name is Larry Rand and I tend to play songs that are funny or topical, many of which I have written myself, and some country blues that I've picked up along the way (I'm 68, so it's been a long way). I was lucky enough to perform full-time for 12 years in the 1970s after the Army and college, and I've been gigging for 50+ years. I think the first blues performer to get my attention was Josh White, with his distinctive voice and a right hand style that used all five fingers, but i grew up listening to all the pre-war blues people because my dad was a liquor salesman.  His black customers here in Chicago didn't get 45rpm juke boxes until the mid- to late 50s, so they played 78s of people like Lil Green, Bill Broonzy, Lonnie Johnson, Tampa Red, and lots of jazz people from Duke Ellington to Slim & Slam. I took immediately to Slim & Slam and Tampa; I loved the humor. When I became a folkie like so many of my peers, I gravitated towards funny stuff. Being a performer, I got to meet tremendous blues musicians -- Ted Bogan, who taught me his chord style, Carl Martin and Howard Armstrong, for whom I opened many a show; Howlin' Wolf and Albert King, for whom I also opened shows; Blind Jim Brewer, whose chops I tried my best to cop by watching him at No Exit; Paul Geremiah, Blind John Davis, Donny White (Josh's son who performs as Josh White, Jr.), Siegel-Schwall, and Eric Noden. I got to see many great blues performers, too many to list here; living in the blues Mecca of Chicago has been a gift in that regard.

[Slack]

Welcome Larry!  Any son of a liquor salesman is a friend of ours!   

[MJH Foundation]

Hey y'all!

My name is Sam and I'm a 31 year old guitar player. I'm pretty self-conscious about my playing, but still too stubborn to quit. I've also spent more time reading your posts than posting myself! I made my first pilgrimage to Avalon, Mississippi two years ago, and was lucky enough to get a volunteer position with the Mississippi John Hurt Foundation.

I've noticed that a lot of you mention Mississippi John Hurt as a primary influence on their guitar playing. I just wanted to invite everyone to the 2015 Mississippi John Hurt Music Festival, held at the MJH Museum in Avalon. It's free, it's fun, and is probably the safest, kindest, least stressful place to jam on some country blues ANYWHERE. Hanging out with Mary Frances Hurt is as close as you'll get to hanging out with John himself. Just like her grandfather, she is kind and gracious, and we hope EVERYONE will make a point of coming out if they can.

The Festival is always held on Labor Day weekend. Please contact me at swellis@live.com if you'd like more info. I'll post hotel and travel info on a separate thread soon. I've enjoyed reading everybody's posts! Thank you all for your enthusiasm and dedication to the blues.

Samuel W. Ellis
The Mississippi John Hurt Foundation
www.mississippijohnhurtfoundation.org
swellis@live.com

[Slack]

Welcome Samuel and thanks for the MJH Foundation update!

[elds]

Hello fellow Weenies, just happened upon this forum. Can't wait to help contribute and learn what you all have stored away in the archives. I've been a student of the blues for about a decade now. Age 26 now. Didn't know I should have been calling myself a "weenie" all this time but that changes today!

Lets see... I can play on guitar the following:
*Blind Lemon Jefferson - Easy Rider blues
*Mississippi John Hurt - Richland Woman Blues
*Skip James - Crow Jane
*Outside Woman Blues -- the Cream version but I would love to get the Blind Joe Reynolds one down someday

My favorite country blues artist at this time is Luke Jordan.  His version of Cocaine Blues is my favorite rendition of that song.

I am constantly on the hunt for YouTube videos of blues/soul/funk tracks. <shameless plug> Come visit me on plug.dj room "The Delta" sometime.  It's a free, really small, but great community where we take turns DJing YouTube and Soundcloud gems.  </shameless plug>

Thanks for reading! See you on the forum.

[Rivers]

Welcome elds, you've definitely come to the right place. There are several admirers and exponents of the great Luke Jordan's playing here.

[Blind Uncle Schechy]

Howdy! John here, 18-year-old from Chicago (yep, another innocent young man corrupted by this mind rot ). I've been playing guitar and mandolin ever since I was a little kid, and I've been a country blues (and Old Time/early jazz/folk/country) maniac for a couple of years, but I only stumbled on this forum recently. Looking forward to getting to know you guys!

[Slack]

Welcome Blind Uncle S!