Topic: Changing with the Times

[Johnm]

Thanks for the tip, Peter B.  I will keep my eyes open for those sides.
All best,
Johnm

[harriet]

Here's a link from January to Big Joe Williams in concert via Prof Scratchy, which I though was amazing. Is almost as if he reverses the vocal and guitar, lots of guitar solos in this if I remember correctly.
http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=9147.msg77114#msg77114

[jpeters609]

John, if you'd like to hear Big Joe play an electric (and well amplified!) guitar with great abandon and unfettered imagination, try to find "Hand Me Down My Old Walking Stick," an album he cut in '68 or '69. It's one of my favorites, and was reportedly one of Big Joe's, as well. From what I've read, Joe played electric guitar more regularly than his "rediscovery" recordings would indicate -- and apparently enjoyed the sonic possibilities. I read somewhere (will have to track it down) that he was seen playing with a pie tin and an empty beer can dangling in front of his amp. Goodness! At any rate, the tracks on this album show Joe playing with tremendous inventiveness; even the old chestnuts sound inspired.

[Bunker Hill]

John, if you'd like to hear Big Joe play an electric (and well amplified!) guitar with great abandon and unfettered imagination, try to find "Hand Me Down My Old Walking Stick," an album he cut in '68 or '69. It's one of my favorites, and was reportedly one of Big Joe's, as well. From what I've read, Joe played electric guitar more regularly than his "rediscovery" recordings would indicate -- and apparently enjoyed the sonic possibilities. I read somewhere (will have to track it down) that he was seen playing with a pie tin and an empty beer can dangling in front of his amp. Goodness! At any rate, the tracks on this album show Joe playing with tremendous inventiveness; even the old chestnuts sound inspired.

Jeff, recorded in London 1968 whilst here with that years AFBF. I think the London Blues Society were behind the session and subsequent LP. I'll see what the sleeve notes say. The record can be viewed at Stefan's BJW discography, item 67, 1969.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
The footage from Berea College and listening to "Buddy Moss-Atlanta Blues Legend" on Biograph have combined to paint the picture of a Country Blues player who very much changed with the times and continued to grow and evolve.  The single string work that Buddy utilizes  in these later performance situations had no precedent in the Blues community which he came up in.  When you think about it, utilizing a single string approach to play blues, rather than a more chordal approach, presumes either an ensemble setting, or in solo performances, such a familiarity with the style on the part of the audience that they will be able to stay oriented to the phrasing and sense of the music in the absence of anything more than very intermittent use of chords.  At least on the basis of the Berea performances, it seems like you would have to concede that the single string approach worked quite well for Buddy in solo performance situations.  It makes one wish that the album he recorded for Columbia in his post-rediscovery period could be heard; unfortunately, it was never released.
All best,
Johnm     

[ScottN]

Hi John,

In reading through an earlier thread on Moss it says that the first 7 tracks on the Atlanta Blues Legend cd were 7 of the 10 songs from the Columbia session...3 songs from Columbia don't seem to have been released (Mamie, Chesterfield, and Wee Midnight Hours)...furtunately other versions of these are available on ABL, George Mitchell Collection, and / or Berea's video and audio recordings.

There is some similarly amazing single string work on Document volume 3 (where there is a marked increase in the number of instrumental solos in Buddy's recordings) but they are all done with another guitarists vs Berea's solo format.

To me the single string aspect seems to present itself strongly (Joy Rag, Struggle Buggy) when he returns from his "time away" in the mid to late 30s vs his pre-incarceration work...might he have been influenced by artists of that later period who might have had a more advanced single string bag of tricks, maybe Lonnie Johnson?

Thanks again for all the insights :-)

Scott

[oddenda]

Could be some impact of Scrapper Blackwell on late 40s Buddy Moss. He was, as Miles Davis might describe, "a motherfucker" in so many ways not just musical. He was brilliant and is one of the deepest regrets I have in "missing" him... god knows I tried and got THAT close to recording him.

Peter B.