If you want to learn how to make songs yourself, you take your guitar and you go to where the road crosses that way, where a crossroads is. Get there, be sure to get there just a little 'fore 12 that night so you know you'll be there. You have your guitar and be playing a piece there by yourself... A big black man will walk up there and take your guitar and he'll tune it. And then he'll play a piece and hand it back to you. That's the way I learned to play anything I want - Tommy Johnson, to his brother
Hey Folks -- If anyone is within driving (or walking, biking, whatever) distance of Portland, come on down Sunday (July 6) for the final day of the Waterfront Blues Fest. Or come earlier if you want -- it starts today -- but Sunday should be a good one: I do a performance and also a workshop, "Tommy Johnson, Jimmie Rodgers and the Blues Yodel." Robert "Wolfman" Belfour and Rory Block also are both on the program that day, and both of them does a performance and a workshop too. Full schedule at waterfrontbluesfest.com. Cheers and please say hello if you're at the fest. SC
Hi Chezz, That sounds like a real interesting workshop. I wish I lived near Portland because I'd like to hear your take on it. Yodeling would be a good discussion topic here, but of course it would be a lot more fun to hear in person. Have a good one. Todd
I do enjoy a good yodel. I yodel a little bit. I prefer the blues yodelers over the cowboy yodelers, which tend to get boring after a while. The classic Swiss yodeling is fascinating stuff. I used to have an old timer neighbor who was Swiss. Some nights, after he'd had a few drinks, he'd step into the backyard and yodel. It scared the hell out of me the first time I heard it, but I learned to enjoy it.
The classic Swiss yodeling is fascinating stuff. I used to have an old timer neighbor who was Swiss. Some nights, after he'd had a few drinks, he'd step into the backyard and yodel. It scared the hell out of me the first time I heard it, but I learned to enjoy it.
Ah - Helvetic Blues. I like the sound of that - the idea, but not sure about the yodelling.
Logged
"I ain't good looking, teeth don't shine like pearls, So glad good looks don't take you through this world." Barbecue Bob
Swedish Reindeer calling is another yodel related form that can be pretty great. There's a great example on Pat conte's the secret museum of mankind volume one.
Logged
My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music. Vladimir Nabokov (1899 - 1977)