The Song of the Month for April isn't properly a song at all, although we might have a tendency to think so. The title "Buck Dance" may make you think of one or two specific guitar pieces - we'll get to those later - but a Buck Dance is really just a type of flat-foot dancing related to clogging and tap. You can read a better description and definition here:
Links:
http://ncpedia.org/buck-dancing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clogging
Buck dancing and clogging are forms of dance that cut across racial lines. If this kind of thing makes you curious, you might enjoy the documentary Talking Feet:
http://www.folkstreams.net/film,121
Some points of specific interest for the country blues nerd include:
In general I expected these pieces to have a 'raggy' quality and I suppose you could say that's true where the guitar is the instrument in question. I did include a breakdown from Mississippi fiddler Enos Canoy and a stellar banjo showpiece from Hobart Smith. You'll also find dance accompanied only by percussion and a harmonica piece. All in all, I think you'd have to say that these all represent the unique imaginations of each of the performers. Some of these were a real surprise to me - like the recording by Lil' Son Jackson... I really didn't think he had anything like that in him at all!
Most of these pieces are pretty short - it shouldn't take you more than a half hour to get through all 14 of these and by the end of it, you may have a very different idea of how to approach a 'buck dance' piece yourself the next time you sit down with one of your instruments.
Enjoy!
ps: I would be remiss if I did not add that this is Rev. Davis's birthday... Happy Birthday, Rev. Davis and thank you for the music!
Tracks
Links:
http://ncpedia.org/buck-dancing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clogging
Buck dancing and clogging are forms of dance that cut across racial lines. If this kind of thing makes you curious, you might enjoy the documentary Talking Feet:
http://www.folkstreams.net/film,121
Some points of specific interest for the country blues nerd include:
- starting at 5:55 or so - discussion from a mixed group of North Carolina dancers
- Algia Mae Hinton at 16:31 - playing guitar behind her head AND buck dancing!
- John Dee Holeman at 43:02
In general I expected these pieces to have a 'raggy' quality and I suppose you could say that's true where the guitar is the instrument in question. I did include a breakdown from Mississippi fiddler Enos Canoy and a stellar banjo showpiece from Hobart Smith. You'll also find dance accompanied only by percussion and a harmonica piece. All in all, I think you'd have to say that these all represent the unique imaginations of each of the performers. Some of these were a real surprise to me - like the recording by Lil' Son Jackson... I really didn't think he had anything like that in him at all!
Most of these pieces are pretty short - it shouldn't take you more than a half hour to get through all 14 of these and by the end of it, you may have a very different idea of how to approach a 'buck dance' piece yourself the next time you sit down with one of your instruments.
Enjoy!
ps: I would be remiss if I did not add that this is Rev. Davis's birthday... Happy Birthday, Rev. Davis and thank you for the music!
Tracks
Georgia Fife & Drum Band - Buck Dance | http://picosong.com/KQHX |
Horace Sprott - Buck Dance | http://picosong.com/KQHB |
Enos Canoy - Buck Dancing Charlie | http://picosong.com/KQHt |
Hobart Smith - Buck Dance | http://picosong.com/KQUy |
Hobart Smith - Clog Dance With Guitar | http://picosong.com/KQUX |
Horace Sprott & Harry Rutledge - Buck Dance | http://picosong.com/KQUx |
Algia Mae Hinton - Buck Dance | http://picosong.com/KQdX |
Jesse Fuller - Buck and Wing | http://picosong.com/KQdr |
Melvin "Lil' Son" Jackson - Buck Dance | http://picosong.com/KQrc |
Scott Dunbar - Buck Dance By Joe Tucker | http://picosong.com/KQr9 |
Mississippi John Hurt - Stop Time (Buck Dance) | http://picosong.com/KQrg |
Elizabeth Cotten - Buck Dance | http://picosong.com/KQrK |
Sam McGee - Buck Dancer's Choice | http://picosong.com/KQrH |
Reverend Gary Davis - Buck Dance | http://picosong.com/KQGF |