Ed Perl, the founder of the Ash Grove on Melrose in West Los Angeles, the center of the folk revival in L.A., recalls Alan's coming in the club while Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys were appearing. He walked straight up to the stage, and after the second number he asked Monroe where he got the song he'd just played. "I was shocked," Perl said. "Nobody ever did that, let alone to God. Bill responded, "Is that you Alan?" and they proceeded to talk about and demonstrate the influence of black music on Bill and bluegrass - from Alan Lomax, The Man Who Recorded the World, by John Szwed
Every so often, I resolve to find something new or, at least, previously unheard. The below-linked version is just such an example. Has anyone heard it, or anything else from the performer?
Thanks, all. And thanks for bringing that recording from Libba Cotton. She gets as close as I've heard to a slack key feel on the song.
A body could get lost in all the versions. The Milum Kent recording comes from this "Ozark Folksongs" collection: https://home.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/. Alan Lomax is mentioned in there, as is Gus Cannon, H.L. Menken(!) and other familiar folks. It also has a few recordings of Bukka White talking in their folklore class about a bit of his own history.
Thanks; that's close to Worrall's arrangement, with some personal flairs, by my rusty reading along with the sheet music. The performer (Dallas-based Perry Brooks Nichols, who appears to have some Carlos Castaneda-based influence) apparently teaches flamenco, paints and mashes up a variety of styles into sonic psychedelia to express and/or lead listeners into separate realities.
Nichols interpreted Spanish Fandango for Juneteenth 2022 to honor guitarist/composer/arranger/civil rights activist/Martin endorser Justin Holland, whose Reconstruction-era guitar method books became widely popular.