Topic: Adventures in Dropped-D tuning

[blueshome]

I've always placed Loretta's Blues in Vasterpol.

Incidentally I've seen Louisiana Red do a great Lightnin impersonation in this tuning.

[daddystovepipe]

Thanks John, will check it out.

[ChrisinWhitwell]

Hi all,
A song that has been discussed at the site recently that was played in dropped-D is Frankie Lee Sims' "Lucy Mae Blues".
All best,
Johnm

Thanks John - for the lyrics - I am just catching up after your sessions at EBA!

[uncle bud]

J.W. Warren's song "Hoboing Into Hollywood" is played in dropped D. I have it on the George Mitchell Collection, though it is also on Warren's Life Ain't Worth Livin' CD on Fat Possum. Cool tune.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I picked up a JSP set yesterday that I hadn't known about, "New York Blues, 1945--1956".  Included in the set on the final disc are the complete (I believe) recorded sides of Carolina Slim, born Edward P. Harris, who put out 27 titles between July 24, 1950 and June 5, 1952.  He died of a heart attack on October 23, 1953, and was only thirty years old at the time.

Carolina Slim was an interesting figure.  According to the set's liner notes, by Neil Slavin, he was from Leasburg, North Carolina, about 35 miles northwest of Durham.  He came from a musical family.  What made him unusual for a Blues musician of his time and location was that he chose as his primary musical model not Blind Boy Fuller, the local favorite, but Lightnin' Hopkins.  The extent to which Carolina Slim copied Lightnin' is beyond what I've encountered in the past, in terms of Blues players closely aping their heroes.  What makes Slim's emulation of Lightnin's music stranger yet is that Slim focused primarily on a tiny subset of Lightnin's recorded repertoire:  his playing in dropped-D tuning.  Of the 27 titles included on the set, the following titles were all played by Carolina Slim in dropped-D tuning, key of D:

   * Jivin' Woman
   * Blues Knocking At My Door
   * Slo-Freight Blues (a cover of Walter Davis's "I Can't See Your Face" in the first verse)
   * Sugaree
   * Your Picture Done Faded (a re-do of "Slo-Freight Blues")
   * Black Cat Trail

Carolina Slim's predilection for dropped-D went even further, though.  He generally preferred to play his songs in A out of dropped-D tuning, as did Mance Lipscomb.  I don't know Lightnin's repertoire well enough to know if he ever used dropped-D tuning to play in A, but by the time he reached the '60s and his Prestige-Bluesville era recordings, I think he played in A out of standard tuning exclusively.  Perhaps Slim came up with his approach for using dropped-D to play in A on his own.  In any event, he recorded the following songs using dropped-D tuning to play in A

   * Come Back Baby
   * Worrying Blues
   * One More Time
   * Mother Dear Mother
   * Georgia Woman
   * Money Blues

The only figure I can think of who had a similarly heavy preponderance of songs in dropped-D in his recorded repertoire is Gabriel Brown, and he did not use dropped-D to play in A.  It kind of makes me wonder if Lightnin' was influenced by Gabriel Brown's recordings in dropped-D, since I know of virtually no recordings in dropped-D by Texas players prior to Lightnin', and then Lightnin's playing obviously influenced Carolina Slim.  At this point, there's obviously no way of knowing. 
Carolina Slim was a decent singer and a really fine guitarist, though the extent to which he was derivative sort of takes one aback upon first hearing.  In fact, I think he had internalized Lightnin's sound so much, at least on guitar, that he was able to play original licks while speaking in Lightnin's musical language, much as Ari Eisinger is able to do in the musical language of Blind Blake.  If you've not heard Carolina Slim before, I think he is definitely worth hearing.
All best,
Johnm


   

[daddystovepipe]

Lightnin' Hopkins did record songs tuned to drop D playing in the key of A, as Mance Lipscomb :
- Ain' It A Shame 1949
- Seems Funny Baby 1949
- Walking Blues 1948
- All I Got Is Gone 1949

Drop D in the key of D
- Tim Moore's Farm (with clear hints to Lonnie Johnson's playing behind Texas Alexander)

And even in Vestapol
- Jackstropper's Blues

You'll find all these on "The Gold Star Years"

[Johnm]

Thanks for that information, Carl.  I was hoping that someone who knew Lightnin's repertoire better than I do would be able to say one way or the other whether he had recorded in A in dropped-D tuning.  Thanks!
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I just received a bunch of Roosevelt Holts recordings (thanks, Joe), and noticed that his "Prison Bound Blues" was played out of Dropped-D and is really nice.  Of course, he covered "Big Road Blues" in Dropped-D, too.
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I noticed that Leroy Dallas's cut, "I'm Down Now But I Won't Be Down Always", which can be found on the JSP set, "Rub A Little Boogie--New York Blues 1945-1956", is played out of dropped-D by at least one of the accompanying guitarists.  They're shown as Dallas himself and Brownie McGhee, and there's no way of knowing for sure which of the two is playing the prominent dropped-D part; it doesn't sound like Brownie McGhee, though.
All best,
Johnm

[uncle bud]

There is an unidentified song in dropped D tuning by Richard Williams on Where the Palm Trees Shake at Night, a CD compilation of performances from the Florida Folk Festival put out by the Florida Folklife Collection. The song title is listed as "Unidentified". Williams starts out quite tentatively then settles into a groove.

The CD has been made available for free download by the Florida Folklife Collection at http://www.floridamemory.com/audio/cd5.php. Includes music by Johnny Shines, Etta Baker, Cephas and Wiggins, Roy Book Binder, and interesting lesser known artists. I like Old Time Rounders by Emmett Murray.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Okay, all of the "Adventures in . . ." threads have been moved to Country Blues Licks and Lessons now.
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
It has been a while since this thread as seen a new post.  One later musician who really favored Dropped-D and recorded in it a good deal was J B Lenoir.  Just in the course of doing the Miller's Breakdown thread, we have done four of his songs, "Alabama March", "If I Get Lucky", "Remove This Rope" and "Mississippi Road", all of which he chose to play out of Dropped-D.  I'm sure there are a good number more.
All best,
Johnm