The piano may do for lovesick girls who lace themselves to skeletons, and lunch on chalk, pickles, and slate pencils. But give me the banjo... When you want genuine music - music that will come right home to you like a bad quarter, suffuse your system like strychnine whiskey . . . ramify your whole constitution like the measles, and break out on your hide like the pin-feather pimples on a picked goose - when you want all this, just smash your piano, and invoke the glory-beaming banjo! - Mark Twain, Early Tales and Sketches, Vol 2 (1864-65)
Hi all, I don't know how many of you have had a chance to listen to the version of "Salty Dog" by Bill Williams that Stuart posted at http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=11140.msg98302#msg98302 , but it is epic, and Bill Williams works up a tremendous head of steam on it, just going like a bat out of hell. The Ralph Willis version that follows it is interesting, too; he plays it as a 12-bar blues rather than a circle-of-fifths progression. All best, Johnm
Yeah, the Bill Williams version is terrific. I'm having trouble finding any recordings, apart from on You Tube of Bill Williams as everything I've heard of his I've liked. Is there anything available?
Sadly the Ralph Willis and the 'Red' Willie Smith versions aren't showing in this neck of the woods.
I just added the link to Stefan's Bill Williams page below the YT video.
I don't think that the two Blue Goose LPs were ever released as CDs. I bought the LPs soon after they were released. They were a revelation and I looked forward to seeing him play live at some point, but when the second LP came out and I read of his passing, sadly it wasn't meant to be.
That really is absolutely great playing, and to my ears, immediately recognizable as a non-opposing right hand style. Some might call it down-up strumming, until you hear the bass line that he is often thumbing at the same time. He uses the technique very much like Patton on "Shake It and Break It" or "Some of These Days", but the way he uses his left hand in conjunction takes it a step further. Wow!
Wax
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