Topic: Introductions: When the Roll is called...

[rbuniv]

Hello;

I discovered this site about six months ago and think its terrific. I have made a number of posts in the forums including quite a few MP3s of my playing but haven't yet gotten around to introducing myself. Well, I am 54 years old and have been listening to and learning to play old time hillbilly and country blues since 1970. I began collecting 78s when I was 16, mostly comedy or old popular material that I was able to find junking, this satisfied me until I discovered the roots music which has led me down the path which I travel today. In the early 70s I hitch-hiked around the country for two years, supporting myself as a banjo playing street musician, traveling from coast to coast two times, living for a time in Key West and Los Angeles. Aside from these early travels, I have spent most of my life in the frozen north of Pennsylvania until a move a year and a half ago placed us in deep southern Texas. Allways a rambler, love road trips, meeting other musicians and searching for those old records!

RB

[Slack]

Thanks for posting RB and an offical welcome!

When you say deep south Texas - do you mean the Laredo, Harlingen McAllen area?  If so, that is an interesting part of Texas and quite a change from PA!

[rbuniv]

Hello Slack;

Yes we live in Laredo, a very interesting place more like living in Mexico. We love the culture, the food and the climate and the music here is such a vital part of the culture "pure and alive": I can tune to a local AM radio station from Mexico and listen to "true living"folk music. I find it of interest also that most (Mexican) guitar and Bajo sexto players in this region play with the thumb and index finger which is also most common with country blues players.

PS,
I see that you live on the border as well.

RB

[Slack]

Yes, native El Pasoan, both spouse and I left El Paso for about 10 years but came back as we love the culture/climate/food as well.   I envy your proximity to Big Bend -- a favorite of ours also!

[waxwing]

As a birder (hence waxwing) I wouldn't mind spending some time in Big Bend, one of the major birding spots I haven't yet visited.

Welcome RB.

All for now.
John C.

[LoneWolf]

Hi I'm Roi, 18 years old from Israel. I'm an avid country blues fan, and also play this music myself. Hope I have a good time here!

[Slack]

Welcome Roi!

[daddystovepipe]

Hi, I'm Carl or Daddy Stovepipe, I'm 51 years old and I live in Belgium. When I registered and had to choose a username my first three attempts bounced so I chose something silly, life is too serious most of the time anyway. 
I came to know this wonderful site through a guitarplaying friend some of you may know : Mr Natural.
For me CB started when I was 14 and heard Big Bill Broonzy on the radio.  I immediately went to the library and was lucky to find Paul Oliver's book "Story of the Blues".  I hardly understood any English then but getting to know all the exotic names in the book s.a. Blind Lemon etc got me started on my record collection. 
Two years later I  got me a cheap nylon string guitar , which I managed to change into a "bow" when I put steel strings on it later, and started to play the blues.  A friend showed me some chords and the  Leadbelly songbook got me strumming on my way. Fingerpicking came later that year when I visited London with my mother and found Stefan Grossman's Country and Delta Blues books.   Since then I've been picking mostly blues but also some ragtime and contemporary guitarmusic like Leo Kottke and Chet Atkins, but I always come back to the CB, that's what I know the best.   I consider myself extremely lucky that I always kept playing (and I'm still married to the same woman for 30 years  and I always seem to find a new angle of the blues to discover and explore.  Now I've just bought a Weissenborn style guitar and that's keeping me busy again. 
I'll post some music in the coming days so you can discover the man behind the words but I'll need my son to help me with the converting to MP3's - I'm so lowtech...
   

[uncle bud]

Welcome Carl! Glad to hear Eddie is spreading the word in Belgium...

And nothing wrong at all with Daddy Stovepipe as a username.

[Slack]

Yes, welcome Carl! 

Eddie, it's about time you made it back to Port Townsend - bring Carl!

[stephens0578]

Hello folks--I'm a new member who found WeenieCampbell thru a tip from Warren Mayo a few weeks back.  Thanks Warren-- its great.

Ive been playing country blues-- this time-- for about 10 years.--hadn't played at all for about 50 years-- that's right, I said 50 --since as a 10 year old kid I backed up my dad playing old folk songs on his fiddle--as long as he played in the key of D.

In high school I listed to Jimmie Rodgers, Bessie Smith, Leadbelly, Louis Armstrong and lots of Dixieland groups.  When I started playing again during a period of forced immobility, I listened to Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, then Brownie McGee, RGD, Mississipi John Hurt, and lots of others.--"the old masters"--

In the past few years I like what Happy Traum and Roy Book Binder are doing and like to think my style is sort of like theirs.  I like a lot of the songs Stefan Grossman presents in a couple of his books.  I'm a great fan of Ernie Hawkins, too.

I'm definitely a "rough" player--get it out there and keep it moving--, finesse and note clarity come  second.  I couldnt do it any different even if I wanted to.  I like what Roy BB says-- he pauses in mid -lesson and says "the way Im playing this it sounds kind of muffled--if you dont like how it sounds dont play it that way"--or " my idea is that the first finger that gets there gets to play the note."   My kind of player.

I like to work on old guitars, too.  Have done several neck resets, quite a few bridge replacements,installed a couple of new truss rods, have done 3 or 4 replacements of ladder type bracing with X-type, and so forth-- but not on my good guitar, a 1964 Gibson J-50.

That's it folks--I"m glad to be "on board."

[waxwing]

Welcome to Weenie Campbell. Glad you found us. As you read thru old posts, you'll find many of us have returned to the guitar, and blues, after a long hiatus, altho' your's is quite a long one. This is the place for you.

One small request. Please don't convert any more ladder braced guitars to X bracing. There are kazillions of X braced guitars out there and you'll find that quite a few of us here cherish the distinctive sound of those few ladder braced guitars that are remaining. My favorite player, a little '20s Stella, was actually converted back to ladder bracing by Neil Harpe.

All for now.
John C.

[uncle bud]

Welcome Stephen! I agree, Roy has good advice...

[onewent]

Welcome to Weenie Stephen .. enjoyed reading your musical history, your experiences cover a lot of ground .. Besides playing the guitar, we have a common interest in 'tinkering' with them, too .. in the past few years, and especially the past two years, I've done a few of the things you've done, with the exception of re-bracing.  I've replaced unattached braces and glued loose ones, which are a pain .. and have one neck set under my belt, a number of bridges and saddles, nuts, crack repair and so on.  It's a whole 'nuther set of sub-skills, just like playing the CB .. There are some good sites for guitar repair, and frets.com stands above all.  If I get stuck in some guitar project, I may email you for advice and you're welcome to do likewise .. nice to have you aboard.. Tom

[stephens0578]

Thanks for your perspective, JohnC, but I should point out that no one would have enjoyed the sound of the ladder-braced guitars I worked on, as they had no sound nor any prospect really of  ever having one again. They were beyond repair for other reasons.-- I got them out of a trash heap, and was just trying to build up my skills for disassembling the body of a guitar, working on the interior, and putting it back together.

Like you, I enjoy playing the old ladder braced guitars and have heard someone is building them now once again.