Hi all,
I've been listening to Peg Leg Howell again a lot after a bit of a lay-off from his music. What a wonderful player and singer he was! Here is a listing of the positions/tunings for his '20s recordings. I have not included several tracks that have been tentatively attributed to Peg Leg Howell, in particular the Sloppy Henry recordings of "Canned Heat Blues", "Say I Do It", "Long, Tall, Disconnected Mama", and "Royal Palm Special Blues", because I do not believe that Peg Leg Howell played on these tracks. Where pitch varies from standard tuning by less than a semi-tone, sharpness is indicated by a plus sign (+) and flatness by a minus sign (-). Here goes:
TITLE SESSION DATE PERSONNEL POSITION/TUNING PITCH
1. Coal Man Blues 11/8/26 solo Spanish tuning C
2. Tishimingo Blues 11/8/26 solo Spanish tuning D flat
3. New Prison Blues 11/8/26 solo EAEGBE tuning G+
4. Fo' Day Blues 11/8/26 solo A position, standard C+
5. New Jelly Roll Blues 4/8/27 Howell and Henry Howell, Spanish at B
Williams, guitar, Williams, C standard B
Eddie Anthony, fiddle
6. Beaver Slide Rag 4/8/27 As on New Jelly Roll As on New Jelly Roll "
7. Papa Stobb Blues 4/8/27 As on New Jelly Roll Howell, Spanish at B flat+
Williams, C standard B flat+
8. Sadie Lee Blues 4/8/27 solo F, standard E
9. Too Tight Blues 11/1/27 As on New Jelly Roll Howell, Spanish C
Williams, C standard C
10. Moanin' and Groanin' Blues 11/1/27 As on Too Tight Blues as on Too Tight "
11. Hobo Blues 11/1/27 As on Too Tight Blues as on Too Tight "
12. Peg Leg Stomp 11/1/27 As on Too Tight Blues as on Too Tight "
13. Doin' Wrong 11/9/27 solo G, standard A-
14. Skin Game Blues 11/9/27 solo Vestapol, slide F#-
15. Please Ma'am 4/20/28 solo Vestapol, slide A flat
16. Rock and Gravel Blues 4/20/28 solo Vestapol, slide A flat
17. Low-Down Rounder Blues 4/20/28 solo C tuning E
18. Fairy Blues 4/20/28 solo C tuning E
19. Banjo Blues 10/27/28 Howell, guitar, C, standard B +
Anthony, fiddle
20. Turkey Buzzard Blues 10/30/28 As on Banjo Blues As on Banjo Blues "
21. Turtle Dove Blues 10/30/28 solo F, standard F
22. Walkin' Blues 10/30/28 solo Spanish A -
23. Broke and Hungry Blues 4/10/29 Howell, guitar Spanish D flat -
Ollie Griffin(?), fiddle
24. Rolling Mill Blues 4/10/29 As on Broke and Hungry As on Broke and "
Hungry
25. Ball and Chain Blues 4/13/29 Howell, guitar Spanish D
Jim Hill, mandolin
26. Monkey Man Blues 4/13/29 As on Ball and Chain Vestapol, slide A
27. Chittlin' Supper 4/13/29 As on Ball and Chain G, standard A
28. Away From Home 4/13/29 As on Ball and Chain D, standard E -
Some thoughts on Peg Leg Howell:
* If ever a Country Blues player communicated a "tip of the iceberg" quality in his guitar-playing, Peg Leg Howell would be the one. No other player in my immediate recollection recorded so many one-offs with regard to playing positions. Howell had one finger-picking tune recorded in each of the following positions in standard tuning--E, G, A, and D (the tune with Jim Hill in G standard, "Chittlin' Supper", is a boom-chang accompaniment). What's a bit eerie about this is that not one of these renditions gives any indication of being a "weak sister" relative to the core of Peg Leg Howell's repertoire, which was certainly Spanish tuning. Every one of the songs played in these least-favored positions is exceptionally strong and notably inventive.
* The tuning that I have designated "C tuning" for Peg Leg Howell's "Low-Down Rounder Blues" and "Fairy Blues" may, in fact, not be a C tuning. In any event, it is definitely not the Open C tuning much favored by John Fahey: C-G-C-G-C-E. Peg Leg Howell's tuning, expressed as a voicing of the major triad, plays out as follows: 5-Root-3-5-Root-3. Sonically, it is identical to the following C chord voicing played in standard tuning: 3-3-2-0-1-0. If you think of how to get to a tuning with these intervals from standard tuning with the minimal amount of pitch change on the various strings, the most logical choice is open B flat, which works out to: F-B flat-D-F-B flat-D. In this open B flat, no string is altered by more than one whole step. If Howell used this B flat tuning, based on where the two songs in question sounded, E, he would have had to have been capoed to the sixth fret. It's also possible that he did tune to an open C chord, G-C-E-G-C-E. He would have had to crank a bit hard on the bass strings, but he would have ended up with a capo on the fourth, rather than the sixth fret. In point of fact, as with any tuning/position sounding away from its concert pitch norm, there is no way of knowing to what extent the pitch at which the rendition sounds is a function of tuning versus capo placement. Suffice it to say that the renditions employed the tuning in some combination with capoing. Pitch is not so crucial in this case, in any event. I know of no other recording in all of the Country Blues in which a player used this tuning.
* I think Peg Leg Howell deserves accolades for his tuning and tone production. He is always perfectly in tune, if not in the concert pitch sense, certainly relative to himself. I'm not nearly as enamored with the sound of the guitars on these old recordings as many present-day aficionados of the music; quite often they don't sound anything more than serviceable to me, even or especially when the playing is stellar. Peg Leg Howell is one of the very few players in the style whose sound is beautiful to me. He had a beautiful ringing, open tone, and sounded especially great in Spanish capoed way up.
I have a copy of the George Mitchell-recorded Testament album of Peg Leg Howell from the 1960s and will do a tuning/positions analysis of the songs from that recording as well, to see to what extent Howell's tuning/position preferences changed between his last 1929 session and when he was next recorded in the '60s.
All best,
Johnm
