When Alan posed the question "What are the blues? What do they mean to you?" the answers were in part something he sought for himself, to understand this musical form that may have been as ancient as the griots in West Africa, or perhaps as recent as the automobile, the airplane, and the phonograph (all of which made guest appearances in the blues). The blues had become a craze, like ragtime, which grew up alongside it, and it leaped from the bottom of the social order to the Astors and the Vanderbilts, who staged blues contests for their own amusement well before the rest of white America came to know them - from Alan Lomax, The Man Who Recorded the World, by John Szwed
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A Night of Country Blues Guitar at the Fabulous : January 08, 2011 - January 13, 2011
The audience was pretty good, although the snow definitely scared some folks off. Pat turned in a great set of electric stuff with Ernesto Gomez on snare. Ari was great, and played a newly acquired Stella 12-string on 2 numbers: Leadbelly's I'm Sorry Mama and Memphis Minnie's Drunken Barrelhouse Blues - lots of Blind Blake and Blind Lemon played brilliantly, of course.
The East River String Band played some Bertha Lee & Charley Patton, Pink Anderson and Simmie Dooley, Mississippi John Hurt... John used the "Peg Leg tuning" for the lead guitar part for Old Jim Canan's:
We (the Little Brothers) played a lot of new material, and some not so new... a fair number of songs were drawn from the new CD, including the title song "Mama's Angel Child"
we did this one, JUST for Parlor Picker and blueshome:
Mike and I also did a couple of mandolin/guitar duets from the McCoy/Vinson bag (Times Ain't What They Used To Be, Near The End). I did a couple of guitar pieces (Bad Luck Blues and Sawmill Moan), Kim sang a few (New Bumble Bee, Farewell Daddy and What Fault You Find Of Me?), and plenty of band numbers, including The World Is Going Wrong and Loose Like That.
A good time was had by all... we'll be back there in February with Mamie Minch and Mr. O'muck and the Academy of Ancient Blues. Y'all come!
Thanks for the report and the great videos, Frankie! It appears to have been a fantastic evening indeed! I'm glad to hear that there's more to come! And saddened by the fact that I can't be there! If possible, keep these video treats coming for us overseas fans.
But what's this with the new CD, and how come I don't know anything about it? Please do tell us more.
Btw. I loved your version of Mama's Angel Child. Great singing there too.
I can only echo Pan's comments. As he says, it's great for us Weenies over the water to be able to see and hear some of the excellent performances. Of course it's no substitute for actually being there, soaking up the atmosphere, but it's still very welcome.
And as for the dedication, Frankie - well what can I say? I assume you were dedicating Kim's lovely singing to me and the you-know-what to Phil. [Actually I've got to come clean and say I liked the fretless banjo, which sounds remarkably like the West African ngoni in that clip.]
Thanks again for posting.
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"I ain't good looking, teeth don't shine like pearls, So glad good looks don't take you through this world." Barbecue Bob