Topic: Great covers

[GhostRider]

Howdy:

My favorite cover is one Lightnin' taught at PT a couple of years ago. It's William Harris' cover of "Jim Jackson's Kansas City Blues". Better than the original IMHO.

Alex

[Johnm]

Alex, I agree that the William Harris cover of "Kansas City Blues" is stellar.  It seems like that song inspired a lot of strong covers.
Mister mando, I very much agree with you as to how great that Document String Bands CD is--it's really sort of a "hit-after-hit" program.  Taylor's Kentucky Boys are wonderful, too.  It's weird, I've owned the CD for years and sort of re-discovered it a couple of days ago.  Making up for lost time in the listening department now.
Stuart, you really lost me in your post.  I don't have any idea what you were talking about--care to elaborate?
All best,
Johnm

[Stuart]

It was just a shot at some obscure humor, John. Frankie does such a fine job with these songs--and given the fact that it was recorded in New Jersey (Camden,  I believe), down the pike from Frankie's home base, I thought I'd pay him a compliment, albeit a somewhat convoluted one. As I've said before, his authenticity is uncanny. Sorry for the confusion.

I've had the CD for years and it's a real keeper. I also have some of the other string band collections on Document, as well as several that County has released. Both labels released collections titled "Mississippi String Bands" -- Volumes 1 & 2 (on both labels). There's overlap, but I highly recommend them all.

[GhostRider]

Alex, I agree that the William Harris cover of "Kansas City Blues" is stellar.  It seems like that song inspired a lot of strong covers.

Including "Goin' up the Country" by Papa Eggshell.

Alex

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I was listening to John Hurt's "Spider, Spider" from his "Last Sessions" album on Vanguard today and realized it is a cover of Frank Stokes' "Sweet To Mama".  The interesting thing is that Frank Stokes played the song out of G position, where it sat really easily, with the melody centered around the root note at the third fret of the first string.  John Hurt played it out of C, though, and to get the root note in the melody, with it living at the eighth fret of the first string, required some real gymnastics and wonky stuff in the bass.  Because of the Beale Street Sheiks normal set-up and division of labor, the pitch of where Frank Stokes played the song was probably close to the pitch at which John Hurt played it, but boy, is it easier to play out of G than C.
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Here is a wonderful cover of Lemon Jefferson's "One Dime Blues", "West Kinney Street Blues", performed by Skoodle Dum Doo and Sheffield.  These guys had such great time, and the singer is a groover.



The guitarist played it out of A position in standard tuning, unlike Lemon.

I was standing on West Kinney Street one day
Standing on West Kinney Street one day
Standing on West Kinney Street one day
One dime was all that I had

One dime (instruments finish verse)

I says, buddy, don't you treat your partner mean
Buddy, don't treat your partner mean
Buddy, don't treat your partner mean
You bein' the meanest buddy that I b'lieve I ever seen

You don't want your buddy to be bad like Jesse James
(Instruments finish verse)

Oh buddy, won't you come Texana with me?
Buddy, won't you come Texana with me?
Buddy, won't you come Texana with me?
Oh now, buddy, hang 'round there for with me (Spoken: I came over there!)

Well I'm broke, Lord, and I ain't got a dime (Spoken: I know that gal's gonna break you.)
Lord, Lord, and I ain't got a dime (Spoken: I knowed it!)
I'm broke now, pal, and I ain't got a dime
Every man is born in a hard luck sometimes (Spoken: I told you so, boy!)

SOLO

All best,
Johnm

[Prof Scratchy]

Another great track!  Any biographical detail on these two musicians?

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[Johnm]

I think there has been some guesswork, Scratchy, but no hard information.  It has been suggested that Skoodle Dum Doo was Seth Richards, apparently because he had recorded a song of that title.  Neither of the duo sounds anything like him, though.  I think they had one day in the studio and four titles only, and they were kind of late, too, post-1940.  I don't believe anybody apart from their friends and relatives knows who they were.
All best,
Johnm

[Prof Scratchy]

....and Bunker Hill, probably.

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[Rambler]

John Lee Hooker's take on Percy Mayfield's Mermory Pain is a classic case of reverse osmosis, in which a pop blues is rendered as country blues. John Lee called his version Serves You Right to Suffer.   

M-Pain

Serves You Right

[uncle bud]

Serves You Right

That's a cool example, Rambler. The John Lee Hooker version is indeed great.

[oddenda]

RE: Skoodle-dum Doo & Sheffield:

          The former is Seth Richard, indicated by the composer credits on the 78s - I was sent label photocopies.  Sheffield is the harp player and his first name may have been John. He refers to himself by that name on one of the tunes he sings. According to Barbara Kukla's first book on jazz (et al) musicians in Newark, NJ, he was always known by "Sheffield" without a first name. Both 78s are brilliant and Sheffield plays rhythm guitar on one or two. Barbara has had a second book published recently - she is a former reporter for The Newark Evening News, and a good one, too!

Peter B.

[Mr.OMuck]

That is totally out of sight! One has to dredge up long unused superlatives for something like that!
So Pete, are we to infer that they lived and played around Newark N.J.?

[oddenda]

O'M -

          Yes. Kukla's book only mentions Sheffield (he was known by jazz performers a.o.only by his surname), but that seems likely that they were there ca. 1943. West Kinney Street and Broome Street are Newark roads, maybe even a cross-roads. One of the many possibles I didn't follow up on in my day... one man can only cover so much ground on his own! Lovely records, and what Bruce Bastin would type as "soddingly rare"!

pbl

[Johnm]

Hi Peter B.,
Is there anything apart from the fact that the non-Sheffield member of the duo called himself Skoodle Dum Doo to make anyone think he was the Seth Richard who recorded "Skoodle Dum Doo" eleven years prior to the duo's records being made?  The reason I ask is that Seth Richards had an altogether different singing voice, guitar style and sense of rhythm than the Skoodle Dum Doo who recorded with Sheffield.  I always thought the identification of Skoodle Dum Doo as Seth Richard was guesswork.
All best,
Johnm