WeenieCampbell.com
The Unwound Third => Jam Session => Topic started by: frankie on April 06, 2014, 08:33:20 PM
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you know you have them... singer songwriter stuff... pop tunes... to really fit this category, they're probably not really country blues in origin and would ordinarily be far from any conversation even remotely related to country blues...
yet and still...
even as the HARDENED, CRUSTY country blues nerd that you are...
you STILL LIKE IT.
and worser...
you PLAYS it:
http://youtu.be/Gyu_gXtDTGA (http://youtu.be/Gyu_gXtDTGA)
what's yours? make a post in this thread and then GIT RIGHT by posting something to the Atonement and penance (http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=10145.0) thread. Better get busy!
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Hi Frank,
It's cool to hear you do this one--you sound like you! I'm afraid I have too many guilty pleasures of this type, but maybe I'll post one, though it will be sound only, since I don't have a video recording set-up. When you think about it, this isn't all that far away, in terms of the sentiment, from Lonnie Johnson doing "Another Night".
All best,
Johnm
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Great job & beautiful song, Frankie.
Your definition of 'guilty pleasure' is from a different universe than mine!
My extended 'songster' repertoire includes hard rock, punk, some hip-hop & everything else. Far too guilty to share here!
EDITED TO ADD:
Ah, what the hell, here's me doing the Velvet Underground's PALE BLUE EYES on six string banjo
http://youtu.be/pLPQpqs69wA (http://youtu.be/pLPQpqs69wA)
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Frank, tha was silly good! I never heard that song sound that interesting before. You should definitely keep it in the repertoire. Love the idea of this thread. gotta work up mine! That's actually some of the best singing I've heard from you.
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Also terrific Mike. The gitjo and your picking sounds great on that song!
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The moon, in June. My arms, her charms. Who'da thunk, such funk! Lonnie Johnson with a hint of Blind Blake. Good.
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Loved Pale Blue Eyes :)
Anyone do Sweet Jane or any Johnny Thunders?
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My strangest extremes are Vivaldi to Frank Zappa.
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Interesting indeed! I'll see your 12-string and raise you my 4.
I'm a sucker for a soppy lurve song :)
http://youtu.be/wfE3N6gkZxc (http://youtu.be/wfE3N6gkZxc)
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That is really nice, Laura, your singing is sounding just great.
Here's something a little bit different maybe. Sorry for the sound quality.
All best,
Johnm
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Gee Laura..whaddaya wastin' yer time on this dead end ol' Blues shit for? You could make real dough with them pipes o' yours ! Very pretty whose song? ;)
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right swingin' bouncin' there John
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Geez, nicely done all. Frank, that was so unexpected it took me 2 views to realize who/what you were playing. Sinatra, the Velvet Underground, Alicia Keys, and that other guy -- who knew such talent lay at the heart of weenie? :P Everything sounds great. I got nuthin'.
(However, I'm afraid none of you have achieved the level of guilt and incongruity achieved by Richard Thompson playing a solo acoustic version of Oops! I Did It Again.)
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oh, man. this is great stuff.
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Mike - that song sounds like it was made for the guitar banjo.... nice call, and great singing!
Laura - holy CRAP! that was great! and the uke suits you well... I wouldn't throw away your guitars, but it's a great combination.
John - that takes "guilty pleasure" to a whole 'nuther level, that's for sure... the way you articulate the rhythm reminds me strongly of Blind Connie Williams - fabulous!
Public Service Announcement: As the self-appointed 'spiritual advisor' of this thread, you'll all be happy to know that 'guilty pleasures' are only a venal CB sin and to atone, you need only make one penance CB post to the Back Porch or Performance Corner for every contribution to this thread!
I just know there's more where that came from... Peter, Uncle Bud, o'Muck.... surely there's SOMETHING in there...
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Well I wuz workin' up a surprise tune, but man oh man....I can hardly play any o' that pop stuff any more! I mean the uniformity of the guitar parts is now tough for me to do since I've been away from it for so long. In a way i've become predictably addicted to the unpredictability of a lot of Blues stuff. It's going to take some work to get something that doesn't sound like crap. Add to that my discomfort about singing too loudly where I'm holed up and its not exactly conducive to having good things happen. But I'm finding new respect for simple, straight ahead strummers I'll tell you that.
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Play us a Dylan tune, Phil!
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a dylan song!
If you think the performance of a 'typical' pop tune is too predictable, do it the way you want or can.
I can only speak from my own experience, but in general, finding and accepting country blues was also a rejection of much of the music I grew up with and that my peers or parents enjoyed. At the time, it set me apart in some way, I guess. Indulging in 'guilty pleasures' is a way (for me, anyway) to reconnect with music that's somehow bound up with me whether I accept it or not... and maybe even to do it in my own way.
Now, it's not so much the music itself that sets me apart (although it helps), but the fact that over the years, I've just kinda lost my mind! :P
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Frankie,
I never heard that song before. What's the title and what album is it from?
Gary
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you noticed I was trying to avoid it... it's called Tenderness, from There Goes Rhymin' Simon (Paul Simon). 2nd track, side 1.... right after Kodachrome.
Totally and completely omnipresent album when I was a kid...
Confession: yes - I know the words to EVERY song.
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My guilty pleasure is to listen to yours. 8)
Excellent performances, thanks to everyone!
Cheers
Pan
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Thanks, everyone for good words. I think the idea of this thread is brilliant. So many of us play other kinds of music in addition to blues and it's really fun and interesting to hear some of that music. And I neglected to mention it earlier, but a really nice job on "Pale Blue Eyes", Mike. It sounds as though it was conceived to be done just the way you did it--the banjo-guitar and your vocal really set it off so well.
I hope folks will keep posting stuff here.
All best,
Johnm
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My guilty pleasure is to listen to yours. 8)
musical voyeurism, is it? :)
I know you have one in you, Pan.... I just KNOWS it!
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Great topic, great tunes all. None of them familiar to me, so they don't come off as 'pop' or any particular style to me, as I have no preconceptions of them.
I recently saw/heard on YouTube a great guitar duet by Tommy Emmanuel and John Knowles on How Deep Is Your Love, and I had to rethink/get past my knee jerk reaction to the sappy song. Same deal with Emmanuel playing Close To You, another incredibly sappy tune in my memory, but a beautiful thing in his hands.
Dave
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Here's a short and sweet entry of my own. I'm no singer. Don't think this FB post can be embedded.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10200251931250345&l=6034623591922603440 (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10200251931250345&l=6034623591922603440)
Dave
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Sweet. What a beautiful tune, all the more so out of season.
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Wonderful music, I just listened to everybody again this morning, great jobs John & Laura & Dave & thank you for the kind words.
I think I was made to play a guitar banjo. Ever pick up an instrument & it just makes total sense to your style? When I first bought it I sat down with it for days & played every type of tune in my repertoire & almost everything worked (to my ears). For us fingerpickers it's a total blast to play & I recommend them to fellow Weenies. Only the folks who buy them as a shortcut to learning Scruggs style banjo seem to get bored of them.
Without a doubt I am a 21st century songster. I would say that I know more non-blues tunes than blues tunes if only because of geography & necessity! I also write & perform originals so there's a lot of choice for me as to what to perform . . . but to be honest, Blues is most certainly a staple of my style, I'll play a blues more often than not when I pick up my guitar.
For me the Guilty Pleasure part of music is a big part of my life. For me to only play Blues when I've grown up with so much music would be dissatisfying, I think. And that other music is tied into old friendships & other sides of my personality.
Keep em comin'
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For me the Guilty Pleasure part of music is a big part of my life. For me to only play Blues when I've grown up with so much music would be dissatisfying, I think. And that other music is tied into old friendships & other sides of my personality.
Mike, I totally agree with this sentiment. I haven't always loved the blues, but I have, since I can remember, always loved music. With the exception of blues I can't think of a particular musical genre that I've ever absolutely loved, or disliked intensely -but certain songs have often associated themselves with important things or times in my life.
I'm working hard right now with a CB tune to atone for my sins and RnB on a ukulele is a pretty big sin. RnB/Diva music is perhaps one of my least favourite types of music but hey, I liked the melody and the words! Do I feel guilty about that? No, I don't think I do.
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Me too, Laura and Mike. I don't feel guilty about what I posted. Probably a more 'pop' tune would have a bit of guilt associated, but hey, if you like it...
I didn't have a recording of a pop tune. Can't think of anything I currently play that would fall in that category either.
Dave
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Guys, I'm sorry, but I think you got this all wrong. The stuff you're posting ain't guilty pleasures. It's good taste that doesn't happen to be catholic to our part of the world. What you're all doing, and doing brilliantly, in a way that reflects each of your voices and picking skills, is the same thing the ancients did when they stood on the street corner or sat in juke joints or rent parties and played pop songs in their own styles or something close to it--you're adapting to the way you like to play and hear. Relatively little of that got recorded as "country blues"--the most prominent example I can think of off the top of my head is Big Bill's Glory of Love, which had been a big hit for Benny Goodman.
To me, guilty pleasures are things like Thin Lizzy, played like Thin Lizzy. When they come on the car radio, I'll turn it up, not off. OK, there, I said it.
Now, I don't mean that as an invitation to do a solo version of The Boys Are Back.
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you know you have them... singer songwriter stuff... pop tunes... to really fit this category, they're probably not really country blues in origin and would ordinarily be far from any conversation even remotely related to country blues...
yet and still...
even as the HARDENED, CRUSTY country blues nerd that you are...
you STILL LIKE IT.
and worser...
you PLAYS it:
http://youtu.be/Gyu_gXtDTGA (http://youtu.be/Gyu_gXtDTGA)
what's yours?
All that matters Frankie is that it is a wonderful tune and beautiful, well done it goes into my video collection with all your other vids :)
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Late breaking news - rules are simple... post a musical contribution to this thread and then, to restore balance to the weenie-verse, post something to the Atonement and penance (http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=10145.0) thread.
As you were.....
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this kind of thing seems to come, at the very least, in 'threes' for me... here's No. 2:
http://youtu.be/4CbSeler62U (http://youtu.be/4CbSeler62U)
Same source as the first. Like it if you DARE! :)
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and No. 3... I suppose I now have some atoning to attend to.
http://youtu.be/vTpVSMiNLPI (http://youtu.be/vTpVSMiNLPI)
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Great!
Now we can't wait for the atoning. :)
Cheers
Pan
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Frank,
I somehow missed "Lean On Me" when you posted it. That is such a strong version and it sits so beautifully where you set it, sounds as though it was conceived there. Thanks for that!
All best,
Johnm
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Thanks, John!
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Bill Withers is smiling somewhere Frank :)
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Have you seen the documentary about Bill Withers? It was available streaming on Netflix, at least when I watched a few years back.
http://youtu.be/FFDDzlUJEjs (http://youtu.be/FFDDzlUJEjs)
Dave
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Have you seen the documentary about Bill Withers? It was available streaming on Netflix, at least when I watched a few years back.
Dave
Here's the thread from a couple years back:
http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=7087 (http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=7087)
Definitely worth watching. Available at Amazon if you can't find it locally:
http://www.amazon.com/Still-Bill-Withers/dp/B0042EJDJY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399416607&sr=8-1&keywords=still+bill+dvd (http://www.amazon.com/Still-Bill-Withers/dp/B0042EJDJY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399416607&sr=8-1&keywords=still+bill+dvd)
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Great thread and great to see other influences coming through.
John that's a lovely mellow swing on Nice and Easy.
Another Lou Reed fan here who's been a major influence on my musical upbringing alongside Blues/Swing/Jazz etc
Here is one of his later efforts from the Magic and Loss album...Atonement in a Lipscomb form when I get back from hols next week!
http://youtu.be/TRIngAr_lY8 (http://youtu.be/TRIngAr_lY8)
Ian
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That was great Ian, thank you. Really, really good, sweet singing.
I did a version of The Sword of Damocles off the same album a little way back, wish I'd got it together better, it's one of those where he sings a lot, a lot of words (syllables, I guess) in very little time. Some of that record is very moving.
Anyway, you done good.
Gordon
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Thanks Gordon. That era around New York, Songs for Drella and Magic and Loss are some of his finest songs. Initially you get the feeling the music was and after thought to the writing but some complex stuff going on with the guitar tracking.
Oops guilty pleasure becoming a bit nerdy..major atonements due;)
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Thanks for the Lou Reed selections, I have always been a fan of his,and his music has been a great comfort and inspiration to me in the past. IMHO his style was so melodic it makes sense to me that he can be translated to fingerpicking, and the way that his melodies follow breathing rhythms it has had the calming and energizing effect that I get from some blues. Hope to hear more!
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Okay- I've got one. Though its not that guilty really. And it even has blues in the title (though its really not blues).
I pretty much learned the guitar part for this years and years aog, but couldn't really make it flow and definitely couldnt sing it.
Guess what? 10 years on, the guitar part came back to me really easily and with lots more experience singing and playing under my belt, now I can play it and sing it properly. Its going to take a few weeks to really settle in, but here is what I have.
Song is Killing the Blues by Roly Salley. Known most for cover versions by people like Plant & Krauss. Sentimental. Very clever lyrics now I think about them- expressing so much with so little.
The arrangement is Chris Smither's.
http://youtu.be/zOT7OlzFEtg (http://youtu.be/zOT7OlzFEtg)
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Great job Slim! You've really got Chris's sound down, musically and vocally.
I don't know quite what it is, but his guitar playing is always beautifully his own.
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Hi Simon. Thanks for posting this. I don't know the song but it sounds great! Knew you had a "G.P" in you :D
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Thanks for killing some of my blues, Simon!
From the guitar geek perspective, I must say I'm astonished to see you hold that thumb wrap while making those chord changes. I suspect I would end up in a hospital, trying to pull a stunt like that! :)
Cheers
Pan
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Ian and Simon - thanks for those... Simon, I just KNEW you had one in you.
Pan - you're not off the hook. But I'm a patient guy. :)
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Hey, Monkeyhanger, nicely done, very smooth. And I continue to enjoy looking at that stylish guitar.
Slim, also very smooth, sounds real good. I remember seeing Chris Smither do his version of it here in a tiny bar.
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Really don't consider these guilty pleasures (they're just good songs), but I did another Smither song. He's a bit of a hero of mine, and as with Killing The Blues, I've had a handle on the guitar part for yeears, but never got to grips with singing and playing it.
Coming back to it now, suddenly I can do it and its a pleasure to do...
Don't worry- a Buddy Boy Hawkins shaped penance is coming soon.
http://youtu.be/S9m6BeBKF9E (http://youtu.be/S9m6BeBKF9E)
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This is only in guilty pleasures 'cause I'm not a Christian...could be guilt and atonement all in one take!
http://youtu.be/ofrjWWP2el4 (http://youtu.be/ofrjWWP2el4)
Dave
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I used to do this with my band Grungie o'Muck with Rabies. Its been knockin around my head lately. Chaim Tannenbaum, Montreal, McGarrigle/Wainiright sideman wrote it but he doesn't care about it anymore he informed me recently. I've always loved it.
https://soundcloud.com/mr-omuck/annie/s-eJuCC
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Love it! Beautiful song... should have Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson backing you up!
I just KNEW you had one in you..
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aw tenks Frenk! ;)
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Apologies for resurrecting this thread... But I've not played too much recently, and what I have played has been rather unbluesy at times and I ended up with this attempt at a Peggy Lee song in the style of just about my favourite ever band, who go by the name Tindersticks.
I'll atone soonish!
https://youtu.be/Ea6qiLy3w7E
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No apology is necessary, Simon. You're getting a beautiful tone on your guitar and your vocal sounds strong and committed. Well done! I don't know if you've ever seen the movie this song came from, but it is one of the strangest ever.
All best,
Johnm
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Enjoyed that, thanks...
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Thanks Harriet and John. Not seen the film- or even aware of it. I may investigate!
The tone has a lot to do with the wonderful guitar (made by Nobocaster / Devin Champlin)