Topic: Post-Rediscovery Additions to Skip James' Repertoire-The Vanguard Albums

[wreid75]

"I don't know another field where people don't produce better, more interesting work as they get older. "

I feel the same way about Son House and Mississippi John Hurt as well as others.  Sons hands may have been giving him trouble later in life but his voice was amazing.  I wish I could play as smoothly, crisp, and cleanly as Hurt now.  The crying/moaning quality to Skips voice only became more heartbreaking by the 60s.

[uncle bud]

Its been my heretical view for years that James' 60's work is actually superior to his earlier recordings. Other than athletics and dance, I don't know another field where people don't produce better, more interesting work as they get older. Well some people think theoretical physicists are all done by thirty..but painters, composers, writers mostly get deeper and more profound. I think that's what occurred with many of the early players who recorded again in the 60's.

I agree overall (there are some sublime moments in Skip's 1930s recordings of course). Those who disparage his rediscovery recordings are displaying a lack of musical judgement, whether temporary or otherwise.

Just putting a word in for the Studio Sessions - Rare and Unreleased CD. I really like this disc, and it's especially interesting if you are looking for additions to his repertoire, you can't go wrong. A mix of guitar and piano recordings, about 65% split. Lazy Bones is real nice too, with upright bass accompaniment. If you're thinking these are scraping the bottom type of recordings, they're not.

[Johnm]

It's good to hear that about "The Studio Sessions-Rare and Unreleased", uncle bud.  Looking at the track list, I saw some real warhorses that it would never have occurred to me that Skip played, like "Jack of Diamonds", "One Dime Blues" and "Bumble Bee".  I think it is particularly interesting to hear especially distinctive musicians like Skip play commonly played tunes, just because they often bring something so particular and different to the tunes.  I remember a number of years ago a duo recording of Brad Leftwich and Dan Gellert playing, almost exclusively, real Old-Time chestnuts, tunes that had just been run into the ground, and it was fantastic, just because Brad and Dan are such strong musicians and brought their own hearing and ideas to the tunes.  Maybe it's the same sort of thing with Skip and tunes like "Backwater Blues".
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Since last posting to this thread I picked up the Vanguard CD, "Skip James-Studio Sessions-Rare and Unreleased".  The track breakdown is as follows:

1) Backwater Blues-piano, not recorded for Paramount
2) Everybody Out to Live Right-E position, standard tuning, not recorded for Paramount
3) I Want to Be More Like Jesus-E position, standard tuning, not recorded for Paramount
4) Jack of Diamonds-cross-note, not recorded for Paramount
5) My Last Boogie-Cross-note, not recorded for Paramount
6) Lazy Bones-Piano, not recorded for Paramount
7) Let My Jesus Lead You-E position, standard tuning, not recorded for Paramount
8 ) My Own Blues-piano, not recorded for Paramount
9) Oh Mary Don't You Weep, E position, standard tuning, not recorded for Paramount
10) Omaha Blues-piano, not recorded for Paramount
11) Bumble Bee-E position, standard tuning, not recorded for Paramount
12) One Dime Was All I Had-cross-note, not recorded for Paramount
13) Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning-E position, standard tuning, not recorded for Paramount
14) Somebody Gonna Wish They Had Religion-E position, standard tuning, not recorded for Paramount
15) Somebody Loves You-piano, not recorded for Paramount
16) Sorry For To Leave You-piano, not recorded for Paramount
17) Sporting Life Blues-E position, standard tuning, not recorded for Paramount
18 ) They Are Waiting For Me-E position, standard tuning, not recorded for Paramount
19) Walking the Sea-piano, not recorded for Paramount

Notes:
   * Out of a 19 song program, only three of the songs were played by Skip out of cross-note tuning.  Despite the small percentage they comprise of the tunes, they are in no way weak sisters in comparison to the rest of the tunes (or Skip's cross-note performances on his two earlier Vanguard albums).  "My Last Boogie", in particular, is spectacular, and would have compared favorably to any of the cross-note tunes he recorded for Paramount.  "One Dime Was All I Had" employs Lemon's "One Dime Blues" lyrics, for the most part, but musically utilizes the same melody and accompaniment that Skip used for his "Sick Bed Blues".  It is very fine.  "Jack of Diamonds" is also a strong and distinctive version of that standard.
   * Seven of the songs in the program are religious numbers played out of E position in standard tuning.  E was Lemon's favorite playing position for religious numbers, too, and hearing Skip play these songs, one begins to develop the suspicion that Skip, like John Hurt and Charley Patton, could play hymns for as long as people could ask for another.  Skip also plays two blues, "Bumble Bee" and "Sporting Life Blues" out of E position in standard tuning, and of the two, "Bumble Bee" is by far the more distinctive, by no means a straight cover of that blues standard.  The heavy emphasis on pieces in E position in standard tuning makes one wonder whether at this stage of his playing, Skip had not perhaps shifted his primary allegiance to E position in standard tuning over cross-note, as had his contemporary Henry Townsend, who started out playing in cross-note, but by the post-60s period was playing just about everything he did on guitar out of E in standard tuning.
   * Skip's piano playing here has a lovely languid quality for the most part, eschewing the frenetic feel of such early performances as "Little Cow and Calf Gonna Die Blues".  "Walking The Sea" is unusual for Skip, both in being a religious tune that he chose to accompany on piano, and in being in 6/8, a very rarely encountered meter in this music.  He is joined by a female vocalist on "Walking The Sea" who is inexplicably not identified in the liner notes.
   * The impression I've gotten thus far in listening to these recordings, along with the earlier released "Skip James-Today" and "Skip James-Devil Got My Woman", is that Skip was closer to the musical mainstream (or had the capacity to be so) than an exposure to only his Paramount recordings would lead one to believe.  At the same, time, paradoxically, however close Skip ended up coming to the musical mainstream, he was still utterly distinctive and not like anyone else, something he was aware of, and proud of, I think.

All best,
Johnm

[Slack]

Great review Johnm, I now need to go pick buy this cd.  Very interesting observation about playing in E in later life.  Do you suppose it's easier to remember than cross note? Lost patience on retuning the guitar ?  Eg do you have any theories?

I mean you're around 60, playing more in E standard these days?  Haha...

[Johnm]

Thanks, John D.  As for theories as to why Skip or Henry may have shifted from cross-note to E standard, I would guess at 2 primary reasons:
   * First, and by far most important, E position in standard tuning gives you an easily accessible low-pitched, open string root for your IV chord.  The lack of a low root for the IV chord is the most significant weakness or limiting factor of the sound of cross-note tuning.  Think of Skip's most famous and emblematic tunes in cross-note--Devil Got My Woman, Hard Time Killing Floor, Cherry Ball, Cypress Grove, Illinois Blues--not a one of them has a IV chord.  Skip evidently decided it was better to avoid the IV chord in cross-note than to voice it with something other than its root in the bass.  You do actually have a low root for the IV chord in cross-note, but it's in a very inconvenient and user-unfriendly place, the fifth fret of the sixth string.  Who cares if you have it there?  You can't do anything with it anyway.  For a music that usually relies so heavily on the IV chord, specializing in cross-note and having to pretty much give it up the IV chord may have become tiresome.  Cross-note can have a strikingly distinctive sound, as both Skip and Henry Townsend demonstrated, but it is much less versatile than standard tuning in E.  For that matter, the EAEGBE tuning is more versatile than cross-note.
   * A much weaker reason for preferring E position in standard tuning to cross-note has to do with the fact that in cross-note you have a V note on the fifth string and a I note on the fourth string.  In E standard, you can walk up to that V note on the fifth string, and can similarly walk up to the I note on the fourth string.  In cross-note they are both givens, open strings that cannot be inflected.  This makes for a more flat timbre and monochromatic sound in cross-note.

Those are reasons why, in an ongoing way, I might prefer E in standard tuning to cross-note.  I can only guess as to whether or why Skip James or Henry Townsend might arrive at the same conclusion.  And even if they did arrive at that conclusion, it would still be subject to being over-turned on a case-by-case basis, depending on what particular song you might be talking about, especially in Skip's case.
All best,
Johnm