Topic: Poor Boy Long Ways from Home - Gus Cannon

[bayrum78]

Slide banjo blues on an rb-250 Gibson Mastertone. There are a couple rough vocal spots but hopefully nothing too glaring.
I found singing the next to last verse especially challenging with the large interval jumps and and dropping into the basement to sing a note an octave below the G tonic note (probably more like F). There's some strange arranging going on in this song.

Does anyone know whether he is singing "Tried to phone to my" and "She cried the bucket's got a...but won't hold no beer"? Or is it something else?

[uncle bud]

Really liked this, Nate, as usual. You've got it down pretty good, I'd say.

Re. the lyrics: I think it's "Tried to phone IT to my..." and "Lord, it don't hold no beer". For Gus and Jug Stompers lyrics, in case you haven't seen it, there's this thread: http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=1602.0

[bayrum78]

Thanks for the feedback , for weighing in on the lyrics and for the link to the thread. Since the banjo completes the first two lines of the final verse in PBLWFH, how he ends up with "but won't hold no beer" is a mystery. It certainly sounds like beer but topically seems unrelated to the rest of the song.

[uncle bud]

Thanks for the feedback , for weighing in on the lyrics and for the link to the thread. Since the banjo completes the first two lines of the final verse in PBLWFH, how he ends up with "but won't hold no beer" is a mystery. It certainly sounds like beer but topically seems unrelated to the rest of the song.

He's just tagging on an unrelated verse from "My Bucket's Got a Hole In It" (hence it won't hold no beer), which would have already been a standard by that point.

[Le Trompeur]

Dude!  You nailed it!  Awesome!

[bayrum78]

Hell yeah! Thanks for your incredibly motivating enthusiasm! I worked really hard to figure out teh song in general but in particular that long slide passage towards the middle of the song was tough. Unfortunately, I couldn't play it now if my life depended on it becuase I haven't looke dback sinc recording. The good news is if need to resurrecxt it,  I have a video so  I can look to see what I was doing Thanks again for the support!

[Le Trompeur]

Unfortunately, I couldn't play it now if my life depended on it because I haven't looked back since recording.

I don't buy that for a minute!

Dude I've never seen ANYONE even attempt that song!  And every since I heard it for the first time on the juke I was absolutely taken with it!  I even tried to learn it but to no avail... I  never would've guessed the slide was played on banjo...maybe that's why I couldn't learn it.  But your video has provided me with both the template and the motivation to break out my old piece of junk Lazer banjo and give it a whirl.  Very nice...very nice.

[bayrum78]

That song is totally worth the effort! Tune your banjo to open G ( gDGBD) and you'll be all set to work it out.  I don't recall fro certain, but he's probably tuned down a bit from standard - something like fCFAC. Good luck and let me know if you need any pointers alongthe way. Thanks again for the great feedback!

[uncle bud]

Just following up on a question I was going to post here awhile back. Perhaps it should be in its own thread, but because Nate has such a good and faithful version up in video here, it's a useful reference.

In the slide banjo pieces recorded and played by Dock Walsh -- "Come Bathe In That Beautiful Pool" and isn't there another one? -- Walsh apparently put pennies under the banjo bridge to raise it a little and played the instrument lap-style. I had always wondered whether Gus Cannon did something similar (perhaps forsaking the pennies) and then Document Records posted this photo on Facebook of Gus demonstrating exactly that. I had not seen this pic before.

The only catch would be the hammer-on, visible in Nate's video, but that's something that could still be done relatively easily by just pressing down on the string from above, given the looseness/lightness of banjo strings.

(click photo to enlarge)

[uncle bud]

Aah, because of Back Porch settings, the photo attached above is only visible if you are logged in. Here it is from another site.