Topic: The George Mitchell Collection--Tunings/Positions

[Bunker Hill]

I realized soon after I started posting the Tunings/Positions/Keys for the George Mitchell Collection that it would be helpful to have the date and location for the various recordings on the set included as well.  Because I would have a hard time editing that information into the tables that are already posted, I will offer that information separately, here.  I should note, too, that all recordings listed as having been done in Chicago were recorded in performance at a club there called the Fickle Pickle.

Most useful, many thanks. It's interesting to note that a fair proportion of the artists listed have in the past been the subject of discographies by Stefan Wirz.

[Rivers]

Goaded into action by Uncle Bud we've been working to get all this great content into weeniepedia. It's a still work in progress but is now at the stage we can unleash it on the world.

See: http://www.weeniecampbell.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_George_Mitchell_Collection_Keys_and_Positions

In addition there's a consolidated table you can sort by date, location, tuning, key etc: http://www.weeniecampbell.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_George_Mitchell_Collection%2C_Volumes_1-45_-_Sortable_Track_Listing - to sort the table click on a column heading.

It's the least we could do to honor G.M's work and capture JohnM's excellent commentary and analysis.
 

[dj]

Fantastic work.  Thanks to all involved!

[CF]

Really great job on this guys. I was hoping to receive this box from Santa but I was a particularly bad boy this year so there you go.

[uncle bud]

Precious Bryant
That's the Way the Good Thing Go  E, standard tuning                F#
Georgia Buck                              C, standard tuning               Bflat
When the Saints Go Marching In     E, standard tuning               C#+


  * Precious Bryant was the youngest musician to be included on the set.  She sounds very much as she does today, which is very fine, with a sassy sort of vocal delivery.  She is really a nice guitarist.
 

Hi JohnM - revisiting this great topic to just share a curiosity I discovered on the youtube. There's footage of Precious Bryant playing Georgia Buck shot much more recently, though much the same guitar part. In the video, it's evident she tunes her guitar FADGBE, raising the sixth string so as not to fret the low F in the bass. She frets the occasional G note then at the second fret instead of the third. Listening to this earlier George Mitchell recording, it does sound a bit like the F note is ringing like it's an open string. Kind of an unusual tuning quirk.

Here's the video:



Here's a site from the fellow who shot the footage, which has another Precious Bryant performance (Me and My Chauffeur), as well as a brief interview with George Mitchell.

http://downhometraces.com/2009/07/04/videos-from-the-lower-chattahoochee-valley-blues-project/

[Johnm]

That is a terrific find, uncle bud.  I've seen African guitarists tune the low E up to F to play in C, and I know Del Rey tunes it up occasionally (though not to play in C), but the footage of Precious Bryant makes you wonder how many other Country Blues guitarists we never will get to see did that.  I think it's extremely unlikely that Precious Bryant arrived at this tuning and began substituting it for standard tuning in recent years, so I'll edit the table in Weeniepedia to show the tuning change.
All best,
Johnm 

[Pan]

I finally have this collection, and would like to thank JohnM for this wonderful thread! It makes listening to this great music so much more fun.

On a quick side note, I'm still on a first listen through, but just noticed on the Precious Bryant song, "That's The Way The Good Thing Go", on CD 5, that she likes to leave the 5th string open, when playing the V chord on a shuffle rhythm thing from the  E position. This gives a distinctive dissonance, when the 4th string lick moves from the 5th to the 6th of the chord, and the open string on the bass has the 7th of the chord, therefore producing a Major 7th interval.

This is reportedly something that Jimmy Reed also did.

Anyway, thanks for this thread.

Cheers

Pan

Edited to add: that was a neat find, about raising the 6th string to an F, uncle bud. You are perhaps becoming an expert on the modifications of the standard tuning!  

[LB]

This thread is paying off big time as I listen and learn. Gold mine here! The additional notes are also priceless. Hard to put into words but this is just an amazing piece of work analyzing these. Nice find too Uncle Bud.

[Johnm]

Thanks for the good words, LittleBrother, I'm glad you're finding the analysis helpful.  Kudos to George Mitchell for having the good instincts, taste and right kind of personality to get such wonderful performances out of a host of amazing musicians, to say nothing of finding many of them in the first place!  I believe this Collection is one of the pillars of folk music field recording, as good as anything that anyone has done.
All best,
Johnm 

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I have had a mis-identification of playing position/tuning of long standing in the George Mitchell Collection--Rosa Lee Hill's "Pork and Beans" I had identified as being played out of E position in standard tuning, when in fact it was played out of cross-note tuning as were the the other titles she recorded for George Mitchell on 8/23/67.  Sorry for the error, but I'm glad to have caught it finally.  I've made the correction here in the thread and in Weeniepedia.
All best,
Johnm

[lindy]

In addition to making all of these fantastic recordings, George Mitchell is an excellent photographer.

Here's his Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/44362663@N06/

If you are only interested in the photos that he took of musicians who are in this collection, go straight to the last page.

But there are blues-related/rural life-related photos throughout. Worth a look.

I agree with Frankie, he would be a wonderful person to invite to Port Townsend to talk about his work and the people he recorded.

Lindy

[jpeters609]

Rosa Lee Hill (photo credit: George Mitchell)

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I just caught another error I made in the playing position/tuning identifications in the the George Mitchell Collection.  I had identified Teddy Williams' playing position/tuning for his version of "Black Mattie" as being Vestapol, but in the course of transcribing the song for a lesson I discovered, when I got to his coda, that he had been playing it out of E position in standard tuning rather than Vestapol.  I guess the moral of the story is:  When making playing position/tuning identifications, listen to the whole rendition, and not just the front end.  Sorry about that.  I've made the correction in the thread here and in Weeniepedia.
All best,
Johnm