Hi all,
I've been thinking about a set of songs that share a beautiful major pentatonic melody. The earliest recorded version of this melody that I can think of occurred in Henry Thomas's "Shanty Blues", the only song in his recorded repertoire for which he played slide, in Vestapol tuning. Here is "Shanty Blues":
Another song recorded using the same melody, and very close to some of the same lyrics is the Mississippi Sheiks' "Bootlegger's Blues". Here is "Bootlegger's Blues":
Yet another song using the same melody, and once again, some similar lyrics, is Mississippi John Hurt's "Payday", the title cut of his first Vanguard album. Here is "Payday", which he played in Vestapol tuning:
Most recently, Alabaman Lonzie Thomas was recorded by George Mitchell playing "Rabbit On A Log" in Vestapol, once again using the shared melody. Here is "Rabbit On A Log":
All of these songs share at least some verses, and I suppose you could make a case for them being one song with each version contributing some verses that the other versions lacked. Can anyone think of other recorded versions of this melody? I keep thinking there must be songs in the Old-Time tradition that use this melody, but nothing is coming to mind for me. I'd be very interested in any other recordings that used this melody, and I hope that if and when folks think of any they'll post them here.
All best,
Johnm
I've been thinking about a set of songs that share a beautiful major pentatonic melody. The earliest recorded version of this melody that I can think of occurred in Henry Thomas's "Shanty Blues", the only song in his recorded repertoire for which he played slide, in Vestapol tuning. Here is "Shanty Blues":
Another song recorded using the same melody, and very close to some of the same lyrics is the Mississippi Sheiks' "Bootlegger's Blues". Here is "Bootlegger's Blues":
Yet another song using the same melody, and once again, some similar lyrics, is Mississippi John Hurt's "Payday", the title cut of his first Vanguard album. Here is "Payday", which he played in Vestapol tuning:
Most recently, Alabaman Lonzie Thomas was recorded by George Mitchell playing "Rabbit On A Log" in Vestapol, once again using the shared melody. Here is "Rabbit On A Log":
All of these songs share at least some verses, and I suppose you could make a case for them being one song with each version contributing some verses that the other versions lacked. Can anyone think of other recorded versions of this melody? I keep thinking there must be songs in the Old-Time tradition that use this melody, but nothing is coming to mind for me. I'd be very interested in any other recordings that used this melody, and I hope that if and when folks think of any they'll post them here.
All best,
Johnm