Topic: Libba Cotten's Folkways Albums--Tunings/Positions/Keys

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I have long intended to do a listing of the playing positions, tunings and keys of the songs and tunes on Libba Cotten's three Folkways albums.  I will do a separate post for each album.  Playing position and tuning will be shown, along with the key at which the performance sounds.  Where the pitch is slightly sharp of standard tuning, the key note will be followed by a plus sign; where flat, the key will be followed by a minus sign.  Multiple plus or minus signs indicate intensified sharpness or flatness.

"Elizabeth Cotten--Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes"

Title                                          Playing position/tuning                      Pitch
1)Wilson Rag                              C, standard tuning                            D flat-
2)Freight Train                            C, standard tuning                            B flat
3)Going Down The Road Feeling Bad  C, standard tuning                         B flat
4)I Don't Love Nobody                  C, standard tuning                            B flat
5)Ain't Got No Honey Baby Now     C, standard tuning                            B flat
6)Graduation March                     C, standard tuning                            B flat
7)Honey Babe Your Papa Cares For You  G, standard tuning                    F
8)Vastapol                                  Vastapol                                        D flat+
9)(banjo) a) Here Old Rattler Here  G tuning                                        F+
   (b)Sent For My Fiddle, Sent For My Bow  G tuning                              F+
   (c)George Buck                         G tuning                                        F
10) (a) Run . . . Run                     Spanish                                         F#-
    (b)Mama Your Son Done Gone    Spanish                                         F#-
11) (a)Sweet Bye And Bye             C, standard tuning                           B flat+
   (b)What A Friend We Have In Jesus  C, standard tuning                       B flat+
12)Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie              C, standard tuning                           C-
13)Spanish Flang Dang                  Spanish                                         G-
14)When I Get Home                     Spanish                                         F

NOTES:
* Libba Cotten most often tuned low of standard  pitch.  I used to think this was a function of making the range of the songs suit her singing, but the tuning makes no distinction between sung songs and instrumentals.  I suspect she simply preferred the sound of the guitar at a lower pitch.
* Libba Cotten's picking approach was unusually varied.  Because she played the guitar left-handed and upside down, she would generally be picking an alternating bass with her index finger and playing melody with a thumb lead.  In practice though, she might pick thumb and index, thumb and two fingers, and occasionally thumb and three or four fingers to obtain unusual rolled flourishes.
* Occasionally, Libba Cotten played "banjo on guitar", utilizing a picking approach like the one she used on the banjo.  In this program, "Run. . .Run" and "Mama Your Son Done Gone" both sound like banjo renditions moved over to the guitar.  "Ain't Got No Honey Baby Now" employs what would normally be played as a thumb lead, something like Maybelle Carter.  Without seeing Libba do it, it's difficult to say exactly how she achieved the effect, but logic suggests that it was an index finger lead.
All best,
Johnm                                                       

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Here are the tunings/positions/keys for Libba's second Folkways album, "Shake Sugaree"

"Shake Sugaree"
Title                                                      Position/Tuning                            Key

1)Shake Sugaree(Brenda Evans, vocal)       C, standard tuning                     B flat
2)Take Me Back To Baltimore                    C, standard tuning                     B flat
3)Washington Blues                                 C, standard tuning                     B flat
4)I'm Going Away                                    C, standard tuning                     B flat
5)Fox Chase                                           A minor, standard tuning            G
6)Ontario Blues                                       C, standard tuning                     B flat
7)Fare You Well, My Darling                      Spanish                                   F#
8)Untitled/Georgie Buck                            Spanish                                  F#
9)Mama, Nobody's Here but The Baby         C, standard tuning                    B flat
10)Mama, Nobody's Here But The Baby       C, standard tuning                    B flat
11)Look and Live, My Brother                    C, standard tuning                    B flat
12)Jesus Lifted Me(Brenda Evans, vocal)     C, standard tuning                    D flat
13)Jesus Is Tenderly Calling                      Spanish                                  F
14)Buck Dance                                       C, standard tuning                    B flat+
15)Ruben                                               Vestapol                                 D flat-
16)Oh, Miss Lulie Gal (banjo)                    G tuning                                  G+
17)Can't Get A Letter From Down The Road (banjo) G tuning                        G+
18)Shoot That Buffalo (banjo)                    G tuning                                 G+
19) Boatman Dance (banjo)                       G tuning                                 G+
20)Hallelujah, It Is Done (banjo)                 G tuning                                 G+
21)Holy Ghost, Unchain My Name               Spanish                                  F
22)Little Brown Jug                                 G position, standard tuning         F
23)Delia                                                 C, standard tuning                   B flat
24)Ball The Jack                                      C, standard tuning                   B flat
25)'Til We Meet Again                               Spanish                                 F#
26)When The Train Comes Along                F, standard tuning                   E flat+

NOTES:
   * Libba accompanies the two pieces that Brenda Evans sings with a boom-chang back-up.
   * While the heavy preponderance of pieces are picked out of C position in standard tuning at B flat, there are quite a lot of pieces in Spanish.  Libba Cotten recorded more non-slide pieces in Spanish tuning than any other player out of the Carolinas that I can think of--the tuning was not widely utilized there, at least on the basis of the recorded evidence.
   * Pieces from this program that fall into the "banjo on guitar" category include "Fare You Well, My Darling", "Untitled/Georgie Buck", and "Ruben".  The two versions of "Mama, Nobody's Here But The Baby" differ with regard to tempo.  The first is slow, the second is fast.
   *"Fox Chase" is a striking piece.  I know nothing else like it in the genre.  It's starts in A minor, almost Flamenco-sounding, goes through a variety of tempo and groove changes, and like "Orange Blossom Special", spends a lot of time in the V chord.  Libba's picking here is tremendously varied and subtle.
   *  Libba's version of "Little Brown Jug" has the same melody as the song Mance Lipscomb recorded as "Heel And Toe Polka".
All best,
Johnm                                               

[Lyle Lofgren]

She definitely said that a guitar didn't sound right to her if it was "tuned too high," which, to her, meant standard pitch. You can hear this in her own words in 1965, when Rev. Gary Davis tunes her guitar up to standard at this site: http://www.lizlyle.lofgrens.org/BrnSnift/SonicAlbum.html . Click on "Tuning Up." You may want to hear some of the other interchanges between Cotten and Davis.

I'm fascinated by all of it, and am glad we had a tape recorder running.

Lyle

[Johnm]

Thanks for that citation, Lyle, and I will definitely check that out after I get Vol. 3 posted.
All best,
John

[Lyle Lofgren]

I should have added that, when the Rev. was tuning up Libba's guitar, she turned her head aside and grimaced. I think she must have been sure that at least one of the strings was going to break. They didn't.

Lyle

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Here are the positions/tunings/keys for Libba Cotten's third Folkways album, "When I'm Gone".

"Elizabeth Cotten, Volume 3--When I'm Gone"

Title                                            Tuning/Position                                  Key

1)New Year's Eve                          C, standard tuning                              B flat
2)Praying Time Will Soon Be Over,   C, standard tuning                              A+
vocal, Johnine Rankin
3)Time To Stop Your Idling,             G, standard tuning                             F
vocal, Johnine Rankin
4)Gaslight Blues                            G, standard tuning                             E
5)Jenny                                        C, standard tuning                             B flat
6)Street Blues                               A, standard tuning                             F#
7)Home Sweet Home                      C, standard tuning                            A
8)Freight Train                               C, standard tuning                            A flat+
9)Casey Jones                               C, standard tuning                            A
10)Willie                                      C, standard tuning                             A flat
11)Boddie's Song                           Spanish                                           F+
12)Wilson Rag                               C, standard tuning                             A flat+
13)When I'm Gone                          C, standard tuning                             D flat+

NOTES:
   *Johnine Rankin, one of Libba Cotten's granddaughters, is a wonderful singer with a beautiful alto voice and a measured delivery that suits her grandmother's music particularly well.  Her vocal feature, "Time To Stop Your Idling", bears a pretty strong resemblance to the spooky Bill Monroe Gospel number, "Get Down On Your Knees And Pray".
   *Libba Cotten's low tuning is more pronounced on this recording than any of her other Folkways albums, with several songs tuned a minor third low and a couple tuned a full major third low.
   *"Street Blues" is certainly a one-of-a-kind number, both for Libba Cotten's repertoire and in the genre as a whole.  Libba played it out of A in standard tuning (a minor third low), working out of a closed F position at the fifth fret, much as Rev. Davis would use a closed F position to play in G.  It has some novel touches, including a Spanish-sounding flat II chord, and a chromatic chordal walk-down from A to E.
   * "Willie", about a young friend of Libba Cotten's who was murdered by one of his friends when still a young boy, is musically very similar to the Carter Family's "Cannonball Blues".
All best,
Johnm
              

[Johnm]

Hi Lyle,
It occurs to me that Libba's grimace at Rev. Davis's re-tuning her guitar may have been caused as much by how he was tuning it as the pitch to which he was tuning it.
All best,
Johnm

[Lyle Lofgren]

Yes, she was perhaps reacting to his methods. If you listen to all the segments from that evening, you'll notice that the Rev. is trying to run roughshod over her. She held her ground very well, I thought.

It was an interesting weekend. Gary was essentially helpless, although he could sense when a young woman was passing by, and would reach out and grab her, saying he needed some guidance. During the time the tape recorder was on, he drank a fair amount of wine -- I suspect he would have drunk stronger liquor if we'd had it in the house.

In the middle of the afternoon workshop, Gary announced he needed to go to the bathroom, so I led him there. So, if I need to establish blues credibility, I can say that I used to lead Rev. Gary Davis around, just like Leadbelly and all those others led Blind Lemon. I don't need to add that I led him to the washroom.

Lyle

[Johnm]

Re the tuning, Libba also may not have wanted her sixth string flat and her first string sharp.  It worked for Rev. Davis most of the time, but not too many other people.
All best,
Johnm

[markoos]

Thanks for the list of Elizabeth's tunings-I was trying to learn her song 'Holy Ghost Unchain My Name',-it is in spanish tuning, the melody is easy to figure out,but somehow the bass lines don't sound quite right when I play it on my guitar-does anyone  have any tips for playing this song?

[Johnm]

Hi markoos,
When you're in the I chord, alternate the bass from the open fifth string to the open fourth string.  When you're in the V chord, alternate the bass from the open sixth string to the open fourth string.  When you're in the IV chord, barre at the fifth fret across to and including the fifth string and alternate the bass from the fifth fret of the fifth string to the fifth fret of the fourth string.  And remember, if you want it sound where Libba played it, tune to Spanish tuning at F, so that when you strum the open strings you have an open F chord, C-F-C-F-A-C.
All best,
Johnm

[markoos]

Thank you very much for the quick reply and the tips for the song-I've tuned my guitar to Spanish F and everything sounds great.

[Johnm]

I'm glad that is working out for you, markoos.
All best,
Johnm