It was one eclectic movement that included a fabulously diverse group of individuals. Some of us just loved to play and sing the music, some of us were into poetry, some of us were into the historical and cultural background of the music, some of us were into the current and historical political implications and applications of the music, some of us were into sex, drugs and alcohol, but everyone was a little bit into everything - Bruce Langhorn regarding the early Greenwich Village Folk scene
My first introduction to guitar back, well, let's just say that there was a Texas Democrat in the oval office, was my dad showing me Mother Maybelle's style...and the first song I learned "on my own" was Wild Wood Flower. But, like you said, there were others....maybe Merle Travis? Can't remember which started first, and too lazy to look it up right now.
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She looked like a horse eating an apple through a wire fence.
Thumb style lead is playing the melody on the Bass strings while holding a chord shape. Sort of, the opposite, of most fingerpicking (melody played on treble strings within a chord shape)
It seems to have always been fairly prevalent in early Country Music. Mother Maybelle is the most well-remembered for it (Because she was awesome!), but there were lots of others. Merle Travis didn't come along until the '40's but Riley Puckett, Roy Harvey et al were playing melodies on the Bass strings years before
Thanks! Leadbelly plucked most of his songs this way. "Dancing With Tears in my Heart", as well as "I'm Alone Because I Love You" are two of my favorites.
Hi all, I'm a big fan of Blind Willie Johnson's non-slide thumb lead songs, like "The Rain Don't Fall On Me" and "Trouble Soon Be Over". All best, Johnm