Hi All:

Some of my favorite?country blues tunes are guitar duets. I've just got a new favorite, Little Rock Blues by Pearl Dickson (I don't know who the guitarists are). This tune got me to thinkin' about the styles of CB guitar duets.

In songs like Little Rock Blues and Unknown Blues by Tater and Gay the two guitars are very musically seperate, one doing intricate treble string runs and the other ornate bass notes and patterns. The arrangements weave back and forth with one guitar then the other taking the lead. Hardly a chord is played.

Then there's the "Boom-Chang" type, like Dan Sain and Frank Stokes, Frank Brasswell and BBBroonzy and Memphis Minnie and Little Son Joe. . In these the lead guitar plays a normal sort of tune while the other adds supporting bass notes and runs and strummed chords. In this type the lead guitar part can be played as a arrangement by its self, which is not the case with the case mentioned above where neither part played alone would.

Another is the sort of arrangement is Johnnie Temple and Charlie McCoy's Lead Pencil Blues. Here the singer (Temple) plays a boogie pattern a la' Robert Johnson on the bass string with intersperced treble runs. The McCoy part consists of treble notes and runs. Here, unlike the Boom-Chang type, it's the bass part that can be played seperately not the treble part.

Delta guitar duets like Patton-Brown and Bracey-Tommy Johnson are sort of like two guitarists playing the same song together. Different parts, but either could probably make an adequate accompanyment by its self.

Another is the "Together" style, like Joe Callicott and Garfield Akers. Often in their duets, like the great Cottonfields Blues, it doesnt sound like two guitars, only one. Now thats tight.

Anyway, just some thoughts. What are your favorite guitar duets in CB? I remember hearing one with two slide guitar parts but I have forgetten the name.

Later,
Alex

Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe did a nice 2 slide duet called My Wash Woman's Gone.  Joe sang lead, so unfortunately it's not on the JSP Memphis Minnie set.  But the Juke has 2 copies of it..

Hi all,
I've been thinking of some more of these that I particularly like.  They include:
   * "Bottleneck Blues" by Sylvester Weaver and Walter (?) Beasley.  This was on the first Yazoo anthology devoted to Bottleneck guitar.
   * "Just Pickin'" by Roy Harvey and Leonard Copeland.  This was on the old Yazoo release, "Mr. Charlie's Blues", and it is really an amazing number, the way they have things worked out.
   * "Last Go Round" by Frank Stokes and Dan Sane.  One of their wilder numbers.  On it, Dan Sane is tuned about a step-and-a-half low, and the two of them just rock out.
It's fun to try and remember these.
All best,
Johnm

Minnie and her beaus were superb arrangers of guitar duets. My favorites would be Joliet Bound and Black Rat Swing.
Rag Mama Rag, Blind Boy Fuller and Gary Davis is a blisteringly tight piece of work, that must have been some session to have witnessed.
Cottonfield Blues 1 & 2, Akers & Callicott, are pretty amazing as they play around with the sound of the two guitars. To my ears they seem to be alternately dragging and pushing the beat, applying syncopated strumming patterns etc etc all of which adds up to something quite unique.

I remember we had a bash at the lyrics way back on the first version of the weenie list. I'll see if I can find the thread in the archives... Rivers wanders off into the archives...

Hi all,
I just thought of another favorite in this category--Will Weldon and Will Shade doing "Turpentine Blues".  The companion piece, "Hitch Me To Your Buggy and Drive Me Like a Mule" is close to being musically identical, but somehow doesn't have the same oomph for me.
All best,
Johnm

The other one is Skin Man. You're right, these are great songs. And they're like bonus Charley Jordan material.

That would be Richard "Hacksaw" Harney, a prodigious picker. I'm sure the juke has a tune or so of his and you can also see some amazing footage of him playing, in the '70s I think, on the Adelphi Records site. I think there is a link in a thread here somewhere. Search for "Hacksaw".
All for now.
John C.