Here's another video....a classic blues in A....I like Eric Bibb version! :)

Vinny..it's always really interesting to read your posts..

As far as I've heard Cocaine here in Italy at least, its becoming cheaper and cheaper...but the main problem is alcol and sinthetic drugs I think...

I hope to read a book with all your travels and memories, then!!! seems like you've got an incredible amount of experiences to share!

Grazie

Alex

JD -- nice playing -- very clean - I admire that - I am not in a very clean phase these days myself but I still appreciate it.  That looks like a very nice action because I don't notice you having to do an extraordinary amount of damping.  I will have to take a look at the Gretsch resos I haven't seen one.  But I like the tone.  Yes I have a 12 fretter too -- they are great for big sound and older material really -- if you want to play this or other Muddy Waters era stuff it is a bit easier on a 14 fretter. But for the older material the 12 fretter I think has the bolder vintage sound.  But you do such a good job one does not really notice any handicap there. 

Alex - nice playing and singing - you get more confident and expressive with every video.  Thanks for the comment on the Leadbelly song.  You know I don't play flamenco but I love it - very dramatic and percussive and a lot of similarities to early Delta styles in that respect. 

That comment about "not getting the jokes" - that was actually a joke in itself.  In the US where Cocaine has been a phenomenon since the beginning of the last century and even earlier, if you play in a bar people usually do get the jokes.  Cocaine was actually legal here until the 20's, and was even an ingredient in the original Coca Cola and lots of other consumer products.  Doctors used it too - very popular medicine - it always made you feel better for a while and you always wanted more.  It was always a notorious substance as addicts become impervious to it's damaging effects and are not discouraged from continuing to rely on it.  It is taken through the nose and can cause irrepairable damage to the sinuses and mucous membrane.  Even Muddy Waters had a song called Reefer and Champagne, where he sang "give me reefer and champagne - but NO cocaine. 

There was a highly publicized epidemic in the 70's and 80's with the invention of "crack" - a highly concentrated version of the drug.  Gary Davis' version of course is dark, because the drug always had a dark reputation even when it's use was not widespread.  I wanted to do something different.  Dave Van Ronk was a student of Gary Davis, and when he sang that lyric "my mucous membrane is just a memory" he got a huge laugh in clubs in New York.  Cocaine was in wide scale use in New York even in the 60's.  Gary Davis actually stopped playing the song and eventually he stopped playing all blues and ragtime and only played spiritual songs.  So the song is satirical, about a guy who keeps rationalizing his way out of misery, poverty, disability and imminent death to keep taking the drug. I don't think there is much familiarity with cocaine in Europe.  At the height of the modern epidemic It was the drug of choice for the rich and famous as well as the rich and not so famous - and the income of plastic surgeons soared as a result of all the damage done to the nasal passages.  Cocaine is literally a drug used by gamblers to make race horses run faster. 

I am right now in between Austin and Houston Texas - sort of meandering looking for a place to relocate, but I want to get the feel of some places before I decide where to relocate.  I was in Austin and played a few places there but they had an unprecedented freeze in the weather and the city shut down and it became impractical to hang out.  I'm riding the weather out at the moment - and today is actually the first
sunny tolerable day in weeks.  Houston, though looks like a very good place for traditional blues -- home of Lightnin Hopkins - and lots of support to musicians from bar and club owners.  But I might meander to New Orleans and beyond.  I don't know.  I left California too soon though - it's been warm there - but I wanted to be here in the Spring. 

Peter - I like this - very Kurt Weill - lots of tension - the performance combined with the selection of graphics creates a subtle tension.  I'm always drawn to things like this - very creative.

@Vinny..where are you now!!?!?!?nice to see your videos and read your post...It's rare to know real troubadours!!!!

I like your version of "in the pines"...there's some flamenco feeling in it!

I fortunately don't know much about drugs...just herb..if it can be considered a drug..what you mean about the jokes in cocaine blues??? Just a few examples...I don't know much about the song...It sounds like a person that had problems with cocaine and suggest others to avoid use of it! I mean...gary davis version

@JD and Mike....thanks for the compliments....I'm tryin to work more on singing too and I'm enjoyin playin with two fingers only!!!

@Peter....I'm serious....you've got a lot of creativity..I'll wait for the next chapter and the rendition of gee baby is modern but respectfull of the origanal too...the thing that I like most...

This is a sort of contemporary country blues style version of the traditional Cocaine Blues - and done "tongue-in-cheek" so to speak. That means,since everybody here is a very upstanding clean living individual and don't know anything about drugs, you will not understand any of the jokes.  About half the lyrics are original, the rest traditional with a couple credited to Dave Van Ronk who sort of inspired this version.

This is a Bukka White inspired version of Fixin to Die - played on an old  Gibson 12 string strung with only nine strings, with a vintage  De Armond pickup run through a small Roland Acoustic amp.  I am a Big Joe Williams fan and have always thought I could try and emulate his style (nine strings) by using a 12 string and only using 9 strings.  I finally found a photo of him late in his career actually playing a 12 string with only 9 strings so I thought, maybe that wasn't too crazy an idea.  This guitar's frets and action are not in very good shape so I had to lighten up on the strings a bit, thus the pickup and amp.  So this is a Big Joe Williams setup but I'm playing  Bukka White.  Usually play this on a reso but wanted to see how this sounded.

I am still ensconced in this "classic" motorhome, getting more classic by the minute as I am getting more "vintage."  Been in a freeze here and it's close quarters so I cannot play loudly.  Tricky being as expressive as one wants to be at such subtle volume but here goes anyway.  I'm having a problem uploading large files here so this is very low res.

This first video is actually a pre-blues song by Leadbelly that I have always loved, called "In the Pines."  It dramatizes a dilemma facing a young black woman who has lost her husband in an accident working in one of the many travelling railroad work camps that littered the American landscape for a hundred years.  These camps employed laborers, but also skilled workers and even the camp bosses ("Cap'n") and their families as well.  The camps moved with the tracks and were frequently far from anyone's home, or even civilization and accidents were common; both in the camps themselves and out on the tracks.  The song is about a young woman whose husband has been killed and finds herself homeless but for a proposition from the Cap'n.  It's a tale of her resistence to coercion.  The socio-economic context of the song has long been forgotten and so I think it is not very well understood and rarely sung.  It is a difficult song to do as it is really a "call and answer" and I have always thought it should be done as a duet, although I have never heard it done as a duet.  There is reference to a "driving wheel", which was the largest wheel on a locomotive and carried the power of the steam engine to the tracks.  This wheel frequently collected debris, animal and even human body parts.  Cap'ns in these camps had virtually life and death authority over their employees.  There is an old work song that has a great lyric about a roustabout who has to wake up the laborers every day by slamming a crow bar against their bunks and screaming at them: "When I hollar, you want to fight.  But when the Cap'n hollars, you say 'all right.'" 

Hi everyone,

just wanted to say hello! I lurking around here using a guest account for quite some while now, but I living in Ghana comes with some Internet challenges... this might be remedied soon, however, so that I can fully join. Tempted by the nice playing showcased here, I hereby post my take on Freddi King's/Sonny Thompson's "Hideaway" as I learned it from German Blues guitarist Norbert Roschauer (he arranged it for Fingerstyle guitar and obviously it should be played on an acoustic guitar which I don't have)... just posted it somewher else but felt it fits better here, if you don't agree because I'm still not a full member, please don't hate, just throw me out - will join asap ;)

Greetings,

T.

Thanks Mike :) ! I like to rake sometimes, i did some on kind hearted woman. It wake up everybody and add a little bit of rythm. i wait for you vdo :)

No sir, I mean If You Leave Me from your CD  Fish Aint Biting

Beautiful tone and light touch!!  Ahh --- I'm jealous.  I really like how you are enjoying playing and singing the tune.  Phrasing is real nice too.  Nice rake at 2:15.  The way you mix up the timing of the lines really makes it "alive" for me.

Awesome Alex!!  Guitar playing is great and I like how your vocals are getting deeper --- both in tone and feel.  I also like how your working the call and response between your singing and the guitar --- i.e. the song is moving & churning.

Beautiful !!  Nice groove --- vocals are fantastic and I like how everything comes together --- guitar, bass, piano & drums.  Piano is really nice.

Hi Doug --- good question.  Duke's earlier lessons (Blues A Rama & Swingin the Blues) are in Flash, so they don't work with the iPad, iPhone etc.  

Apple may choose to support Flash at some point --- but I have not seen anything concrete about it. We will also likely update those lessons, but probably not for another year (we want to get our new tab / chord system fully polished before doing the switch).

For now, my recommendation would be to use your PC for theses lessons.  You can also print out all of the chords / tab for these lessons if you want off-line access.

I agree --- there is a huge amount of beautiful music in those lessons!

Mike,

I am unable to open up any of the early lessons such as Moten swing, Lester Leaps In, Swinging the Blues or blues a Rama On my iPad.  I can open them on my PC. Any idea why they won't open on the iPad or what can be done to help.  I'm dying to learn those chords. 

Doug

Hey nice to hear from Ankara, i wish to go to Turkey one day i'm from France it's not so far :) One of my jazz teacher Phillipe Poussard gave jazz lesson in Istambul. I say that just in case : the world so little nowaday ;) See you on SJ

JD

Two years and half of hard work and one tendinitis ;) Thanks for your words :)

@Alex you're right i lost weight and start sport again, i'll wait to be in Italia for the pasta ;) Thanks for the singin :) i'm not really happy because i can nose my nose closed by the cold.

@Peter Thanks for the compliment  :)my reso is a Gretsch Honey Dipper a really good and cheap one ! The Cone is handmade. I love the Gretsch collection, i've tried other models and i may buy a spider one (mine is a biscuit). The only problem it's the size (16inch) and only 12frets : some says it's better for the sound but less confortable to play.

My strings are Martin Bronze (really rush sound) and my Slide is handmade by Willie's slide (slide4659 on ebay). It's in Cobalt and i love the glass sound it's the best for me but it's quite heavy. Willie makes cheap slide and you can say the size and you have a mojo bag too. They're also baptize in a lake by a reverend friend of him ;)

Thanks for the accent compliment it's funny :p

Peter when you write...."Blues is truely of the World"...you can't even imagine how much I agree you..I could even fight for this concept! :DDD

Very neat playing, love it! I can never use my thumb like that :)

Thank you for your comments! This is a song from Imelda May by the way

Vocals are from Emine Şahin

Greeting from Ankara/Turkey

Yes you're right...it's Lightinin arrangement...recently I've been listening quite a lot of his music...I can undestand where Stevie Ray Vaughan music come from...:)