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Post by Jim Boylston on Mar 24, 2008 14:18:17 GMT -5
Bob: Yazoo put out a CD some years ago called "Roots of Robert Johnson" that might be close to what you want. There's also a CD on Orchard called "The Road to RObert Johnson and Beyond" that might actually be a companion disc. Jim
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Post by bobdurham on Mar 24, 2008 14:27:22 GMT -5
I have the "Roots of Robert Johnson" CD -- I'll have to check out the other.
Thanks
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Post by bobdurham on Mar 26, 2008 12:31:49 GMT -5
I finished the book, The Roads to Robert Johnson -- afraid its way over my head. I can read music enough to pick out a melody on my guitar but I don't understand music theory well enough to appreciate Komara's points, like "the classic style is biphonic and birhythmic, if not polyphonic and polyrhythmic" or "the jubilee style depends on homophonic chords." I'll stop before I betray my ignorance even further.
I just ordered "Journey Into the Land of Trials" from Amazon.com -- hopefully, I'll be able to understand that a little better. I ordered it because of Jim's review so I'm holding him personally responsible if I don't like it.
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Post by TRK on Mar 26, 2008 13:13:15 GMT -5
If that's the case, Bob, I guess I'll steer clear of "The Roads to Robert Johnson." It sounds like a master's thesis or PhD dissertation gone wrong.
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Post by Jim Boylston on Mar 26, 2008 14:10:42 GMT -5
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Apr 14, 2008 19:20:33 GMT -5
As my name suggests, I'm well into the blues. Been a guitar player for 40-something years, and got hooked on the blues before that (I just didn't know it was called back then). If you want a taste of me playing something with a definite Texas blues feel, go to indiemusicworks.com/forum/artists/Paul_Sylvain , click on "songs" or go down the list of songs there, and give a listen to "The IRS Blues" (timely, huh?). I wrote that and all of the songs there, as well as sing all the vocals and do all the six-string guitar parts. My backup band is called The Rockin' Road Dogs. Enjoy the tune(s).
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Post by TRK on Apr 14, 2008 20:10:54 GMT -5
Glad to have you here, bluesdog. I checked out a couple of tunes on your page; nice harp playing on "Rocking Road Dog Blues." It has that Junior Wells feel. Who's playing it?
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Apr 14, 2008 20:15:54 GMT -5
The blues harp is played by a guy named Doug Mugford. We call him Hound Dog Mugford. Doug was born in Boston, but moved to Maine with his parents when he was pretty young. When he's not blowing harp with us, he's teaching science at Elm Street Elementary School in East Machias, Maine.
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Post by TRK on Apr 14, 2008 20:20:57 GMT -5
I play in a band that's blessed with a really good blues harp player. But, he refuses to play that thing through a proper, overdriven tube amp, preferring to go straight through a sound board. Go figure.
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Apr 15, 2008 6:32:56 GMT -5
Arg! Doug has one of those small Fender Blues Jr. amps, and the only way I record him is with him blowing his harps through that thing, cranked and with reverb. You're right -- that's the only way to go, to get that authentic Chicago blues sound.
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Post by TRK on May 7, 2008 18:29:01 GMT -5
Bob: Yazoo put out a CD some years ago called "Roots of Robert Johnson" that might be close to what you want. A buddy sent me a DVD from Homespun, "Rory Block Teaches the Guitar of Robert Johnson," and in the introduction she picks up a copy of "Roots of Robert Johnson" and starts raving about it, more or less pronouncing it the Rosetta Stone of understanding where Johnson picked up his guitar influences. Then, she proceeds to play some standard Johnson licks, showing how they evolved from the way, for instance, Tommy Johnson, Charley Patton, or Peatie Wheatstraw would have picked it, to how Robert Johnson did it.
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Post by TRK on Jun 2, 2008 19:31:11 GMT -5
Ellas Otha Bates, better known to the world as Bo Diddley, died today. He invented his own subsection of the blues, but had one foot in rock and roll. His lyrics were funny, half-crazed paeans to all kinds of weird folks and strange situations: stuff about his girlfriend riding up to his house "with a pistol and sword at her side" . . . or building a house next to "Mona" just so he could blow kisses at her through the blinds . . . and walking 47 miles of barbed wire, using a cobra snake for a necktie, and riding a lion into town. And speaking of strange, he even wrote Mickey & Sylvia's hit "Love is Strange," although under a pseudonym.
Bo Diddley was an original. I for one am gonna miss him.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Jun 2, 2008 19:38:54 GMT -5
Me too. I'm embarassed to say that I did NOT know he wrote "Love Is Strange," one of the most memorable 50s songs I can think of. Don't ask me why - the production and vocals always kept going around in my head. A unique sound. Bo had one too; one of a kind.
AW
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Post by Jim Boylston on Jun 2, 2008 22:47:21 GMT -5
You got me on that one too, Tom. I didn't know Bo wrote "Love Is Strange". One of Muddy's greatest songs, "Mannish Boy" was written as a sequel to Diddley's "I'm A Man". I have friends that backed Bo up on some of his Florida dates from time to time. Sadly, I never had the pleasure. Jim
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Post by Allen Wiener on Jun 3, 2008 8:14:02 GMT -5
Here's a link to some info on the duo and the song: www.color-radio.com/mickey_sylvia.htmThe composer is listed as "Ethel Smith," which was his wife's name (Ethel Mae Smith; aka Ethel "Tootsie" Smith); the second of 4 wives. I have an obscure CD called "Rock & Roll Originators" (Tel-Star Records, 1991) that includes the song and lists the composers only as Baker/Daniels/Robinson, which is probably wrong. The following source lists the composer as Bo, using Ethel's name, and the producer as Bob Rolantz; he ought to be better remembered for that unique production. books.google.com/books?id=OGNPTZplEvQC&pg=PA63&lpg=PA63&dq=%22Ethel+Smith%22+%2B+%22Bo+Diddley'&source=web&ots=APg-tNv84h&sig=LQd6Cya1_9FjpWooTM4Eru8yBrA&hl=en#PPA63,M1 You'll have to copy & paste that link into your browser; it's too long to work as a link. AW
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