Chasing Roots

555 Contest results, Warmachine news, fingerboard funbox mini project.

2011-05-03T04:16:00.000-07:00

Tradition and the Blues.

2010-09-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

Thank Goodness it's Friday, and to celebrate I want to look at the blues. Not because I'm sad, but because musically it's where I keep coming back to and I aim to play some guitar with my little son this weekend.

So here's a group of videos from the Youtube school of art. You'll see a lot of people on youtube wanting to teach you the blues, and while they might be getting the notes right a lot of them are just playing it all wrong.

I was at a guitar store about this time last year shopping for a guitar because I wanted to get back into it. So I'm in this shop and a young guy was in there impressing some younger guys with his skills. Fair enough right? Well he worked there and was showing them this magnificent real steel guitar that I would have loved to get my hands on but I just kind of kept looking around at the stuff I could reach. Anyway, this guy says "you know how to play that Delta stuff?" Of course my ears perked up because that's part of what I've been admiring since I was 12. Dude puts a slide on his finger and proceeds to defile that poor guitar playing the worst sliding mess I've ever heard. He got the notes right, but he was playing it all wrong. The younger guys were very impressed. I left.

Note that I don't mention 'tone' or what vintage guitar you'll need to play. It's in the fingers, and it's in the person controlling the fingers.

Not that I can do all that much better, but there's a disconnect somewhere there. There's technique and there's feeling, and there's the language you're speaking. Not just blues, pick your artform and this would apply.

I'll pull on the thread for a while and see what ties together.

On joining a tradition:

Maybe Leonard Cohen is a good place to start, even though it's not about the blues. But the blues is a bit like folk, enough for me.
(5:30) Confession filtered through a tradition...

Jack White (from 2:20, and around 3:00)

If you haven't heard this album yet you're missing out.
2:00 and 4:00

Remind me to compile some videos on minimal setups and artists wanting to create limitations to make themselves come up with creative solutions.
Looking for the tradition (without a textbook):

Billy Gibbons teaches more than technique here. It's a language.

Keith knows it, look for the '1 on 1', for example.

Stevie Ray Vaughan

2:20
"You feel it first and then you learn how to do it. It takes a lifetime..."

Zuzu Bollin - remind me to compile some videos about how so many blues musicians' Mamas didn't want them playing that devil music.

How it's played distinguishes one song from another.
(It's at 2:00)

Sometimes you better get it right.

And to pull it all together here's Jimmy, just because he's amazing.

Want more?
Here's a great playlist.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=AEF78D82CA863072&search_query=blues+tradition

of Raising Sand

2008-07-07T02:13:00.000-07:00

Thanks for joining me for the first issue of Chasing Roots!

I've been listening to an amazing album lately... An unlikely collaboration between three musical giants.

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss : Raising Sand
(Produced by T-Bone Burnett)

Alison Krauss is a bluegrass legend in the states, and has won 21 Grammy awards for her music. Robert Plant can't be missed, he was the frontman for Led Zeppelin. T-Bone Burnett is a name that you might not recognize, but he has written songs and produced albums that are a part of our cultural fabric.

Here is the first single off the album Raising Sand.
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Gone Gone Gone (Live)

The reviews for the album are almost universally glowing. I had to give it a couple of chances to really start appreciating what I was hearing. And not in the sense that I'm regurgitating the reviews I read before buying it, but from a sense of empathy for what I'm hearing, and feeling like I really connect to this music somehow. It's very narrative music, sometimes haunting, sometimes humorous and heartbreaking. It's such a unique and seemingly delicate joining of vastly different styles that just works. I wonder if I could have appreciated this album earlier in my life. I might just be at a certain point where these rhythms and melodies kind of resonate with my earlier experiences. Hearing phrases of some of these songs is like catching a familiar scent while walking down the street.

I had to find out more.

So I hit YouTube and found some interviews that kind of inform us about where these musicians are coming from. Now here's a caveat, these musicians are extremely knowledgeable and are working from a lot of experience, so I can really only touch the surface, but I'm going to embed some of the references that they make in interviews.

For example, Alison Krauss referred to Ralph Stanley in that very first video I showed. If out of all the musicians in the world he's important enough to name in a promo video i have to hear it.

I don't know what your opinion is about this type of music but you need to know that I come from a small town in the country, in South Texas, so I feel pretty much at home with sounds similar to these. Of course my heart is with Rock and Roll, but we'll get to that. Rock comes from Country, it comes from the Blues.

That song reminded me of "Nobody's Fault but Mine," I think originally by Blind Willie Johnson.

I don't know who the performer is here:

Here's Zeppelin doing it:

Nina Simone does an amazing version also.

But I digress...

Here's another interview where we get a hint of where the producer T-Bone and Plant gives some more insight into the music they love:

Robert Plant, T-Bone Burnett, Alison Krauss on Charlie Rose

T-Bone Quoting Ringo talking about playing with the Beatles
"It was just the four of us with God sitting in the middle."

"Take Me" - Tammy Wynette and George Jones.

Here is one last interview before we set this down to digest a bit.

I've done a bit of research and here's a recording of theoriginal version from Cornwall.

Thank you so much to Raymond Crooke for a faithful rendition of an ancient song.

218. Hangman, Hangman (Child 95) - (Traditional)

Here's a bit more about the story:
Niamh and Grandpa Bill are offering a new final verse. This is quite respectable, as there have been many variations on the song, and we get a bit of education from it.

Let's learn a bit about Leadbelly, shall we?

Leadbelly - Gallis Pole

Led Zepplin - Gallows Pole

Let's leave it there for now. As you can see, delving into the history of any musician's work can reveal links to cultures that we wouldn't normally think of. Everything is connected, especially when it comes to art.

Thanks for reading and watching, and please leave a comment or suggestion!

BONUS LEADBELLY CONNECTION

Leadbelly - Where Did you Sleep Last Night

Nirvana- Where Did You Sleep Last Night (Live)

Welcome to Chasing Roots

2008-07-07T02:02:00.001-07:00

Hi welcome to my latest blog, called Chasing Roots. This blog is dedicated to finding interesting connections between pop culture and shared media entries. For example, a musician or filmmaker might make a reference to one of their influences during an interview. I'll use that to find more information about where their artform evolved from. This could span music, film, art; even gaming.

I'm Chasing after the Roots of today's popular culture. :) Thanks for reading, and please leave some comments and suggestions.