Category: Recordings

This is another John Hurt tune I learned from Miller’s DVD. My tempo is a little more consistent here than usual. Not actually consistent, just a little more than usual.

Spike Driver’s Blues

This tune is taught on both John Miller’s DVD and on Happy Traum’s DVD. I’ve incorporated elements from both arrangements here. I used a stereo micing position like the last recording, with one mic pointing a little above the spot where the neck meets the body and one pointing at the body just below the bridge.

My Creole Belle

Here’s a fiddle tune I’m learning from Duck Baker’s book and CD. These suckers are hard. This is the easiest one and as you can hear I’m still having some trouble.

For this session I used two mics in a stereo position instead of using one for reverb. I guess I’ll have to get a third mic if I want to keep using this technique and still use a mic for reverb, but the stereo arrangement gets a nice sound I think.

Angeline the Baker

A lovely little tune I learned from Stefan Grossman’s collection. I got two decent takes so I’ve posted them both. The alternating bass line is unusual in that, except for the break in the middle, it goes hi-low hi-low and avoids the root note of the chord.

I got a lot of help learning this one from my former teacher, Vernon Black. The songs in Grossman’s collection are not fully transcribed, and I have trouble figuring out the parts that are left out, especially if they are very different from the transcribed sections. Vernon’s ear could pick them out just fine, though.

You’ve got the Pocketbook, I’ve got the Key — Take 1

You’ve got the Pocketbook, I’ve got the Key — Take 2

This is one of my favorite John Hurt tunes. Maybe one day I’ll be able to sing it.

I learned it from Stefan Grossman’s collection of Hurt tunes.

I’m Satisfied

New strings equals new recordings! I’m trying a new microphone position recommended by a book my friend Tobin lent me. The mic is one foot away, pointing midway between the sound hole and the beginning of the neck. Plus another mic in the corner of the room for reverb.

I learned this from Stefan Grossman’s collection.

It Won’t Be Long

Just got back from vacation and feel like recording. This is “Mama, Your Papa Loves You”, an Elizabeth Cotton tune that goes by several other names. Cotton is one of my favorite guitarists for fingerstyle blues and this song is one of her best, I think. I notice my tempo gets faster as the song progresses, but Cotton tended to play them that way too.

I can’t decide whether the bass is too heavy on this recording. I think I like it, it sort of envelopes the melody. Yeah, that’s it.

I learned this song from John Miller’s lovely DVD.

Mama, Your Papa Loves You

Ok, my first recording. This is “Shake That Thing” which is the first song you learn in Stefan Grossman’s excellent collection of country blues songs. My “studio” is our second bedroom which is why you can hear the sound of a car screeching to a stop at one point. There are words to go with the song, but I’m not ready to sing just yet.

Shake That Thing