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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > terrific James Cotton tribute from William Lifford
terrific James Cotton tribute from William Lifford
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kudzurunner
6208 posts
Mar 25, 2017
4:06 PM
Who is this guy? Is he a member here? Great player. And what the hell is that mutant harp he's playing?

I'm quite sure that Mr. Cotton would approve.

cliffy
273 posts
Mar 25, 2017
6:06 PM
Hi Adam,

Who is that guy?? That's me!

I'm Bill Lifford and my handle here is "cliffy". I've been a member here for a few years, though I don't get to participate as much as I would like.

I'm so glad you liked my piece. Brendan Power will have a laugh... that "mutant" harmonica is his "Lucky 13" harp in Ab. I recorded this piece as an entry for his video competition. So far I really like the harp, it allows me to play the rest of the band on it and play the Cotton part on the "regular" part of the harp.

here are two other clips I did for the contest...




TBird
220 posts
Mar 25, 2017
6:15 PM
Yeah Cliffy!!! I hope you win! I've never really wanted a Lucky 13... until now. :)
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Be humble for you are made of earth.
Be noble for you are made of stars.
indigo
343 posts
Mar 25, 2017
10:57 PM
Ha...so you are THE Bill Lifford..weren't you on those harp-L CDs and also the producer?
I've still got all the CDs except ironically ,the one i am on.Someone borrowed it and i never got it back.You wouldn't happen to have the original MP3s by any chance.
I really liked your rendition of "one fine thing"
in particular.
Back in 1998 it was all so exciting o be on a CD!

Last Edited by indigo on Mar 25, 2017 10:58 PM
Killa_Hertz
2284 posts
Mar 26, 2017
10:26 AM
I said just about the same thing Adam when I saw Cliffs post this video on Facebook.

This is excellent. There have been many tributes since Cottons passing, but this one takes the cake. He really nailed Cottons style.

I have a harp very similar to a lucky 13 and I went to try to emulate what cliff plays here. He makes it look easy. It's really not at all. The lower octave sets off the other holes, so your kind of have to relearn that muscle memory for where the proper notes are.

Once again, Awesome Job Cliffy.
Rgsccr
466 posts
Mar 26, 2017
11:22 AM
Wow!!
cliffy
276 posts
Mar 26, 2017
3:32 PM
TBird, thanks so much. I feel like I have a good set of entries in the competition. But there are getting to be a lot of entries, so I need all the luck I can get. :)

Indigo, yes, I produced (and contributed to) "Harp-L IV: The H Files". I don't know if I have all the tracks, though... I had a hard drive crash many years ago, and the data company was only able to partially restore the files. email me (my email should be visible in the member profile section) and I'll try to find it for you.

"One Fine Thing" was an original song I wrote about my (now) wife; we were dating then. She was pretty impressed with the song back then, but after eighteen years of my snoring, whistling, and harmonica playing, let's just say that for her, the luster has worn off a bit.
cliffy
277 posts
Mar 26, 2017
3:37 PM
KillaHertz, thanks so much! The muscle memory thing you mention definitely drove me nuts for like the first two days with the Lucky 13... I kept "missing" the regular 1 hole. I guess I am just so used to basing everything off of where my left hand is holding the harmonica. I started to get a lot better at it on the third day, and then after that it went better. All three of my contest entry video have some minor flubs, but I'm pretty good at just keeping going and hiding the mistakes.
kudzurunner
6210 posts
Mar 26, 2017
3:37 PM
Well, at least you now know that I don't kiss ass! I just display my feelings and my idiocy, without a filter, and let the chips fall where they may. Good thing we've all got these NOLA-style masks on; otherwise somebody might know that my "real" name is Adam Gussow.

Doh.
Chaz
26 posts
Mar 27, 2017
3:36 PM
Bill is the man. Incredible player, even better guy. A while back he reached out to me, just because he saw me on the forums and noticed I was from Long Island also. Unfortunately, it's not exactly a blues hotbed here. Bill has become something of a mentor to me (we are roughly the same age, but in "harmonica years" I am an infant next to him!), always generous with all of his knowledge and expertise. He openly invites me to sit in with his incredible band whenever I want- and always makes it a great experience (as in not tearing me to shreds when we trade licks, which he could in his sleep- LOL). Happy to call him a huge influence, and a friend. Now he better win those Lucky 13's!!!
The Iceman
3086 posts
Mar 27, 2017
3:46 PM
Excellent tribute. Love your sound!
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The Iceman
cliffy
282 posts
Mar 28, 2017
7:23 PM
Iceman, thanks so much! I know from reading many of your posts that you are quite direct and mean what you say, so I am really flattered that you enjoyed this clip. :)

And Chaz, flattery will get you everywhere! Actually, thank you for those kind words. I love having a harmonica buddy I can talk shop with, text random harmonica-related musings to, and hang out with. Without the online harmonica community, we never would have met! You're a great friend and I am thankful to have you.
Killa_Hertz
2289 posts
Apr 05, 2017
11:33 AM
Congrats on the Win Cliffy.
I just read the announcement of the winners.

I was hoping you were going to win. This was an absolutely Killer Tribute. You nailed it and you deserved every bit of the win.

I haven't had a chance to watch all of the winners videos yet, but out of the first few, you blew them away.

Heres the link for everybody who's interested.

http://www.brendan-power.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7&p=191#p191

Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Apr 05, 2017 2:57 PM
Brendan Power
595 posts
Apr 05, 2017
11:42 AM
I couldn't say it before, but I echo all the positive comments above. Love the way you are incorporating that extra low octave of the Lucky 13 in your playing, it sounds really natural and authentic. Congratulations on winning first prize Bill!
TBird
222 posts
Apr 05, 2017
1:05 PM
Congratulations Cliffy! Shall I PM you my address so you can send me the Lucky 13 that you have now won a duplicate of? ;)

But seriously... way to go!

Tom
----------
Be humble for you are made of earth.
Be noble for you are made of stars.

Last Edited by TBird on Apr 05, 2017 1:06 PM
WinslowYerxa
1287 posts
Apr 05, 2017
5:31 PM
Congrats, Bill - a great reading of the tune and use of the Lucky 13!
===========
Winslow

Check out my blog and other goodies at winslowyerxa.com
Harmonica For Dummies, Second Edition with tons of new stuff
Join us in 2017 for SPAH in Tulsa!
cliffy
288 posts
Apr 05, 2017
8:54 PM
Killa, TBird, Brendan, and Winslow, and everybody else that said such nice things, thank you so much!

I'm pretty darn thrilled that I won the Lucky 13 competition. Thanks so much to Brendan, the judges, and East-Top; this was a really generous contest with lots of great prizes, and I see you even extended three more places for a total of thirteen winners. That's very nice, considering that even one Lucky 13 harmonica sells for around $58. A lot of players are going to be pretty psyched.

I liked the Lucky 13 harmonica right away... it's airtight, it's responsive, it's loud, the covers are sturdy and don't crush, and I always liked low-toned harps, so to have the low 1-2-3 next to the regular 1-2-3 is a lot of fun for me. I would have probably bought a few more in different keys, because I was digging my Ab one so much (to be honest, I haven't played my Bb one very much, I think because I just love the timbre of the Ab and I play it a lot).

It might seem weird, but I am currently working with my Ab Lucky 13 on an acoustic blues solo treatment of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer." I was noodling around on it and I accidentally played something that sounded like the opening horn riff to that song... so now I got kind of sucked into it and I'm almost ready to record it.

Sorry I'm rambling! I'm just glad that my tribute to James Cotton was appreciated by so many people and that folks had such nice things to say about my playing. Cotton was a big inspiration to me and it broke my heart a bit to hear he had passed on. Thanks again to everyone who has been so kind and had such nice comments about my playing and my tribute to James.
BronzeWailer
1974 posts
Apr 06, 2017
12:25 AM
Congrats cliffy! Well deserved!
BronzeWailer's YouTube


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