From my perspective, this might have been the most memorable performance on a memorable night of harp playing at Shared Harvest Farm. Roly is a member here, so he can tell you what he was playing (the harp had a raised 5 draw; I'm pretty sure he was playing through a Lone Wolf Harp Attack and the PA). At a certain point, that technical stuff just isn't the point. This is some of the prettiest, most lyrical playing I've ever heard on the instrument.
Very nice. It appears that Roly shares my approach to this song, but I use a Richter tuned and go for 5 OB if I choose this note within the melodic line. One interesting difference is that I would go acoustic direct into vocal mic and he is favoring the slightly processed crunch sound.
Notice Roly's fearlessness of individual notes created through bending technique in 3 hole inhale. ---------- The Iceman
Wow: I just purchased "Inside Out" after hearing that video! R plays with a kind of mellifluous fire throughout the entire ear-friendly album. ---------- Facebook
Last Edited by bigd on Jul 05, 2017 1:42 PM
Roly really is world class. I love anything he play's on an f harp. His work on the Tangled Roots album is all off the floor one take I believe. There's two songs he plays on an F harp in third position that is hall of fame stuff. Super tasty.
He's a nice guy to boot. He did a three peat here at Shared Harvest and he's a great teacher too. His stuff on pulls and pushes give you a good start at developing some really tasteful phrasing.
Thanks for posting Adam. I'd love to see your set too.
Last Edited by kham on Jul 09, 2017 6:31 PM
WOW --Just downloaded --Thanks adam and all u guys---read yr posts then went to his sight - I bar-tended for 23 yrs and forgot about "Bartenders Blues" what a great version he does ---thanks again
Here you go, kham. Bit of soundcheck and then the first two songs in my set:
A couple of things worth noting. First, I'm not playing through my usual drumset. I'm using a hi-hat for the first time--literally, I'd never touched one until this night--and the kickdrum is a BIG kickdrum. I'm blowing harp through my old reliable Mouse from the mid-1980s, along with a bit of analog delay. The Mouse isn't miked through the PA; it's providing all the sound by itself.
I just love what James Anthony is playing on guitar. It's amazing how much the sort of internal chord movement he's tossing off spruces up the harp. I can play one note, let him do all that stuff, and my one note will sound fantastic. It's him, not me! There's a lesson here: a great guitarist is your best friend. But notice how disciplined he is. He's all about the groove, about finding the right backing, meeting me halfway, but never stepping on me. At one point in the middle of "Watermelon Man," I actually lean over and ask him to turn down slightly, and he does that. I think it helps our sound. We didn't rehearse, BTW. This video begins, literally, with the first notes we played together.
Charlie Hilbert had a different approach, much more aggressive. I liked that, too. It works well on the street. And of course Sterling Magee was all over it. But he could dial it way back in some contexts; and he could throw all kinds of interesting internal chord motion across the harp, too. In his own way, James came closer than any other guitarist I've played with to what Sterling was doing.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Jul 12, 2017 5:03 AM
Awesome. Sounds great. Did you slip up a bit at the 8:39 mark or was that on purpose. It sounds good to me. I am just curious. I always love a little off beat stuff with a jazzy or chromatic notes.
You've got good ears! Yes, I bobbled a note or two. The D-flat harp is a relatively stiff one; I need to hit it hard in order to make every note sound. Not sure what happened at that moment, but I suspect I momentarily lost full focus--perhaps because the unanchored hi-hat kept migrating forward on the tile floor.
