In the preface of "Blues With a Feeling - The Little Walter Story", it reads:
""In the early years of blues, [...] the essential use of the instrument was locked into a rather small range of styles. Limited by its volume and tonal range, it was commonly used as a background instrument. [...] Even among the very best players, a shared trait was the reliance on playing and repeating seldom-changing one- or two-bar patterns, which were established as themes at the beginning of a song and played with little variation throughout the piece. This, at the time, was the language of blues harmonica. [...] Little Walter freed the harmonica of these customary, if self-imposed, restrictions for the first time."
The last thing I want to do is to undermine Little Walter's importance or style, as I love his music as much as most of you. But come on. Freed the harmonica? "Small range of styles", "limited volume and tonal range", "repeating one- or two-bar patterns"?
To me (based on the preface) the writer(s) of this book seems to be intoxicated by the revolution of the urban blues style and fail to see the abundance of techniques, microcultures and individual styles that preceded it. To say that Sonny Terry, DeFord Bailey, Jazz Gillum or John Lee Williamson would fall into the category of small-range two-bar-pattern-repeaters strikes me as ignorance.
Yes, Walter played and amplified the instrument like nobody before. He turned it into a powerful solo instrument. I guess that emancipated the instrument in a sense, I'll give the writer that. But freed? How about Howard Levy – did he free the harp from the restricted, 4draw-wailing 2nd position-repeaters?
@ J-Sin "Yes, Walter played and amplified the instrument like nobody before. He turned it into a powerful solo instrument. I guess that emancipated the instrument in a sense, I'll give the writer that. But freed?"
That's exactly what the writer does NOT say, re-read the preceeding paragraph.
You conveniently overlook the following paragraph too.
It's not what the writers of the book suggest as Little Walter's achievements & impact were, it is as much the opinion of his contemporaries & peers.
Be thorough in your in your interpretation of the source material, at the moment it looks like you have gone off half-cocked. You appear to be courting controversy, rather than making any salient point.
---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
Last Edited by on Dec 12, 2011 12:35 PM
5F6H: I'm not here to raise any ruckus, I honestly try to understand the statements made in the excerpt in OP. If my understanding of English has failed, I apologize. But can you point a place where the writer clarifies your argument about the peers etc, that I still fail to locate.
To clarify mine, it's not actually the part about LW that I find disturbing, maybe it's just this:
"Even among the very best players, a shared trait was the reliance on playing and repeating seldom-changing one- or two-bar patterns, which were established as themes at the beginning of a song and played with little variation throughout the piece. This, at the time, was the language of blues harmonica."
To me this reads as a rude simplification of the prewar harmonica styles. What did I miss?
"Even among the very best players, a shared trait was the reliance on playing and repeating seldom-changing one- or two-bar patterns, which were established as themes at the beginning of a song and played with little variation throughout the piece. This, at the time, was the language of blues harmonica."
This is a huge generalization, and there are a number of pre-LW players, largely acoustic, who obviously disprove this. Definitely a dumb statement. Careful, because I see how some of these quotes as wanting the reader to believe that LW was an innovator and not complacent with playing what has been around for 50 or 60yrs and calling it the end-all-be-all. ;) ---------- Mike Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas VHT Special 6 Mods
I really believe that this community (harmonica players) will be free, when they'll STOP to read things as Bible or apply RULES.
Most importantly STOP being harmonica players and begin to be MUSICIANS, Little Walter was, just like Howard Levy, and Jason, there's a whole world of difference between Howard and Jason, one very academic, the other very punk attitude, but still they both express the sense of freedom in their music, BECAUSE THEY CAN
The day when the majority of harmonica players will STOP to see this instrument and the music played on it, as a TRADITIONAL/FOLKLORIC kind of thing, this day will be the rise of a new era for this instrument....But for the moment NOBODY cares about it, because this shift is not done yet. It's about US to free this instrument, and because this is JUST an instrument WE have to be free ourselves FIRST
J-Sin, that was my contribution to the big picture, regarding his peers, not a quote from the book.
This is a quote from the book that you edited out... "Most of the best players in the blues field either specialised in using the instrument to imitate sounds commonly heard in the country - trains, barnyard animals, etc. - or used it to echo the melody...."
...and later...
"Where other harp blowers played on the beat, Walter's music possessed an unmistakable "behind the beat" phrasing that made the harp swing like never before..."
"...Walter's phrases often began off the beat, where they'd have maximum musical impact..."
"...he would reel off melodies & figures of irregular lengths and accents and bring them home for unpredictable yet perfect resolutions..."
"...and everyone knew that they'd never heard anyone play the harp like that before."
Aha! Read on and you find this...
"Of those influenced by him firsthand, only a few remain today, but Jr Wells, James Cotton, George "Harmonica" Smith, Carey Bell anmd countless othersal acknowledged his preeminence."
Now you made me feel like I am still at work with all that typing! ;-) ---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
Last Edited by on Dec 12, 2011 1:28 PM
MUSIC is not truth if you want to search for truth, study philosophy or believe in a God, that's fine by me.
I've said exactly : know the rules then, BREAK them all, and find your own, this is what Beethoven did when he has shifted the Classical music in the romantic one, this is what Wagner did with creating his own way of writing music, this what Hendrix did and there're tons of examples like this
I'm free enough Clyde, because I believe in nothing but humanity.
This thread is NOT about me but about MUSIC
Last Edited by on Dec 12, 2011 1:31 PM
Walter Jacobs invented the blues. He took it to Storyville in New Orleans where he taught it to Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton and young Louis Armstrong. Then a quick train ride to Tutweiller to show it W. C. Handy, and Clarksdale (where Robert Johnson mistook him for Satan) then on Kansas City to play for Count Basie and lullaby Charlie Parker in his crib.
When he got to Chicago, he built the first Bassman out of four radios and a steamer trunk, plugged in a mic he'd made out of an actual bullet and recorded Juke in one take while simultaneously winning a knife fight with Walter Horton over the nick name "Little Walter".
The rest is history.
Last Edited by on Mar 30, 2012 3:45 PM
This has nothing to do with the thread and I apologize. But I tend to question everything....even the answers. This isn't the first time I've seen things like this.
""Where other harp blowers played on the beat, Walter's music possessed an unmistakable "behind the beat" phrasing that made the harp swing like never before..."
"...Walter's phrases often began off the beat, where they'd have maximum musical impact..."
"...he would reel off melodies & figures of irregular lengths and accents and bring them home for unpredictable yet perfect resolutions..."
"...and everyone knew that they'd never heard anyone play the harp like that before."
If the average player did this people would say he sucked and his timing is bad. A guy like LW does it and he is a genius. How do we know it wasn't a mistake? Maybe he was drunk all the time.
Or am I just an idiot.....wait! Don't answer that. ---------- Tommy
@5F6H: I did read the whole preface, and agree with most of what he says. But I think e.g. this part
"Most of the best players in the blues field either specialized in using the instrument to imitate sounds commonly heard in the country - trains, barnyard animals, etc. - or used it to echo the melody...."
...only further illustrates my point. Can't you really argue against that? That most of the BEST players mostly imitated ducks or echoed the melody? I think even the early jug band and folk blues music is filled with examples where harmonica leads the way and sounds like an instrument that has a distinct voice.
@Cristal: I'm studying Folklore in the University. I'll be writing my Master's Thesis about the history of the instrument, so there's plenty of Bibles to read. Otherwise I wouldn't probably read a book like this. I'm doing this study not only because I'm a harmonica player, but primarily because I think the development of this instrument from a tuning pipe / toy into what it is now, with all the curious phases and discoveries in between, is one of the most AMAZING stories in the history of musical instruments I've ever heard. That's what motivates me, not my instrument of choice or what music I play with it.
That is also why I want to ask you people about things that raise my attention, to get new insights, critique and tips on how to dig deeper. There's not a single person in Finnish academic world who would be able to falsify or ratify my arguments when the thesis is ready. And I want it to be accurate. So "HELP ME, I can't do it all by myself!" :)
J-Sin, post some examples of the kind of playing that bucks the writer's assertions...even in Little Walter's early recordings he is not fully formed, but by his mid 20's, he hit his peak...so perhaps find some earlier examples, by someone else, of Walter's swingier style that predate numbers like:
Boogie/Don't Need No Horse/Sad Hours/Don't Have To Hunt/Off the Wall, or his playing on tracks like Act Like You Love Me & Chicago bound?
Your examples earlier, of Jazz Gillum & Sonny Terry, don't seem to do anything to contradict the writer's assertions, once you consider the full preface. John Lee Williamson was very much a springboard for Little Walter (both stylistically and apparently with regard to amplification), but very on the beat. ---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
Last Edited by on Dec 12, 2011 2:08 PM
I think the main argument here isn't that Little Walter was markedly different from the players before him - that's a given. The argument, I'd say, is that the preface oversimplifies the earlier styles. 5F6H's quotation, "Most of the best players in the blues field either specialized in using the instrument to imitate sounds commonly heard in the country - trains, barnyard animals, etc. - or used it to echo the melody...." helps make J-Sin's point: the writer doesn't credit the full range of individual voices on the instrument.
cristal, i did not say the thread was about you. it is fine that you thought your post was self explanatory...but it was not for me.
"I've said exactly : know the rules then, BREAK them all, and find your own, this is what Beethoven did when he has shifted the Classical music in the romantic one, this is what Wagner did with creating his own way of writing music, this what Hendrix did and there're tons of examples like this"
this is not what you said exactly.....that's why i asked.
by the way i believe truth can be found in music..but that's just me and this thread is about the music not me.
you are a wonderful player but why do you attack folks when they ask you simple questions?
it is possible that we just do not understand each other. here is what i meant.
you said "really believe that this community (harmonica players) will be free, when they'll STOP to read things as Bible or apply RULES." to me this means to read things as the bible. when you stop to read or do anything...you stop and do it or read it. "or apply rules" was in the same sentence...so we apply the rules. if that's not what you meant fine. however that's what you wrote. if you meant to stop reading the bible... then i know just what you meant.
jodanchudan, you're missing the point, it's not about voices, personalities, or a criticism of skill level, it's about a "not seen before" style of playing and phrasing. I don't think the preface is setting out to insult or belittle earlier players, just point out that Walter came with a fresh & unique direction.
Feel free to guide us to any references that contradict this assertion... ---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
@jodanchudan: Thank you. That's exactly what I mean. I'm not trying to prove Little Walter wasn't unique/first/best in how he constructed melody lines, played stylistically off-beat, amplified, etc. etc. Rather the way the preface depicted the state of harmonica music before LW bothered me.
Blues Birdhead, Jazz Gillum and Jed Davenport are stellar examples of what kind of ornamentation, timbre and expression was possible already in the 1920-30s. It's not similar to LW in any way, but I sure wouldn't call it "limited", if you catch my drift.
A famous Finnish writer once said: "If you're going to create, create a world." That's exactly what Little Walter did. He came up with fundamentals of his own, which was followed by thousands of imitators and admirers. Then again Tom Waits said: "Blues is like a planet." I think the author of the book left some indigenous areas of this planet unnoticed.
As I said, it's a given that Little Walter was markedly different from the players before him, that he had a 'not seen before' style. I'm certain I didn't miss that point because I addressed it in the first sentence.
I agree that the quotations from the preface aren't setting out ot insult or belittle - that clearly isn't their purpose. But in setting the scene for Walter's arrival they unintentionally oversimplify the state of the harp at the time. That's not to say that those harp players were already doing what Walter was doing; only that there were a wide range of individual voices on the instrument - more than barnyard noises and train imitations. If you need guiding to examples, let me guide you back to the ones mentioned in the first post. Sonny Terry, Jazz Gillum, DeFord Bailey and Sonny Boy I don't sound like Little Walter, but they don't sound like each other either.
@Jodanchudan "Sonny Terry, Jazz Gillum, DeFord Bailey and Sonny Boy I don't sound like Little Walter, but they don't sound like each other either."
The preface does not say that "everyone sounded the same" prior to Little Walter. Little Walter's early playing was very much an echo of Sonny Boy I, listen to the YT clips posted above by TMF714, even early Little Walter was pretty typical of what the preface (taken as a whole) is saying, with respect to harp stylings prior to the early/mid 50's...
---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
Last Edited by on Dec 13, 2011 10:02 AM
I think it's abundantly clear what I think the preface implies, so I'm going to leave it there. The trouble with debating on forums is that, before you know it, you're correcting each other's grammar and logging on to an etymological dictionary to prove your point. I'm too weary for all that.
Please don't put quotation marks arounds things I haven't said.
Your original post is absolutely correct, and I thank you for making the point you make. I've got an early Sonny Terry record that confirms what you say. SONNY TERRY AND HIS MOUTH HARP (Stinson SLP 55) was recorded in the early 1940s, I believe--"several years" after the 1938 Spirituals to Swing concert, according to the back of the album--and Sonny is WILD. "Silver Fox Chase" has every bit of the range, inventiveness, the jazz, that Little Walter would summon later on. It's far beyond anything--anything--that John Lee Williamson ever did, and I've got all his stuff.
So you're right: Dirks et. al. did what writers do, and what I often do: they overstated their case in order to clear ground for their subject. This doesn't mean that LW didn't do something new and important. It just means that there were a couple of other geniuses on the ground at the same point.
Thanks for making this good and needed point.
Here's the link for the version of "Silver Fox Chase" that I'm talking about. I should note that at least half of the musical inventiveness in this recording comes from the melodic movement of Sonny's vocal contortions, which, in fox-chase fashion, interweave themselves with the harp.
http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Fox-Chase/dp/B001VA3MZ8
Last Edited by on Dec 12, 2011 8:33 PM
J-Sin's original post is not correct, it is in the worst tradition of pop journalism, creative editing to highlight a vox-pop to suit the writer's bias.
Kudzurunner, please explain how your posting a link to a "fox chase" (foxes being animals that live in the countryside, fox chases being activities carried out in the countryside) refutes or rebuffs the assertions made in the book's preface?
People seem so overly inflamed with (so called) 'righteous indignation' & underlying political agendas & perspectives that it is hindering their ability to simply understand the written word. I simply despair...
When something positive is written about a person, it does not always need to be interpreted as a slurr on someone else.
How's the weather today in Lilliput.
---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
Last Edited by on Dec 13, 2011 3:11 AM
@5F6H: The burden of proof is on you, not me, if you're making the charge of creative editing. Please supply the original paragraph or paragraphs and explain why J-Sin's edit is in intellectual bad faith. In the meantime, I'll simply encourage readers of this thread to purchase the Sonny Terry cut and listen to it while they're reading J-Sin's "creative edit," as you call it, of the introductory section of the Dirks/Glover bio (which I love and admire, BTW). Can the Dirks/Glover claims quoted by J-Sin be entirely sustained in the face of the sort of creativity you hear in Sonny Terry's playing? If one were going to rebut or quality the LW bio's claim about LW surpassing genius, would this track by Sonny Terry be a pretty good place to start? I humbly submit that it would be.
I should stress, BTW, that I don't agree with J-Sin's subsequent ascription of ignorance to the book's authors. My first post above rebutted that.
As for Lilliput: I wouldn't know about that! I'm not in the habit of belittling people. In fact, this forum's creed specifically warns against that.
Last Edited by on Dec 13, 2011 4:41 AM
Kudzurunner, I have posted what I felt were glaring omissions to J-Sin's excerpts from preface above (Dec 12, 1pm)...not only have you failed to read the actual preface to see what it really says, you don't even appear to have read this thread thoroughly...
[This is a quote from the book that you edited out... "Most of the best players in the blues field either specialised in using the instrument to imitate sounds commonly heard in the country - trains, barnyard animals, etc. - or used it to echo the melody...."]
...then you post a fox chase?
Rather than play Chinese Whispers, using J-Sin's post as a 'reference', surely people should be encouraged to read the full preface (runs to several pages, I'm not going to reproduce significant portions of the book to prove that it it exists, buy or borrow a copy if you care....& if you don't care, don't) in order to have an informed opinion?
Point taken, but I believe that my point about Sonny Terry's peculiar genius as expressed on this cut still stands. "Imitate" doesn't begin to do justice to the majesty and inventiveness--the jazz--of this particular performance by Sonny Terry. Nice point, though. And you're quite right: I'd encourage everybody to buy the book, read it in its entirety, and purchase the cut I've referenced.
Sure, the phrase "imitate" doesn't really do the skills of DeFord Bailey, or Sonny Terry full justice, there is obvious skill & complexity in what they do. You have to hear what they're doing to fully appreciate it, not rely solely on the book's preface for a summary of pre-war harp. ---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
SONNY TERRY AND HIS MOUTH HARP (Stinson SLP 55) was recorded in the early 1940s, I believe--"several years" after the 1938 Spirituals to Swing concert, according to the back of the album--and Sonny
This was a 1955 session-get your shit straight.
@5F6H-..."even in Little Walter's early recordings he is not fully formed, but by his mid 20's, he hit his peak"
Those examples I posted sound VERY formed to me-his peak? I really don't think we will ever know.
I met Scott Dirks at Amanadas Rollercoaster-beleive me-he KNOWS his Little Walter history. I guess it really comes down to actually reading the book and getting your facts straight BEFORE posting.
@kudzurunner: Thank you for your creative input! I agree, Sonny Terry transcends that fox-chasing-train-imitating paradigm no matter what the song title is.
@5F6H: Quoting a couple of sentences instead of a whole page surely doesn't put the assertions I'm referring to THAT vulgarly out of context. If a single sentence says "Hitler was born in Kuwait in 1861 and freed the slaves of America as an infant", the following paragraphs will have a hard time verifying that.
I'm still interested in understanding your point of view, so let me ask as clearly as I can: Do you agree with the following excerpt?
"Even among the very best players, a shared trait was the reliance on playing and repeating seldom-changing one- or two-bar patterns, which were established as themes at the beginning of a song and played with little variation throughout the piece. This, at the time, was the language of blues harmonica."
If you do, I guess we just don't agree and that's that. I'm not saying it's this book's job to emphasize prewar styles or praise the early players. I just don't find this passage historically accurate.
Don't you think, like Kudzu said, that "they overstated their case in order to clear ground for their subject" – a trick you are so openly accusing me of?
As with the "ignorance", I might have chosen a wrong expression. I'm sure they are highly educated in harp history, and the book seems to be packed with tremendous amount of details and exciting curiosities. I'm not here to undermine the book, especially as I haven't read through it.
@J-Sin "I'm still interested in understanding your point of view, so let me ask as clearly as I can: Do you agree with the following excerpt? - [Even among the very best players, a shared trait was the reliance on playing and repeating seldom-changing one- or two-bar patterns, which were established as themes at the beginning of a song and played with little variation throughout the piece. This, at the time, was the language of blues harmonica.]"
No, I do not agree with that excerpt. I agree with the whole paragraph that the exerpt comes from and the context of the excerpt within that paragraph & the preface as a whole.
No, I don't think that they overstate the case. Again, I'll ask you to post clips of the harp players you mention, leading the band (not just an acoustic guitar, or piano, or unaccompanied) with the harp, not sticking to rigid 'on the beat' time, not performing repetitions/subtle variations on a melody or phrase, not performing a fox chase/train rhythm etc, not focussing on high end harp playing to get the harp to cut through...but conforming to the fuller description of Little Walter's early 50's style, as covered in the full preface? Yes, it might seem like I'm laying down a lot of conditions, but these are covered in the full preface.
TMF714, I'd say that in the Ludella & Rollin' & Tumblin clips posted, that Little Walter was already supremely competant, just not at the stage where his looser, more swinging style had fully developed (nor had it in early amplified cuts in the July '51 session, with Muddy & Jimmy Rogers), the clips you posted are played much more squarely, time-wise and are not a million miles away from SBW1 & Jazz Gillum concept-wise?
Listen to this guy. Not only it's in 4th position, which seems to be one of the only recordings in that position from the era, it is also absolutely brilliant and stylistically highly unique. Heck, I rarely hear that soulful jazz blues position playing in general!
Another one from the same guy, this one in 1st. Listen to his highly developed tone and understanding of the harp both in lower and upper register. And what a wailing solo!
Scott Dirks has actually written an article about him, so he knows quite a lot about this guy. Quote from Dennis Gruenling's website says: "Louis Myers categorized Rhythm Willie as a 'jazzman', and added that Rhythm Willie 'was one cat [Little] Walter wouldn’t mess with on the harp'!"
I was going to write "not that it was a contest", but it seems that jazz and blues history is full of competition, so who knows.
And who could forget Blues Birdhead, with his almost Armstrong-like ornamentation:
This kind of approach is so far from the barn attics and silver foxes that it almost sounds like a different instrument. These guys make it sound like the instrument had no musical restrictions to begin with. Or what do you think?
@tmf714: I never said that he didn't know Little Walter history, did I?
I totally agree with Cristal's first post. Really who gives a crap! Scott Dirks is really into LW! Thats cool! Nothing wrong with that. Actually thats a good thing! Is everything in his book absolute fact. Probably not. I don't care! I enjoyed the book. It was entertaining. Most of it I'm assuming is true. Again I don't care enough to worry about it. I try to focus my energy on what he left us and not argue about it.
I'm not saying that there is less skill, musical understanding, less uniqueness, or less relevance to the guys in the clips you post, but they seem to me to typify exactly what the preface means? ---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
Okay. Maybe I'm splitting hairs now. But the preface also says, right after the quote in OP: "Influenced as much by horn players as by other harmonica players, and as much by jazz as he was by blues, Little Walter freed the harmonica of THESE customary, if self-imposed, restrictions for the first time."
My emphasis on the word THESE refers to the earlier paragraph about two-bar patterns, little variation, imitations etc.
This means that someone like me searching for information about historical harmonica techniques might, when reading this chapter, get the idea that first there was limited barnyard harp, then Little Walter freed the harp from this "restricting" realm of duck noises and the role of a mere accompanying instrument. Not that anyone should read the LW bio if in search of prewar harp techniques.
everything that scott and tony glover put into their book is probably based on their extensive research that they put into the book-I really enjoyed it as I did the book on howlin` wolf moanin` @ midnight-will read muddy waters cant be satisfied next-3 great musicians who we all owe so much to our enjoyment
@tmf714: Every good scholar prefers two sources to confirm his claims, and I have two for my claim about the date of the recording of Sonny Terry's "Silver Fox Chase" that I refer to above. I have the original album, red vinyl and all. The claim on the back of that album was, as I note above, that the recording was made "several years" after the 1938 Spirituals to Swing concert. But of course the backs of old record albums aren't always trustworthy, and so I found a second source, which you probably should have looked at before you let your blood pressure rise: Document Records. The recording in question, according to Document records, was made between 1944 and 1949. I gave the link to the particular track above, but I'll give it again, this time as the entire album:
Here's a link to an ebay sale page with a photo of the album I've got.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/400229301332
If you want to dispute both Document Records (a company that does pretty careful discographical work) and whomever wrote the liner notes for Stimson Records, that's certainly your prerogative. We'll have a more productive conversation around here if you don't get pissed off quite so quickly, and on such shaky grounds.
EDITED TO ADD: Just to reiterate, I f-ing LOVE the Dirks/Glover bio. :) Nothing that I've written in this thread or any other thread suggests anything to the contrary. Those guys did a magnificent job making clear that contemporary players who think they're celebrating the artistry of Little Walter by hewing closely to the music he made couldn't be further from the take-no-prisoners, kick-down-the-walls spirit in which LW actually made that music. I'll always be indebted to Dirks and Glover for the way in which their careful telling of the LW story makes that clear.
Last Edited by on Dec 13, 2011 11:13 AM
@tmf: The 1953 (not 1955) album, "Sonny Terry and his Mouth Harp," although it shares the title with my Stinson release, isn't the same album. And it doesn't contain "Silver Fox Chase," the track I was referring to. Here's the album I believe you're referring to:
That's not the album I'm talking about, and the fox chase that it contains, although very good, isn't the one I'm talking about.
The track I'm talking about is the one that shows up in the Document collection and it can be previewed and purchased there.
Here's an interesting reference to the album, suggesting that the material on the Sonny Terry album, possibly issued in December 1953, had been recorded earlier by [Moses] Asch, who was of course a noted folklorist--the founder of Folkways, I believe.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/541188
Actually, the trail leads further. According to the information in this link from the Sonny Terry entry in the ALL MUSIC GUIDE TO THE BLUES...
......."there were sessions for Asch and Savoy in 1944...."
Putting two and two together, it appears that the version of "Silver Fox Chase" that I referenced above was recorded in 1944. This claim is strongly supported by all the evidence at hand: the back of the Stinson LP; Document Records; the JSTOR article; and the ALL MUSIC GUIDE TO THE BLUES.
I try to be a responsible scholar, tmf. Scholarship is fun--especially when the results suggest that my initial claim about "Silver Fox Chase" dating from the early 1940s was exactly right.
Last Edited by on Dec 13, 2011 11:25 AM
@kudzurunner- how do you get "Sonny Terry and his Mouth Harp" from "Sonny Terry-Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order"? Yes ,I did mean 1953 session-but the album cover you are refrencing is Sonnys Complete Recorded Works. i am stricly talking the album here-not "Silve Fox Chase". I own the complete discography of Sonny Terry-the fist time Silver Fox shows up is 1952-Stinson 55 -Woody Guthrie,voclas, guitar-Sonny Terry-harmonica. The only recording he did for Stinson included "Dont You Hear Me Callin You Blues","Worried and Lonesome Blues" , "She is a Sweet Woman", "South Bound Express", You Dont Want Me Blues", "Tell me Little Woman", and " Greyhound Bus Blues" -and "Silver Fox Chase"
I love this thread. I would ask the the whole freaking set of paragraphs be posted in sequence, so we can have at it. That being requested, I would not want to fence with AG when it comes to literary interpretations and book references. :)
I've read the book right through. Today I re-read the preface 3 times thinking it would help me understand the various poster's positions. Frankly I'm still completely confused.
