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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Solo players? and rambling thoughts on busking
Solo players? and rambling thoughts on busking
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bandini
39 posts
Jul 19, 2026
8:18 AM
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So, after a few years of pretty heavy woodshedding in private I've spent the last few months playing solo on the street, mainly in New Orleans, and I now realize I should have started doing this a few years ago.
There's simply no comparison between the rate of progression one experiences playing alone in one's room and the rate of progression one experiences playing in front of people. I've come to realize that is why musicians seldom move me these days - it isn't because they aren't skilled, it's because they are not communicating, they are monologuing... and communication can only be practiced in relationship, by playing in front of an audience, which is of course far more difficult these days.
Many important technical things need privacy for the immense repetition required for mastery. But when we play too much to backing tracks, staring at ourselves in our laptop screens, arguing on the internet about technique, our music often develops a masturbatory quality that simply doesn't move people.
So, given the fairly uninspiring club scene, it seemed logical to me to just take it to the streets, which is kinda where I started as a young harp player back in the early 90s. To my amazement, the rich street music scene I remember from back then has vanished in New Orleans. There's hardly anyone doing it, which is puzzling to me.
Anyway, in the course of sharpening my skills out there, I've started looking around for other examples of unaccompanied solo harmonica that is NOT of the fox chase/Sonny Terry/Train sounds genre but rather a more fluid, melodic improvisational flow that maintains a groove and tells a story, and without backing instruments of any kind.
Surprisingly, such examples are pretty rare. Our own Mr. Gussow has offered me plenty of inspiration, tho of course he typically uses his foot stomp percussion thing (which sounds dope btw). Deak Harp and several others are very effective solo acts but I haven't heard any of them just solo unaccompanied - tho I don't doubt they could do it great.
Jason Ricci has some busking-related videos on his channel of him just jamming away solo while walking the streets (my New Orleans neighbor:)). And I've found some cool examples on youtube of William Clarke solo on chromatic, which have been super inspiring even tho I don't play the big harp; his groove all alone is just monstrous.
I've witnessed Kim Wilson do solo unaccompanied playing that was absolutely mind blowing many many times over the years. Piazza always closed his set with that "walking on the bar" thing where all the band members dropped out and he just wailed away doing endless improvisations with perfect groove while stepping over people's drinks - that shit was insane.
Estrin of course has a gigantic solo groove - most of that generation did. One things I've definitely found inspirational is this "low blows for ida" record which is a Hurrican Relief benefit project featuring a bunch of solo unaccompanied harp, some of which grooves and some of which don't.:)
Anyone else have any examples that come to mind of solo unaccompanied harp that knocks you out?
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TetonJohn
455 posts
Jul 19, 2026
5:49 PM
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I used to play solo at the Jackson Hole Hootenanny for many years. I quickly realized that it is very hard (for me anyway) to hold audience interest, especially over time, with purely instrumental playing.
I never considered myself a singer, but took the leap and came to really enjoy it and to engage the audience based on the lyrics and their delivery (hamming it up a bit, eye contact, playing the character) Turns out, playing/singing songs that I loved, and introducing people to them, turned out to be much fun and ofter apprecited.
A good example: Sonny and Brownie's "Walkin' My Blues Away" -- clever lyrics, not hard to sing, and you can come up with your own verses that fit the context, such as:
There's just one thing people,
that really gives me the blues:
When I have to shop in Jackson Hole
for a brand new pair of shoes.
So I keep walking -- all the way to Idaho Falls.
I know the sun's gonna shine in my backdoor someday.
I know this isn't what you were asking, but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway.
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