Wednesday, December 24, 2008

What I'm Working On

"Old Mother Logo" from Uncle Buck Williams, Chirps Smith, Bryan Smyth, and Janet Oriatti
"Yellow Barber" from Buddy Thomas, Geoff Seitz and Gerry Milnes
"Rush and the Pepper" again, from Chirps Smith and probably a bunch of other midwesterners I'm not thinking of right now

And I'm eyeing "Fine Times at Our House" from the Hammons Family through Chirps Smith and Rayna Gellert.

Should be enough to keep me busy the next week or so while I'm away from the office (stinkin' day job!) for a holiday.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Old Mother Logo

While playing at the Folk School jam session yesterday, we dredged up a tune that I used to play with Janet Oriatti a lot before children and family began demanding so much of her time. Iam looking forward to a time 18 years from now when Helen and Vince will be all grown up and Janet and I can sit down and play "Old Mother Logo" again.

At any rate, someone called for this tune and while we stumbled through it, I remembered how much I liked playing it. Of course, now I have to learn it all over again since I used to play it on guitar with Janet while she fiddled and these days I'm either fiddling or playing mandolin depending n how my shoulder feels -- better and better all the time, thanks for asking. So I went in search of a recording of the tune to relearn it from and found this gem:


Old Mother Logo


It's the now defunct Yellow Dog String Band from here in St. Louis playing "Old Mother Logo" at the Folk School's 2nd or 3rd annual benefit concert at the Sheldon Auditorium. The band from left to right on your screen is Dave Landreth, Rob White, Bryan Smyth, and Andy Gribble. Yellow Dog was one of the best old time string bands to come out of St. Louis and they are missed.

Anyway, here's the tune for me to relearn it. Hope you enjoy it, too.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Special Request

Played a set at the new space for Craft Alliance over in Grand Center last night. Bill had a real good time.

So, I assume did Colleen and Jim. I know I did.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Bloggity Blog

Okay, so how lame is this...

I'm blogging about someone else's blog. Go there anyway. It's pretty entertaining if you like banjo music. From Mary Z. Cox: http://banjoquest.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Odetta Dead At Seventy-Seven




Though I never met Odetta, her huge voice, her music and her politics were more influential on the way I hear and play music and the way I live my life than I can say. I first encountered this amazing woman, as I did many of my musical heroes, in the Folk Music section of the Webster Groves Public Library. I was probably about eleven years old and was checking out everything I could from that slim selection of LPs; most of them on Vanguard or Smithsonian Folkways. Now remember, this was around 1966 and my parents thought it was strange enough me bringing home records and holing up in my room with the "weird" sounds of Roscoe Holcomb and The New Lost City Ramblers seeping out under the door. When I brought home a collection of folk songs and spirituals with a picture of a black woman (Odetta) on the cover, that was almost more than my poor dad could take. There was a tense moment or two over whether I'd be allowed to play the record in the house.


But, eventually it worked out. I listened to Odetta's big southern voice singing songs and playing the guitar in a distinctive way. And once again it turned my head around and I've never been the same since.


In the NY Times article referenced above, Odetta is quoted as saying, “School taught me how to count and taught me how to put a sentence together. But as far as the human spirit goes, I learned through folk music.” This goes for me, too. And so many people I call friends and have known through the years.


Thanks, Odetta, for being a part of the folk music that shaped so many lives.