Country Blues

Had another go at the Dock Boggs tune Country Blues. It's in double C tuning (C Maj?) which I've been using for Spanish Lady. I wasn't very happy with playing the verses so this time I just damped the strings and it gives it a more rhythmic feel.

Country Blues

Thought I'd have ago while the flu has given me a deep grumble - also an American accent which is odd!

Country Blues
Dock Boggs (Traditional)

Come all you good time people,
While I've got money to spend,
Tomorrow might be Monday
And I'll neither have a dollar nor a friend.

When I had plenty of money, good people,
My friends were all standing around,
Just as soon as my pocket book was empty,
Not a friend on earth to be found.

Last time I seen my little woman, good people,
She had a wine glass in her hand;
She was drinking down her troubles
With a low-down sorry man.

Oh, my daddy taught me a-plenty, good people;
My mama, she taught me more.
If I didn't quit my rowdy ways,
Have trouble at my door.

I wrote my woman a letter, good people;
I told her I's in jail.
She wrote me back an answer
Saying "Honey, I'm a-coming to go your bail."

All around this old jailhouse is haunted, good people;
Forty dollars won't pay my fine.
Corn whisky has surrounded my body, poor boy,
Pretty women is a-troubling my mind.

Give me corn bread when I'm hungry, good people;
Corn whiskey when I'm dry;
Pretty women a-standing around me;
Sweet heaven when I die.

If I'd a-listened to my mama, good people,
I wouldn't have been here today;
But a-drinking and a-shooting and a-gambling,
At home I cannot stay.

Go dig a hole in the meadow, good people,
Go did a hole in the ground.
Come around all you good people
And see this poor rounder go down.

When I am dead and buried
My pale face turned to the sun,
You can come around and mourn, little woman,
And think the way you have done.

Country Blues

Felt a lot better today, and spent a few hours with the Dock Boggs 'Country Blues' tune, and I think I've nearly cracked it. This is a snippet of Dock's version that he recorded for Smithsonian Folkways in the 60s as the 20s version is poor sound quality.

The Treble C tuning, if that's what it's called, has a weired, bluesy, mountain feel to it. Although, to be totally authentic you'd have to match the DB picking and strumming action, which is just too difficult for me to copy.

Mike Seeger made a real good attempt on his 'Southern Banjo Sounds' album, which is a masterpiece in it's own right - that fella's gonna be missed.

Country Blues

Country Blues

I haven't tried any alternative tunings on the banjo yet, but Stephen's tab for Dock Boggs' Country Blues, which he posted on Tangier Sound, has inspired me to give it a try. I get a bit fed up of some banjo players who are constantly re-tuning, but Stephens's tab sounds great and as it is related to one of the tunes that got me wanting to play the banjo, I thought I'd give it a try. The tab is set out for gCGCC which must be Treble C (or something weird), or Double C tuning gCGCD.

Been a bit sick the last couple of days, so the audio version will follow soon. Until then here's Stephen and Jim Pankey doing 'Country Blues'.

Heroes - Dock Boggs

Initially, what got me into banjo was the idea of the bluegrass picker blazing away on those intricate rolls, but as I started to look at the history of the instrument more closely I came to feel that there was lot more to the story, and that the different styles of playing that evolved reflect the history and politics of America as it developed a unique and vibrant culture of its own through the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

For me, one musician represents what I love about both banjo and American music - Dock Boggs. He's virtually unknown in the UK but his music has a fascinating hybrid quality which sets him apart. His recordings from the 1920s are a combination of old-time folk songs and early blues and have a driving rhythm which feels distinctive and unique. Boggs only recorded about twenty tracks in the 1920s before the Great Depression finished his recording career and sent back to the mines, where he stayed until he was rediscovered by Mike Seeger in the 1960s. He rerecorded a lot of his old songs and a load of folk standards for Folkways Records and you can download both his old and new stuff from Smithsonian Folkways - see the links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dock_Boggs
http://www.folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=313
http://www.oldtimeherald.org/archive/back_issues/volume-6/6-5/dock-boggs.html

This is Jim Pankey playing a great clawhammer version of Country Blues