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A couple of traditional tunes
Posted by wsbluesbox
As I explore this old country blues world I have emersed myself in, I keep coming across some great old traditional songs. Some of them I have heard covered by contemporary bands and did not know they were older songs that these musicians had heard and learned, and some I have never heard before.
“Oh Death” I first heard on that great Coen Bros. movie “Oh Brother, where art thou?”. With a peaked interest I typed it into youtube and found a number of versions of it. Ralph Stanley is probably has the most famous version of it (I am pretty sure he performed it for the aforementioned movie). Davis Lindley does a great version of it as well but the one that has stuck with me the most is by a little known multi-instumental named Lauren O’Connel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLkWyuW2JTg
Though my version is nowhere near as good as Laurens, I thought I would sit down and record anyhow.
Recorded in 1947 by Allen Lomax an the Mississippi Parchman Prison by a Labour camp, “Black Woman” is a great example of the work songs of that era.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0LZiTPTsxc
While the original lyrics are about not wanting “no jet black woman”, i felt in this day and age, and considering my caucasian heritage, that I would change the to read “no thick-skinned woman”. It’s a little less offensive. I also strayed a bit from the original tune and noodled around on my Cigar Box Guitar while singing it. I used my recently made “D” guitar in an open E tuning.
Posted in guitars, Music, my guitars, Uncategorized
Tags: 3 string guitar, black woman, blues, bottleneck slide, Cigar box guitar, craig williams, delta blues, field hollar, guitar slide, hand made guitar, instruments, labor song, musical instruments, oh death, slide guitar, three string guitar, traditional song, work song, ws bluesbox