Old Time Music (more)

I remember reading an article about the fact that a musician listens to music 'differently' from other people and that even musicians differ if they are listening to a piece which features 'their instrument': the example given was a trumpet player listening to a trumpet concerto. I couldn't find that article, but this link explores similar themes: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/arts/music/31thom.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5070&en=d43df0d955119e0c&ex=1184904000

Listening to old time music affects the brain similarly, especially listening to 'source' music that was originally on 78s. As you listen more you start hearing the 'music' and not the limited acoustics of the medium. You also start hearing it differently from some one who is not familiar with this type of music.

Many of the songs that I've learned I heard originally from a 'secondary' source. In the last couple years I've started to listen to more original sources and often can compare several newer and older versions of the same songs. On a Troublesome Creek CD, a group we heard at last year's Winter Bluegrass Weekend, they list the group they originally heard do a song and the 'older' source. I'll do something similar with a few songs that Lynn and I perform. (Future CD liner notes?)

My Old Cottage Home: I learned this originally from Big Medicine (from the CD Too Old to be Controlled). On their version, the lead is sung by LaNelle Davis, their bass player at the time. I switched the key to G to fit my vocal range with Lynn and I singing 'full' duet on both voice and chorus. I also have the Carter family version and a 78 version on MP3 by John McGhee. (An aside, I saw Big Medicine again with a new bass player, and with a male vocalist, they were now singing it in G - the chorus as I recall is closer to John McGhee's version). I recently listened to all of the versions I had and also the one we did for our demo CD: on the demo we're doing it slower than any other version, although we've currently upped the tempo a bit. I also developed a Carter-style break and intro which I do in a low and higher octave. (This is one of the reasons I think I started doing - in G, the melody fits on the low strings in standard tuning - many of the 'low' breaks that Maybelle does are on a low-tuned guitar (1 to 1&1/2 steps lower than standard)). On Big Medicine's version, they feature mandolin, John McGhee's version features the fiddle and on the Carter Family version, AP is singing the lead and it sounds like Maybelle is doing finger style guitar. I know that if I had just heard the Carter Family version, I probably wouldn't have learned the song. I'm not a reconstructionist per se, and almost every song that I learn has something in it that appeals to me in a 'present-day' sort of way. I first heard this song when my mother was in a nursing home with Alzheimer's so the 2nd verse (with a reference to 'my mothers prayers') probably influenced my deciding to learn it. She died a year and a half ago so the 3rd verse also resonates ('one-by-one they have left that old cottage home'). We did it most recently in our South Dakota concert after paying a visit to my grandparents 'cottage home' in Twin Brooks, SD. In any event, the way Lynn and I currently do My Old Cottage Home differs considerably from Big Medicine's version as well as from the 'original' sources.

Lonesome Pine Special: I heard this first on a Hazel Dickens LP from the '70's on which she had two different 'bands' accompany her - one was a traditional country band, the other was Norman and Nancy Blake during their Rising Fawn String Band Period (sort of Baroque old time). The original appeal was partly Norman's rolling guitar breaks and the kind of sound they provided. Unfortunately, he was doing it in G position (key of B-flat) which suited Hazel's range, but not mine. Even open G was a bit high, so I ended up doing it in the key of F playing in C position with the capo on the 5th fret (Lynn plays in D with Capo on 3rd fret). This is case where the 'tune' has just as much appeal as the words, although since we were learning it during the 2004 election, some of our political friends turned the chorus "take me back to Texas" to 'send him back to Texas". I have also heard the original Carter family do this, but I haven't spent much time to listening to either version since I first learned it. Lynn and I sing full duet-mode for the verses and chorus and our current tempo is considerably faster than Hazel's version. Lynn has also worked out some neat bass runs (this is on our demo CD and myspace page so take a listen). We like it as an set opener and we've also used it for the duet contest.


Ain't Gonna Work Tomorrow: This is a Carter family song which I learned from the original Carter family version. I changed the arrangement slightly to use the title verse as the chorus (this is the last verse of the original). The last time I heard Foghorn play, they had added this to their repertoire, but I don't think they've recorded it yet (there version is different from ours, but they do have 'ain't gonna work' as a chorus). I learned the song because it matches my career goal (i.e. to retire or quit the day job). Although, Lynn points out that this guy who has 'lost the girl' is only gonna miss a day or two of work. I'm not too familiar with other versions, although I've heard at least one 'happy days' version on the radio where the guy's gonna miss work because he's getting 'married', not because the girl has 'gone and turned her back on me'. One of the things that I like about our version is that the guitar breaks I do are pretty close to old-time guitar bass runs. This is another one where Lynn and I do full duet treatment through-out and it is up-tempo so we can use it as a 'break' from some of our slower tunes.


Since Lynn and I are often singing to audiences that are not 'old time audiences', I like the fact that our treatment of an old time song seems to connect with people with different musical backgrounds. Like other groups, the Bob-i-Lynn band has a certain sound. If I hear a tune and especially a song from an band that I'm familiar with, I can usually identify the band even if I haven't heard the song before. This is true for contemporary old time bands such as Foghorn or Uncle Earl or some earlier groups like the Carter Family, Charlie Poole or the Delmore Brothers.

I'm probably too ADD to ever learn a guitar break or song exactly as it is played, although I do a number of things that are pretty close. Any song that I end up learning is something that I know I'm going to have to 'practice' dozens if not hundreds of times, so if it ends up in the repertoire it's gonna be something that I personally like a lot - there are many, many songs that I've started to learn that just don't hold up. Once I learn a song, I usually don't go back to compare it to the original - and when I do hear the original, I am always struck by how different our version has become.