Set lists for Dulono's gig on Jan 4th, 2008

Lynn and I are starting the new year with our first full-time appearance at Dulono's Pizza, one of the longest-running Bluegrass/Old Time Venues in the US. We've played a number of 45 minutes sets at Dulono's for MBOTMA fund raisers, but this is the first time we've done the full evening (8pm to Midnight). We started with a list of over 50 songs and tunes that were 'performable', then whittled it down to 3 sets of 14 (42 total). From past experience, each set should last an hour or a bit more: with breaks, we should fill out the evening. If we need a 4th short set, we might repeat a few songs ;-).

After the duet contest just before Labor Day, I started learning new songs. Lynn and I have been working on these and we will be performing six new songs: East Virginia Blues, The Baltimore Fire, If I Lose - Let me Lose, Bear Creek Blue, The Story of the Mighty Mississippi, and You've Been That Friend to Me.

We'll also be doing more 'tunes' than usual (2 or 3 each set). These include:

Babbington's hornpipe: this is one of the first fiddle tune that I wrote - Danebodium has played it as schottische and it's performed by a few other folk bands. We're doing it with mandolin and guitar.

Swallowtail/HundredPipers: a jig medley that we play with folk bands - here with mando & fiddle. We're also planning to do a couple of other mando-fiddle tunes we've done before: Muddy Creek and Spotted Pony.

Other tunes include a couple of Swedish tunes with Lynn on fiddle and a couple of Guitar Flatpicking tunes (which we performed at the LCO Casino Lounge last summer).

This gig also gives a chance to perform some cover songs that we usually don't do at a MBOTMA set -- old-timey sounding songs by Gillian Welch and Norman Blake. Lynn is also bringing her 'A' tuned fiddle, so we're able to do Handsome Molly medleyed with Liza Jane and Poor Ellen Smith. Another rare treat (according to some): four songs with 12 string guitar.

Some notes on the brand new songs:

East Virginia Blues: I have at least a half dozen versions of this. We've pretty much settled on the Stanley Brothers version recorded in 1956 (released in a recent CD: An Evening Long Ago). This is a YAFSWTV (yet another folk song with transferable verses) and the Stanley brothers version is more distilled than most (i.e. fewer verses to learn). I'd been kicking this around for a while, trying to come up with a way to do it with mandolin; however, after hearing the Carter Family version, we're now going with two guitars with Carter Family style instrumental breaks. We're singing full duet on all the verses so it is a candidate for the duet contest. According to one source the roots of this song go back to 17th century England - the title was probably different: East Gloucestershire Blues?

Baltimore Fire: a Charlie Poole Song. Lyle Lofgren, who writes for MBOTMA's Inside Bluegrass & the Old Time Herald (& probably more), has a discussion of the song here: http://www.lizlyle.lofgrens.org/RmOlSngs/RTOS-BaltimoreFire.html .
This is a song in our 'falling/failing infrastructure series': I was transferring it from LP to MP3 shortly after the 35W bridge collapse - the following from the Wikepedia article added contemporary relevance:

One reason for the fire's duration was the lack of national standards in fire-fighting equipment. Although fire engines from nearby cities (such as Philadelphia and Washington, as well as units from New York City, Wilmington, and Atlantic City) responded, many were useless because their hose couplings failed to fit Baltimore hydrants. As a result, the fire burned over 30 hours, destroying 1,526 buildings spanning 70 city blocks.

If I Lose, Let me Lose: another song from Charlie Poole. After hearing Adam Kiesling of the Mill City Ramblers do 'Battleship of Maine', we realized that some of the verses are shared ('The boys was fighting the Spaniards while I was fighting gnats', etc). The fact that the two songs share the same 'root' source is confirmed in the notes to songs in a book I recently read: RAMBLING BLUES: THE LIFE & SONGS OF CHARLIE POOLE by Kinney Rorrer. We're singing this in the Key of D with two guitars (Bob=capo 2nd fret, Lynn=open).

You've Been That Friend To Me: this is a Carter family song that quite a few people do, although the only other recorded version I have is Pop Wagner's. Hearing the original Carter Family version got me thinking of doing it: we're following their version fairly closely, even to the point of keeping it in the same key, F ( Sara Carter's range is similar to mine on many of their songs). We use two guitars, I'm playing in C position on the 5th fret, Lynn is in D on the 3rd fret.

Bear Creek Blues: another Carter Family song for which I have several versions, but it was hearing the Carter Family do it that brought it into the 'Songs to Learn' category. I'm patterning our treatment after the original Carter version: of the other versions I have, Big Medicine take on it comes closest. We are keeping it in the key of E (same key used by Big Medicine), but I'm currently playing the lead part with the Capo on the 4th fret (C-position). Big Medicine plays it in open E; I'm guessing the Maybelle might be playing a low tuned guitar in G position, although she could be in open E.

The Mighty Mississippi: From a book on the Carter Family, I learned that this was a topical song written 'to order' on the 1927 Mississippi flood, sung (but not written) by Ernest Stoneman. The version I learned is from Mike Seeger with Autoharp. I play the 12 String (tuned in F) while Lynn is playing in D position with her guitar capoed to the 3rd fret. This is another song in our 'infrastructure series'.

Varities of Musical Experience (conclusions)

When I started this series of posts on the Varieties of Musical Experiences, I was hoping to provide a profound insight or two similar to what I imagine William James did in Varieties of Religious Experience (as you recall, I haven't actually read his work). However, the mere task of cataloging the different experiences I've had as a listener or performer has taken far more blog-space than I had initially thought; thus, the profound insights will just have to be inferred.

I was reminded that musical experiences vary when Lynn and I got our first chance to see the St. Olaf Christmas concert 'live'. (Our friend Steve is a St. Olaf grad and we were Steve and Sally's guest). At most old time and bluegrass performances, I'm very intrigued with 'performance practices' and how I might apply them; however, at St. Olaf, I was struck by the logistics of coordinating a full symphony orchestra and up to 500 voices and spend most of the time just enjoying th music. I was also thinking that every year, over 100 singers are 'released' into (mostly) Minnesota to populate church choirs and choral groups. This article in the paper the next day confirmed this: http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/11945421.html.

In addition to searching for 'profound' insights, I also began this series with the hope of finding some common threads within my personal musical experiences. Here's a few:

• I've been involved with music as a listener and performer for as long as I can remember, and it appears to be one of my basic 'needs'.
• Although I listen to music a lot, my best experiences have been with 'live' music, mostly acoustic. (Although, those Carleton Dances with the Night Crawlers are high on the list)
• I tend to gravitate toward 'folk' music although I appreciate and enjoy classical and some 'popular' forms
• For live music, give me a small venue like the Cedar or a coffee shop rather than XCel or the the Target centers.

As a performer, it's been only recently that I consider myself a 'real musician'; however, I've really been a musician-in-training for all my life. Although I have lots of fun playing for dances and enjoy all of my performance opportunities, currently my main focus is on performing with Lynn in a duet setting. We are meeting with Daniel later this week to discuss a 'real' recording of the bob-i-lynn band so I will eventually be able to add 'recording a CD' to my list of musical experiences. Stay tuned.