Message Board Archive: Thread Number 28

Ari, could you describe what led you to the style of music you now play,
and what pieces you learned that provided the entre into that style of
music?

Jeff Edwards

Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 22:18:28 -0400
From: ari@secondmind.com (Ari Eisinger)
Subject: My entree
Message Number: 28.2

I seem to meet many people who tell me they got into the early blues
through listening to music that came later. Some of these people say
they listened to electric blues or rock and found themselves digging
back to find the predecessors to the music they knew. For me it was
different--I didn't come to the early blues styles that way at all. I
was fortunate enough to have had great guitar teachers when I was
growing up who turned me onto this music when I was a teenager. This
meant I _started_ with the early stuff rather than working my way back
to it from contemporary musical styles.
The first teacher I had who played alot of the old recordings for me was
Bob Zaidman, a guitarist who was then teaching at the Guitar Study
Center in New York.
Once I started to listen to the records of the early blues players whom
my teachers were recommending to me, I began to buy more and more of
them on my own. It was pretty easy to know which ones to buy: I just
kept buying albums on the Yazoo label and some of the stuff from the
'20s and '30s on the Biograph label. (Today the Document label is a
treasure trove too.)
While I was buying all these records and listening to more and more of
this stuff, something else was happening to me: my guitar lessons were
helping me develop my ear. I was increasingly able to hear for myself
alot of what was going on on the records I was buying, so I started
learning more and more of the music directly from the records without
needing the support of my teachers as much. (Now I use the records
exclusively and give guitar lessons myself.)
Well, this is _how_ I got into the early blues. As to _why_ I'm into
it...this kind of thing is almost impossible to express, I find. I'll
just say it's some of the greatest, most feelingful guitar playing and
singing ever recorded. Another reason it's a joy to play is that it's a
self-contained style requiring no other musicians to get it to sound the
way it should. Because of this, I can play it just the way I want to. (I
don't have to worry about whether the other members of the band disagree
with me about how it should sound since there aren't any other band
members!) But again, as to why I love this great music, that's quite
difficult to express fully. If you listen to the blues from the 1920s
and 1930s, you'll understand. People like Blind Blake, Blind Lemon
Jefferson, Rev. Gary Davis, Willie Walker and Memphis Minnie just can't
be beat! They were incredible virtuosi who produced not just hot licks,
but really wonderful music.
I hope this is the kind of answer you were looking for. Thanks for
asking.
How did the rest of you get interested in acoustic blues? Most people
don't even know what it is, but there are also many avid fans, and all
of them managed somehow to find out about it in spite of its relative
obscurity.

Date: Tue, 2 Sep 1997 07:21:03 -0400
From: rob@hub.org (Rob Hutten)
Subject: My entree
Message Number: 28.2.1

Ari wrote: > How did the rest of you get interested in acoustic blues?

Predictably, I guess, my introduction to blues was through Stevie Ray
Vaughan. From there to Buddy Guy and Hendrix, then to Muddy, Wolf etc
and finally to Son House, my first real introduction to acoustic blues.
I've pretty much left the electric players behind now, and have become
what some would disparagingly call a purist :-) The more I listen to
this old music, the greater becomes my interest in the time and place
that brought it forth. I've become a bit of an amature researcher/writer
on the subject, with a couple articles published in Blues & Rhythm and
the longest-running blues site on the web. If I could support myself
playing, writing about and talking about early blues music, I'd be a
happy man. I value this music as much as anything in my life, outside of
my family and friends.

-Rob

Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 09:54:00 -0400
From: scotthertzog@juno.com (Scott_Hertzog_in_Alexandria_VA)
Subject: Note: MY Entree
Message Number: 28.2.2

I got into acoustic blues from Doc Watson, a bluegrasser who plays John
Hurt's "Spike Driver Blues", among other country blues, pretty faithful
to original style. He stated that his favorite was John Hurt.

That, and I saw Tom Paxton at Borders, Pentagon City (where I met Ari,
and helped him with his sound mix!), and Tom Paxton mentioned John Hurt
and said, "If you can only afford one CD today, buy Mississipi John
Hurt's 1928 Sessions - you can get mine later(!)" I bought his (Even A
Grey Day) AND 1928 Sessions, for which I am eternally grateful to Tom
Paxton!!!

I am now a MJH/Rev.Gary Davis/JohnJackson(local hero!) fanatic, starting
to learn to play some of this wonderful stuff!

As a sidenote, I found Doc Watson by getting bored with
top-40/alternative rock radio and scanned down to 88.5fm to find WAMU,
which plays 3 hours of Bluegrass at 3-6pm.

Now, I am also into old-time banjo, e.g. Fred Cockerham, Ola Belle Reed,
who are on Rounder's EasyDisc release of "Blue Ribbon Banjo". I think if
you like M. John Hurt or Rev. Gary Davis, you'll love Ola Belle Reed's
"Boat's Up The River" on said CD - it's simple and soulful!

Scott

Thanks again for the board, Ari! (Hurry back to DC!)

Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 05:18:25 -0500
From: Owner-HyperNews@ComCAT.COM (Kent)
Subject: Note: A hello to Ari from Fort Wayne Indiana
Message Number: 28.3

Hello Ari. Name is Kent. I met you in Norfolk Virginia bout' eight years
ago. You played at Bob Zentz's folk, instrument and music store Rmblin'
Conrad's. I worked there. living in Indiana now, Fort Wayne to be exact,
not a blues mecca. Have becone legally blind but if anything this has
improved my focus on blues guitar playing. studying in college to be a
music therapist. forming a group consisting of a female singer, a violin
player and me on acoustic guitar and banjo. we a re starting off with
some standards like Ain't Missbehavin', Nobody's Sweetheart, Summertime,
etc. Also plenty of Robert Jonhnson tunes ala Rory Block style, I Know
you Rider in a diffrent key than Jorma, alot of things that John Hammond
does and even trying to lift some Paul Geremia pieces.

Thanks for being one of my acoustic/country blues educators. at the time
I met you I was still searching for character and direction in my guitar
playing and you helped contribute to that by performing some great tunes
and providing a couple of tips. I conform to the description of one who
came to the blues via more modern music and searching for the roots.

By the way, Music Therqapy is partially a Music degree and thus
administerd by the Music Department. Thus I must have a concentration on
some instrument and that of course is guitar. THEY ONLY OFFER CLASSICAL
GUITQR AS A CONCENTRATION !!! Makes me feel like a baby on guitar again.
and....no bounce... very frustrating. I Don't visualize myself as a
classical guitarist. And Then when I practice.....no Blues songs or
folk.....no fun....but not that bad. Still there dosn't seem to be much
respect for acoustic blues guitar playing in the department...except
maybe by the students. Very many times when I tell someone I play mostly
blues they say "the blues hhmm I'd like to learn how to play blues".
Can't play blues??!! Kind of long hmm. Thanks Kent

Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 20:51:44 -0500
From: ari@secondmind.com (Ari Eisinger)
Subject: Feedback: Re: A hello to Ari from Fort Wayne Indiana
Message Number: 28.3.1

Great to hear from you, Kent. If you send me your email address, I'll
reply at length. I'm ari@secondmind.com.
Thanks for writing.

Date: Wed, 26 Nov 1997 08:23:00 -0500
From: jvtdc@electro-net.com (DocJohn)
Subject: my entre'
Message Number: 28.4

In high school I picked up the fiddle and chased old-time players around
to learn how. I remember one great Western Carolina fiddler, Harry Cagle
who always was very warm and inviting and showed me several tunes. I
wasn't interested in bluegrass as much as I was the old style of
playing. This took me to old ballad singers and I eventually discovered
the Child Ballads. A collection of Irish Ballads collected by a guy
named Child. It is amazing how many songs we are familiar with are
collected in some form in these books. I remember sitting in the library
at Western Carolina University with these huge books open, pouring
through the music. That area was in the 70's a great place to discover
old-time music as there still were old singers and performers who
weren't too far removed from the turn-of -the-century immigrants.

Meanwhile, I lost interest in fiddle, started finger picking guitar and
immersed myself in old blues. At some point, late at night listening to
Fred McDowell, Blind Blake, Willie McTell, Black Ace, Mance Lipscomb...I
realized that this type of music is what spoke to me and made me feel
complete. I never really cared for pop music of any form and couldn't
tell you the name of any Stevie Ray Vaughn song. I am more open now than
I used to be, thanks to the steady influence from my wife. She has
become knowledgable about old blues, in turn.

I once took a job for a library copying the library of congress
recordings from vinyl to cassette. The library wouldn't let you take the
album out but you could take the cassette. It took a year to copy all
the albums. I listened to everything from ancient recordings of native
americans to ballad singers to prison work songs. In my opinion that
collection is a great representation of American music. Some was great,
some wasn't so great but all of it represented someone's heart and soul
and touched me.

This is kinda long, but it's how I came to love the old stuff.

john