Joe Gracey says:
> Wills was very country, almost a primitive in the sense that he was
> unable to improvise a fiddle solo (he had to stick to the melody)...
You betcha. Just check out The Longhorn Recordings, reissued on CD by Bear
Family. "Big Taters In The Sandy Land" (which is very close to "Sally
Ann"), "Mayflower Waltz," "Bill In The Lowground" and a bunch of other good
old fiddle tunes, with just guitar (by Sleepy Johnson(!)), banjo and a touch
of bass. Hardly a trace of jazz ("Beaumont Rag" being the obvious
exception), and not much blues, either - but some great talking in between
numbers.
> ...and
> that he was unable to grasp the concept of equal numbers of bars in
> blues songs....
> (You have heard black blues guys do this; they'll jump from the 1 chord
> to the 4 chord real "early", especially if they are playing solo, rather
> than just sit there on the 1 being boring. It was characteristic of 20's
> and 30s blues especially, I believe because the form had not been
> cemented yet)
You find that with Jimmie Rodgers, too, and in other "primitive" roots
music, like Cajun stuff and old-time fiddle tunes, as well, where beats are
added and dropped.
Jon Weisberger Kenton County, KY [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://home.fuse.net/jonweisberger/
