My first performance of Rawhide...

[Brian Baker]

Well, last night I sat in on mando with a friend's bluegrass band. It was a bar gig, with maybe 20-30 people in the audience.

The banjo player said, "Usually our mando player does Rawhide, you wanna try it?" I don't know what came over me, but I said "sure".

Long story short, we played it, and it came off OK! I didn't blaze through it, but it was pretty quick nonetheless. The breaks were mando, fiddle, banjo, and mando to end it.

Anyhoo, for a brief moment I felt like Bill Monroe! Not that I played it as well as he did, or with anywhere near the variety of licks that most people play... But it was a first for me, and a confidence builder!

Anyone else care to recount their "first Rawhide" experience?

Brian

[AlanN]

just wanna know one thing...did you play the "piercing high break" on yer second solo?

[Darryl Wolfe]

1966 (age 14) in a bar in Middlefield (town?) Ohio. #Jerry Douglas dad..John Douglas and the West Virginia Travelers were the house band behind me. Dad has a tape of it somewhere

[glauber]

My favourite version is with the Blues Brothers.

[blammo]

My favourite version is with the Blues Brothers.

…I knew that emoticon was perfect for something.



My first Rawhide performance was a few years ago in a bar…believe it or not, I had never heard the song, so I had to ask the chord changes. (I'm a bass player, by the way) That middle section seemed like a series of II-V-I's to me, so I figured it would be a good chance to flex my walking chops. About the second time through that part, the fiddle player turned to me & yelled "QUIT PLAYING ALL THOSE NOTES"…so I sheepishly went back to root/fives. So…I kinda felt like I was playing with Bill Monroe. haha

[Dennis Schubert]

Must-learn to entertain the folks...scared to death the first time I kicked it off on a live radio show after playing mando for a year...I plan for my LAST time to be a 2nd encore on my 100th birthday.

[Peter Hackman]

It's been long since I played my version of that number,
and I don't remember the first time.

But I do remember the occasion
in 1969 when me and two friends of mine went to
a club in Alexandria, Virginia, to dig a local group.
The only player I remember was Eugene Cox on bass;
I believe he was the first bass player with the Country Gentlemen.

My friends pushed me to sit in with
the band, and I played the Orange Blossom Special (so
obviously they didn't have a fiddler), and Rawhide.
I didn't make any serious mistakes. On the last
reprise I tried to speed up the way I heard
Monroe do on a Bean Blossom tape. But the group kept
the original tempo. I've always wondered whether
they didn't hear or were just being polite.

[tree]

April 17, 2005 (age 46), Glencairn Garden, Rock Hill, SC. #Breaks were mando, banjo, mando (I wish we HAD a fiddler - I could've used the rest before the second break). I did my version of the "piercing high break" to wind it up, but it was not strictly WSM's version. #It was mine, based on what I could steal from WSM and Skaggs and others. Had to alter some things to make it playable for me. When I get my right hand moving up and down at that speed, I have to just keep plowing on Raw Hide - quick stops and starts just KILL my timing. #Truthfully, it was a milestone in my life that I am proud of - even if it was a bit sloppier than I'd like. I worked harder on learning this tune than anything I've ever done on an instrument. It's pretty fun to have it in my repertoire now.

[Scotti Adams]

[quote=AlanN,Oct. 12 2005, 13:29]just wanna know one thing...did you play the "piercing high break" on yer second solo?...yep..ya gotta have that break..My first solo shot at Raw Hide was in the back field at Bean Blossom around about 1977 with Big Mon eyeing my every note.....Ive got pics of that somewhere. Actually Bill and I played a few tunes together that afternoon..I remember him coming up to me and saying "Boy..you know Bile them Cabbage Down?"...well..then we were off an at'em....he sent some hired hand back to his bus to get his Loar..got to play it too....man...those were the days.

[ShaneJ]

Now, that's a memory Scotti. Cool.

[Brian Baker]

Alas, I didn't do the "high piercing solo" for the 2nd solo...

But hey, I gotta leave something for next time!

Brian

[Scotti Adams]

Now, that's a memory Scotti. #Cool. #

..yea..those were the days..thats fer sure.

[BauerHaus]

I'm just now trying to learn it. Got part of it down, but not up to speed yet. Sigh....maybe one day.....

[Christopher Howard-Williams]

I remember the first time I DIDN'T play it. There was this jam and I brought out my mando (there were no others) and someone said "hey Rawhide" and launched into it. I failed miserably, so I went off and learnt it. Now, I can get through it (with the, no A, high bit) and I feel clean and refreshed

[Darryl Wolfe]

I'm just now trying to learn it. Got part of it down, but not up to speed yet. Sigh....maybe one day.....

Try playing it to speed with what you know...that's what Monroe did. He modified the song as his abilities changed.

[BauerHaus]

Try playing it to speed with what you know...that's what Monroe did. #He modified the song as his abilities changed.[/quote]
I noticed that. Been listening to some early versions, and then later versions, and he DID change some things quite a bit in the later years.
Thanks. #

[Peter Hackman]

I'm just now trying to learn it. Got part of it down, but not up to speed yet. Sigh....maybe one day.....

Try playing it to speed with what you know...that's what Monroe did. He modified the song as his abilities changed.

I always found his live recordings of that tune
disappointing.

Incidentally, someone (Grisman?) transcribed
Monroe's Decca version in Frets magazine way back,
including the high section. According to that transcription
Monroe throws in some very odd notes on the open strings
there.

[Spencer]

Not the first time, but the most memorable was over at Bean Blossom, somewhere around 1974 or 5, in a jam with Tom Adler, I think it was, over East of the barn. I had only been playing a year or so. We finished playing it, I looked up and there was the man hisself. Gulp. Well, at least he didn't throw rocks at me. Wonder what he was thinking? You couldn't tell from his face.

Best "straight" version I ever heard is Nate Bray's recording. Like Bill played it, only clean as a whistle.

Spencer