Norman Blake Interview

[Mark Gunter]

At The Bluegrass Situation, End of the Road: A Conversation With Norman Blake

http://www.thebluegrasssituation.com/read/end-road-conversation-norman-blake

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When several of his prized vintage axes went up for sale this year it made me wonder if he was about to slow down even more. In this interview, Norman is saying that he really doesn't relish playing in public - ever again.

[Mark Miller]

Norman Blake is a treasure. I would love to see him live. But isn't he nearly 80 years old? I don't blame him if he doesn't want to drive around playing for people any more. I just wish him peace and happiness. I know he has brought a lot of joy to me. Great interview. Thanks for posting.

[Mark Gunter]

Norman Blake is a treasure. I would love to see him live. But isn't he nearly 80 years old? I don't blame him if he doesn't want to drive around playing for people any more. I just wish him peace and happiness. I know he has brought a lot of joy to me. Great interview. Thanks for posting.

Agreed. Love Norman and Nancy, don't care if I ever see him perform live, sure would be nice to sit on a porch and pick with him though :)

[JH Murray]

I listened to the album on itunes. Good songwriting and playing but his voice is definitely done. Then again his voice still sounds better than Leonard Cohen's last few albums did.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Norman Blake sure has earned his rest. Over the years he's been one of the most prolific 'acoustic musicians' around. Strangley,i first heard him when he was part of the fairly short lived Bluegrass band ''Red,White & Bluegrass'', along with Grant & Ginger Boatwright,Dale Whitcomb,Dave Sebolt. Norman played mandolin,mandocello,dobro & guitar on it. Here's a track,
Ivan
PS - I picked up both R,W & BG LP's many years back for £0.75 ($0.94 US) each.

https://youtu.be/bFN3a454vRI

Here's a link to a few more tunes from the same album :- https://youtu.be/XrwgNwTsngQ

[John Soper]

Ivan: That was one of my favorite albums back in its time. I think I still have it on cassette... now if I can only find the surviving boombox with a cassette player in it, I'll be set.

[Fretbear]

Blake's "Natasha's Waltz" is often mentioned. That was the CD re-issue of his mandolin (and mandolin family) vinyl album "Original Underground Music From the Mysterious South." As a Blake fan, I still remember the day I bought it (the picture on the cover alone made it worth having)
But it wasn't my favourite recording of his.
That honour goes to one of the finest American acoustic music masterpieces ever recorded, "Directions"
I remember buying that LP as well, in a record store cut out bin with a small hole punched out of in its upper corner, which used to be record store code for "get it out of here."
I know for a fact I never saw it again, as I would have bought every copy available.
That record changed my life, I listened to it in it's entirety thousands of times.

Thank you Norman for a life dedicated to music.

"I been the East, I been to the West, I travelled this world around
I'm going on back to Georgia, to make my last go round
And it's a hard road, I've travelled on"

"Someday I'll write my travels down, in a big old book
But now I'm a-going back to my home, down in Johnson's Crook
And it's a hard road, I've travelled on"

"Listen to me good people now, we're all in a hell of a fix
I got the same old blues in '78, that I had in '76
And it's a hard road, I've travelled on"

"76 Blues + 2"
Norman Lee Blake

[Fretbear]

HIGHLAND LIGHT
Norman Blake

1. All up and down the Blue Ridge Mountain chain they're strippin' coal,
Sellin' it across the sea to Japan, so I'm told.
See the mighty wheels of progress turn and the lanes of commerce run.
A cornucopia of junk it flows from the land of the rising sun.

2. All across this mighty country, friend, the oak trees turn to gold,
But we can't afford our timber; we cannot buy our coal,
'Cause the foreigners want houses, lifestyles like ours they see,
So we trade our own resources for transistorized TV's

3. So get on board the Highland Light, train of my fantasy,
And ride to hell or glory makes no never mind to me.
This train she's not crowded and the ticket there is free,
But it's a long hot dusty ride backwards to 1933.

4. Some say that the great invention of all time, it was the wheel
Is progress really the automobile?
In materialistic slavery, kind friends now we must toil
As we bow down to the idealistic god of Arab oil

5. And way down in Alabama, on the old Brown's Ferry shore,
The TVA nuclear reactor sits like a child of war,
Just sending out the kilowatts down the girdered peak-flow lines,
A detriment to society and a threat to all mankind.

[montana]

I agree if you are old enough to collect SS and Medicare you don,t need to be playing bar gigs. Let the next generation play them.

[UsuallyPickin]

Thank you Norman Blake for the lifetime of fine music you have made and the entertainment that came with it. I ordered this recording this am and look forward to your words and music. Fare thee well..... enjoy the porch. R/

[JAK]

"Never say never."

[goose 2]

Norman is such an influence musically to me. He is a big reason why I play. I also think that his music is bigger than the notes he has played. His music represents a muse that speaks to me in an abstract world view sort of way. Hard to explain that but Norman And Nancy you have meant very much to me over the 25 years that I have been listening to you. Thank you for the music and I am thankful that you always did it your own way,,

[Fretbear]

I also think that his music is bigger than the notes he has played. His music represents a muse that speaks to me in an abstract world view sort of way.

In the field of recorded American acoustic music, Blake is as important a figure as there is.
When Scotty Moore passed away recently, there was no mention of it in the news. Considering that he wrote the book on rock and roll guitar, and how popular that music became, one wants to say that America has forgotten it's heroes, but the sad fact is, they mostly never knew of them to begin with.

[Ivan Kelsall]

John - The link i gave to the YouTube songs is downloadable & it's the full LP. If you use Firefox at all,it's a breeze to download. There's an add-on for FF :- ''Download YouTube Videos As MP4's''. If you use that,when you open YT up,there's a 'download' arrow to click on underneathe the clip. Click on it to download it, & it'll save it to a folder on your PC. Once you've done that,you can either use the MP4 on your pC,or, using ''Switch Sound File Converter'' (Freeware) convert it either to MP3 or wav format. Burn the wav files onto CD & you've got a full CD. As the LPs are out of print & there are no CD's to buy,you're not depriving the artistes of any cash,the record companies have already done that by NOT putting the recordings onto CD as with possibly 100's of other classic Bluegrass song/tunes,:(
Ivan;)

[Mark Gunter]

Ivan, John - LP available here: https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/2601000?ev=rb

MP3 available here: https://www.amazon.com/Red-White-Blue-Grass-Guaranteed/dp/B00000JV5T

[T.D.Nydn]

Norman Blake was huge influence on my picking..I'll always stick up for him,,the album was " back at home in sulphur springs"..

[almeriastrings]

He was amazing live on stage. I once got to see him in an extended flatpicking jam with Doc Watson and Dan Crary... oh, and a very young Mark O'Connor! Earlier, Norman and Nancy (complete with 'cello) and John Hartford gave a mesmerising performance. Those were the days....

[Mark Gunter]

I added this classic from Directions to YouTube about three weeks ago, Loch Layan Castle/Santa Ana's Retreat/Cattle in the Cane medley.

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[SincereCorgi]

I thought the new record was fantastic, personally. I listened to it a couple times a day for at least a week after if it first came off, which I rarely do these days. His voice sounds very weathered, but I don't think that detracts at all- the phrasing, songwriting, and guitar work is pretty great.

[Mark Gunter]

That honour goes to one of the finest American acoustic music masterpieces ever recorded, "Directions"


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The entire Directions LP now on YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_Z7psEln2C1MJ6U6iae6rPSEYhOCwNbJ

You can find the vinyl online as well. The Amazon sellers are usually overpriced on this gem of an LP:
https://www.amazon.com/directions-LP-NORMAN-BLAKE/dp/B00187H2HS

At Discogs there are a few available at reasonable prices now:
https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/2350618?ev=rb

Despite what I read in a wikipedia article, I don't think this was ever released on CD.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Mark - Many thanks for the link,but i've had the 2 ''Red,White & Bluegrass'' LP's since they came out, & weirdly enough they were available over here. I bought them in a cut price record store for $0.97 each - more banjer pickin' fodder at the time !,:grin:
Ivan;)

[John Goodin]

This is a great interview and I ordered the new CD right away. My only disappointment with the interview is that Mr. Terrell didn't ask Norman any questions about mandolins, mandolin playing, and, more importantly to me, mandolin composing.

Norman and Nancy Blake have written some of the best mandolin tunes ever and I continue to hope that they will still find the time to write and record a few more. Their mandolin tunes are distinctly mandolinistic and unique and they bring me great pleasure to hear and to try and play. Truly inspiring stuff.

Maybe Peter O. could split the distance with them and they could spend a couple of weeks together around Cairo, IL and write and record a bunch of great tunes. The Mandolin Cafe and its Forum members could do some crowd-funding to support the project. The Cairo Sessions!

John G.

[Fretbear]

Norman and Nancy Blake have written some of the best mandolin tunes ever and I continue to hope that they will still find the time to write and record a few more. Their mandolin tunes are distinctly mandolinistic and unique and they bring me great pleasure to hear and to try and play. Truly inspiring stuff.

Maybe Peter O. could split the distance with them and they could spend a couple of weeks together around Cairo, IL and write and record a bunch of great tunes. The Mandolin Cafe and its Forum members could do some crowd-funding to support the project. The Cairo Sessions!

I saw them in concert once and Blake described that part of the country called "Little Cairo" and that Lincoln had studied or practiced law there at one time. He said he had considered for a time to just live there by the river and write mandolin tunes (like Thebes) inspired by the water and location.

[Fretbear]

Nancy Blake's wonderful mandolin tune;

"Father's Hall"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl82HcANFGY

[Mark Gunter]

And here's a newbie butchering . . . ah, trying to play Nancy's beautiful tune ;)

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