View Full Version : Bobby Clark tune
Spent today going through my cd pile of mess, trying to catalogue. Came across a disc of Bobby Clark tunes, had a few from a live Station Inn show with Ms. Chiavola. Bobby picked a gypsy-sounding tune in Gm, which I think is on his studio recording from 1979 called One Legged Gypsy. Just a great number, with his stylistic stamp all over it. The rhythmic groove of that tune has always eluded me a bit, as it plays over a stream of 8th notes over i-iv, but with his flair and a bit of syncopation.
Any of you old-timers have difficulty with this tune?
Kevin K
Dec-05-2010, 8:47pm
Would love to hear it
mandolirius
Dec-06-2010, 9:40pm
Alan, I'm not at home right now so I can't check the album but are refering to the tune called "One Legged Gypsy", the title track? If so, I can relate. I've been struggling with that one for years. The tempo he plays it at is blistering! Great tune!
The tune One Legged Gypsy - the title cut on the great old vinyl LP - has been played on XM radio quite a bit in recent months and was apparently re-released - or recut and included - on one of the more recent Williams & Clark CD's. I got a new copy of the 1979 vinyl LP from Bobby a few years back and its a great album. Another favorite tune is "Spider Bit the Fiddler". If you can find a copy of the LP, be sure to get it.
Mark
mandolirius
Dec-07-2010, 1:48am
The tune One Legged Gypsy - the title cut on the great old vinyl LP - has been played on XM radio quite a bit in recent months and was apparently re-released - or recut and included - on one of the more recent Williams & Clark CD's. I got a new copy of the 1979 vinyl LP from Bobby a few years back and its a great album. Another favorite tune is "Spider Bit the Fiddler". If you can find a copy of the LP, be sure to get it.
Mark
Yeah, that's another good one. I used to be able to play it. I know that because it's on the set list of an old live recording I have. Can't remember it for the life of me right now, and I actually have a mandolin in hand. Better dig that recording up when I get home from work tonght.
There is a copy of the LP on e-bay now if anyone is interested - no affiliation - just in case someone wants a copy.
http://cgi.ebay.com/BOB-CLARK-One-Legged-Gypsy-BLUEGRASS-MANDOLIN-/370463241552?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item5641547550
Mark
Christian
Dec-07-2010, 2:49am
Yeah, it's a great tune, and not an easy one. I've also struggled on this one for a while! I found that working on such Bobby's tunes as One Legged Gypsy or Oklahoma Twister helped me improve my speed and right hand position years ago, because trying to emulate his sound I had to loosen up my right hand and play totally relaxed in order to to pick those tunes up tempo. Maybe that would work for others! Bobby's great and totally underated. Thanks Alan for starting this thread (I think I know the live tape you're referring to;))
Yes to that LP. One side was grassy, the other jazzy. Very hip record. Spider Bit The Fiddler: Bobby played Bass Mtn. one year with Mike Snider. After their set, I walked over to the table, F-5 in tow. Bobby still had his lovely 29 fern. I asked if we could trade for a bit. He didn't know me, sort of skeptically handed it over, and I picked that tune on it, note for note (thanks to Dave Peters' book.) The guy from Goldwing Express came over and listened (he was/is mostly a chopper). Bobby looked at me and said "You pick it better than I ever could." Made my day (and he is a liar.)
Oui, Christian. Bobby has the feel, as you well know. His Top Dog record from the early 80's (CD re-issue now) was also a must have, many great tunes and players. His 22nd St. Rag is a way cool tune. Old Joe Clark (in G chord) features Sam Bush on harmony mando. Bobby picks Yesterday on it, solo mandolin, very pretty.
One of the greats, to be sure.
mandolirius
Dec-07-2010, 3:41pm
Yes to that LP. One side was grassy, the other jazzy. Very hip record. Spider Bit The Fiddler: Bobby played Bass Mtn. one year with Mike Snider. After their set, I walked over to the table, F-5 in tow. Bobby still had his lovely 29 fern. I asked if we could trade for a bit. He didn't know me, sort of skeptically handed it over, and I picked that tune on it, note for note (thanks to Dave Peters' book.) The guy from Goldwing Express came over and listened (he was/is mostly a chopper). Bobby looked at me and said "You pick it better than I ever could." Made my day (and he is a liar.)
Oui, Christian. Bobby has the feel, as you well know. His Top Dog record from the early 80's (CD re-issue now) was also a must have, many great tunes and players. His 22nd St. Rag is a way cool tune. Old Joe Clark (in G chord) features Sam Bush on harmony mando. Bobby picks Yesterday on it, solo mandolin, very pretty.
One of the greats, to be sure.
"22nd Street Rag" is another favourite. It's a great tune and one I can actually play. :)
Christian
Dec-07-2010, 5:03pm
That recording of Old Joe Clark also features Stuart Duncan on the third mandolin, if I remember right. That brings us back to another recent thread of yours Alan! Talking about it, I remember hearing, years ago, a Mike Snyder's banjo record featuring Bobby on mandolin. Mostly banjo standards, Scruggs style, and Bobby at his best. I don't have the record, but I wish I had, and can't seem to find it anywhere.
mandolirius
Dec-08-2010, 12:09am
That recording of Old Joe Clark also features Stuart Duncan on the third mandolin, if I remember right. That brings us back to another recent thread of yours Alan! Talking about it, I remember hearing, years ago, a Mike Snyder's banjo record featuring Bobby on mandolin. Mostly banjo standards, Scruggs style, and Bobby at his best. I don't have the record, but I wish I had, and can't seem to find it anywhere.
That version of Old Joe Clark is fun to play, even with one mandolin. Now that this thread had me thinking about it, Midnight Waltz is another wonderful tune from that album that should be played more. I mostly play that one and 22nd St. Rag. When I want a challenge, I'll try to do Oklahoma Twister.
Yep, SD on 3rd mandolin. I'd like to hear that Snider record. And Midnight Waltz is a very pretty tune, nice chord changes, feel. All this got me on a Bobby kick and I see in my collection Bill Perry Bluegrass Jam, with Skaggs, Vince Gill. Also a Dan Huckabee record from 1980 Acoustic Steel, they pick Opus 57 in Gm! And he was in the Bluegrass Cardinals for a period, appeared on a live show with them.
mandolirius
Dec-09-2010, 12:56am
Yep, SD on 3rd mandolin. I'd like to hear that Snider record. And Midnight Waltz is a very pretty tune, nice chord changes, feel. All this got me on a Bobby kick and I see in my collection Bill Perry Bluegrass Jam, with Skaggs, Vince Gill. Also a Dan Huckabee record from 1980 Acoustic Steel, they pick Opus 57 in Gm! And he was in the Bluegrass Cardinals for a period, appeared on a live show with them.
That is a nice version. It's a well-suited tune for the dobro. And the chords to Midnight Waltz are cool, but hard to keep in my head, since I don't play it that often. The chart is in the folder I throw in my case for jams where I think I might be able to get away with whipping out a chord chart. :))
Bobby's style has subtley changed over time. If you listen to his break on Redwing from the Bluegrass Cardinals Live! show, he throws in this chromatic descending thing to tag it. I asked him about that lick one time, he hardly remembered how to do it, but it was something he did a lot back then, doesn't use it now.
And he plays Triggs mandolins now, with a very low action at the nut.