Long story short, I just got invited to a blues jam! I explained to them that I was a beginner, and they said they're still happy to have me. I've never been to any kind of jam session - advice? The guy who runs the group also recommended I listen to some blues mandolin, or pre-War blues. I'm really nervous but also excited!
Oh man, I wish there were a blues jam like that around here instead of bluegrass. "Pre-war" blues. This is the greatest, it took a long time in my musical journey, but finally, a couple decades ago, I landed on the old acoustic blues. That is a roots music that had profound effect on early country (Jimmy Rodgers, Carter Family), bluegrass (Arnold Scultz > Bill Monroe), and rock and roll. These were Black artists who began recording sometime between the 1st & 2nd WW (beginning around 1914, "Memphis Blues"). As you get into the 30's, there is so much music to absorb, because the mine is very rich indeed. Fortunately, the vast majority of tunes follow an easily assimilated pattern. Listen to Robert Johnson's tunes. In my own library, I have pretty complete works of: Blind Willie McTell* Elmore James Bo Carter* John Lee Hooker Blind Lemon Jefferson* J. B. Lenoir Lead Belly* Lightnin' Hopkins Muddy Waters Robert Johnson* ... and a few others. The ones above with asterisk recorded a great deal in pre-war times, acoustic blues. The others began playing in those times but were recorded after the war, and many went electric by then (Muddy Waters was first recorded in 1941). This list of "complete works" artists that I have in my library doesn't begin to scratch the surface of what's out here though. You can listen to some of these works at my website. Examples: Brief article on Bo Carter with link to 112 tune playlist from Bo Carter: http://www.markgunter.net/cool_stuff...smen-bo-carter Brief article on Blind Willie McTell with link to 50 tune playlist from him: http://www.markgunter.net/cool_stuff...-willie-mctell I haven't added an article on Blind Lemon Jefferson yet, but many of his tracks can be heard at my website, just scroll down this page and look for them: http://www.markgunter.net/good_stuff/14/audio-tracks
I nothing to offer except my somewhat envious wish that I could listen in. I hadn't even thought of 'blues mandolin' before. It's gotta be fun making a big choked blues note on a short scale double strung instrument. Callus City, Here we come! Would love to hear a report back.
Mark - WOW! Thank you so much for all the links and information. I just listened to Robert Johnson for a little while and that's fantastic stuff. I'll have to make a start on listening to the rest this weekend. Those are some great resources on your website - I know very little about the blues, but I'm excited to learn! Hank - I'll definitely report in about how it goes!
@liadan, here's a couple more albums to check out. This band straddled country blues, ragtime and string band music- a really interesting time in history: Mississippi Mud Steppers - Jackson Stomp If you're going to play blues on mandolin, you gotta know Yank Rachell! Enjoy your journey!!
liadan - the fact that you got invited tells me that you are in a good place, and that things will continue to improve in short time. Congrats and enjoy!
Way to go, Liadan! Let us know how it goes.
@bbcee - thank you for the links! A whole mandolin blues album - that's pretty cool! I didn't even know that existed. MikeZito and SOMorris - thank you for the encouragement and I'll be sure to report back. They seem like pretty nice folks!
Great post and responses. Kind of timely for me as I've been working on Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Stomp over the past week. Kind of a bluesy-swing. The blues and bluesy bluegrass just sound so cool on a mandolin. I'm making note of all the great comments/suggestions on this thread. Best of luck and enjoy!
My introduction to blues mandolin was Sleepy John Estes - Mailman Blues (1966) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd-Kwg7RF0c Jim Richter (https://www.youtube.com/user/JimRichter/videos) does some as well
Mark no Son House?
All I have now is The Real Delta Blues by Son House, Kevin. The ones I mentioned above are ones that I've collected complete works on, or nearly complete works. About 8 years ago, a laptop was stolen from my office that held my only copies of over 10,000 tunes in my music library! (An untold number of family photos as well.) Mostly classic rock, and blues of all sorts. The library I have now, eight years later, is not that big yet and growing slowly.
