An old-time ditty featuring mandola (bbcee), mandolin and lyrics
I love it. Kudos to you both. The mandola really adds a wonderful dimension to the project. By the way, one of the photos in there looks almost exactly like an old photo of my mother back in the 1940s. Uncanny. I'll have one of my lawyers (Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe) talk to Mssrs Wienham and Dynum regarding royalties.
Credit where credit is due, we'll make it right by you pard. I'll have my attorneys, Trickham and Cheatum, get in touch with your people.
Hank, I didn't know Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe had a west coast office
True fact: I just googled "Big Bend Gal" to get some background on the tune and the first hit was Mark and bbcee's video.
Nice job, gentlemen!
Big Bend Gal was recorded in 1927 by the Shelor Family Band. The Shelors lived in the mountains, and were a large musical family. A couple years ago, I was looking for info on the group, The Bluegrass Alliance, and google showed me a thread at the Mandolin Cafe, that was just before I became a member here. My interest in the BGA was due to a picking buddy I played with at a weekly gathering in recent years, his name is Marshall Billingsley and he played bass with The Bluegrass Alliance during the year that Vince Gill became guitarist and lead singer. So, when I read the cafe thread, I learned that the original bass player, Ebo Walker, was really named Harry Shelor, Jr. Ebo left the Alliance along with Sam Bush, Tony Rice, and Courtney Johnson - Ebo, Sam, Courtney and others started the group Newgrass Revival at that time, and Tony went to play with Grisman's quartet. Well, Ebo didn't last long with Newgrass Revival. He was arrested and convicted of murdering a narcotics officer. In the cafe thread, Ebo Walker's daughter posted some info about it and told her father's real name - Harry Shelor, Jr. - and posted a link to the Shelor Family video of Big Bend Gal. Ever since that time, I've wanted to learn a version to play, and it was great fun doing it. I studied a bit about Harry Shelor, Jr. in the meantime, and the larger Shelor family. But info on the song, Big Bend Gal, is lacking. You can tell from reading the lyrics that "Big Bend Gals" are mentioned only in the first line- and the song is really about "Bessie" or "Betsy" Jane. In case anyone's wondering (Hank being sort of a kindred spirit - detective-type) here is the cafe thread that got me started on the Shelors: https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/s...grass-Alliance
Super good..... you guys own that one. So believable. Thanks for posting. I know a fair bit of work with into that. All the photos fit just right. The sound quality of the recording was very good. Also I appreciate the back story on the tune. Keep em comin.
That put a big smile on my morning, Well done!
Thanks for the props everybody! The most fun part of this for me was working with Bruce. I'm always amazed how music develops when different people play off one another. I'm looking forward to the next one now
It was really fun to be the "hired gun" on this - I had zero idea what to do until Mark sent the rough copy and gave some feedback as I submitted ideas. Pretty happy with the end result - it can always be better, but ya gotta stop at some point. It was a gas to work long-distance on this, instead of just doing stuff on my own. Thanks Mark!
So good. So right. It all works, instrumentals, vocals, and visuals. I love it.
Henry was looking for info on this tune the other day, not sure what he found, but I found a bit today at this page: http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/b...elor-1927.aspx Big Bend Gal/ Big Ben Gal Old-Time, Song & Breakdown ARTIST: Shelor Family (lyrics courtesy Carl Baron) from Kuntz. Listen: Shelor Family's Big Bend Gal Listen: Foothill Hoedowner's Big Ben Gal- live 1988 CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: 1927 RECORDING INFO: Arm and Hammer String Band. Stay on the Farm, Grooveless, Cas (1983/1978), trk# B.06; 2. Shelor Family. Early Rural String Bands, RCA (Victor) LPV-552, LP (1968), trk# 7 [1927/08/02]; Blue Ridge Institute BRI 005, The Shelor Family – “Virginia Traditions: Blue Ridge Piano Syles.” RCA – LPV 552, “Early Rural String Bands.” RELATED TO: Eight More Miles To Louisville (tune) OTHER NAMES: Big Ben Gals SOURCES: Ceolas; Folk Index; Field Recorder's Collective NOTES: From Virginia’s Shelor Family (lyrics courtesy Carl Baron). The song was written/arranged by Sammy Shelor. A version may be heard on-line at the Digital Library of Appalachia: Clarice Shelor plays piano with Jesse Shelor playing rhythm on the low keys. She learned this song from her father. They live in Meadows of Dan, Virginia. Article from Field Recorder's Collective: The music would have stayed only in the home, except for a talent search by Victor Records. The owner of a victrola record store in Hillsville, Mr. Walter Howlette, held auditions for local bands and Joe Blackard brought his group. The Victor Record representative liked them and gave them a recording date in Bristol, located in the southwest corner of Virginia, 125 miles away. Joe, Clarice, Jesse, Pyrhus, and seven year old Joseph arrived in Bristol on August 2, 1927. The recording session took place in a dusty millinery shop. They were asked to sing some of their more unusual songs although they hadn't practiced for them. Joe had to write the words out for Clarice and placed them on the piano. Pyrhus patted his foot so loudly that they finally had to put a pillow under his foot. Little Joseph was crying and getting dirt from the shelves on his face. Even with these less than ideal recording conditions, the group cut "Sandy River Belle", "Big Ben Gal" (incorrectly labeled Big Bend Gal), "Billy Grimes the Rover", and "Suzanna Gal", producing four sides on two seventy-eight rpm records.
OK. So I just googled "big ben gal". I got a whole lot of this: This is getting good. Hmmm. Maybe if I google "Eight More Miles to East Bengal".
Well, I don't know of any song Big Ben Gal - except that the 1927 record label is written that way. I think it was taken from Sammy Shelor's handwritten copy of his lyrics - and he was no spelling expert. The reason someone might think the title should be "Big Ben Gal" is from an errant reading of the field recording notes: "Big Ben Gal" (incorrectly labeled Big Bend Gal) "Big Ben Gal" is what actually appears on the label. It is an incorrectly labeled "Big Bend Gal" IMO
NTC (No Tiger Content) ... Holy moly, they recorded "Sandy River Belle"! A wonderful romp of a song. Butch Baldassari & David Schnauffer do a great version of it on Butch's "Appalachian Mandolin" disc, using octave mandolin & dulcimer. I have to hear this early version.
Here it is Bruce. The recordings we have from them were part of the Bristol Sessions, in retrospect an historic event. They did two cuts of this tune. They were also listed as Dad Blackard's Mountaineers, or Dad Blackard's Moonshiners, so don't let the video title fool you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_sessions https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-...elease/3783056
Descendant Sammy Shelor discusses drive
Nicely done - if I still had my old-time country music radio show, I would offer to play it on the air . . . .
Thanks Mike, Bruce and I had fun with it, and hopefully we'll do some more soon.
Man, Sammy said it all. I've heard many musicians from totally different musical styles say essentially the same thing, but he really articulates it. Makes you realize there are no borders on good music. It's either good, or not.
Wow! Amazing job Mark. Thanks so much for sharing. Sound quality is great as well as the music. I had fun playing along with it. Bill
Thanks Bill, I didn't do it alone, bbcee (Bruce Calder) deserves some of the blame as well.
