Hangin' Dog (Nancy Blake cover)

**keith.rogers** · May-19-2022, 12:32pm

I had never heard this tune before I got Bob Minner's recent CD, and have had it on my mind since then. After watching the video of Norman & Nancy Blake's performance many times (and at slow speeds!), I've started taking some stabs at it. Probably a little hasty posting this, as I submitted it to my ArtistWorks class for some tips, but my open-mic [guitar player] bud stopped by yesterday and I turned on the recorders for this take.

**Mark Gunter** · May-19-2022, 3:31pm

That’s a very nice take on it, Keith, well done. Y’all sound great

That is one of the first tunes I transcribed for mandolin. I think you have a much better feel for it, feels closer to Nancy … I tend to swing it too much, an awful tendency I have with most things.

**Mike Buesseler** · May-19-2022, 3:53pm

Hey, you guys ROCKED that tune if you ask me. I haven’t heard the original.

**keith.rogers** · May-19-2022, 4:01pm

Originally Posted by Mike Buesseler

Hey, you guys ROCKED that tune if you ask me. I haven’t heard the original.

There's a live version of Nancy Blake (with Norman, of course) playing it on YouTube, and you can also listen to Bob Minner's CD version, with Mike Compton, there. I followed the latter's "arrangement" but, having listened to the [NB] live version so much, I stumbled a lot when I tried to incorporate some of the nice "licks" in that one. (Always more to learn!)

**tmsweeney** · May-19-2022, 4:19pm

I think Nancy belongs up there with the great pickers of the 70s to the present, really nice to hear her music being covered so well!

**Mark Gunter** · May-24-2022, 6:26am

The original, for reference

https://youtu.be/_I_hmwUMHzE

**Bob Buckingham** · May-24-2022, 6:45am

When my wife walked by she said "That's my friend Norman". I guess that should indicate how good you guys sound on this. Nice work.
We know it was Nancy but both had a big influence on her mandolin playing.

**keith.rogers** · May-24-2022, 9:03am

Originally Posted by Mark Gunter

The original, for reference

https://youtu.be/_I_hmwUMHzE

Yep, that's the one I watched probably a couple dozen times

. But, I have to tip the hat to Bob Minner's CD version, which is what triggered my interest. I got the CD because of the re-working of Norman Blake tunes, but I was bowled over by the Nancy Blake mandolin tunes. (I confess I did borrow the arrangement from that CD's version, with Mike Compton playing mandolin. Album "cut" on YouTube here.)

**keith.rogers** · Jun-24-2022, 11:20am

Rather than start another thread, here's another Nancy Blake tune we have been working on. First tried it out at an open mic last week - the host's suggested "theme" was Father's Day, so this fit. I thought we might be able to pick up the speed, but with a week's time and a fair amount of us doing a bit of woodshedding we only managed to shave about 5 seconds, maybe, off the piece. (The version on the Blake & Rice 2 album is a tempo our old fingers will never reach, alas...)

Father's Hall is similar to Hangin' Dog, structure-wise and centering around Em, but not quite the same. (Audio is from a practice we did a couple days ago.)