Big News from the jam tonight! Susan improvised a break to “Roll On Buddy”! And it was fine. I knew she had it in her, I just didn’t know when and where it was going to come out. I think its emergence tonight surprised her.
To be sure, we’ve been working on improvising, and she has done the first two songs off the Improv DVD. But “Roll On Buddy” was a song she’d never even heard before. Granted, the chords are the old familiar G, C, and D. The E minor, though, is different. However, as we were getting ready to play, I told the group that the Em could be finessed—or hinted at—by just playing G.
One reason I think Susan was able to do this was that she already plays (and vamps to) “Lonesome Road Blues.” Which, as we found out, has exactly the same chord progression as “Roll On Buddy.” (I wasn’t sure until I sang the chorus of “Roll On Buddy” while Susan played the high break to LRB.) This is not to say that LRB was in Susan’s mind while she was making up her break—on the spot, of course. Still and yet, it was back there somewhere, and unconsciously I think she was able to draw on some aspects of the song. Maybe it was just that the chord progression felt familiar. After all, we’ve been playing LRB a lot in the jam.
So after the song ended and we all congratulated Susan on her first improv, I asked her, “Now, how would you explain to someone what you just did?” She says, “I have no idea!” (Except she did then say, “The Murphy Method works!” and we all cheered!)
Then somehow we got to talking about how hard all this jamming is. Oh, yeah, I remember. Susan said she was going to Casey’s workshop on jamming in Elkton, Maryland, on October 17. I said, kiddingly, “Yeah, Susan. Go up there and show them how it’s done!” Then we fell into talking about how hard jamming is.
Which is when Ellen, the guitarist, said, “I think you are all so brave.”
And I do too!
Just for the record, those present were: Susan, Mark, Bob Mc, and Logan on banjos and Ellen on guitar.
Songs:
Banjo in the Hollow, Cripple Creek, and Boil Them Cabbage played in unison for our warm-up.
Then:
I Saw the Light
Lonesome Road Blues
Blue Ridge Cabin Home
Salt Creek (played by Logan and Susan)
Foggy Mountain Breakdown
Roll On Buddy
PS: Happy Birthday to my oldest friend in the world, Sharon Ramsey (now Schilling), who went with me to see Casey play on the Opry! “Make new friends, but keep the old / One is silver and the other gold.”
Tags: murphy's misfits