Archive for August, 2009

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Musings from Murphy

Monday, August 17th, 2009
Murphy Henry

Murphy Henry

Just a few isolated incidents I wanted to share:

I’ve been urging my Misfits to learn the words to their improvising songs, so Susan took this to heart and came in for her lesson with lots of words learnt. She started in on “Foggy Mountain Top”: “If I were on some foggy mountain top….”

“Stop, Susan, stop!” I cried.

“What?” she replied.

“The words are ‘If I WAS on some foggy mountain top…” This is, after all, bluegrass.”

BADA BING!

I started a young rock and rock guitar player on banjo the other day. Robbie, 16, came to his second lesson, eyes all aglow, wanting to know what this particular chord was that he’d found on his new Gibson. He placed his fingers in a regular first-position C chord, then added his little finger on the third fret of the second string. It made a way cool sound, but I had NO IDEA what the chord was called. (Where is Janet Davis when you need her? Where is Dennis Caplinger? Where is Bill Keith?) Robbie said, “I think it’s a C add 9.” (I don’t even know if that’s how you’d write it, but that’s what he said.)

I examined the chord more closely and I could see where he came up with the terminology. It was a C chord with a D note in it. And D is the ninth note in the C scale. That made sense to me. So I said, “I think you’re right about that, Robbie, but don’t EVER mention that chord around any bluegrass players. We don’t use “C add 9’s” and someone might kick your butt.”

Things you don’t want to hear about Robbie: He learned “Banjo in the Hollow” and the vamping in two lessons. We were able to trade breaks. Point of consolation: Remember, he already plays rock guitar, and he’s 16.

NEXT….

I was at a party last night and there was a band and I’m out there dancing with my old Jazzercise pals and of course the band is so loud that I can’t really understand the words but then a few phrases become clearer because, guess what, they are familiar, being something about a mule kicking in my stall with the repeated refrain “tear it down, tear it down” and I realize with a shock that they are singing an Old Crow Medicine Show song! (And can I write a run-on sentence or what?) And then later on they did—TAH DAH—“Wagon Wheel” but that’s not much of a dance song so I just listened. It’s really cool when a band’s songs start filtering down to other groups.

And speaking of Old Crow, I am heading off to see them in one short hour, when Mark and Ellen and I head out on our two-hour trek to Maryland. We thought Old Crow started playing at 2:30, but then we found out that’s when the warm-up bands started, and that Old Crow didn’t start till 9:15 p.m. So, we did some serious soul searching, to see if we really wanted to stay out that late and then, after failing to sell our tickets on Craig’s list, we decided that we did want to go after all! We just decided to conserve our energy and skip the warm-up bands. Although I do want to see Levon Helm, who sang that great song “Up On Cripple Creek” with The Band. We also promised ourselves that if we got too tired, even in the middle of Old Crow, that we’d leave. This being middle aged has its disadvantages. But, as Minnie Pearl would say, “I’m just so proud to be there!”

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“Centerville Road”: The Story of a Mandolin Tune

Friday, August 14th, 2009
Red Henry

Red Henry

Have you ever wondered where bluegrass tunes come from, and how they suddenly appear by surprise in the mind of a musician? I’ve thought about it a lot, and had a recent experience with it myself.

Several months ago, Murphy and I were driving from our home in Virginia down to her parents’ house in Georgia. Now, this is over a 500-mile trip, so even though we left early in the day, we drove the last couple of hours in the dark. And as we did, going through western North Carolina, a mandolin tune started going through my head. I’d never heard it before! It was something new.

When we arrived at the house in Georgia, I got out the mandolin I had with me (Randy Wood F-5 #3) and played the tune. It took only one or two times through it to translate the mental notes into the physical ones. And so the tune was born.

Now, like other things that are born, the tune needed a name. Sometimes the creative process can get stuck at this point! But we can take inspiration from the way Bill Monroe named his own tunes, hundreds of them: it seemed that whatever was on his mind, or where he was at the time, he’d make a tune-name out of it: Rawhide (because the tune was so tough to play); Roanoke (named for a town where Bill had a toothache); Farewell to Long Hollow (written when Bill moved out of his place on Long Hollow Road, near Nashville). Well, it happened that I’d recently made some trips down to my home town of Tallahassee, Florida, and while there I’d driven past the site of our old Henry family farm several times, on the Centerville Road. “Centerville Road!” I thought. “That’s it!”

After playing the tune a few dozen times, I started to wonder where it came from. I could hear a few echoes of old tunes in it: June Apple; Jordan Am a Hard Road to Travel; Pretty Little Dog; Old Mother Flanagan. But although the new tune had a few notes or sounds reminiscent of those traditional numbers, it definitely had a melody and a sound all its own.

Now I had Centerville Road. What next? Actually, I had three festival bookings in the next couple of months, all in Florida. So I took my new tune down to those shows.

The third and largest of the three festivals was the Florida Folk Festival, held at a state park on the fourth weekend of May. This is a pretty big show that runs eight or ten stages all day. Christopher and I had sets to play all three days, along with two mandolin workshops to lead and other friends of ours to perform with as well, so it was a busy weekend. We arrived there on Thursday and ran through Centerville Road several times in the campground, and it was ready to be the lead-off number for our Sunday set. And by Sunday afternoon, after four days of performing and campground picking, we and our band were definitely in practice!

Some of the festival’s stages are large and some are not, but we enjoy playing the small stages as well as the big ones. Our Sunday set was scheduled for the state park’s Seminole Hut, a facility that holds about 60 or 75 people at most, with the band and the listeners very close together, and no sound system. I like that. When the performers and the audience are right there with each other, close enough to feel each other’s bluegrass energy, it’s one of the best playing situations I know of. The audience likes it, too.

So the tune had come through its composition, its naming, and its introduction to the band, and now it was time for its first public performance! The Seminole Hut was packed. We stood up there in front of the people and launched right into it, and, I’m glad to say, they really liked Centerville Road.

Red

PS—We may post an .mp3 of Centerville Road on line soon. If that happens, we’ll let you know!

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New Fiddler At Jam

Thursday, August 13th, 2009
Murphy Henry

Murphy Henry

Tonight we welcomed fiddling Suzi, whom I’ve blogged about before, to the jam. Suzi’s been taking fiddle for just over a year, and she plays lots and lots of hymns by ear. Lately, though, she’s been working off of our Beginning Fiddle DVD, learning some bluegrass songs. Suzi, bless her heart, was not raised in a bluegrass home, and thus has never heard the mellifluous cadences of tunes such as “Cripple Creek” and “Old Joe Clark.” But with her innate musical ability (she plays piano and sings) she’s been able to fairly easily learn all the tunes on the DVD. So, we played four of these tonight, all in the Key of A:

Cripple Creek
Boil Them Cabbage
Old Joe Clark
Amazing Grace

The key of A, you might recall, is the “correct” (or most usual) key for the first three songs I’ve listed. Amazing Grace, of course, is sung wherever the singer is most comfortable and we told Bobby that he would be most comfortable singing it in A tonight.

So the rest of the Misfits—Ellen on guitar, Mark, Bob Mc, and Susan on banjos—gamely put their capos on at the second fret and we played in A for most of the jam. I got the fiddle out to support Suzi, and I must say we turned in a lovely duet on “Amazing Grace.” She’d never, ever jammed before or even heard bluegrass played live, but she did swell. (Isn’t that a good word?) I hope you’ll come back, Suzi!

After she left, I got out the guitar and we did a few more tunes, but kept the capos on:

Wagon Wheel
John Hardy
I Saw The Light
Blue Ridge Cabin Home

We were sounding mighty fine, if I do say so myself. There’s something about the key of A. I would say more but I’ve got to make a beedoubleeedoubleareyouin before Tom’s Market closes! This Sunday, Ellen and Mark and I are going to see Old Crow Medicine Show over in Maryland. I can’t wait to join the throng in singing the chorus to “Wagon Wheel”:

Rock me Mama like a Wagon Wheel
Rock me Mama any way you feel…..

I think they do it in A…..

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More on Custom Lessons

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
Casey Henry

Casey Henry

The requests for our new custom lesson service keep trickling in. I thought I’d post an updated list of all the songs I have available at this point (or will have soon, as I’m still in the process of recording them…)

Blue Ridge Cabin Home

Shuckin’ The Corn

Shenandoah Breakdown

John Henry

Doug’s Tune

Faithless Love (as recorded by Linda Ronstadt)

Whiskey Before Breakfast

Sally Johnson (the banjo backup as recorded by Doug Dillard)

Eight More Miles to Louisville

Give Me That Old Time Religion

Red Wing

Down Yonder

Dear Old Dixie

Just Because

Precious Memories

Washed in the Blood

I Am A Pilgrim

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

Old Rugged Cross

Wshew!! That’s quite a list. Some of the requests surprised me, but most are really good solid tunes that I think many people may be interested in. It has been fun coming up with simple, solid arrangements for the tunes and some of my live students have been willing guinnea pigs. The lessons are available for $30 per song by emailng me.

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Some Summer Inconsistency

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
Casey Henry

Casey Henry

The last couple of weeks we haven’t been the best at posting on our regular five-days-a-week schedule and I’d like to apologize for that. Who knew how hard it would be to blog when the other option is lying on the beach or catching waves? But we’re resolved to do better, starting tomorrow!

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“What Murphy Says Is Gospel”

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

Murphy,

My name is Addie Jackson and I have taken banjo lessons from Casey before. I would like to share with you a little story about my dad. I remember a time while growing up that my father picked on a guitar some. Of course, this was done in the basement when nobody was listening! My dad has a great voice, too, but chooses not to share it because of his shyness.

I hadn’t noticed Dad playing guitar in years, but after I started picking some on the banjo I noticed he would tap his foot to the beat and mumble some. I said, “Dad, why don’t you get out your guitar you used to play?” He let me know right quick that he had forgotten how. I knew by his tone of voice to keep my mouth shut!

So, being the smart daughter that I am, I asked Casey if she had a guitar video for sale. Before I left my parents’ house the next time, I laid the DVD on the counter and said, “Oh, by the way Dad, you ought to try out this video.”

A few days later my mother reported that my dad had been playing pretty much non-stop and even taking his guitar and DVD to work. I never did ask or say anything at first but thanks to my “informant” I knew he was practicing all the time. Even the tips of his fingers were red and swollen. I thought to myself, “Whoo hoo! You go, Daddy!”

So, the next time I played my banjo, my dad got out his guitar and played along perfectly. These sessions got to be an all-the-time thing, so I figured I’d take my Slow Jam DVD over since he had never done that video before. Well, when it came on he wanted to know where Murphy was. (Of course you’re older in that video.) I said, “Right there, Dad.” He refused to watch it because he didn’t believe me! I thought to myself, “Is this what happens when we get older? We get more anal?” I wanted to bang his head on his guitar.

Later on, my sister purchased the next video for him that has runs between chords and teaches about capos. I even purchased a guitar so I could show him you could play all kinds of chords with the use of a capo if you used different hand positions. I call them G hand position and D hand position. He’s caught on real well. He’s very addicted to your tapes and “what Murphy says” is the gospel!

A couple of months ago I started going to jam sessions in our town and festivals that are close by. Most of my family take their instruments, but not Dad. He would just go. You could tell that he would get into the music and wanted to play so bad. So, finally I pretty much LIED. I said, “Dad, Murphy says that just loading your guitar in the vehicle is the first step and you don’t even have to get it out. Just load it.” I never did ask (you know how you have to let them think is was their idea) but I noticed he started at least loading it. Then, lo and behold, he actually brought it in. Didn’t get it out of the case, but Ol’ Lester was sitting close by. This went on for at least two months.

A couple of weeks ago our jam group got together in my dad’s basement. My dad paced like a tiger in a cage. You could just tell he wanted to play so bad. I laid my bass down during a break and went and said, “Dad, I make so many mistakes sometimes, but they never say anything. They even tell me at the end of the song “good job.” I walked back over and picked up my bass thinking I had wasted my breath.

About fifteen minutes later I happen to look over in Dad’s direction and, HOLY SWEET JESUS, the man is playing his guitar! He plays it the rest of the time and I’m so much in shock that I can hardly focus on the bass. I look over at my mother and she’s got this goo-goo look in her eyes watching him. I think to myself, “The world must be coming to an end!”

At the end, everybody tells him, “You’ve been holding out on us, Frank.” He just smiles and turns red. They don’t even begin to know what an accomplishment that was for him but I do and it brought a little tear to my eye. I wanted to yell at the top of my lungs, “YOU ROCK, DAD!” Of course, that wouldn’t have been ladylike in my parents’ eyes, so I just smiled and told him I was proud.

He plays all the time with them now, but not at festivals because that’s “the public” watching. Well, just who does he think he’s playing in front of in a building? HELLO!

A couple of days ago we went to Glennville’s Bluegrass Festival and I took my bass and guitar. I was being sly, but he just didn’t know it yet. I got out my bass and Dad said, “Why don’t you play your guitar?” I replied, “I brought that for you.” His face turned red but the man got out the guitar and played! OMG, my dad has come out of his shell. He played most of the time and then, while loading up, he looks at me and says, “See if Murphy has a flatpicking DVD. I’m ready.” I almost fainted. What have I created? The man must think he’s Lester Flatt!

Last night when I was over to their house and Dad was playing along with your video, as usual, and we saw his lips moving, Mother says, “Frank, are you counting?” He started singing “Bury Me Beneath The Willow.” What a moment! I haven’t heard him sing in years. I just smiled but when I got in my vehicle, I cried all the way home. THANK YOU! Your videos have helped my dad do something I always knew he could do.

It’s almost been a year now since he got his first video and I will always remember these times after he’s gone and be able to think to myself what a wonderful and beautiful time that was in our lives. MY DAD ROCKS!

Thanks again!

Addie

[See why I like this letter?]

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Back In The Saddle

Thursday, August 6th, 2009
Murphy Henry

Murphy Henry

We were back in the saddle at the Misfit Jam tonight but pickings were sorta slim. Bob Mc and Susan were on banjos, Bobby V (the artist formerly known as Bob Van) was on bass, and I was holding down the guitar.

We opened with “Cripple Creek” in G, playing in unison, but then I thought, “Let’s go to A since there are only two banjos to retune when we put the capos on.” So, to A we did go. And in that glorious chord (or key as some folks say) we did:

Boil Them Cabbage
Blue Ridge Cabin Home
Salt Creek (Susan soloed)
I Saw The Light
Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms
Old Joe Clark

I will point out that the key of A is the “normal” fiddle key for “Cabbage”, “Salt Creek”, and “Old Joe”. And “singing songs” are done wherever the singer wants. Although I will have to say that A was stretching Bobby and me (or Bobby and I, as folks are wont to ungrammatically say these days). I was definitely straining for the tenor on the higher notes.

Funny things that happened: Bob Mc got lost in the middle of “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” and was out of sync with the rest of us. I stopped him to say, “Bob, are you listening to the rest of us?” His answer? “No, of course not!” Gotta give him credit for honesty!

Susan got a bit flummoxed in the middle of “Salt Creek” when she tried to put the ending on without finishing the song, that is, after the A parts. When that obviously didn’t work, she started to say something about it. I responded with, “Don’t talk in the middle of the song. Keep playing!” Which she did. We got the ending lick straightened out after the song was over, but the ever-supportive Bob Mc said that if he got a vote, he would always vote for talking in the middle of a song!

On the subject of capos, I pointed out that some folks I have picked with refer to the key of A as “two G.” Which simply means put the capo on at the second fret and play out of G position. Thus, the key of B becomes “four G.” When I was performing as a solo folk singer back in my college days, I used that same terminology on the set list I had taped to the side of my Yamaha 12-string guitar. I also used “two C” when I capoed up two frets and played out of C position. (Most folks would call that the key of D.) Made sense to me. But I always did have a strong streak of redneck in me. Or at least I like to pretend that I do!

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Electronic Tuners, Tuning and Tuning, Picking Sessions, and a “Tuning Ear”

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
Red Henry

Red Henry

Some of the greatest modern gadgets helping out bluegrass pickers nowadays are electronic tuners. Some of you may not remember the times before there were such things, but I can guarantee from experience that the tuners are a huge help in getting and keeping a jam session in tune. Back in the days when maybe one person (usually a fiddler) would bring an A tuning fork to a jam and tune to it, and then everybody else tried to tune to him, the group’s tuning didn’t stay there long. Soon, the group’s pitch ran out of control and began to climb, and you’d get home (especially after a two- or three-day festival) to find that your banjo, guitar, or mandolin was tuned a fret or more above standard! I’m serious about that—I remember clearly getting home and discovering that my mandolin, tuned to “parking-lot standard” on Sunday afternoon, was a fret and a half above regular pitch! No wonder, I thought, it had been so hard to sing– the songs were all ‘way higher than usual!

So our electronic tuners help a great deal, not only with getting our instruments in tune in the first place, but also with tuning stability. However, keep in mind that the electronic tuner shouldn’t be a substitute for your ear.

By that I mean that you shouldn’t get fixated on the tuner. After playing your instrument for a year or so, you’ll begin to hear the tuning better than at first, and ought to be able to make some adjustments without referring to the tuner. This is something that can be practiced: develop your “tuning ear”. At home, use the electronic tuner to set one or two of the strings— the 3rd string (G) and 4th string (D) are good on a guitar or banjo— and then practice tuning the other strings to those. It’ll be difficult at first, but you’ll improve as you go. And then next time you’re in a jam session, don’t get glued to that tuner and tune and tune and tune your instrument while everyone else is waiting to pick. That’s one time when electronic tuners are NOT a help. Use your new tuning skill to get your instrument in “pretty close” tune quickly, so that the jam can go on. Then, if your instrument needs more adjustments, it can be fine-tuned a bit in the break before the next song, and the next one, and the next one, without your taking up the whole group’s time by trying to get it perfect.

The tuner can be hypnotic, but remember that it’s not worth trying to get your instrument PRECISELY tuned to the tuner. After all, (1) the tuner’s not perfect, (2) the other musicians’ ears (and yours) aren’t perfect, and (3) instruments don’t note perfectly either, once they’re supposedly tuned! Practice tuning until you hear the notes pretty well and can use your ear to promptly get your instrument “close enough” to being right in tune. That’s a musical skill that really counts!

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Posted in Accessories, By Red | 1 Comment »

Misfits Carry On

Monday, August 3rd, 2009
Murphy Henry

Murphy Henry

[Editor's note: Last night when I posted this I missed the last three paragraphs that Murphy wrote. Sorry!! It's all here now!]

Just wanted to let you know that while I was away last week teaching at Augusta Heritage, the Misfits put together their own Wednesday night jam session. Here is a report from Mark:

We had a great jam session tonight. We played for over two hours, and had quite a group: Bob Van on bass; Josh Phelps, Bob Mc, and me on banjo; Logan on banjo and guitar; Ellen and our friend Ric Leobold on guitar; and Gaven Largent on dobro, banjo and guitar (direct from the Grand Ole Opry, where he played last week with Rhonda Vincent and her band, again!). A lot of noise in our kitchen, but an absolute hoot. It was great meeting and playing with Josh, and hopefully we’ll be able to coax him back for more.

We did all the “regular” selections, plus Lonesome Road Blues as a singin’ song (and as an instrumental), Circle, Little Cabin Home on the Hill, and we ended with Amazing Grace. We tried to talk Logan into singing Wagon Wheel with Ellen, but he was being shy and wouldn’t do it, and no one else fessed up to knowing the words. I think everyone enjoyed doing Amazing Grace, which Bob V sang beautifully — maybe we can add that to the Misfits’ jam sometimes? And Logan, Josh and Gaven showed off on Earl’s Breakdown, really fast, while Bob Mc and I tried to keep up with vamping.

This is EXACTLY what I wanted to be able to do when I started banjo — thanks for suggesting that we get together despite the absence of our Bluegrass Master.

PS from Josh to Mark after the jam: “After hearing those young guys pick, I hooked my banjo to my trailer hitch on the way home and burned whatever was left.”

Note #1: Gaven is a young teen from around Winchester who has caught the eye of Rhonda Vincent. I saw him do a guest spot with her at last year’s Apple Blossom Bluegrass Festival. He is truly amazing.

Note #2: I started Josh on banjo about 15 years ago when he was a teenager. He stopped taking lessons when he went off to college, but he didn’t stop playing banjo. I’m happy to report that he’s recently returned for lessons. I was also surprised to find that he is now president of the Winchester Kiwanis Club. Red and I are playing a party for them this month and Josh will be sitting in for a tune or two!

Moral of this story: There are people out there to pick with! It’s just that somebody has to take the bull by the horns and do the organizing and the coordinating and the calling and the emailing. Oh yes, and the leading of the jam session. Somebody has to make it happen! What are you waiting for?

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