Casey Henry
Here’s the link to my first Super Bowl 44 blog post.
Archive for January, 2010
Super Bowl 44, Day Almost 1
Sunday, January 24th, 2010Casey Henry’s Daily Blog
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010Casey Henry
I leave to go work on the Super Bowl halftime show tomorrow, for the third year in a row. Instead of rudely taking over this blog with totally-unrelated-to-banjo posts every day, I’ve started my own blog, where you’ll be able to keep up with the halftime production, if you’re interested. I’ll make sure there are links here, though. Like this one, which leads to yesterday’s post about moving to Nashville.
Picking and Flying (4)
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
Red Henry
Well, folks, Murphy contributed a ‘picking and flying’ column yesterday because it was about Earl Scruggs’s great tune “Groundspeed”, so I figured I’d continue the trend. Thinking about Earl flying around the country in his nice twin-engined airplane reminded me of an anecdote I’ve heard about Earl and Doc Watson.
Now, if you are flying an airplane in the clouds, or any time you can’t see, you’re flying on instruments. This is because nobody’s sense of balance is good enough to tell, if they can’t see outside, whether the airplane is upside-down, or right-side-up, or in a dive, or a climb– your sense of balance will fool you, every time. Without the instruments, after a minute or so your body begins sending you false signals, and the airplane gets out of control. But I heard of once when someone was able to fly straight and level without seeing anything, and it wasn’t a pilot who did it.
This story may not be true, but it ought to be. The story is that Earl took Doc Watson up in his plane one day. Of course Doc cannot see, but he has a mighty good sense of physical touch and coordination. Well, Earl flew the airplane up high, leveled off, and then turned the controls over to Doc for a while. It turned out that Doc, without being able to see either the world outside or the airplane’s instruments, was able to keep flying straight and level.
Now folks, that’s phenomenal. I never heard of anybody else being able to do it. But if it was anybody, it would have been someone like Doc, who’d never touched an airplane’s controls before but is the best guitar player in the world.
And like I said, if the story’s not true, it ought to be!
Red
Groundspeed
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Murphy Henry
Just got finished with Logan’s lesson. I’ve got him on a pretty strong diet of Earl Scruggs’ classics and for tonight he was supposed to learn “Groundspeed.” Of course he hates it. (He’s never heard Earl’s version so he hasn’t got the sound in his head and he can’t hear the melody. And I couldn’t find a CD with “Groundspeed” on it in my collection.)
Right before he started to play, I remembered that Red was going to glue Logan’s fifth string tuner in because it keeps falling out, and Logan has a gig coming up next week. (This is the village raising the child…) So I gave Logan’s banjo to Red, and let Logan play Dalton’s banjo. As I handed it to him I said, “Dalton never played ‘Groundspeed’, so it’s not in this banjo.” Quick as a wink Logan replied, “So if I screw up, it’s not my fault. It’s the banjo’s fault.”
Bada bing! Good one, Logan!
If I’d been thinking as quick as Logan, I would have taken the banjo back, played “Groundspeed” on it, and then handed it back to Logan and said, “It’s in there now. Get it out!”
Actually, he didn’t do too badly. His biggest problem was that syncopated D lick. I told him it was related to the D lick we use in “John Hardy,” and that they are interchangeable, so we spent some time interchanging them. And then we spent some time just playing the “Groundspeed” D lick over and over, together, while Bob Van played a D chord—with alternating bass strings—on the guitar. After two or three minutes of that, Logan was beginning to get the feel of it. It is truly an awesome lick and I’m sure that once Logan has command of it, he’ll just learn to love it. Which is what Lester Flatt said about “The Ballad of Jed Clampett.” The group didn’t like it too well to begin with, but after it sold a couple of million copies, they just learned to love it!
By the way, Happy Birthday to my cute little Mama. She turns 85 today!
Banjo in the Movies
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010Casey Henry
Last week I was watching an old Katherine Hepburn/Cary Grant film titled Holiday, from 1938. In the story Johnny Case (Grant) meets, falls in love with, and gets engaged to Julia Seton (Doris Nolan) while on a skiing trip. When they return he meets her family, including her sister Linda (Hepburn), and brother Ned (Lew Ayers). The Seton family is extremely rich and snobby, except for Linda, of course. Johnny isn’t rich, and doesn’t much want to be rich, which is [SPOILER ALERT] why he ends up with Linda instead of Julia.
But it is the brother Ned who we are most concerned with. In a scene where Johnny and Linda are sitting around talking, Ned is plunking around in the background on several different instruments: piano, drums, banjo. BANJO?! Yep. I was completely surprised when the tinky sounds of a plectrum banjo started emerging from my television speakers. I had to pause the movie and call my parents to share the exciting news. Banjos were not unfashionable in the nineteen-thirties, and Ned could strum the heck out of it, as evidenced in a later scene where they sing “Camptown Races” to his able accompaniment. A plectrum banjo is a four-string with the same length neck as a bluegrass five-string. It is played with a flatpick, which is no doubt why it fell out of style!
Seeing the banjo in that movie brought to mind another film from that same era, Destry Rides Again (1939), starring James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich. The banjo in this flick is a tenor, also played with a flatpick, strummed by the town drunk and acting sheriff Washington Dimsdale. He sings, repeatedly and enthusiastically throughout the picture, a song called “Little Joe,” which I’d never heard before, but is very catchy. I don’t know whether they wrote it for the soundtrack or if it is an old traditional number, but it makes a very good rousing, sing-along number.
Anybody else got any banjo-in-the-movies titles to share? (In addition to Zombieland…)
Flying and Picking (3)
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
Red Henry
Okay, folks, here we are with another installment of our “Flying and Picking” series, where we relate my journey in learning one advanced skill (flying) to all our journeys in learning another (music). Today’s comment will be on PROCEDURES.
When you’re flying and landing a plane, there are things you have to do all in the right order and without getting rushed. This is true in any kind of flying, from my old jet-flying days in the Air Force, to landing a Cessna at the local airport.
For example, in landing a plane, you don’t do things just any way you feel like doing them. When you’re in the traffic pattern you reduce power, put down partial flaps and lower the landing gear, make your turns onto final approach, put down full flaps, and manage the controls and throttle so as to put yourself at just the right glideslope and airspeed. If you do those things right, you’ll find yourself set up just right over the runway for landing. Getting behind or out of rhythm is a sure way to make potentially hazardous mistakes. And as you’re going through these steps you’re also making radio calls, so that other pilots will know what you’re doing and everybody can take turns to take off and land safely. And you have to know all these procedures well enough to carry them out in a rhythm without thinking about them first, and without running out of time, so that you can get everything done and your mind can be on the moment-to-moment flying adjustments and making a good landing.
So what does all this stuff have to do with playing music and making it sound right? A lot. When you’re playing music, especially in a group, you have to have all the licks to the tune already in your head. You have to have practiced a tune over and over with the correct licks, fingering, and timing, so that you don’t have to think about every note, but can concentrate on playing smoothly and at an even tempo and sounding good. That way, when you play with others, you’ll be picking a recognizable tune at an even speed, and everybody else can keep up with you. You need to be listening to the group’s rhythm and not rushing or stumbling over any of your notes, or if you miss a few, coming back in at the right place, so that you (and the other players) don’t lose track of where you are. And when you pass the tune off to the next player, you let everyone else know what’s happening. You give a little glance or nod to the next player so they know it’s their turn, or else signal the end of the tune so that everyone knows it’s time to stop. That’s PROCEDURE. Everybody plays together and knows what’s going on, and the tune won’t crash, or at least, make a rough landing.
Flying and Picking– I love it.
Red
Watching DVDs in Georgia
Monday, January 18th, 2010
Murphy Henry
Just arrived back at the house after my nine-hour trip back from my weekend in Georgia. Glad to report the ‘rents are about the same. No Scrabble, but we did watch one of the Bill Gaither Gospel DVDs that featured a lot of bluegrass groups. Mama and Daddy stayed awake (mostly) for the whole thing, and did not retreat into “reading” the paper which is what they did when I tried them on an episode of “Dukes of Hazzard.” (Small bluegrass content: my guitar student Cody wants to learn the theme song so he lent me a season’s worth of DVDs so I could learn it.) I will have to say that the Dukes had a few too many car chases and sliding cars to suit me. But you gotta love Boss Hogg!
Anyhow, on the Bill Gaither DVD we got to see Doyle Lawson, Marty Stuart, Rhonda No Last Name Needed, Dailey and Vincent, the Isaacs, Cherryholmes, Marty Stuart, Ralph Stanley, Larry Sparks, the Grascals (before Kristin joined them) and Vince Gill. It was so great to see Ralph because Jack Cooke was still with him. God rest his soul, Cookie was a wonderful musician. Ralph looked absolutely cute — no other word to describe it — wearing a purple shirt while Bill Gaither was interviewing him. And he sounds so sincere when he talks. Just the right amount of modesty coupled with obvious pride at the turn his career has taken. He’s still got a good head of hair and it was beautifully coiffed. (Note: In his new memoir, Ralph says that Keith Whitley used to do his hair!) He is aging simply wonderfully and, frankly, I thought he looked a little bit like my Grandmother Hicks! She was quite regal at age ninety. Like her, he has great-looking skin, or else they had a fabulous makeup artist. Maybe both! I told Mama I thought he looked a little bit like a possum, which totally made her laugh.
On stage, he looked like the Great Patriarch that he is, wearing his glasses now (the modern kind, with square frames) so he can read the words off the paper that sits in a music stand in front of him. He says, in the book, that he’s getting a little forgetful of words now, hence the stand. Hey, he’ll be 83 on February 25, so he can do whatever he likes! Of course, I can’t remember what he sang, since I was busy critiquing how he looked!
I did listen to plenty of other music on my Amazing iPod on the way down and back. (It finally ran out of juice. I need to get one of those car charger things.) What was I loving this time around? [This list is mostly for Marty’s benefit...] Everything by the Beach Boys, “Painted Lady” and “Crocodile Rock” by Elton John, everything (2 songs) by Conway Twitty, “Great Speckled Bird” by Roy Acuff, a bunch of Eric Clapton stuff, “25 or 6 Till 4” by Chicago (I could finally understand the words!), the Randy Travis songs, “Reno Ride” and “Limehouse Blues” are amazing (Don Reno, of course!), and oh so many others that I can’t think of now because I haven’t had my supper yet! [Marty: next time, “Islands in the Stream” fer sure! And can I get “Hello Darling” back? And “Mockingbird”? Thanks!]
It was good to be in Georgia and see the folks, but, like Dorothy said, “There’s no place like home!”
Pictures from Bull Run
Sunday, January 17th, 2010Here are some pictures, courtesy of Murphy’s friend Jane, of The Dixie Bee-Liners’ gig Friday night at Bull Run Restaurant in Shirley, Mass.
Casey Henry, tuning.
Casey Henry, Buddy Woodward, Brandi Hart, Rachel Johnson, and Sav Sankaran.
The Dixie Bee-Liners in action.
From the Road
Saturday, January 16th, 2010Casey Henry
The Dixie Bee-Liners are in the northeast this weekend and we have totally lucked out on the weather. We played in Cambridge, MA, Friday night, Shirley, MA, Saturday night, and are headed to Harrisburg, PA, today, and it’s supposed to be 46 degrees. How awesome is that!
In Cambridge we played at Club Passim, which is a prestigious folk club that has been there for 52 years. I had actually never heard of it, but it turned out to be a really cool place. They have a restaurant adjacent to the club called the Veggie Cafe. They served wonderful food. I had roasted butternut squash, caramelized onions, and goat cheese over coconut rice. Scrumptions. A good meal like that before you play makes a huge difference.
We opened for a band called Christabel and the Jons. As it turned out, they are from Tennessee, too, (Knoxville) and play original swingy country/jazz songs. Very cool. I traded for their CD, which we’re going to listen to in the van on the way to the gig today.
Last night we played at the Bull Run Restaurant. This place, which reminded me strongly of Penn Alps in Maryland, had crazy good food. I ate so much. Salad with greens, apples, roasted butternut squash, and a maple balsamic vinegarette. Ravioli stuffed with cheese and peppers over a butternut squash puree. (Butternut squash seems to be a running theme this weekend. Hmmm.) I was still full five hours afterwards. The building was built in 1740, which makes it one of the oldest places I’ve ever played, and the crowd was wonderful. One of my mom’s old school mates from Clarkesville came, Jane Thompson. And I sold two whole CDs. I love it when that happens.
A couple of times this weekend I’ve had a sweaty-finger problem. I’ll be playing a song, usually my banjo tune in the set, “Leroy and Liza,” and I realize that my thumbpick is working its way down my thumb. I’m playing my last break thinking, “Please don’t come off before the last note, please don’t come off before the last note!” Luck was with me and it stayed on, but it was nerve wracking.
Well, gotta dash. We’re loading the van to head to Harrisburg to play at the Stage on Herr tonight. See you there!
Whoops!
Friday, January 15th, 2010Murphy Henry
So, I woke up at 5:30 this morning and thought, “Whoops! I forgot to blog!” So here I am, an hour and a half later, sitting at my computer, before I have even had my morning cuppa.
Why did I forget something so crucial? Well, the Misfits jam is on hold for a while, although Logan did come in for his lesson (more on that later), but the big news here is that Red took his first solo flight yesterday—WHOO HOO!—and we went out to eat to celebrate. Of course when we came back I had to get in my obligatory episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and then I headed for my nest with no thoughts of blogging to disturb me. Till this morning.
So. About Logan’s lesson. He’s got a GIG coming up! And had his first practice for it last Sunday. Where, to his surprise, the singer/guitarist did a lot of songs in the key of E. To complicate things even further, the guy had his capo on at the SECOND fret. (He was playing out of the D position.) Logan was, to put it bluntly, totally lost. “I can’t play out of E!” he told me. “Yes, you can!” I replied. “No, I can’t!” he said. Then I said, “Let me pretend I’m Bob Van Metre for a minute: !@##%, yes you can, now shut up or I’m going to get the duct tape!”
That gained me a moment of silence, in which I said, “Get your capo.” Of course, Logan had forgotten his capo, so I gave him one of mine. “Put it on at the FOURTH fret. We’re going to play out of C position. And that will make it come out in the Key of E.”
“Ooooooooh,” said Logan. He actually got it.
So we messed around with “I’ll Fly Away” for a while in E. He actually had a decent break, although as he pointed out, it didn’t have much melody, so I showed him some ways to get the melody with two-finger pinches on the first and second strings. (Ask Casey for your own, personal DVD lesson!)
Then he showed me what he’d learned for his lesson, which was the entire break to “Amazing Grace” from the Gospel DVD—which is not, IMHO, an easy task. I’d also showed him some clever embellishments (which I’m not sure are on the DVD, but they might be!) which he was including with ease. As I was sitting there listening to him play, I was thinking, “He doesn’t sound like a student, he sounds like a real live banjo player!” I can’t tell you how proud I was of him.
We then moved on to “Rawhide,” which was another song that he was going to have to do for his gig. He knew the first part, which is nothing but “Lonesome Road Blues,” so I showed him Rudy Lyle’s way cool bridge, which is basically the same backward roll played across the four chords of the bridge, E, A, D, G. But since “Rawhide” is played in C, we were capoed up five frets and playing out of G, C, and D positions (in other words, thinking in the key of G), so these weirdo chords come out LOOKING like B, E, A, D. Position-wise, I mean. You can see what a mess the whole thing is.
Logan said, “I need to learn about all this stuff.” “Yes, you do,” I said, “but not right now. Right now you just need to learn to play this bridge, so the best thing to do is just to find these positions on the neck and memorize where they are.” (They’re in an easy pattern.)
He did that, and, I swear, within five minutes (maybe less) he was flat-out playing the bridge, and hooking it into the rest of the song. Again: Proud was I!
I told him after the bridge was over, that was the end of his break, but he should be ready to jump into the A part again, just in case the next person faltered or failed to come in. On stage, you’ve gotta be prepared.
We still have one more lesson to get him ready for the gig. He says the guy is singing a lot of Mac Wiseman songs, so I told him to email me the list and we’d work on them. I’ll keep you posted. I’m hoping to get Logan (or maybe Bobby Van) to blog about the gig. I wonder what kind of bribe I’ll have to offer Logan to get him to do that…..I’ll think of something!