Katie Mae

I’ve been keeping bachelor’s quarter for the past week plus, as Eberle’s been having a grand time for herself with her old friend Margot on an island in the St Lawrence River. Needless to say, I do miss her, but I have made good use of the time by getting a fair amount of recording done—a great thing to do in an empty house.

The “serious” side of the recording has involved the full set-up in the music room with our Boss Digital workstation (see pic); as of this morning, I have 13 tracks that I find satisfactory. The “fun” recording has involved our little webcam, which I gave everyone a taste of last week on Robert Frost’s Banjo’s one-year anniversary. Truth be told, as you heard last week, the little webcam mic distorts pretty badly with the banjo, & I haven’t had the time to test different set-ups that might minimize this. Good news is that the webcam mic has a much easier time with the guitar—even the resonator—so this week I’m posting my version of the great Lightnin’ Hopkins’ song, “Katie Mae.”

In case you don’t know, Hopkins was one of the real masters of fingerstyle blues, & he particularly favored a “boogie” style. Needless to say, while I’m a decent guitar picker, I’m not Lightnin’ Hopkins, so I’m not trying to play in his style—just having fun with a very fun tune.

Hope you enjoy it!