“Little Red Rooster”

Hi again, folks—I’m back. By the way—off topic, but has anyone else noticed that Google Reader is taking forever to pick up post feeds lately? However that may be, here’s a bit more “anniversary” banjo—you can actually see yours truly singing & playing this morning via the magic of webcam & YouTube. I’m having a little problem with the mic in the Logitech webcam “clipping” (just another word for distorting, in essence), but decided to post this anyway. I’ll keep fooling around with the mic settings & see if I can get some better audio.

When I hear myself sing, I’m often reminded of Jonathon Richman’s immortal words: “They’d rather watch TV than hear a real person sing”—not so much the TV part, but the “real person sing.” In fact, you may indeed be tempted to watch TV—as a vocalist, I think I’m a pretty fair guitar player (or banjoist); some folks like the way I sing, but it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

The song “Little Red Rooster” was written by Willie Dixon, & first recorded by Howling Wolf; as such it comes from the electric tradition of Chicago blues, so my 5-string banjo version is probably a bit odd. I first learned “Little Red Rooster” on the guitar, but as I thought about playing “blues banjo,” it was one of the first songs I adapted—I knew it very well, & I play it in G (the banjoist peoples’ key)!

What you see (& hear) is what you get. Hope you enjoy it!