Highway 61 Revisited

Happy Wednesday!  Given that you’ve all made it to mid-week, you probably don’t want to return to Monday, do you?  But that’s just what we’re doing here today, as we have the Wednesday edition of the Monday Morning Blues!

I had intended for my musical outings this month to be quite different.  In the past I used to do some chord solos on the uke, both the tenor & the baritone. A “chord solo” for those who don’t know is a way of playing the song’s melody using chords, so there’s also harmony underneath the melodic line.  But things have been crazy at so many levels here at Robert Frost’s Banjo central, & when I sat down to record on Sunday, I found that my uke chops are really rusty.  Putting together the series I planned would have required extra practice time I just don’t have.

So, back to the guitar.  Since I’ve been on a performance sabbatical the last couple of months I’ve experimented with taking my music in some different directions (as witness the selections in November).  One direction is the music of Bob Dylan, & I’ll be featuring his songs on the Monday Morning Blues the rest of the month.

The song “Highway 61 Revisited" comes from from Dylan’s 1965 album of the same name—& of course, the “Highway 61” of the title is the “Blues Highway”—U.S. 61 that runs from New Orleans, Louisiana up thru the Mississippi Delta region, eventually coming to an end in Wyoming, Minnesota.   Dylan said of the Highway 61 Revisited album:

“I'm not gonna be able to make a record better than that one... Highway 61 is just too good. There's a lot of stuff on there that I would listen to."
(taken from Wikipedia)

Obviously, Bob Dylan songs aren’t going to be “seasonal,” but I suspect a fair number of people would like a break from the ubiquitous holiday soundtrack!  Hope you enjoy the song.

"Do the Dead Know What Time It Is?"

Do the Dead Know what Time It Is?

The old guy put down his beer.
Son, he said,
          (and a girl came over to the table where we were:
          asked us by Jack Christ to buy her a drink.)
Son, I am going to tell you something
The like of which nobody was ever told.
          (and the girl said, I've got nothing on tonight;
          how about you and me going to your place?)
I am going to tell you the story of my mother's
Meeting with God.
          (and I whispered to the girl: I don't have a room,
          but maybe...)
She walked up to where the top of the world is
And He came right up to her and said
So at last you've come home.
          (but maybe what?
          I thought I'd like to stay here and talk to you.)
My mother started to cry and God
Put His arms around her.
          (about what?
          Oh, just talk...we'll find something.)
She said it was like a fog coming over her face
And light was everywhere and a soft voice saying
You can stop crying now.
          (what can we talk about that will take all night?
          and I said that I didn't know.)
You can stop crying now.


Kenneth Patchen (1939) 

This was posted on Robert Frost's Banjo within the first couple of week's of the blog's existence in the summer of '08.  Since only a few friends read Robert Frost's Banjo back then, it won't be redundant for most.  It is one of my favorite poems by one of my very favorite poets.  Hope you all are having a nice day!

Photo of the Week 12/5/10

Song Sparrow in Russian Olive in Afternoon Light

Indian Valley, Idaho

Friday, December 3rd

Tomorrow on Robert Frost's Banjo? I was saying Monday Morning Uke, but that ain't happening—too busy this weekend.  I may take a day off.

This week on The Spring Ghazals: music theory for poets continues!

Alcools? I'm having a deuce of a time with the next poem,"Le Larron," ("The Thief.") I can see why one translation of Alcools I have omitted it—it's difficult.  I don't know if it will be up Monday or not, but I hope to complete it soon so I can move on! 

Old Time Holiday Train #1

Two things I like a lot: old-time music & trains.  I say, why not combine them?  Especially when you consider the fact that the most popular post all-time on Robert Frost’s Banjo was one of the segments from last year’s Blues Christmas Train series.

So you can understand why I’m returning to a similar series this year.  Except this time around, I’m not sticking simply to the blues—nor am I sticking to what generally falls under the rubric of “old-timey” music—namely, old-time country & fiddle tunes.  Instead, I’ll be looking at songs from the 1920s & 1930s, & in each post comparing & contrasting a selection from the “hillbilly” genre (as it was known at the time) with one from a “race” record—again, using the parlance of the day.  The fact is, even these early attempts at genre creation were to a large degree dictated by the biases & tastes of the recording companies & the field recorders.  In fact, the lines between “hillbilly” music & “race” music were often crossed by the musicians themselves—we need only look to Jimmie Rodgers, the “father of Country Music” to find a hillbilly musician who played the blues, while there’s documentary evidence that a number of African-American blues musicians—including such luminaries as Robert Johnson & a young Muddy Waters—crossed over into cowboy music in the 1930s when their audiences demanded it—see Elijah Wald’s Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson & the Invention of the Blues.)

Today, we start with two classics!

Delmore Bros: Blue Railroad Train (1933)  What was there about brother acts in old-time country music?  In addition to the Delmore Brothers, there were the Blue Sky Boys, Bill & Charlie Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, & later on, Jim & Jesse McReynolds & the Louvin Brothers.  All of these acts had distinctive sounds, & the Delmores were no exception.  Alton & Rabon Delmore came out of Alabama to become early stars of the Grand Ol’ Opry.  In addition to their smooth harmonies, the Delmores were also notable for using the tenor guitar (played by Alton), a somewhat uncommon instrument, especially in country music.  The tenor guitar is tuned like a tenor banjo in fifths (C-G-D-A) & was a transitional instrument in some hot jazz bands as the sound began to steer away from banjos toward the more mellow guitar.

The more mellow sound of the Delmores’ certainly constrasted with the more strident sounds of mountain music recorded in the 1920s—think of Dock Boggs, Uncle Dave Macon or Charlie Poole.  But particularly like Boggs (in this way & perhaps no other), they did inject a blues feel into the music—flatted thirds, a certain “bent note” inflection in the vocals.  The Delmore’s had what Bill Monroe would late call “the high lonesome sound.”  It sure sounds good on “Blue Railroad Train.”


 
Tommy Johnson: Cool Drink of Water (1928)

Tommy Johnson was a singularly talented musician & one of the most memorable of the first generation of Delta bluesmen.  He recorded only 16 songs in two recording sessions, one in Memphis & one in Grafton, Wisconsin, but every one of those is a classic.  Johnson’s guitar playing is intricate & powerful—sometimes paired, as in this song, with Charlie McCoy’s mandolin playing—& then there’s his voice—

for my money, he had the most compelling falsetto in old-time blues—a sound that brings to mind the great “high lonesome” voices of Appalachian or “hillbilly” music—that tingling sense of existential despair that rings true whether it’s sung by a white banjoist from the mountains or an African-American guitar player from the Mississippi Delta.   Of course, the “high lonesome sound” was actually used by a number of blues singers: just think of Robert Johnson’s vocal on “Hellhound on My Trail,” or any number of vocals by Skip James, just to name to well-known bluesmen. 

“Cool Drink of Water” is one of the best old-time songs, whatever the genre.  Enjoy!

"December Inventory"

December Inventory

sparrows in tousled hair a
banjo strung with iron wire an a-
temporal glass of milk—an

echo within a wishing well—white
stones an alphabetical hex sign
a red barn in my arms the

black water the black e-
motional cottonwood limbs a
yellow backloader creaking thru drifts a

globe on a shelf its ecru oceans its
pink mountains its blue islands my
empty arms in the fog

a plate of garbanzos
a plate of potatoes & coconut the
brown juncos tearing the Russian olive’s

pods my emotional fingers against a sky
no longer anywhere a hermetic
snowdome’s figure skaters

a glass door a
musicbox in my lungs an
opening in space where sound escapes

Jack Hayes
© 2010

Hope you enjoyed the poem.  I’m also here to announce that there won’t be a Homegrown Radio feature this month—long story, but suffice it to say that I do have someone lined up for January, & it’s going to be some exciting music—so stay tuned!

In other news: Many thanks to HKatz of The Sill of the World blog for an excellent & insightful review of The Spring Ghazals.  You can check out the review here.

If you aren’t familiar with this blog, you’re really missing out.  The quality of writing on The Sill of the World is high & HKatz’ The Week in Seven Words series is a unique concept that’s also executed with aplomb.  If you’d like to read HKatz’ observations on writing, you can check out my interview with her in the Writers Talk series right here.  There’s also a wonderful poem by HKatz accompanying that interview at this link.

Just a few reminders: The Spring Ghazals is now available on Amazon & Amazon.uk (& presumably other Amazon international sites, tho I haven’t confirmed that.)  It should be available on Barnes & Noble within the next several days.  If you haven’t purchased the book but follow this blog either on Blogger or thru Networked Blogs, please consider doing so.  If you have the book, please consider writing a review on Amazon &/or Lulu.  Giving the book a positive rating on either of these sites is also helpful.  The book’s Amazon page is here; the Lulu page here.  Of course, I’d always welcome other bloggers reviewing the book or setting up interviews with me about it.

Thanks for your interest!

Writer’s Talk with Karen Schindler

Karen Schindler writes even when she's not writing. A wonderer, a cherisher of experiences, she lives life with gleeful abandon and pulls others into her wake.  Karen has been or is about to be published at Eclectic Flash, Voxpoetica, WeirdYear, 52 Stitches, Flashes in the Dark, InkNode, Negative Suck, Blink/Ink and various other ezines and print anthologies. You can find Karen and more of her work at Miscellaneous Yammering, or visit her hanging out as the managing editor of Pow Fast Flash Fiction when she's not busy ghostwriting and editing for a living.

Karen says: "Be sure to visit me at Miscellaneous Yammering where there's always something to make you smile."  I concur; & I add: don't forget to check out Karen's poem "Counter Clockwise" over on the Writers Talk blog!

How would you describe the community of writers you belong to?

Oh my gosh, I love the online writing community. I remember the day when I first connected with a group of people who were as prone to flights of fancy as I am. There was a big multi- part fast and furious conversation going on and smack dab in the middle of it, I stopped, dumbstruck with the joy of the experience and said aloud to an empty room “ My god, I’ve found my people.” It was like being struck in the head by lighting, or suddenly falling in love. Or it might have been a bit like those people who snap and run through their old workplace with an uzi….but I think it was more like the first two scenarios.

Describe your creative process?

Most days I feel like there is a meteor headed toward my house and the words, much like rats fleeing a sinking ship, have to get themselves onto the page before the impact. Then there are days where there are no words at all. On those days I go to the park and hug trees. It's a win/win situation.

When did you first realize your identity as a writer?

I’ve been writing my whole life, but I didn’t describe myself as a writer until the last couple of years. These days I introduce myself at gatherings as a writer/editor. The only problem with that is people now pitch me ideas, or ask if they can just “send me a little something to look at” when I have a minute. When that happens it makes me think that I might know a little bit about how a doctor feels when he gets backed into a corner at a cocktail party so the person can show him their rash.

Could you describe your relationship to the publishing process?

I think anything that’s been released into the world whether electronically or in print has been published. I don’t understand the hesitation that people have when they hedge their credits with the words “but it was only published online.” There are an amazing amount of opportunities to get your work read on the web. Some print publications have a smaller audience than a lot of ezines. If you create it, and they come to read it, you’ve done the job you set out to do. You’ve unleashed your words into the reader’s imagination, and that’s publishing as far as I’m concerned.

How has being a writer affected your relationships?

There are two things that I have to watch out for A) noticing the glassy eyed stare of the poor trapped civilian [read: “non writer”] I’ve button holed and duct taped to a chair to make them, once again, listen while I discuss my latest WIP  and B) writing people I know into my stories either consciously or unconsciously before the statute of limitations runs out on whatever it was that they did.

What are your future goals in terms of writing?

My long term goal is to one day have my best selling novel on the shelves of the paperback department of any grocery store that I go into. If the buyer who provides books to Giant Eagle has heard of you, then you’re pretty much a household name.

And….most importantly…. in my book jacket cover I want to be on a pony.

Bonus Question: If your writing were a musical instrument, what would it be?

A flugelhorn.

"The Spring Ghazals" on Amazon!

Happy Wednesday, all!  Great news—The Spring Ghazals is now available on both Amazon & Amazon.uk.  It doesn't appear to be on Barnes & Noble yet, but I'll continue to check into that.  The links are as follows: Amazon is here; Amazon.uk is here.  If people want me to check on other international Amazon sites, I'll be happy to do so—just let me know.

I know a few people experienced problems trying to place an order with Lulu, & I'm hoping the process works more smoothly thru Amazon.  If you want to buy yourself or the poetry lover in your life a holiday present, now's the time!

If you haven't checked out the dedicated blog for The Spring Ghazals, please do.  There's a new series running there called "Music Theory for Poets," which has gotten some nice feedback.  Of course, if you're not a self-professed poet, you're still most welcome!

Also, for those of you who have read The Spring Ghazals or are in the process of reading it, it would be great if you'd consider posting a review &/or rating on either the Amazon page or the Lulu page.  

We now return you to our regular programming.  This includes Writers Talk tomorrow with fiction writer & poet Karen Schindler!