Monday, May 10, 2010

Rainy Day Blues


Happy Monday, everybody, & time for the Monday Morning Blues here on Robert Frost’s Banjo. As you can see, yours truly has sprung for a new guitar, a Gold Tone Paul Beard resophonic guitar—basically, a roundneck Dobro, tho strictly speaking these days only Gibson & its Epiphone subsidiary have legal rights to use the "Dobro" name.

As regular readers probably assume, I got this instrument for the blues & specifically for slide playing. For people who are interested in such things, it’s tuned to open D, which fits better with my voice (such as it is) than open G (the latter was a bit more popular overall with the old blues folks)—in other words, the 6 unfretted strings sound a D major chord. I’m using a Dunlop brass slide—I prefer brass over glass slides, but had to use glass when I recorded with the cigar box resonator guitar as a metal slide on that instrument caused the webcam mic to distort. This didn’t seem to be a problem with the Gold Tone.

“Rainy Day Blues” is by Sam “Lightnin’” Hopkins, a long-time personal favorite. Tho Lightnin’ Hopkins didn’t play slide himself—he perfected a very recognizable boogie guitar style that he played both on acoustics & electrics—I felt this song would adapt readily for slide style playing.

It actually was a beautiful sunny day yesterday when I recorded this—hope your Monday also is nice & that you enjoy the song. I am recovered from all the driving late last week, & I will be around visiting blogs today—honest!



16 comments:

  1. fantastic, I love the resophonic. Earnie Ball makes them in my area.
    You sound sweet. I am a BIG fan of Dorian Michael here.
    Thank you for the music today!

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  2. Hi Dianne: Thanks so much! Interesting--I didn't know E. Ball made resos, but it makes sense as I know they make slides. Will check out Dorian Michael--not familiar. Thanks again!

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  3. Smooth, John!! It's a beautiful sunny Monday here in Ohio. Thanks for the great start to my week.

    (nice haircut, btw)

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  4. Hi Willow: Thanks! & glad you like the haircut--I'd been getting pretty shaggy!

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  5. Yes - thank you for the music, John. I love the slide. (and thanks for the help with my totally non-musical video upload).

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  6. Hi Sandra: So glad you liked it, & glad to be of help!

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  7. Thanks,I needed that! That is one honey of a guitar. Good for you!

    Kat

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  8. Hi Kat: & thanks! Glad it hit the spot.

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  9. I don't know anything about the stats but it sure has a wonderful sound. It is a beauty to look at also.

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  10. Geez, John, that sounds good on my laptop speakers!

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  11. Hi John
    As it rains here this dark Tuesday evening I have enjoyed the accompaniment of your Rainy Blues...

    happy days

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  12. Hi LD, K & Delwyn

    LD: Glad you enjoyed it--it's fun to play.

    K: Wow, that is something! Nothing sounds good on my laptop speakers!

    Delwyn: Sounds like the right setting for the song. It rained here yesterday, too! Glad you liked it.

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  13. Mellow and melancholy; I like it.

    Recently I heard another Hopkins song, Bluebird Bluebird, that I also stopped what I was doing to listen to. I'm making a note to look up more of his music.

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  14. Hi HKatz: I love the song "Bluebird, Bluebird"! It's related to another of his songs, one called "Miss Glory Be." Glad you enjoyed this.

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  15. Really enjoyed the music. sorry for late comment, as i said in my last post, wife is cracking whip on diy i've just been too busy to go on line. anyway keep up the good work love your blog.

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  16. Hi Bob: Thanks for stopping by! Sometimes it goes that way--I'm behind on blog visits myself. Glad you liked the music.

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