Today’s version of “Poor Boy Long Way from Home” is notable for a few reasons. Although it was recorded about a year after Bo Weavil Jackson’s version, Gus Cannon’s take on “Poor Boy Long Ways from Home” is thought to represent an old version of the song, as it medleys two turn of the century “proto-blues” standards, “Poor Boy Blues” & “My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It.” Of course, Gus Cannon is one of the oldest performers on record—he was born in 1883, & had a background performing in touring medicine shows.
Of course later Cannon became well-known as the leader of one of the best known jug bands, Cannon’s Jug Stompers, a combo that produced a number of well-known songs such as “Walk Right In,” “Minglewood Blues,” “Viola Lee Blues,” “Feather Bed” & more. But Cannon’s recording career began before the formation of the Jug Stompers when he recorded six songs as Banjo Joe, with backing guitar by none other than Blind Blake! In fact, Cannon also played banjo on a couple of Blake’s own 1927 recordings.
So this version is also notable because Cannon is playing slide on a banjo (which, along the with the jug, was his instrument), not a guitar. While the idea of slide banjo may strike us as odd, it actually makes sense. First, the banjo is often tuned to an open chord, which itself facilitates slide playing; second, there’s easy access to higher frets than on a guitar because of the way the neck meets the body—remember, this was long before cutaway guitars!
Gus Cannon’s recording of “Poor Boy Long Way from Home” was released by Paramount; it was the A side, with “Can You Blame The Colored Man” as the B side recording. The recordings were made around November 1927 in Chicago.
There’s no question that Gus Cannon is an important figure in the development of American popular music. He lived a long & full life, surviving & performing into his 90s. Cannon’s Jug Stompers produced a memorable sound, with Cannon playing banjo & jug simultaneously behind the virtuosic harmonica of Noah Lewis & the guitar playing of Ashley Thompson, Elijah Avery or Hosea Woods—Woods also contributed kazoo to the mix! Cannon’s Jug Stompers were featured on Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music, with their songs “Minglewood Blues” & “Feather Bed” both appearing on the “Songs” volume of the three record set.
Hope you enjoy this wonderful version of a great song!
Hi, John -
ReplyDeleteAnd the Liebster Award goes to YOU from Another Old Movie Blog: http://anotheroldmovieblog.blogspot.com/
Hi Jacqueline: Thanks so much--I'm honored to get the recognition from you! I'll post about this on Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteCannon actually saw this slide playing as solely a novelty And not really practical as he had to untune the banjo put dimes under the bridge to raise it for sliding, making sure he had good bridge placement, then tighten and retune the strings. To play anything else he had to then untune the banjo take the bridge off and then replace it and then retune the banjo. For street playing or playing in shows or dances, this led to very long and impractical pauses in the show. He learned Poor boy and much of his early repertoire from a slide blues guitarist in clarksdale
ReplyDeleteI did a two or three year study of Cannon and his music and actually found the few peopkle who actually talked to Cannon about his banjo playing which few people did and fewer who had sufficient knowledge of banjo and working as a musician in his context. It is all forthcoming from U of Illinois Press.'
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Cannon considered the slide playing a novelty, not sustainable and probably did no other tune than Poor Boy with slide because it was such a hassle,. He had to untune the banjo to lousen the string to take the bridge off altogether,. He placed dimes under the two ends of the bridge to get the bridge high enough to get the slide. (playing slide on a banjo with low banjo action is even worse than ona low action guitar, you are banging the slide against the frets miore especially because banjo strings are lighter than guitar strings) worrying about making sure he did not lose bridge placement and got the level right. Then he had to retighten the strings on the bridge, tuning them making keeping bridge placement more precarious.
Then to play anything else he had to reverse the process. As Cannon played the banjo very very hard (he tried using picks but he hit the banjo so hard he broke every finger pick he tried to use) a lot of damage to the strings and frets went on and a lot of problems with the precariousness of the bridge.
All of this might be interested for a one-off for a recording but working dances in the Mississippi Valley country, working medicne shows, or street busking he did in memphis such was a total disruption.
Therre just isnt any competition between playing side on a guitar and on a banjo for that reason,. Cannon used a van eps recording banjo with a massively engineered internal resonator and got much more sound out of it than a normal banjoist, but slide banjo is an affectation that doesnt have much to do with the reality of banjo playing African American or otherwise,
Cannon actually saw this slide playing as solely a novelty And not really practical as he had to untune the banjo put dimes under the bridge to raise it for sliding, making sure he had good bridge placement, then tighten and retune the strings. To play anything else he had to then untune the banjo take the bridge off and then replace it and then retune the banjo. For street playing or playing in shows or dances, this led to very long and impractical pauses in the show. He learned Poor boy and much of his early repertoire from a slide blues guitarist in clarksdale
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