In retrospect the phasing effect on the guitar in my recording of Widow’s Plea For Her Son is criminally annoying. Fortunately few listeners were harmed.

Over on Muxtape, there is now a Soupgreens page on Muxtape. On Muxtape.

Not sure what’s it’s for except looking pretty, but it sure does look pretty.

Thanks for Empty House Cooperative for hooking me up with the acct.

7-8:30 tonight I’ll play a set at Cinema Bar in Culver City for the after-work drinkers. TGIF: a couple Coronas, killer tacos at Tito’s next door, and americana music.

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I learned the folky country tune “Big River Blues” from Doc Watson. Somewhere or other he mentioned he learned the song from the Delmore Brothers, and yesterday I came across that original version.

Here it is: Big River Blues (mp3)

This recording is from the 1930s. The genre is self-aware as something like country and western, probably with an emphasis on the western. Their conception of the style is that it’s slightly slick rube music, more in tune and less liquored up than the crude early days only ten years before. The single-note lead guitar line might be on an early electric instrument. It a step on the evolutionary path to rockabilly, and you can start to hear how something like Carl Perkins would come out of this.

Their guitar lead got picked up in Doc Watson’s version, modified to use his Merle Travis influenced picking technique rather than a flatpick. I didn’t grab that lead line when I learned the Doc stuff, it just didn’t catch my ear that strongly. And I used the title from Doc’s version; _Deep_ River Blues rather than _Big River Blues_.

The hidden value of Creative Commons:

Every so often, I get a little Google news vanity alert about a photo that’s been credited on the Internet. One of my faves is the remix of Lawrence Lessig at the top of this post. It is actually a collage that was created by Andy on the fly for a G33k dinner.

Tag up your photos and try it yourself. If they’re on a free hosting service, what do you have to lose?

Makes sense to me. A big part of why I use CC or public domain licensing on my music is to encourage reuse and hopefully create viral effects.

So something holding back CC musicians is that it’s hard for potential reusers to find permissively licensed music on independent sites like mine.

Rolling stops on a bicycle allow for efficient riding uses Celebrated Shoo Fly Galop::

Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.

I just stumbled across a big collection of digitized cylinders at Syracuse University Library. It’s not very big but it is clean and modern.

Check out, for example, this 1916 one-step by Vess Ossman. What’s a one-step? No idea. I think that he was 7 years from death at this point, and pretty much at the end of his career.

Here’s the schedule for this month.

At 10PM most Wednesdays in April I’ll play Taix in Madame Pamita’s band. I almost always get there early to eat and then hang out to chat after the set. That’s 4/1, 4/8, 4/22, and 4/29. (But not 4/15).

On Thursday April 9 I’ll play a solo set at the Hyperion Tavern. Dunno the time yet, most likely around 10PM. I’ll do the new electric guitar stuff that I’ve been working out in the Cinema Bar gigs over the past couple months. Hyperion Tavern is a great room for relaxing and cooling out to low key music. There’s no obvious place to eat right by the bar, because Casita del Campo across the street is really wretched, but there are some spots up Hyperion Ave toward Glendale.

On Friday April 10 and Friday April 24 I’ll play an early set at Cinema Bar in Culver City for the after-work drinkers. TGIF, a couple Coronas, killer tacos at Tito’s next door, and some vintage americana music.

On Monday April 27 I’ll play from 7:45 to 8:45 at the Talking Stick coffeehouse in Venice Beach. It’s on Lincoln a couple blocks south of Air Conditioned lounge. Real nice room where it’s easy both to talk to people or to pull into your own head and do some laptopping.

Lots of shows, which is good because playing more gets me into a nice flow and the music comes out well. Also: always always always feel free to ping me about drinks or food on gig nights. It’s all about the socializing.

Great live tune with chillingly grave singing and a potent solo.

The singer makes me think of the 60s folk revival. I’m hearing Joan Baez and Odetta in her POV. And that makes me think of how old music acquires layers of meaning as different generations embrace it for their own purposes.

For me it was especially interesting to see the guitarist’s approach to soloing, since this is the same kind of stuff I do with Madame Pamita. I liked his take on it — hot fingerpicking, no single note runs.

The use of yodeling is really interesting, too.

I didn’t like their recorded stuff as much as this live bit.