Deep Blues Chapter 3: Mojo Hands

This chapter returned to the (musical) life of Muddy Waters. A ton of new people were introduced and a lot of them have songs that are in one of Nic's playlists so it was nice to be able to hear the music that was being explained in all of the chapters.

The chapter started off with an explanation of prominant superstitions that existed in the early 1920s-1940s (around that time anyway) including voodoo doctors that "gave" people good luck in whatever it was they were trying to do. After that intro it continued on into how Muddy began playing around with music when he was still a toddler. He first started playing the accordian when he was five and then he progressed onto the Jew's harp, French harp (harmonica), and guitar. Reading about this made me wish that I would've been encouraged to play music more as a child! It was Muddy's way out of the fields and into something that gave him release and that he loved. He was able to learn from the other musicians in Coahoma County and elaborate on that base to get his own performance style (including delayed singing).

I enjoyed reading about Muddy because I could tell in all of the quotes from him that his music is an integral part of his life just as it is for many of the other blues musicians of that time and musicians still around now. Feeling passion for one's work is something that is far underappreciated in our society where people have become more and more concerned about money than happiness. I'm not saying the money had no role in why these people played music, but there is genuine feeling in the songs that leads me to believe they played because they enjoyed playing. When I grow up and am forced to decide what I'm doing with my life, I hope that I can still say I just want to be happy in my life and career and know that I am doing something worthwhile.

Song Choice

So I finally got around to going in and listening to some more of Nic's music today. I was surprised by how many of the artists I had actually heard of from the book and also from them still being well known. I really liked Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman" and Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line" from Nic's playlist. I've known both of these songs for a long time and enjoy listening to both artists. I also like the song "Cuando te Conoci" by Steve Jordan because it tests my spanish skills and makes me want to actually look up the lyrics and see how much of the song I can understand. The last song that I was considering for the bios is Blind Willie Johnson's "John the Revelator" simply because I liked the sound of it.

I believe I'm going to go with "I Got a Woman" by Ray Charles for my bio.

Performance

Basically, I hate performing in front of people and don't know how to read music/play most instruments. I'm thinking about making a video of some sort-maybe interview people about their music preferences and if they are involved in music, how they came to be so and have them play something. Anyone from the noon section want to form a group and do something like that? Let me know.

Another thought was that Nic mentioned something about people doing stuff with art. I love art and draw/paint/color some. I'm not sure how I would be able to incorporate that into a musically inspired presentation though.

My last thought (and the one I would dread the most) would be to actually play something for the class on the kazoo or drums...something of that nature.

Needless to say, I have not come to a clear cut decision yet and am glad I won't have to be presenting tomorrow! I'll think on it for a while...

Pandora

For some reason or another listening to the Pandora station for FYS while doing my reading for Roots actually helps me concentrate. Maybe it just helps me relate to the music better. Anyway, I've been streaming for close to an hour so it's worked its way through a couple of genres. Two songs that I've particularily enjoyed tonight are "The Angel's Message to Me" by Blind Gary Davis which just had a good gravelly, soulful feel, and "Rock Me on the Water" by Jackson Browne which is a bit more modern sounding that many of the others I've been hearing and has smooth piano and jazz sound.

Chapter Two - Deep Blues

I'm starting to get a bit more into the book but still have a hard time forcing myself to get to it early...Oh well, I got it done and am beginning to enjoy so that's all that really matters.

Several characters-both familiar and unheard of (for me anyway) were introduced this chapter including: Charley Patton, Joe Dockery, Henry Sloan, Tommy Johnson, Eddie "Son" House, and James Coyner. Patton and his life, particularily his involvement in music, were the focus. Patton, Sloan, and Johnson played together often at Joe Dockery's plantation and helped form what is now called blues. Blues songs seem to have somewhat community lyrics--bits and pieces are taken from several different songs and combined into a "original" piece that is noteworthy for its combination as well as tone and rhythm.

Tommy Johnson claimed that he learned to play the guitar so well by selling his soul to the devil. This immediately made me remember O Brother, Where Art Thou because I believe the guitarist in that movie who "sold his soul to the devil" was also named Tommy. Was it the same guy??

I'm not quite sure how James Coyner loops in with Patton...he just seemed like a very disturbed man.

Deep Blues (1st Reading)

I received a rather poor education in history at my high school (my teacher was suspended for a semester and others were coaches=gone about half the time) so reading up about the history of blues actually taught me a lot about U.S. history. The prologue dragged a bit for me though it did a nice job of relating the information to a character that is very well-known for his musical contributions (Muddy Waters). Reading about the origination of different styles/influences of blues music was enjoyable because I love listening to music but again know very little about the specifics or history of it. Several of the people mentioned (namely Charles Peabody, Alan Lomax, and W.C. Handy) sounded familiar, but I didn't really know anything about them.

Since I never really took music classes, I was a little bit lost while Palmer talks about AAA and AAB formats as well as the flattened third "blue note." I love listening to guitar music so it was interesting to learn about some of the styling such as using sliders and picking the guitar to make "rhythmic accents [that] talked back to the singer." Anyone know how to play guitar and want to try to teach me a little bit??

I also enjoyed reading about how blues music in the south developed from it's African origination in Senegambia and how it spread and changed in different areas of the states. I'm thinking about going into International Studies and for the most part love reading about different cultures (and want to actually go and experience them) so it was interesting to read about how some of our words and instruments came from Senegambia and the Wolof people like the banjo ("halam") and words like jive and hip cat...good times.

Sunday night I went to the movie at Nic's house (along with a total of about ten people). We watched O Brother, Where Art Thou which has an amazing soundtrack. I love the deep soulful music that gets played as well as the rowdier dance songs that were mixed in there a little bit. The movie portrayed several types of music which shows the diversity of music at all times but I could often find some rhythm or tone that made the music feel connected and relevant in its mix. A lot of the music in the movie portrayed stylings that were described in the reading which made the movie more interesting than it had been before (I had seen part of the movie before Sunday) because I could relate to the music better.

I started streaming music from Pandora while writing this so I'll just toss in that so far it's decent...kind of hit or miss. "Tombstone Blues" by Robert Peterson was pretty good. His voice reminds me of Ray Charles', but he's accompanied by a guitar instead of piano. I'm not a fan of Jimmy Burns' "Through All Your Faults." The rest of the songs thus far have been alright, lots of soulful stuff.