North Mississippi blues?

[vulpesvulpes]

Hello,

I’ve been going through Michael’s 'Introduction to Blues Slide Guitar' DVD (which is excellent!) and I really dug the one chord North Mississippi blues lick.



A Wikipedia search for North Mississippi blues led me to Mississippi Fred McDowell who I’m enjoying very much but can anyone recommend anyone else or tell me anymore about this style of guitar playing.



Thanks in advance,

Han

[twang1]

R.L. Burnside. Junior Kimbrough. The great John Lee Hooker was also a master at that style of rhythm. No slide but style...
Frank

[zak71]

Go way back to the source and start with Otto Virgial and Garfield Akers, they are the earliest examples of Hill Country blues that I can think of.







If you really want to understand where those rhythms come from, listen to the fife & drum bands of Othar Turner and Napoleon Strickland. They both recorded on guitar, as well.

Along with R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough who have already been mentioned, Jessie Mae Hemphill (and her aunt, Rosa Lee Hill) are good representatives of that style. One of my favorites is the inexplicably neglected Ranie Burnette. Luckily he recorded a few singles on small labels like High Water. Robert Belfour is another great, idiosyncratic player that is in the must-hear category.

Check out R.L. Boyce for some contemporary Hill Country blues.
He's one of the last guys doing the real thing. Kind of uneven, but when he's good he's REALLY good.



One of my favorite Hill Country records released in recent years is the all-acoustic Earl "Little Joe" Ayers CD on Devil Down Records. Ayers was, at various times, Kimbrough's bass player and rhythm guitar player, and the material is mostly from the Kimbrough songbook. A great, introspective, moody recording.

www.devildownrecords.com/little-joe-ayers/

[slide496]

Robert Belfour:




Jesse MAe Hemphill



www.fatpossum.com/ has a roster of artists from this area, old and new.

[vulpesvulpes]

Wow!!! That’s amazing; exactly the info I was looking for!


Thanks so much everyone. That’s going to keep me busy today. I've just got to work out how to play this stuff myself now!


All the best,

Han

[blueshome]

As I've recommended before - The George Mitchell Collection, 8 CD's with plenty of Hill Country and lots of other great stuff.

[Michael Messer]

Shine On
Michael

[simonf]

Belton Sutherland is worth a look too. Only recorded by Lomax I believe so only 3 or 4 tunes but they're great. Compeltely laid back and yet he's clearly the baddest guy who ever walked the earth!




Niven Lee (who is known to many of us EBAers) is very good at this stuff, and has some great videos up on youtube including some instructional stuff which might be of interest to the OP (though more about the rhthym stuff than slide).

[vulpesvulpes]

I’m loving Napolian Strickland, it looks like he snapped that jagged bottle neck off just minutes before filming!



Excellent videos, cheers everyone; I’m still working my way through them. Spotify is a great resource for following up on these names as well; R.L Burnsides’s getting a lot of my attention so far.



I’m very new to slide and open tunings; could anyone recommend a good teaching resource? Michael, your video was (and still is) a great help; is there anything similar out there?
I think ultimately though I may have to find a good teacher and spring for some lessons.

[Michael Messer]

Hi Han,

I am pleased you are enjoying all the film clips. Mississippi Fred McDowell and Napolian Strickland were in a class of their own, especially Fred, who was one of the undisputed masters of North Mississippi Blues and slide guitar.

Regarding your question about teaching materials - watching films and listening to their music is the best way. I don't know which tuition DVDs to recommend, it really depends what you are trying to focus on?

I don't want to sidetrack this thread into an MM advert, but if you are interested in private lessons on Skype, drop me a private message.

Good luck with your quest. I have been playing Fred McDowell-style slide guitar for decades and I still feel that I have only scratched the surface of one of the USA's greatest musicians of the 20th century.

Shine On
Michael.

[vulpesvulpes]

Hi Michael,

Ideally I’d like to be able to play in the style of Mississippi Fred McDowell. I really love the guitar playing in the below version of ‘Good Morning Little School Girl’,  

Sadly I’m not set up for Skype at the moment (primitive) but once I’ve managed to upgrade my setup I’d be very interested in some lessons.



Thanks again for the help,

Han

[bod]

Han, check out Tom Feldman - you'll find official excerpts from his teaching DVDs on youtube. I don't own any of his DVDs, but they seem well designed from a "learning & teaching" point of view and I find the youtube clips helpful for pointers toward what's going on a particular person's style, as well as aids to learning particular tracks. Even if you find his approach is not what you are looking for, you'll get some useful tips from the clip off his Fred McDowell DVD.




Ranie Burnette



Strickland, Buford & Boyce (odd choices for video, but good music)

[vulpesvulpes]

Thanks Bod,

I’ve checked out the Tom Feldmann vids on YouTube and they seem pretty good. I’ll work my way through the YouTube clips first and see how I get on. I really dig the Robert Crumb style illustrations on the front covers of his DVDs!

That Napoleon Strickland, Jimmie Buford & RL Boyce track; extraordinary!

Cheers, 

Han

[Michael Messer]

Here's another clip from the Robert Palmer / Dave Stewart 'Deep Blues' documentary film.

Big Jack Johnson from Lambert, Mississippi - Catfish Blues



This is a great performance and I like the Les Blanc influenced filming & editing in all the clips from this film.

Shine On
Michael

[thebluesbear( al)]

Hello everyone

i can not express how much im enjoying the film clips in this thread, many thanks to everyone that posted

al