Cody B
Cody B
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A Different Kind Of Guitar Hero

Posted over 4 years ago

Etta Baker played and performed right up to the time she died in 2006 at 93. I'm not versed enough in music technically to tell you what it is that makes the Piedmont Guitar style different, but it sounds real good on a weekend morning. I got this album as a promo copy back in my record store days and I've kept it for 15 years. Taj Mahal produced and adds a little, but it is mostly Etta, picking away in that laid back style, usually associated with areas around the Carolinas. This here is porch sitting music of the highest order. So all praises to the weekend, the porch and the Queen of the Piedmont style,Etta Baker.

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Comments (22)

  1. Cody B
    Cody B says The tune that got her discovered in '56. ~nsxsqUjo8xA.mp3~
    Permalink posted 10/13/2007
  2. Dzendvokh
    Dzendvokh says Hey great tunes. I have been practicing this style for a little while now. Really a lot of fun to play. Mostly pretty simple tunes with simple melodies, but the picking can get pretty tricky sometimes. If I ever get around to it I will post some of my favorites. Mostly I think Piedmont refers to the alternating bass line plucked by the thumb over which the melody is played with the other fingers. Supposedly it stems from an adaptation of ragtime music to the guitar.
    Permalink posted 10/13/2007
  3. Cody B
    Cody B says Thanks for that info,DzenD! I guess the fact that it is fun to play is why she stayed at it so long.
    Permalink posted 10/13/2007
  4. brendanhalpin
    brendanhalpin says Awesome guitar pickin'. What is the deal with this tune? I've heard it as "White House Blues" and "The Cannonball," and now "Railroad Bill." From Buffalo to Washington...
    Permalink posted 10/13/2007
  5. Dzendvokh
    Dzendvokh says Brendan- There's got to be dozens of songs in the same key with those same chords, with similar melody. It could be they are all the same song, could also be the melody varies ever so slightly. I think its a matter of the "folk" song, they were passed around at informal gatherings, not codified as songs are these days. You know: "this song" by "this person". Had more of an organic flow to it.
    Permalink posted 10/13/2007
  6. consumerx
    consumerx says I'm with you Brendan. I've heard that song many times, but never knew it was called "Railroad Bill." Me thinks you folks would have enjoyed the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in SF last weekend. Tons of incredible musicians including bigger names like Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Los Lobos, Del McCoury and pickers like Earl Scruggs and Doc Watson and many many more performing for free in Golden Gate Park. It's an annual event completely sponsored by one wealthy San Franciscan who loves bluegrass. I think I'm gonna make it a fellas weekend next year and encourage my boys come in from 'round the country.
    Permalink posted 10/13/2007
  7. Bartleby
    Bartleby says I don't anything about technique or virtuosity but I know some sweet guitar-plucking when I hear it. Thanks Cody.
    Permalink posted 10/13/2007
  8. Cody B
    Cody B says Consumerx-That festival sounds like a winner..love me some Del Mc. Brendan-Started the book and the mix, glad you liked the track..whatever it's name is. Bartleby-I'm with you. And sometimes not knowing the technical can be a blessing. Trusting the ears works for me.
    Permalink posted 10/13/2007
  9. ivylander
    ivylander says She's so remarkably smooth....
    Permalink posted 10/14/2007
  10. bloodtea
    bloodtea says Great stuff! _Railroad Bill_ reminded me of this song: ~dWBGHssisKv.mp3~
    Permalink posted 10/15/2007
  11. Cody B
    Cody B says Whoa,bloodtea I see what you are saying.....very cool tune. I actually own it, but I sure didn't know it well enuf to make that connection. Thanks.
    Permalink posted 10/16/2007
  12. bloodtea
    bloodtea says the second it started, I instinctively began humming _Delia_ :)
    Permalink posted 10/16/2007
  13. Spike
    Spike says This great post takes me back to when fellow high schoolers and I were figuring out how to pick "Railroad Bill," "Freight Train" and others during the early sixties folk craze. We hadn't heard of Etta Baker, but other more famous musicians whose records we learned from probably learned "Railroad Bill" from her recordings. Here's a 1929 version that wasn't reissued until the early seventies. ~Q1yf6qlwnv5.mp3~
    Permalink posted 10/24/2007
  14. extraordinarypoems
    extraordinarypoems says Love this. Thanks.
    Permalink posted 11/04/2007
  15. inrumford
    inrumford says

    A thing of beauty! and, it gave rise to a very enjoyable thread - all the better!

    Permalink posted 03/31/2009
  16. Cody B
    Cody B says

    I'll say rummy..at least 3 folks in this thread who were regular and stellar contributors to the site..waaaa,waaaa.

    Permalink posted 03/31/2009
  17. yummygatalover
    yummygatalover says

    Cody this sounds "real good" on a weekday evening too.

    Some fine pickin' you've introduced me to here.

    Thanks man.

    Permalink posted 04/16/2009
  18. Cody B
    Cody B says

    Thanks for kickin' it old school on this 2 year old post yummy!

    Permalink posted 04/16/2009
  19. Apraxia
    Apraxia says

    word

    Permalink posted 04/16/2009
  20. Spike
    Spike says

    MOG's upgrades always convert its information-laden old-style players into coy red buttons, and I should have figured that they always will.  That said, the upload in my comment above is by Frank Hutchison from the late 1920's.

    Permalink posted 04/27/2009
  21. Cody B
    Cody B says

    The old players were so right..I guess they are just too big? Anyway, I've noticed that the new players actually read the tags you have on your mp3 even if you write something different in the tags of the post..have you seen that? Or am I just going more insane than usual.

    Permalink posted 04/27/2009
  22. Spike
    Spike says

    I'm not that alert, but I have noticed since the upgrade that I can't italicize, nor can I make a word into a link button.

    Permalink posted 04/27/2009

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