Revolt of the ILX Brigade: New Post-Fahey Folk For PPL that post in the Takoma & Tompkin's Square Threads

saw bachman last night -- both he and his guitar were suffering from altitude sickness it seemed, and he was pretty flustered. still sounded great to me, though. talked a bit with the tompkins square dude afterwards, a lot of cool stuff coming up soon.

Interesting question: do a lot of bands suffer from altitude sickness when travelling through? Could see it being common, especially if someone is touring hard.

I think Bachman has gotten himself to a place where an off night still means getting through the songs alright, but must be tough if your guitar and body are feeling off to play that style. Most of his stuff was pretty high-energy when I saw him, not many slow numbers etc. Defintely looking forward to seeing him again.

i haven't heard too many complaints, but he and josh were definitely feeling it. Though i know that at least one venue in boulder has an oxygen tank backstage for performers.

I went to Quito in Ecuador, which is around 10,000 feet elevation I believe, and I was zonked for a couple of days for sure. I know Denver/Boulder isn't quite that high, but still, I can imagine that it would be difficult generally. Bachman doesn't sing, he coulda played the whole set hooked up to an oxygen tank! Next time ...

hey guys, wish me luck! been working on some original stuff in this vein for the past year and have finally screwed up the courage to go play at an open mic night! really fucking nervous!

here's something i wrote/recorded on my phone (it's a bit sloppy)...basic aesthetic is "stuff on this thread but not as good"

https://soundcloud.com/matthew-lee-helgeson/nondisclosure

nice! imaginational anthem-bound! i'd love to get better at this sorta thing. did you ever take those lessons or are you winging it?

still winging it, have a message out to peter lang but he's not too good about returning calls :/

bummerz. well, sounds like you're doing pretty well on your own.

thx man, i think getting up in front of ppl will be good for me

I'm so going this open mic performance and I'm totally going to hold it over people's heads all "Losing My Edge" style in the future.

"Do you have upper mississippi sh@kedown's lathe cut 7"?"
"7" pfft, I saw him do his first open mic"

u.m.s., you should look into gr@undsw3ll on h4ml1ne. besides their open mic night they will often have a performer in on the dead nights, after 6 - good no-pressure chance to play in public if you don't mind playing in front of almost nobody.

ha "almost nobody" is ideal really, i just chose this place tonight cuz i wanted to do it tonight and it's relatively close to my house

Awww, good luck U.M.S! Look forward to listening to your stuff tomorrow (shutting down for the night here).

Nice work holmes.

Felt like it went well. Could barely hear my guitar, but I played ok. Chr1s showed up so I had someone to drink with before.

A hippie kid came up to me and said I did good afterward.

"Hon, what time did you go to bed last night?"

"Uh ... 3 a.m."

"What!?"

"Yeah, well, I was past deadline on one assignment and had another due first thing this morning but instead of working on either I ended up reading an entire thread on ILM about modern acoustic guitar wizards, Fahey disciples, drone-folk dudes and the like. And listening to lots of Soundclouds and Youtubes and stuff."

*blank stare*

Short version: Killer thread, folks. Bookmarked, for sure.

We've all been there! Welcome

Song is great, the main melody is great. Listened to it a couple times, love the twang of the pedal tone/drone. Do you use your bare fingers? I used to but switched to fingerpicks. I like the precision they afford but I think some of the tonality is missing with picks. I sometimes have trouble coming up with any melodies that stick beyond/within a 'bunch of chords that sound cool in a weird tuning' (so I'm jealous of your song!) but maybe sometime I'll work up the gumption to post something in here. Be good to get constructive criticism from people who know what's up.

re: open mics, I likewise enjoy playing in front of almost nobody! Just playing 'in public' feels good. And I find this style works better in a low-key setting with people paying attention rather than a bunch of drunks trying to push through their two allotted songs in 6 minutes. One time I was wedged between two separate people doing the same Maroon 5 song at like 11:30pm, that could have gone a little better, haha

Also, Lang can be hard to get ahold of, my impression was that he traveled/had odd hours for his job, and also had two or three cellphones, so don't worry too much on that end.

oh wow, i used the word 'great' twice in a short sentence. feel free to substitute 'nice' or 'pretty' or something for one of the instances

What do folks in here think of Glenn Jones solo guitar? I feel like there hasn't been too much chatter on him in here. I really like some of the stuff I've heard but other stuff sounds kinda weightless and doesn't really stick with me (but admittedly I haven't branched out too much). "Of It's Own Kind" and the "Teething Necklace" are effing GREAT songs though, Any recommendations, y'all? S/D Glenn Jones?

hey global, thanks for the kind words. last night went pretty well (the chatterbox pub in south mpls), sort awkward young girl who runs it was really adorable, she looked about 17. went OK, i think she was really surprised i didn't want vocals, didn't seem to occur to her that people did instrumentals haha

i do use bare fingers....i have played bass pretty extensively since i was a preteen, so jeez like 25 years-ish of bass playing....which i think has been an advantage in helping me progress pretty quick on fingerpicking, but it's also made using fingerpicks really fucking intolerable to me, feels like i'm wearing mittens. i really worried about it just because i know a lot of guys i love use them, but i've decided to quit worrying about it and just play the way i want to.

Hey U.M.S., want to weigh and say I really liked the tune as well (and have listened to a few others on your page). Seems like you are well on your way, look forward to hearing more in the future.

Have you started growing your fingernails yet? Seems like the true jumping-off point (if not going the fingerpicks route).

For real though, I too tried fingerpicks and couldn't hang. Really did not like the feel. I guess plenty of folks do it for the added volume/attack as well as the precisions (i.e., if you want to be heard over banjos and other instruments whilst fingerpicking), but I had the "felt like wearing mittens" experience as well.

thanks! this shit is just all recorded on the fly into my phone, mostly just so i don't forget it, hope to maybe record in a better situation sometime this year.

oof that fingernail thing kinda grosses me out tbh, i've seen dudes that do it; this one guy that i was using some youtube lessons from early on did it but yeah no way could i do that & my wife would not be into that haha

it definitely seems to have it's advantages for volume & attack, esp if you were in some kinda bluegrass or twig pickers type ensemble you'd probably have to....

might just have to suck it up, but for solo stuff i figure fuck it i can just sound how i sound...i bet some of those really old dudes didn't have fingerpicks, or like elizabeth cotton or ppl like that

Yeah, I try not to get too weirded out by the fingernail thing, as I try to be open-minded about most things, but I couldn't hang with it personally at all and, to be honest, get distracted by it when I watch folks play (my wife definitely would not be a fan at all, understandably).

I always keep Chasny in mind when playing, as he neither does the fingernail or -picks thing, but he always seems to get plenty of volume and clarity. Also, I think doing what you want is the way to go with this stuff generally (well, of course with any kind of music), as it is using those limitations that might ultimately lead you down some new roads playing-wise.

"Playing the way you want" is def. the core of this style. Anything that encourages you to keep playing, to develop and deepen your own idiosyncrasies. I'd always had piano lessons/been in school band but the formalized nature of that stuff was sort of discouraging to me. Something very freeing about playing the guitar "wrong" and knowing that's exactly the way you want to do it. so yeah, who gives a shit? Pick how you wanna pick!

As a compromise between picks/fingers, Lang said there was a salon a lot of the folkies in town go to and get nylon nails put on. It was at 60th and Nicollet I believe? I have been mulling over the idea for some time, although again, nylon nails seem like they'd take some getting used to on their own. And yeah, still slightly gross and weird imo. Part of my hesitance has been like, if I shake someone's hand and they see that I have two abnormally large fake nails on, just seems awkward

"Oh, these? Well, let me tell you about a little something called American Primitive..."

hahahaha

yeah i'm sure i could learn to use fingerpicks, but it would really require me devoting myself to it and essentially moving back to "square one" and methodically relearning everything i can play now with fingerpicks...

also: spottie added glen jones to the spotify list and it's great stuff

i've been zoning out hard to steffen basho-junghans' is lately (and managed to get a major house n techno guy friend into the post-fahey milieu through it and robbie b's visions of the country), really thick and warm and lovely stuff. i have it on 200g vinyl, i didn't even know vinyl got that fat and i'm wondering how much going beyond 180g is just taking the piss, but it certainly sounds good in that format.

Tompkins Square Label Presents . . .
Thurs. March 14th, 2013
St. David's Episcopal Church 301 E. 8th St. (Bethell Hall, upstairs)
Austin TX

8PM Harry Taussig (first live performance - ever !)
8:50 Alice Gerrard (legendary folk singer)
9:50 Hiss Golden Messenger (NC singer-songwriter)
10:50 Daniel Bachman (VA guitarist)
11:50 Luther Dickinson (N. Miss. Allstars)
and between sets : Terry Waldo (ragtime piano kingpin)

Alice Gerrard, known for her work with Hazel Dickens and Mike Seeger, is recording an album for Tompkins Square, slated for Fall release. This is her first SXSW performance. American Primitive Guitar pioneer Harry Taussig will perform live for the first time anywhere, ever. His first album was released in 1965 ! Hiss Golden Messenger have a new album out first week of March. We released their last one, 'Poor Moon' to much acclaim. Luther Dickinson recorded a 78 rpm record for us last year. Terry Waldo wrote the definitive history of ragtime, studied with Eubie Blake, and is probably the greatest living ragtime pianist. His Tompkins Square debut will appear later this year.

yeah glenn jones is great -- his last one the wanting was beeeyootiful and had a pretty rad chris corsano jam at the end. i think he has a new one coming out soon?

listening to steffan basho-junghans - man he's really great....the pieces on this album tend to start pretty meditative but man when he builds up a head of steam it's really something

is he related to robbie basho?

i mentioned him before i think! i love last days of the dragon (is that the title, can't remember)
he is not related by blood - he adopted that name in homage if his bio is to be believed!?

if i ever make a movie i'm getting one of you guitar dorks to give me a scene like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfxXcBJ0LP0

mmk so i think the gumption has come to me to post a song. here's a little something i've been working on for awhile, parts come and go at will and i know the arrangement/flow needs some (a lot of) work, but i think a lot of the licks in here are pretty nice. recorded this a couple minutes ago not on a national reso-phonic triolian in the bathroom:

http://stevepalmer.bandcamp.com/track/jasmines-rough-cut

i think i accidentally stumbled onto daniel bachmann's tuning inadvertently (DGDGCD- open G w/a C instead of a B), I think some parts of it kind of have that feel to it and if the songwriting isn't all there yet i think i'm tapping into the vibe/spirit of the style more or less. also don't wanna turn this into a 'plug yer shit' thread, so if need be i'd take this down (can you delete posts on ILM?)

Thanks for sharing global, will definitely take a listen!

I was thinking about this earlier: I don't want anyone to take their stuff down, I think it's great to share music etc., and I dig talking about using fingers over picks etc., but I also wonder if it dilutes the thread a bit? Let me restate: I want to listen to everyone's stuff (it's definitely nice to get feedback from folks that care and have an interest in the stuff), and I love talking shop, but can understand if those coming to the thread to discuss more established artists and not get bogged down in shop talk would be bummed out about it. My vote is split, would be happy to start another thread for talking shop/posting songs, and keep this pure, but am happy with this thread being one big accumulator as well.

i wouldn't mind keeping all that in this thread.
i'm not a guitar player, so a thread of shop talk probably wouldn't get read very much by me, but otoh i don't want to miss anything that you guys are doing.

i really like that global. very good playing.

i'm cool with whatever ppl want, i basically trust ppl on here to use their judgement i guess i don't see it getting super bogged down in ppl's soundcloud pages or bandcamps or w/e

hey i wanted to add that i like that track, UMS

yeah I'm a casual tenor electric player who doesn't really work in this style, but I like reading about it and hearing stuff, it doesn't impede the thread too much imo.

(thx al)

steffan basho is really great btw, liking all his stuff on spotify so far

I'm not planning on posting much more (if any) shop talky stuff/my own tunes in here, actually, it just seemed like a good time to share is all. I like the vibe in this thread overall and I'd say the 8-9 (?) regulars, to echo UMS, have good enough judgment to keep it quality. It is fun to talk shop with people, though, as I don't see much of a web presence for this style (outside of the Yahoo Fahey players group, which I find impossible to use/comprehend)... so I reserve the right to maybe geek out and facilitate some tuningchat in the future or whatever!

To share some more established stuff, found this guy on Spotify awhile back, really dig the little flourishes he adds with his 'feat' and harmonica. It is a very warm feeling record, feels like you're in his living room (which is probably where he recorded it?)

http://philcookandhisfeat.bandcamp.com/

btw thanks for posting that bachman tuning i'm gonna mess around w/that

oh, also, pssst, Lang's secret weapon on some of his best songs is Open C w/ E tuned down to a D... didn't hear it from me

okay i'm done

haha, are a lot of these dudes secretive about their tunings? will lang break your fingers if you steal his thing?

Aw, naw, just adding some color commentary to my post? He said Fahey did it to his guitar, like, Fahey walked up and said "try playing it like THIS" and tuned the high E string down.

i'm pretty sure i remember reading electric eden and there was something about Davy Graham being sort of semi-secretive about DADGAD at first, but i think he was basically the first dude in the UK to even use it & everyone was tripping out like how the fuck is he playing like that?

my wife plays in DADFAD. that is all.