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

Dgdgad is right, he told me at the merch booth at the new bums show & I wrote a note in my phone

Cool, thanks for the follow-up UMS. May try that tuning out for fun, pretty close to what I play in already.

I remember some interview of later years Fahey talking about how he loves tuning the electric to all one note and using a steel bar.

UMS that tune is nice and def is a solid connection to Lena's approah. I think it's the quality of the skin on open strings. I'm always curious as to why people choose finger picks or bare fingers, or also the reasoning behind someone "making the switch" to picks/vice versa. But also I smirk how we all are kinda touchy when it comes to making these kinds of decisions when playing.

I've always noticed many players using a white plastic thumb pick (I'm not hip at all to guitar-dude brand knowledge). I've heard people talk bad about metal thumb picks bc of the rattling, metal fingers seem popular though. I've read how Fahey used to specifically alter his faux tortoise thumb. Shaving away much of the portion that actually touches the string, so that it's more of a spike, and falls faster off of the string as you strike.

I use all metal myself; and ever since putting picks on, I've felt it oddly awkward to play without them. It's kinda similar to the idea where you say, "I wish I could remember what it was like before I started smoking weed". Makes me kinda wish I never put them on in the first place, much more of a rush w/ picks on that it makes it hard to take them off.

I'm sitting in Panera, they always play that kinda cheesy instrumental acoustic guitar stuff, but the song on now is oddly Fahey like, but in a very accessible way. It's funny somehow.

yeah i go back and forth...i guess i was a bass player first and in one band i played with fingers and another more post-punk thing i played w/ a pick

i'm glad i learned fingerpicks, i feel like it helped my playing to become more precise and probably helped my form in picking...i switch back and forth now. sometimes more gentle type songs i feel like sound better w/fingers....i still play better with bare fingers to

peter lang told me that acrylic nails for a performance (he goes to a vietnamese nail shop) were the best but i ain't doing that

I think William Tyler mentioned he does the same thing regarding the nail shop.

new nathan bowles in november!

Yeah I have a good feeling about that N. Bowles record. Looks like he is gonna send out the first sample soon, which might be the song with Tom Carter on it. Tom is just having a great year so far, his records with Pat Murano and as Eleven Twent Nine are both crazy, and I think his upcoming Three Lobed solo record will be a high-water mark for him (I am hoping at least). Really cool to see him bounce back from a near-death experience with such powerful music.

Wanted to respond to this statement from UMS, sorry to the folks on the thread who aren't so into the "talking shop" aspect:

sometimes i listen to ppl like john renbourne or kottke or newer folks like bachman and tyler etc and they are so damn talented and skilled i get bummed out about my own playing, but then i try to remember lena hughes because those recordings are so great to me, and she's so comfortable with her own skill, and it's just really simple great melodies played beautifully, and at a fidelity level that's not even as good as a USB mic and a laptop...i dunno i find it inspirational to remember that you sometimes just need to let the song be the song and not worry about what you can't do

This really resonated with me, and I can't remember who said it, but it reminded me of a quote by some musician I admired at the time saying basically "you are only gonna be as good as you are on any given day, so just go for it and then keep working", which seems like a trite thing to say but just inhabiting that aspect of investing yourself in the playing at any given time and enjoying the process is key to just kinda plowing on in a productive way. Comparing your playing to other people, or getting hung up on technique, is a dangerous road to go down cause there is always a killer player who does stuff you wish you could do (I think even ridiculously good players think this from time to time if they aren't Guitar mag weirdos). While I get frustrated about my own playing plenty, I also can appreciate the times where I just ease into doing something that makes me happy, even if it is the most basic repetitive simplistic thing.

haha that reads more like "good general life advice" than "talking shop" :)

Hah yeah I guess, it is a little corny too in retrospect. Hopefully not too painful for those looking to discuss the players that are obviously ruling the roost.

Will follow up that I love talking about this stuff, and it makes me happy to no end to see dudes like UMS post their stuff and have it just get better and better. With that in mind, cause he may not do it himself, here is the first glimpse into our man Global's upcoming record. Looks like it is gonna be a keeper:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WNcsuC_RCTs

no, I liked it! xp

Cool. I think we are gonna have a deluge of good records to talk about here soon enough, so I am sure the conversation will shift back to gooning hard on that stuff when it comes down the pike.

thanks for posting! i'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. think the video matches the music well.

your post above is spot on, comparing yourself to others is one of the easiest but most stifling things you can do... music or otherwise.

It really does sound good man, and I like how much you packed into the running time, gives it some very cool momentum (though it doesn't seem overstuffed at all, just layered well).

your post above is spot on, comparing yourself to others is one of the easiest but most stifling things you can do... music or otherwise.
as a teacher and as a student, couldn't agree more

i had a little revelation the other day that i wasn't satisfied being just passable or ok. i want to learn enough that people say that i sound good. not great or mindblowing, but good. that's hard to say at my age and as a drummer (there are 5 year olds better than i am) but here i am saying it. why because i enjoy learning and playing and that's that. carry on, amigos.

also yeah new stuff sounding super, gt!

love it global

la lechera - are you still handing out beatz?

Indeed!! Send me a msg!!

sent!

william tyler - blue ash montgomery is up on spotify

cool, definitely going back to his earlier stuff in comparison to the full band country psych stuff that he seems to be heading towards

"Blue Ash Montgomery" is really good, a nice slice of his playing for sure. I especially like the live set with Tim Barnes.

"The Ecstatic Vision of Madge Gill" makes me think I need to make an online "American Primitive Song Title Generator" lol

haha 'revelation and transubstantiation on the banks of the Allegheny'

or anything like:
_______ Reel
_______ Rag
_______ Two-Step

haha, currently visiting the in laws in the adirondacks and was thinking about calling a song "revelation on the banks of the great sacandaga"

That's a great name for a river to have a revelation on the banks of! Allegheny was a bit obvious maybe haha

"The Ecstatic Vision of Madge Gill" makes me think I need to make an online "American Primitive Song Title Generator" lol

― ruffalo soldier (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, August 7, 2014 3:12 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

plz do this

a while back in 2010 Steve Gunn and Marc Orleans put up this myspace page for a project called Orleans/Gunn. the two songs posted on there are live recordings from a shows at Zebulon. i'm fairly sure this group only existed for a couple live shows, but back then i remember looking forward to some kind of full recording. i just think this stuff is interesting in the context of all the full band rock playing. cuz these two recordings are damn good. the closest we'll get (so far) to hear Gunn do full on Allmans/Dead jams. there's a couple other dates for shows with the "Gunn-Orleans Quartet" too, was always fishing for more info on this project.

https://myspace.com/orleansgunn/music/songs

i just found this .txt file made by a taper that contains a list of recordings, Orleans Gunn shows are in there a couple times, along with shows of TOM CARTER/MARC ORLEANS/STEVE GUNN/JOHN TRUSCINSKI. seems like the Orleans Gunn duo stuff mixes in with dudes from the D. Charles Speer group. hope to send an email on over to check out this material.

http://www.angelfire.com/scifi2/tesla69/2nd01upd.txt

i'm assuming that Eleven Twenty Nine project is also an offshoot from experiences of these guys playing together. man, i love collabs. hope this stuff never dries up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJhh9a9ZR3w

Neal, that Eleven Twenty-nine record is very weird and cool, definitely not heading down Allmans/Dead territory but something pretty heavy, you should check it out. Collabs are indeed a great thing when the players are in a good place and simpatico.

cooked up a live version of a track on the DFBM release with my roommate, who is really really talented and needs to record more shit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF3VKeR7VVk

(left channel has warble from a Roland Space Echo, an effect I NEVER get sick of)

Sounding good, and nice to see the 12-string get trotted out. The space echo is indeed a classic.

Bonus here is that you are now available for a "shreds" video treatment.

this is great:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYhu3z7JKwA

i was sorta bummed by her Tiny Desk performance, felt her guitar was a bit outta tune. (That happened to Glenn Jones' banjo when he played, must be some sort of curse of the NPR office)

That video/interview is great. Shows several sides of her playing, and the audio is solid. Also, note she is a no finger-pick or long nail player (though she has some nails I guess), mostly just fingers. She and Chasny are maybe the two players I have seen that do a lot of fingerpicking that don't have picks/nails.

I wrote a review of Peter Walker and William Tyler at Jack White's Nashville honky-tonk. I do wish Walker took a bit more of a structured approach to playing a set--his penchant for simply playing (noodling) in different keys made for a rather uneven experience, though the songs from his 1970 record were amazing.

Good review Edd, thanks for sharing. Would have liked to have seen that show. I even have a weakness/affinity for noodling in different keys.

Pretty good review of the upcoming Tashi Dorji s/t album coming out soon on Chasny's new label. I find the track included with the review really hypnotic and dynamic, but obviously he is not for everyone. Some straight-up cool acoustic playing at times though, along with some of his more percussive and out moves, but still, some really interesting straight-ish playing too.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19531-tashi-dorji-tashi-dorji/

Also, the Three Lobed day party at Hopscotch line-up is official now:

11:45am - 12:15pm - Daniel Bachman / Nathan Bowles duo (Debut performance! Only show of the festival!)
12:30 - 1:00 - Jenks Miller & Rose Cross NC (Only show of the festival!)
1:20 - 2:20 - Little Black Egg big band (Debut performance! Only show of the festival!)
2:45 - 3:15 - Sunburned Hand of the Man (Only show of the festival!)
3:30 - 4:00 - MV & EE (Different set from their Thursday night festival set!)
4:20 - 5:00 - Mary Lattimore / Thurston Moore duo (Debut performance! Only show of the festival!)
- live music between all sets from Mike Gangloff and Nathan Bowles (both of Pelt, Black Twig Pickers and solo fame)

Pretty hot line-up, I imagine Thurston is going to play acoustic and play tunes, but who knows. Also, the Little Black Egg big band is an all-star collaboration which should be of great interest to this thread generally, but I am not sure if it is cool to spoil the surprise or not. If anyone is thinking of going and might get swayed by the info hit me up via email (I'll share it if anyone wants it).

Keep in mind the whole show gets streamed online by WXDU so it may be more fun to get surprised. Pretty damn excited about it.

Hey you guys, I should participate more but I do lurk plenty...

Anyway, I'm REALLY hoping I can get Glenn Jones to play at my wedding a year from now. Any tips as to how I can approach? I don't want any negative "wedding guitarist" connotations to scare him or his bookers away. Especially because the wedding is shooting to be as informal as possible (without alienating attendees too much) so we have absolutely no interest in him doing anything a typical wedding guitarist would do.

Upside here is that he lives only an hour or so away from where it will be located, so booking him a year out. So this could be a pretty convenient gig.

Thanks in advance.

my friends got Shellac to play their wedding, they just emailed Steve Albini

as long as you're clear you want him to play his own stuff (right?) and will pay i can't imagine he wouldn't..but who knows i guess

OK, that's what I'm hoping. Definitely only want him to play his own material.

Thanks!

Hey Evan, that sounds like a cool wedding idea. One thing to keep in mind as well is being very clear about when you want him to play, i.e., while you are walking down the aisle, while folks are eating, just during the reception, etc. etc. I imagine you are looking for "just letting Glenn do his thing during the reception" but you are most likely to get what you want if you are up front about that in the initial contact/request.

cul de sac used to have a notice on their website about being available to play weddings &c. so I imagine glenn would be at least somewhat amenable

he could probably play a blinding set of covers too tho, I bet he's got a broad&deep repertoire

basically you will come off as a nice, polite fan and in 2014 a gig is a gig i would imagine

UMS & Ogmor absolutely correct there on all counts I imagine.

Thanks all! Good advice.

I definitely would be upfront with my vision if he gets back to my initial request (through Front Porch Productions).

But this is all makes me very optimistic for sure!

basically you will come off as a nice, polite fan and in 2014 a gig is a gig i would imagine

― ruffalo soldier (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, August 13, 2014 1:44 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

as someone who has played a wedding and also had a guitar player friend from the ILX Brigade of MVPs play my own wedding, yup. should be easy if he's not already on tour or something. Also, I've met Glenn and he's a super cool dude.