General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums10 years ago today, the late Ralph Stanley cut this radio ad in support of Obama (we won VA by 6.3)
I remember feeling warm and fuzzy when it came out. R.I.P. Ralph, and all the beautiufl warriors that came before us The Blue Wave that's coming is for you.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)and trump and vile white wingers can't change it.
zonkers
(5,865 posts)Beto, Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg....
The Blue Wave is coming.
dalton99a
(81,578 posts)MineralMan
(146,331 posts)Indeed I do.
He's no longer a "Man of Constant Sorrow."
zonkers
(5,865 posts)MineralMan
(146,331 posts)I learned first from Pete Seeger's book, and listened to a lot of bluegrass. Everyone was emulating Scruggs-style picking at the time, and there were tablature charts out for most of his tunes. I preferred Stanley's simpler, old-timey style, so I started listening and trying to duplicate his picking style.
I played with bluegrass groups for a few years, but finally put the old 5-string down for lack of time. I sort of miss it, but won't be taking it up again, I think.
zonkers
(5,865 posts)Are you a fan of John Hartford?
MineralMan
(146,331 posts)I like that he can accompany himself while singing. That's a little harder than just picking. There were and are so many outstanding 5-string players out there. Some are high-speed technical pickers, while others always seem more musical to me. John Hartford picks musically, so I like his style.
When I was playing, I really focused on the bluegrass standard pieces. The group I was with performed those, wherever we were, so we didn't focus on putting that instrumentation and our voices into other musical styles. We were decent at it, but never at a professional level. Still, we enjoyed playing a lot and did play a lot.
When I was in the USAF, my banjo traveled with me, even to Turkey, where I was stationed for 15 months. There were always people around who could play bluegrass, so we formed groups and entertained ourselves and others. When I arrived in Turkey at Istanbul, I had to go through customs and was asked to open my banjo case. The Turkish customs inspector insisted that I take it out and demonstrate that I could play it and wasn't bringing it into the country to sell. So, I checked the tuning, put on my finger picks and busted out with the Beverly Hillbillies theme. I ended up being stuck in customs for about half an hour, as a small crowd gathered around and insisted that I play just one more tune. I don't think the Turks had seen anyone play a banjo in person before. Fun memory.
Later in my life, when I had to work, I shifted over to playing oboe in a semi-professional wind quintet. That took up all my spare time, so the old Bacon 5-string sat in the closet for years. I finally sold it one year to cover our property taxes during a lean period.
Movin' on. My life has always been one of stages and moving on to other stages. I almost never go back to an earlier thing, though.
LuvNewcastle
(16,856 posts)didn't know he was a Democrat. I like him even more now.