Song A Week 2016 - #1! - Blues In The Bottle

In 2012 I attempted to do a song a week blogpost.  I didn't quite make it, weeks were missed as the year unfolded, especially towards the end.  Still, it was ultimately fruitful in that the construct spurred me to play more music and create a body of work.  I did a fair amount of research on the cover songs I did and found out some interesting stuff, I think some of the posts were a good read, some of the songs were good performances, and most importantly it was a catalyst for collaborating with other musicians and artists who I admire and love to play with - Rachelle Reath, Marek Tyler, Emily Goodenough, Eric Gallipo, David "The Great Giffoni" Gifford, Grayson Walker, Jeanne Tolmie, Troy "Big Bubba" Cook.   It was very cool to track the hits on the blog, where they came from in the world, which posts were most popular, and I cultivated a YouTube presence which was turning out to be the legacy of the blog after it ended.  

Then the weird Google shit hit the fan.  My account was screwed around with and the videos, though they were still on YouTube, would not come up in a search. It was pretty much impossible to get them to come up, even with very specific searches.....and it still is.  This year my wife Betty-Ann has endeavoured to re-post the blogs, an attempt to fan the dying embers, an act I am grateful for.  At the same time it begs the question....why not get off your ass and do it again.   
                      

 Dum-Dum.             Dingaling.             Ding Dong. 

I'm running late!  It's goddam January 12th!  What the fuck.  Here's the first one.  When I first picked up the accordion one of my prime influences was the Holy Modal Rounders. Their irreverent, humourous, raw approach to old folk and hillbilly music gave me the license to have a go.  Here's a song I've known for years but never played until a couple of weeks ago. Blues In The Bottle.

Here's the whole Holy Modal Rounders album that I was listening to at the time on a worn out cassette....first song is Blues In The Bottle

I haven't done exhaustive research, but I believe this is the original version of the song, recorded by Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers  in 1928.  It was also recorded, and is perhaps better known, by the great Lightnin' Hopkins.  I would venture a guess that The Rounders were listening to this version.

Here's me doing the Holy Modal Rounders' Same Old Man last time I did this song a week biz.

And this is The Dogbreath Brothers channeling the Holy Modal Rounders Black-Eyed Suzy.....beer-fuelled and live to 4-track cassette yo. (Click link below the pic)

click here: BLACK-EYED SUZY - THE DOGBREATH BROTHERS

The Great Giffoni - Excerpts from a Magic Show - March 19, 2012

You know what?  A song a week is hard. Between settling on a song and finding time to do it, things can get tricky.  I could just whip off any old thing, but I want to make this good for me and hopefully for you.  This was an insane- ly busy weekend and part of the busy weekend was play- ing a show with The Great Giffoni on Sunday afternoon at the Art Gallery of Victoria. Employing savvy management of time & schedule, I decided to make the show my song of the week.  Every now and then, when he can't find someone better-looking and more talented, the mysterious master of magic, The Great Giffoni himself, calls upon me to provide the musical accompaniment for his illusionistic spectacle.  Ahhh, but who is this Great Giffoni you say?  Don't ask me!  For fear has sealed my lips!  All I can say is this:  The Great Giffoni has been confounding and confusing Vancouver Island audiences with his potent mix of illusion, theatrics, sleight of hand, comedy, and animal husbandry for a long, long, long time...................some say since  Time itself began.

Picture Above: Autumn's Cold Comfort Party  /  Picture Below: Mayne Fall Fair                                       

"But it's out of season!!!"

So here's a link to a video of excerpts from the show yesterday....magic, warts, and all