Tuesday, August 9, 2011

What Did You Miss This Week? (Week 234 #277)

Last of Juicy Harmonica!!!

This week marks the end of our study of George Smith's classic, Juicy Harmonica. Here are Joe's comments on the last four choruses of the tune.

Page 7 - George starts the first of three break verses that feature musical quotes over the first four bars. Quoting like this clearly resonates with audiences - it's like telling a joke and they're in on it! Here we have Assembly followed by a deft reference to the head of Juicy over the four chord.

Page 8 - Here we have a bit of Lay Down My Burden followed by a bunch of root note repeats like we saw in the third chorus. Notice the strength of this sort of structural repetition throughout the song!

Page 9 - The quote here is Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen, again followed by a nod to the head.

Page 10 - George goes out quoting one more song, the classic from Little Walter, Juke! Whether it's out of respect or simply because that song was in the air at the time and becoming a classic way to end, either way, it works and any band that's half-awake will know you're going out when they hear it!

Further listening:

Be sure to check out The Cannon Jug Stompers doing Bugle Call Rag, and two swinging chromatic tunes from George: Boogie'n With George and Harp Stomp. Thanks for the schoolin', George!

Gary Smith Songs!!!

Gary Smith has been kind enough to let us run a few of his songs on our YouMissedMonday website. Go here and click play in the upper right box and you can familiarize yourself with his great playing!

Get Your Tickets!!!

Get your tickets to the bash now before they sell out...and share this link with all your blues-loving friends. Let's pack the house!


(or you can buy them from Joe in class)

Also, we've created a Facebook Event for the Bash: Invitation. If you're on Facebook, please be sure to do two things: 1) click "attending" 2) "Share" this event with any and all your friends!

Special Guest Buddy Greene in B1!!!

We're honored to have the amazing Buddy Greene in class with us August 29 at 8:00pm. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from a sweet man and hear some incredible harp playing. A bit of his bio reads:

"Buddy Greene brings a wide variety of southern Americana influences to his music to create a unique musical hybrid of country, bluegrass, folk, gospel and traditional blues. In addition to his solid reputation as a singer-songwriter and guitarist, Buddy has established himself as one of Nashville's finest harmonica stylists. His live concerts are equal parts hymn sing, jam session, church house revival, and journey through his own musical history."

Not familiar with Buddy? Not sure why you should be in class? Check out this incredible video of him playing Carnegie Hall! Wow, surely one of the all-time great harmonica performances!

Real-Time SPAH Reporting!!!

If you're wishing you were at the SPAH convention this week, but couldn't make it, now you can follow along via Twitter! Bob Cohen will be live tweeting throughout the week and you can follow along here, even if you don't have a Twitter account:


Class Notes
  • Old Town School takes a break in August; no classes August 15 and 22. Classes resume August 29.
Brandon Bailey On The Air!!!

Brandon Bailey, a fantastic young harp player from Memphis, was featured recently on NPR. Check out the interview here: Bailey Interview.

- Grant Kessler, B1 Blues Crew