Festival Posters

We're nearing the final month before the Old School Guitar Heroes Blues Festival and posters were sent to the printer today. In a few days, we'll distribute the posters locally, as well as tickets for purchase. If you don't have your tickets yet, grab them online or where you see the posters!

Blues Zombie

For the past few weeks, our younger daughter has been studying the great drawing videos of Monster by Mail, the summer work of an artist who will create a custom zombie image for you. The videos are great fun to watch (with songs provided by unsigned independent bands). One thing lead to another, and I had to try my own hand at a "blues zombie"... enjoy!

Emotional Connection

List night, I was listening to Fred Dixon play some old, mournful blues, and I was totally captivated. Sure, the guitar was there, but it was clearly in the background. It was Fred’s voice that carried the song.

That got me to thinking… I have some recordings of some amazing blues guitar players and amazing singers, but not all of them hook me like Fred did last night. On the other hand, I have some recordings of some pretty rough-around-the-edges singers and guitar players that are totally mesmerizing.

So what’s the hook? I don’t think it’s a mystery—even the American Idol mentors and judges harp on it—the hook is emotion that flows from the performer to the audience.

In the blues, I think that the emotional connection may be even more essential (than in other musical forms), since the context of the song often centers around a raw and emotionally challenging experience. Within that context, success in a performance occurs when the performer can break down that suspension of disbelief in the listener and get the audience to believe that the pain (either from a bent guitar note or a raspy line of verse) is real for the performer.

MoMo Blues at MVBF

Last weekend, the IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival roared into LeClaire Park in Davenport, Iowa for three days of non-stop blues. Each year, I look forward to the event... not for seeing acts I know about, but for hearing blues performers that I've never heard-of before.

The festival takes place across two stages (a main bandshell and a "tent stage"). For me, the tent stage always showcases the most unique "old school" performers, and the closeness of the crowd make the experience more intimate.

This year, we attacked the blues festival with t-shirts in hand to advertise the upcoming Old School Guitar Heroes festival in Monmouth. We gave most away during the Catfish Keith show, and had a great conversation with Catfish after the show.

Sounds Great!

Last night, I took the Harmony/DeAarmond rig out to Dannys and played a short set of Lightnin' tunes (Baby Please Don't Go, Trouble in Mind, Goin' Down Slow) and the sound was great! The guitar was tuned a half-step down and plugged right into the PA system. We got a clean, loud sound with just a hint of retro overdrive. Hot dog!

Arthur Fowler played a fine set as well, culminating in an amazing acoustic version of Voodoo Child that garnered shrieks from the crowd. Man, he can play!

Ready for Prime Time?

I tested the new setup (Harmony 000 and DeArmond 210) against a Lightnin' Arhoolie CD from the late 1960s, and the sound match was nearly spot on... loud, almost electric sounding, with a hint of overdrive.

I took the setup over to Brian Daw of Daw Violins (www.dawviolins.com), and he was able to lower the action on the Harmony a touch, reglue the bridge (so he could put some heavier strings on it), and he rewired the DeArmond with new cabling and a strap-jack in the body.

The next test will be bringing it out to play in public, which I think I'll do at Danny's tonight.

We Have the Pick Up!

I was able to grab a DeArmond pickup on eBay. I think it's a 210 of the newer ilk (from the late 1960s), based on the lowered B string pole piece (below the plasic cover). It looks like it's been rewired at least once, but quite some time ago.

Last night, I put it in the Harmony guitar and did a quick test, running it through my PA system directly. It has a very nice, meaty and loud sound with a little built-in over drive that sounds nice. I'll need to do some sound tests against a few CDs, but I think we may have close to a good set up.