I began playing the guitar because my father played a little. He played several instruments, none of them especially well, but all of them with an obvious enjoyment that was contagious. I first received a small acoustic guitar from the J.C. Penny catalog for Christmas when I was twelve or so years old. I had two lessons before my instructor, a college student, moved away. From there I taught myself through trial and error and through weeks or months of idleness due to lack of interest.
In the summers I would visit my father in Texas. He had two acoustic guitars, one of which had f-holes rather than the traditional sound hole. It was red. I remember liking the look of it the best but being able to play the other guitar much easier. They were both full size guitars and I struggled to play much. But over the years I improved to the point of being able to pick out melodies and play most of the open chords (and F which was always a pain.)
One day, in high school, I found Jimi Hendrix. I learned to play “Hey Joe” with open chords and from that moment on I was hooked. That led me to Stevie Ray Vaughan who led me to Albert King and a large and amazing group of blues musicians. I spent a great deal of time teaching myself to play guitar along with recordings by Albert King and B.B. King and even Stevie, although he doesn’t leave much room. Albert would never play while he sang so I could fill in some spaces with my own elementary attempts at playing the blues. B.B. King left a lot of space, too, but not as much as Albert.
Elmore James, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and a bunch of guys ended up being my “go to” listening selections. I eventually got into Albert Collins and Lightnin’ Hopkins. I read all the interviews I could find with Stevie and the old reprints in ‘Guitar’ magazine with Jimi. I’d read about their influences and what they liked and I’d check out everything I could find. That led me to blues rock with folks like Chris Duarte (also from Texas) and Eric Gales.
Both parents introduced me to a wide variety of genres and styles. I’m just as happy listening to early Simon and Garfunkel as Mississippi John Hurt. I’ve always liked classic rock. And I was into some ‘hair metal’ in high school: AC/DC, Cinderella, Ratt and the like. I liked Chicago an awful lot for a couple of years. Eventually “the blues” stopped being my “go to” genre. Today I listen to as much “alternative country” as anything. The Alt. Country movement of Uncle Tupelo and the bands that it spawned, The Bottle Rockets, Wilco and Son Volt, are especially good.
But I still have a soft spot for the blues. I still put on Buddy Guy sometimes. And I still listen to Jimi Hendrix on a regular basis. So when it came time to put this album together I couldn’t let myself miss the opportunity. But there were a few problems.
I searched for blues songs that were published before 1927. St. Louis Blues was an obvious choice in that we are in Missouri, we’ve talked about it in class and it’s a blues song. So I spent some time playing along and working up an arrangement. The main difference between the Bessie Smith version and my own is the arrangement and the change in perspective to the lyric. I’ve set this song to a solo acoustic guitar and I sing it from a male’s perspective.