Of course for me, 'New' means new-to-me old songs. Here's some I've been working with source information and 'progress':
At the 2009 Bluff Country Gathering, I attended a workshop on Maybelle Carter Guitar presented by Darren Moore and Jeremy Stevens with the New North Carolina Ramblers. Darren plays an arch-top guitar tuned 3 half-steps lower than standard. I started experimenting with an Epiphone jumbo guitar that I had bought as a 'farmer's market' guitar. I ended up putting baritone guitar strings on it and tuning it 4 half-steps lower than standard (C,F,B-flat,E-flat,G,C). I use a thumbpick and a John Pearse hi-rider fingerpick to achieve the 'Carter Srcatch'. The fingerpick is 'flattend' and extends out enough so that you can brush both ways. A you tube video that gives a fairly good idea of what Maybelle is doing is here (go to about 1:23 to get to her playing).
The following songs have been added to our repertoire using the 'Low-tuned' Guitar. Lynn is playing regular 6-string guitar, sometimes in a fairly high capo position. We play these fairly close to the original Carter Family version:
Can The Circle Be Unbroken: I have sung this as "Will the Circle be Unbroken', but never really learned the words. Our source is the 1935 recording and we follow the rhythm closely (it's crooked). This actually determined the tuning of the Epiphone, since Sara sings it in A-flat while Maybelle is playing in C position on her guitar tuned 4 half-steps down. This key fits my voice: A is a bit high. We have run into trouble with 'strong' sing-along singers since they will do the four-square 'Will the ...' version.
Keep On The Sunny Side: Lynn has sung this before, so she takes the lead. We started with the Capo on the 2nd fret (key of B-flat), however, in a duet workshop with Laurie Lewis, they had her move it up to C, and that is where we sing it now. Of course, this puts the capo on the 4th fret which brings it back to standard tuning. However, the sound of the Epiphone comes very close to Maybelle's sound even capoed up, so we continue to do it using the Epiphone. So far, I am just harmonizing on the chorus, mostly as a low tenor. They drop a beat going into the chorus and we've kept that.
It Takes A Worried Man: This is a song I've avoided for 40 years because of the ubiquity of the Kingston Trio version. I am pretty certain that I performed it with the folk trio I was in in high school. I sing it the way the Carter Family sings it in the key of A-flat - no capo, C-position. The low melody is fun to play. Again, I've run into problems if strong-singers sing along, since the rhythm is different from the more recent version.
Some other Carter Family songs with Low Guitar we are considering or working on:
Bury Me Beneath the Willow: A few local musicians do this -- Lynn sings this and I do a quasi AP harmony on the chorus. I put the capo on the 2nd fret so on the low tuned Epiphone we end up in B-Flat. This should be in the Bob&Lynn repertoire at some point.
Sad and Lonesome Day: The North Carolina Ramblers did this at Lanesboro and I've heard a couple of other performances sense. The Carter Family does this in D and although I tried lower keys, I ended up here myself. (My tenor matches Sara Carter's at later points in her career). This probably will be in the Bob&Lynn repertoire at some point, although we only have so much room for these types of sad, "my mother is dead", type of songs.
Wabash Cannonball: I sang Doc Watson's version in the '60's and '70's, then found that the Delmore Brother's version has some Midwestern references. I have combined some lyrics from several versions and have lately been trying it out in A-flat using the low-tuned Epiphone and a Maybelle styled lead. The jury is still out as to whether this will move forward or not.
Of course, I've also been working on songs that don't involve the low-tuned Epiphone:
New River Train: I learned a "jam' version in the late 60's or early 70's, probably from Doc Watson, but a similar version is on Blake and Rice's first album. A few years ago I bought a collection of Ernest Stoneman 78 recordings and was taken by the word and 'tempo' of his version. We do it now with mandolin and guitar in G. We have performed it, although we still consider it 'new'.
All the Good Times are Past and Gone: I became aware of this song from a version that Norman and Nancy Blake do on one of their recent albums. I then heard a 78 version, done by Fred and Gertrude Gossett, which I am using as our basic source. We've performed this at least once and we've been doing it at farmer's markets this summer. Perhaps "Fred&Gertrude" were the "Bob&Lynn" of their time, this appears to be on the only 78 they recorded.
I Loved You Better Than You Knew: This is Carter Family song. Although Norman and Nancy Blake do this , I came across the Carter Family 78 while searching for songs to do using the low-tuned Epiphone, but I wound up playing this with a flat-pick using my regular guitar. We performed this in E-flat at the Lynnhurst Home Companion last February, but thought that it lacked energy when we were preparing it for a gig in the Spring. I have started singing in F (a full step higher), and it may rejoin the repertoire.
Cindy: I have a younger sister named Cindy and my Dad used to sing the 'common' version of this with the chorus:
Get along home, Cindy Cindy,
Get along home, Cindy Cindy,
Get along home, Cindy Cindy,
I'll marry you some day.
Thus, I have shied away from doing this; however, the version by Riley Puckett & ClaytonMcMichen caught my ear. The rhythm is crooked and the chorus is a bit different:
Get along home,
Get along home
Get along home (Cindy)
Cindy, fare thee well.
Since Puckett and McMichen repeated a lot of the verses and had extended fiddle breaks, I added a couple of verses from Cindy in the Meadows by Samantha Bumgarner and Eva Davis. I started learning this on Mando, thinking that Lynn might get a kick out of doing Riley Puckett like guitar runs; however, she started playing it on fiddle. We have played it at a couple of farmer's markets using fiddle and mandolin and it seems to be working. Although we have 'arranged' a few tunes for fiddle&mando, this will be our first 'vocal'.
Cindy is an iconic folk song and there is an extensive discussion on The Mudcat Cafe - the discussion include a link from a Led Zepplin(!) blog , which is surprisingly informative.
Red Rocking Chair: this is another traditional song that I have wanted to learn for a while. I really liked Big Medicine treatment of this at The Bluff Country Gathering this year and I was able to re-listen to it on their CD Pine to Pine. This is another song with many variations and verse possibilities. The earliest 'source' that I have is form Dock Boggs who recorded "Sugar Baby" in the 1920s - this was included in Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music. Lynn and I are still working on the arrangement, but it looks like she'll play fiddle while I am on guitar. I have added one verse to Big Medicine's version and we are listening to a few other versions, including "Sugar Babe" by Uncle Earl for some ideas.
Very interesting Bob!
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