2024-01-12

Friday, January 12th, 2024

Sustaining true friendship is a lot more challenging than we give it credit for.

— Mariella Frostrup

• The docker-compose binary in the VSC Dev Container (TS + Node w/ docker-in-docker) is v1, which is severely outdated. Luckily I can use docker compose to circumvent this.

MUS106 Lecture 3: Blues, Country, Pop influence

Blues

• blues as pop
• rural blues in South
  • Memphis blues
  • Delta blues (Mississippi delta)
• Robert Johnson
  • ”Let it Be”
  • Delta blues
  • mythical life
  • master of all musical styles; itinerary musician
  • most important early bluesman for rock
    • heavily influenced Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page
  • King of the Delta Blues Singers
  • was invited to play at Carnegie Hall (but already passed away at the time)
  • “Come On In My Kitchen” (1936)
    • thin instrumentation
      • guitar—contrapuntal
      • vocals
    • meditative, relaxed, intimate?
• The Great Migration
  • 6mil African Americans left the South
  • causes
    • socioeconomic status (sharecropping)
    • Jim Crow laws
  • The Great Blues Migration: African Americans brought their blues music with them
• Muddy Waters
  • from Mississippi Delta
  • recording available in Library of Congress (recorded in his home)
    • “Country Blues No. 1”
      • similar thin instrumentation to “Come On In My Kitchen”
      • nonchalant vocals
  • moves to Chicago in 1943: “father of modern Chicago blues"
  • "Rollin’ Stone”
    • amplified guitar sound, rhythmic
    • more dynamic vocals & guitar
• Chess Records
  • An independent record label started by brothers Leonard & Phil Chess.
  • ”Home of the Electric Blues”
  • signed many famous recordings
  • Memphis Recording Service (Sam Phillips) scouted Delta musicians for the record label
  • records have a unique, authentic “Chess Sound”
    • clean mix; can easily distinguish different tracks (vocals, instruments despite large ensemble)
    • physical reverb (recorded echo from basement)
    • only did single takes until perfection, no splicing/comping

Country & Western

• ”hillbilly” music
• bluegrass
  • virtuosic, up-tempo genre
• Bill Monroe
  • ”father of bluegrass”
  • blues, gospel, swing influences
  • Mandolin player
  • ”Uncle Pen” (1950)
    • passing licks back-and-forth
    • interesting phrase lengths; measures with unexpected meters pop up once in a while in between phrases
  • played at Grand Ole Opry
    • somewhat conservative venue in Nashville broadcasted on radio (and later TV)
    • musicians: Bill Monroe, Carter family, etc
• The Carter Family
  • rural Virginia, 1927
  • formed by the the mother and daughters, i.e. Carter sisters
  • gospel and folk influences
  • ”Carter Scratch”: play guitar lead and rhythm lines simultaneously

Popular Song

• Rather than the stylistic influences from the other three pillars of influence, popular songs influenced the intended audience of rock—general population.
• 1951 billboard top single “Goodnight Irene”
• popular song
  • broad appearl
  • commercial success