Crossroad Blues

[Ahpook]

I've not heard anyone come close to the late great Robert Johnson playing this. The original is so intense to cover!

This dude does well, though

[brush]

1. Very nice. What's his name?

[Ahpook]

3. I randomly found him while searching covers

for this song. I have been playing electric blues so long that I wanted to try my hand at where it all started

His name is Edward Phillips. He does quite a few covers of Robert Johnson.

[Duppers]

2. HooBoy! Yeah, play it.

Last edited Mon Mar 2, 2020, 08:05 AM - Edit history (1)

Missing my friend who just passed. He would have loved this.

Zeke...RIP

Pic made 2018, Memphis

[Ahpook]

4. Sorry to hear about your friend

Digging that guitar he is holding. Playing this stuff on a Martin just doesn't sound quite right

They are to warm if you catch me?

On edit: It could be the old recording equipment used that thinned out the tone. I have read he possibly used a Gibson L1 on those recordings. Nothing sounds like a Dobro!

[Duppers]

5. Thank you.

Yes, I understand about that guitar being too warm. Zeke had a few different guitars and although he wasn't the best player, he so loved the Blues. He performed as one of Furry Lewis' regular second guitarists. (He was a teacher by profession.)

The fellow playing above, Edward Phillips, is most exceptional in his ability to create that "raw Mississippi sound." Thanks; it was a joy to listen to him. Zeke was born in Mississippi, btw; his dad was a state senator.

[panader0]

6. Very good!

wonder why he capos on Fsharp.
I'll be studying this--thanks.
I love the old delta sound. John Hurt and Skip James.

[Ahpook]

7. Only a guess

Makes it slightly easier to play the higher up slide part. It is kind of a hassle when I am playing it in open G capo'd on the 3rd.

I'm not tuning my guitar up that high as he is. I've caught enough broken strings lashing across my face for a lifetime

[panader0]

8. Good guess, could help his voice range too.

Hell, that might be the key Johnson did it in.
I always wondered about the funky sound of the delta stuff.
I realized that many of those old guys bought their guitars from a
Sears and Roebuck catalog. Cheap. I too love dobros or resonators,
I'm trying to explain to Jeannie why I need just one more guitar.
"You said that on the last one."

[Ahpook]

9. Check this out

PDF file of the Gibson catalog from what looks like 1930.

Some of those prices are pretty high considering the era? The L1 is 50 bucks, though. That's apparently what Robert Johnson was holding in the famous photo.

https://acousticmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Gibson-1930-31-Catalog.pdf

[panader0]

10. In 1968 I bought a 1939 Martin 0017 for $50.00.

I played it on my last recording. A 3/4 sized little beauty. My sweetie.
I had a nice old Gibson LGO that my second wife smashed on the floor.
I divorced her shortly afterward.

[Ahpook]

11. Lol

I had an ex go for my rig during a breakup. No no, you can't do that! I just want to leave, thank you.

Anyway, I mostly build my guitars, or rather chop up existing guitars and make them my own

[panader0]

12. I wish I had your skills.

I spend my time just trying to learn how to play the damn thing.
I had a book once--10,000 guitar chords. Yikes