was in his late teens. 1 remember him tel- ling me one time, “When 1 was a boy, I think the first blues record I ever heard was Blind Lemon Jefferson singing ‘Black Snake Moan.’ ‘O-oh, ain't got no mama, now.’ Man, I tell you, I thought that was the prettiest litle thing I'd ever heard.” By this time, music was all around Fred. Hi tuncle Gene Shields was a guitarist and a leader of a trio. He credits Shields with being the first one he saw play in the bottleneck style. His uncle had taken a beef rib bone and filed it down smooth and then played with it om his litte finger. ‘Also in Uncle Gene's trio was a har- ‘monica player named Cal Payne, who showed Fred “John Henry." Cal's son Raymond was about the same age as Fred, who used to say, "He was a real good guitar player, regular style, not bottler neck.” But Raymond would never show anyone anything. “If you'd walk into the oom when Raymond was playing,” Fred recalled, “he'd right away put the guitar down so you couldn't see what he was doing. Then he'd make some kind of excuse, ‘I'm tired now’ or ‘My fingers hurt.” I often think this early experience ‘was one of the reasons why McDowell ‘always was so open about his style. “Other ‘musicians might try to lose you when they play with you to make themselves look better than you,” he said, “but they don't Know how bad it makes thems look.” Despite Raymond Payne's reluctance to teach him anything, Fred still insisted that “no one could show me nothing anyway. Everyone could play cept me. All the boys. But Ihad to learn things my own, ‘way, Even if you'd be showing me, Td have to go off on my own and get it my way, They'd all be playing ball or some- thing, and 1’ be practicing on Booster Green's guitar.” (Eli “Booster” Green was fan older friend and one-time mentor of Fred's with whom he was later reunited musically by Chris Strachwitz on a 1966 recording session for Arhoolie [Fred ‘MeDowell, Vol. I. Itwas Eli who taught McDowell the celebrated tune, “Write Me A Few Lines” [see p. 99]) The first song Fred ever learned was Tommy Johnson's “Big Fat Mama (With The Meat Shakin’ ‘On Your Bones)” “I learned it on one string,” he explained, “then two, note by note. Man, Labout worried that first string to death trying to learn that song.” This rnote-by-note method was one that was go- ing to become an intricate part of Fred's later day technical approach. Eyen though McDowell experienced his share of obstacles on guitar, he was always. sought after as a vocalist. He ‘Would be invited to the old time Saturday night suppers and would always be asked ‘Contimied on page 2 TOM POMPOSELLO McDowell's Sideman And Blues Historian By Tom Pomposello [As Told To Scott Fish HOMAS ANTHONY “HONEST TOM Dervis 27, began playing guitar at age 16, but as he puts tt, “that isn't even worth mentioning; it wasn't until I met Mr. MeDowell that things started happening.” Tom played electric bass (and studied bottleneck guitar) with Mississippi Fred McDowell from 1971 until Fred's death in 1973. He can be heard backing McDowell on Mississippi Fred MeDowell Live In New York [ObIiv- ‘on, od., LJand playing bottleneck guitar, ‘mandolin, harmonica, bass, and dulcimer ‘on his solo album, Honest Tom Pomposello (Oblivion, od. 6; soon to be reissued by Blue Labor ‘Records, Box 1262, New York, NY 10009]. a remark- ably’ broad survey of American musical siples. He also contributed to Blues From ‘The Apple [Oblivion, od., 4Jas a member of Charles Walker's New York City Blues Band. Currently, Tom_—who was for wo and 4 half years contributing editor to Living Blues—heads a touring seminar on “The History Of The Blues" which has performed at schools ranging from kindergarten all the way to adult education. He also runs Kropotkin Records [273 New York Ave., Hunting ton, NY 11743}—which stocks all of the ‘above-mentioned albums as well as other hhard-to-find blues records—and does a radio show on WBAI in New: York City Here, Pomposello details how he developed his own unique. bottleneck guitar style based on what he'd learned Jrom McDowell. The differences in the ‘wo bottleneck approaches are clearly illustrated on “Hey, Little Girl.” from Honest Tom Pomposello, where mentor ‘and protege get together and jam. As Tom states, “Thad wanted to record something with me playing second bottleneck ‘uitar—insiead of the usual bass—behind MeDowell to show him the lessons he'd been giving me were starting to pay off.” “GP Free, THE FIRST FEW, YEARS afer Fred McDowell passed away, | tried to play just like him. This is a logical transition that many musicians go through before developing their own styles. It took ‘me a while to realize that evenif I perfected every lick he'd ever played, 1 would still never be another Mississippi Fred McDowell. I knew that it was time 10 make my own way. Using the basic tech= rigue I had learned from Fred, I began to develop my style along different lines. At first, I played everything in open D tuning [D. 4, D, Fi. A, D, low t0 high). This worked fine éor solo playing, but when 1 {ot into a band, [found it better to tune to open E(E, B, E, Gt, B, E},s0 1 wouldn't have t0 worry about ‘transposing the fingerboard in my head. Tn E tuning, I developed a flair for a ‘dead-thumb, monotonic bass line, coupled with frstfinger fingerpicking onthe treble strings in a syneopated manner. I hear this Used quite often in John Fabey’s musi. 1 also found that F tuning worked great on old Elmore James, raunchy Chicago, Dust My Broom” style of guitar. But for this style I favor a latpick, because I find that T'can get more speed, especially in playing the triplet figures so prominent in Elmore James's music, then started to work towards devel- oping different bass lines based ona boogie Woogie figure. I play this using heavy thumbpick movement with some synco- pated up-stroke finger work on the treble strings, You would be surprised how tasty the occasional up-beat treble note can be. ‘To this day, Lam working at every possible way to play a boogie line in open tuning, land new ways to phrase the old cliche double-stops, It is important to note that when playing a 12-bar(I-1V-V) bassline in open E tuning (and in the Key of £) that the only logical place to get to the IV igure is fon the Sth fret of the £ bass string Remember, you no longer have that open A siring, since it has been tuned up to a B. The technical difficulty is learning to get to the Sth fret, using your third or fourth finger, without letting the bottleneck get in the way, Or, you can use the bottleneck to your advantage, by playing the note with the bottleneck. Any bass line gets an »‘OM POMPOSELLO additional shot in the arm when you use your bottleneck to “slur” those blue notes together, as in Muddy Waters’ style. Once [played one of my “bass heavy’ tunes for “Muddy Waters, and I remember how com- plimented I felt when he smilingly told Ine, “Boy, you sure slidin’ some on those bass strings!” It s difficult to get definition using the bottleneck on the bass side of the guitar, because of the greater “spacing” in the wrap of the wound strings. This is where muting plays an important role. I prefer ‘muting—when necessary—with the palm for fingers of my picking hand, or ooca- sionally I will use @ quick, total damping with my fretting hand. Like Fred MeDowell, Ido nat believe in damping by trailing a finger behind the bottleneck. | believe this detracts from the fundamental beauty of the bottleneck approach. It would be a different ball game on a solidbody electric guitar with low action, light-gauge strings, and heavy amplifiea- tion, and I do not feel qualified to com- fon this. But by playing with a medium action and using slightly heavier strings and a devent weight bottleneck, ‘many unvwanted overtones can be elimic nated or controlled simply by your touch My approach to playing is to get a clean bottleneck vibrato that is not solely Contingent upon electrified sustain. This ‘was one area in which Fred McDowell was unequaled. He had a beautiful sus- a < ww lela s O HEET SOUN 1 D PRODUCTS tained vibrato. Another guitarist in this same league was Robert Nighthawk, Man, talk about smooth! Lately Thave also started playing again in open A [E, 4, E, A, CF, E} Since 1 carry around enough instruments, [try 10 do all my bottleneck work on my Dobro. While it is a hassle to keep retuning onstage, I feel that it is worth it, A tuning—or G tuning, as itis often called when tuned a step lower—has a character and a versatility all its own, For blues tunes, A seems to be much more “modal” sounding than open E. Inthe “golden era” (of Delta blues, it was definitely the favored tuning among the greats such as Son House or Robert Johnson. Fred used to call A tuning “Spanish” tuning, and there hhas always been speculation that it was the Mexican/Spanish guitarists of the nineteenth century who influenced many of the original Texas and Mississippi blues guitarists The main difference in open A and ‘open E tunings is that open E bas more root, or tonic, notes, This lends itself to a bass) contrabass, flamenco style af finger- picking which isn't possible in 4 tuning, In open , bottleneck leads take on a different characteristic with the type of patterns played For myself and my sound, my custom- built Dobro was the answer to my dreams. When I first began playing solo, I used about four different guitars, None of them were very good, but the best was a three- quarter size, solidbody National, with an ‘electric pickup installed in the cover plate fof the resonator—a solidbody in appear- fance only, with a National resonator. MeDowell told me he never cared for metal-bodied Nationals, “Too tinny.” he said, “hard to get a clear sound.” What Fred meant was that many National steels don't have a long or clear sustain. How- fever, Fred once owned a wood-bodied ‘acoustic National which he really loved. ‘Contin on nex pase BARNEY KESSEL Listening, playing, & teaching aids trom thie guiter great SoyaWhile T was still playing the National, read an article in the December "71 issue of Guitar Player about the Dopera brothers and their then recently react: vated Original Musical Instrument Cor pany (1404 Gaylord St., Long Beach, CA 90813}, 1 rifled off a letter to Ed Dopera, along with a photo of my bastardized Solidbody, in hopes of finding out just What had been playing T received a very gracious and prompt reply from him, and he explained that my instrument was made by Valeo, a com- pany that had the rights to the National ame around 1958. The guitar was a student model made in the Northeast This same company manufactured Supro guitars, and my National looked like a litle Supro cutaway. opera wrote, in closing, “Our new model 114 will be out in about six more Weeks. Our of this world. Resophonic. You'll get more volume plus far better tone.” He enclosed a brochure and success- fully whetted my appetite, 1 devided to call Ed Dopera to tell him what I was looking for. He was. quite Confident that the new model would suit the bill. explained my need to get beyond the 14th fret and asked ifa cutaway would be unsightly or unheard of on a Dobro with abasic dreadnought shape, and Would it affect the instrument's acoustic properties. Mr. Dopera reviewed every- thing and agreed to do the cutawai We spoke also of electrification. He said they were using specially designed DeArmond pickups, and added that the new Barcus-Berry transducers could also be installed in conjunction with a togele switeh for added versatility. I sent him a deposit and asked him to build it ‘Today, this Dobro is my main instru- ment. The cover plate bears the engraving “Customized for Honest Tom. Best Wishes, E.E. Dopera.” I have, however, made a few modifications, The DeArmond pickup proved unsatisfactory at anything yee tele eyior high but very low-level electric playing. 1 had repairman Steve Carr [1075-A Oak Neck Ra., Bay Shore, NY 11706] replace the pickup—at his suggestion—with an old Gibson/Epiphone, Les Paul type, small hhumbucking pickup. Working in conjunction with electric ace Tom “Edison” Lanni [Straub Music, 455 Route 110, Huntington, NY 11746], Steve rewired the instrument in stereo, so Tcould externally mix the outputs of the Barcus-Berry and Gibson pickups to pro- duce a more balanced sound, (Prior 10 this, I found it impossible to. mix the electric signal on top, because it killed the “weaker” one from the transducer) The new setup works quite well, although in the studio I still prefer to record the instrument on two separate tracks—one electric from my amp, and the other with microphone directly in front of the Fesonator. I also do this onstage, Thad John Monteleone (41 Deagnon Blvd., Bay Shore, NY 11706}, one of the finest luthiers and acoustic repairmen on the East Coast. work with the resonator to bring out a little more acoustic tone and ‘move the bridge for more precise intona- tion, John also worked on the frets for me. A bottleneck guitarist will not wear ‘out frets the way a conventional guitarist does, but nevertheless they should be rounded out just so, for the extra speed that is required when switching mid- passage from a lick with a bottleneck toa fretted pattern. ‘After experimenting with many amps, Continued on pe 80 You can't buy a better echo unit... | even for more money. Echo, Reverb and Sound-on-Sound without the noise “Multivox MX-201 Mulli-Echo. We consider tthe ultimate echo unit because nothing can compare to the MX 2 for the sounds it makes and the noises it doesn't Its 4 playback, 1 erase and 1 record heads, 8 mode selectors, myriad controls, sound:on sound and highly sophisticated circuitry present limitiess echo sounds, reverb effect and combinations of both, ‘The unit features 3 separate channel input controls and can be used directly with most mixing boards and PA. systems. The MX-201 also features a high quality continuous, free-running tape loop for longer life and quality sound. Two tape pressure guides and rotating tape ‘guides, plus a direct drive brushless servo motor All combine to provide a truly incomparable distortion free sound and virtually eliminate noise, wow and flutter Even spring reverb is standard. Now you know why you can't buy a better echo unit. Find out how much less the best costs at your Multvox dealer Or write for a free catalog nTOM POMPOSELLO Contre fom page have come back to Fender. L use a pre- CBS Showman head (Tom Lanni installed ‘4 modular, removable reverb unit in the head) coupled to a single Showman cabi- ret with one 15” JBL K-130 speaker, and this does it all, Since I am a muli- instrumentalist (bottleneck, electric man- dolin, harmonica, and Framus 12-string banjo-guitar, it is important that I keep the head near me onstage. I have a small ‘mixing box (also built by Tom Lani) that facilitates instrument switching and level changing. Iset the amp at about 3 or 4 on, BB sMDUNLOP Seierrnriy paras er ti Poors the volume control, and it really sounds clean, ‘The action on my Dobro is set medium. high. 1 use D'Addario custom-gauge strings (.012; 016; 024 wound; .030; 04; (059), and, unlike Mississippi Fred, I do prefer a wound third string. My hands are used to bending any gauge string (his comes from years of playing awful fuitars!), and I like the extra punch and resonance of the wound third. I need the heavy bass ‘E,’ because so much of what 1 play relies upon that string. I find that on a Dobro with a nonadjustable bridge and high action, the heavier string ais intona- tion atthe 12th fret and above, where Ido much of my lead picking to takeadvantage of the built-in harmonies and octave tones | inherent in an open tuning, use a heavy plastic thumbpick and a Grover metal fingerpick. I like this com- bination, because the plastic thumbpick aids and abets that punchy bass sound, land the metal fingerpick brings out the brightness of the treble strings, (lam sure that much of that sound is in my Dobro already—the sustain from the resonator, land the warmth from the wood body.) I don't have to worry about striking the humbucking pickup with the metal pick and getting those awful, amplified “thuds,” because it is installed so close to the neck, out of the way of the playing area Mississippi Fred MeDowell preferred | wearing a bottleneck on his ring finger when playing in £ tuning, and so do I. 1 Find it impractical to wear it on the middle finger, When a person first tries to play this style, the bottleneck itself might feel better balanced on the middle finger, but actually it makes any chording you will want to do just that much more diffieult The ring finger is a good compromise, because you still have the balance and the added ability to fret basic chords. This also allows you the use of the pinky when needed Like Fred, I found that in 4 tuning it helps to switch the slide tothe ltl finger: One chord in particular which Fred would use for the IV change when playing in open A might help explain why it is helpful to play on the little finger. The chord looks just like a first position C chord in standard tuning. It is easier to play this chord when the bottleneck is on the litle finger, thereby using your first three fingers to grab the chord without obstruction. In A tuning this particular chord works out to be a D9/C (a D9 with the 7th in the bass). It sounds like a cross between a dinimished chord and the sub- dominant, but this particular inversion is so haunting that it isa Delta blues natural land one that Fred favored frequently, As | often reevaluate the bottleneck basics, 1 sometimes feel certain that it would pay to play with the slide on the little finger exclusively, regardless of the tuning, so Continued fr TUDIO of STAG IT’S A CLEAN SWEEP! See eee Sa ee Tagore ee Meee ager aE OF THE STUDIO WHILE MAINTAINING THE RUGGEDNESS AND VERSATILITY DEMAND. oe cel Rg Nels Ale Waele oe he ae Mee AUS e WR OU Le INPUT ALIASING OR OUTPUT QUANTIZATION NOISE, PROBLEMS COMMON TO OTHER SMe Le a) Vale pale) ame aa eM ce ag og RTOs CeO ETM TNC Ral a le ATO Y MOORE UID (Rg a TU Le MeN Iolo) oa 0-1 a 0h ONL ANA NA oD. OLN LL NALLY VOLTAGE CONTROLLED FROM VARIOUS CONTROL DEVICES, ST ta Se WT URerch a WN ele WY LMS Tee ae} oer) Oe ete BOGS me o- PURRU CAATOM POMPOSELLO Contined from page 2 there would be more freedom to finger complex. chords while still wearing the bottleneck 1 prefer a long bottleneck, because 1 often play full chords, barring from three to six strings. Players ike Fred MeDowell and Muddy Waters used short slides. 1 like to angle the bottleneck sometimes, the way a lap-tsle Dobro player would, to get 6ths, Tths, and ths. Innever thought I would use anything except a glass bottleneck, I paid my dues, breaking the necks off hundreds of wine bottles, until my half-brother, Mike di ROTOMATIC Bifuleo, cut off the top of an old Sangria bottle with a glass-cutting hacksaw blade [used this slide for years. I is about 2/,” long, just the right length to barre all the strings. Until recently, this was all used. I used to tell my students that you needed Blass to get the real vibrato and those shimmering tones. Part of it was just the image, I guess, You know, homemade- blues-hottleneck-from-a-wine-bottle. But a short while ago, I decided to experiment with metal sides again. After some trial and error, I found the new slides being made by Mighty-Mite (1707 Cloverfield Santa Monica, CA 90404] to be excellent They are heavy brass (some are chrome), nicely polished, tapered, and come in three different sizes, In addition, if you wear it all night at the gig, your finger will turn blue due to a chemical reaction from the perspiration. Who could ask for anything more? . FRED McDOWELL to sing along with the other guitarists, When they would get tired, Fred would take over on guitar, too. Fred left Rossville when he was about 21, tired of plowing fields with a mule Daring a trip south to Cleveland, Missis- sippi in the late 1920s at a Saturday night juke joint, he heard the legendary Charlie Patton perform. He was quite impressed and consciously began to adapt several of Patton's tunes to his own style. “Gravel Road” is his adaptation of Patton's “Down The Dirt Road Blues.” McDowell also spent a good deal of time in Memphis before he ultimately settled in Mississippi. He held down a variety of jobs as a laborer. In Memphis throughout the 1930s he tried to master the guitar but was hampered by not own ing his own instrument. While working at a dairy outside of Memphis, he got his first guitar, A white man from Texas, by the name of Mr. Taylor, whom Fred re- membered quite fondly, presented it to him. This was 1941, just before Fred decided to move south to Mississippi and settle down near bis sister. Tt was in Como, Mississippi, that Fred MeDowell was to ultimately refine the style that would one day classify him as fone of the greatest country bluesmen of the postwar years, In 1959, folklorist Alan Lomax ven- tured into Northwestern Mississippi dur- ing a recording field trip of the southern United States, When Lomax came to ‘Como, hhe inquired as to whether there were any local bluesmen that he should hhear, explaining that he was from a record company. Among the first names given was Fred McDowell ‘Lomax found Fred at home that even- ing and proceeded to record him. Fred played well into the night for the session (from 8:00 P.M. until almost 7:00 A.M., as mC MIGHTY M NEW FROM MIGHTY MITE | SOLID BRASS WA ‘ASK FOR OUR PRODUCTS BY NAME AT YOUR LOCAL MUSIC STORE! ITE’ MFG. & DIST. PO BOX 3011 CAMARILLO, CA 93010 (805) 482-9815, (805) 484-3274 Our solid brass replacement parts and bridges add to the sustaining quality of any instrument. 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