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Topic: Casey Bill Weldon |
Lloyd Graves
From:
New York, USA
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Posted 5 Mar 2024 6:05 pm |
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I went down an interweb rabbit hole recently and found myself in a thread on the Michael Messer forums. It mentioned that King Benny Nawahi, Brother Oswald and Casey Bill Weldon all lived in Chicago at the same time, which I never knew. I also had no idea that Casey Bill Weldon played his blues on the Hawaiian steel, rather than bottleneck blues. (The only other blues musician I know of that played lap style was Oscar Woods)
So that led me into a YouTube rabbit hole, listening to CB Weldon's stuff. And I found Guitar Swing: https://youtu.be/1BbBw90TjSA?si=VOfYdYI7R5eU0vEb
Do any of you all play his stuff? It's pretty great, in my opinion.
That thread also mentioned some interesting tunings, including an open C tuning. |
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Scott Thomas
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Posted 5 Mar 2024 9:03 pm
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I don’t play his music, but I’ve been listening to him for a long time.
Black Ace is another lap style blues player you should check out. He played a square neck tricone. |
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Tim Toberer
From:
Nebraska, USA
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Posted 6 Mar 2024 6:25 am
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I brought him up a little while ago https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=391457&highlight=
Only a few of the old blues recordings were played in lap style, surely there was many more. Apparently there is a strong gospel tradition going way back, but the blues is more rare it seems. I tuned my Harmony to open F and it is instant Casey Bill! I really love the recordings from the late 20's to the late 30s. The musical styles were not well formed and it is really obvious to see the melting pot that formed jazz, blues, bluegrass etc.
Robert Wilkins and Bukka White are 2 more to check out if you haven't already. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=DNMiDL88D6k |
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Joe Burke
From:
Toronto, Canada
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Posted 6 Mar 2024 10:05 am
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| Love it! Thanks for posting. It really sounds like squareneck! |
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Lloyd Graves
From:
New York, USA
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Posted 6 Mar 2024 5:24 pm
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Doh! I remember that thread now! I also remember listening to a bit and thinking it was great. I guess I forgot all about him. Not again though.
What did you use for an F tuning, out of curiosity?
I wish I was better at learning steel guitar tunes by ear... |
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Tim Toberer
From:
Nebraska, USA
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Posted 7 Mar 2024 2:33 pm
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| Lloyd Graves wrote: |
Doh! I remember that thread now! I also remember listening to a bit and thinking it was great. I guess I forgot all about him. Not again though.
What did you use for an F tuning, out of curiosity?
I wish I was better at learning steel guitar tunes by ear... |
I am sure glad you brought him up again. I think of him as one of the great geniuses of early American music. Brilliant songwriter and singer, not to mention amazing innovative steel guitar player. Living somewhere between blues, jazz and country. I wish there were more recordings. I don't think he died till sometime in the 1970s. What a shame.
FACFAC is the tuning, just like Hawaiian A tuning just down to F. His signature lick is pretty easy to figure out once you are in this tuning. Try it in C at the 7th fret. I tuned my 7 string Harmony to CFACFAC and do a little alt bass for accompaniment. I have heavy strings on so actually I have it in BEG#BEG#B now and really love the low tuning. |
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