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Topic: What could this group have sounded like? |
Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 7:39 am |
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Octave mandolin, banjo uke, harp guitar and three Hawaiian steel guitars - one of which is a 12-string!
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Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 7:41 am
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Wow, love love love the stands!
Let me guess: deep plain vanilla groove.
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Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 8:15 am
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| had to have been cool for their day. one of the guitars is a 12 string. girls with thumb picks.....nice. |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 8:40 am
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The idea of stands for non-pedal steels has been floating around for a loooong time.
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Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 9:20 am
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| Andy Volk wrote: |
| The idea of stands for non-pedal steels has been floating around for a loooong time. |
Of course it would have been unladylike to put them on their laps with legs spread. Lol.
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Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 10:23 am
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I bet they sounded....bitchen?
Or maybe like they needed a bass player.
The Dixieland Chicks.
The lady on the left, “Somebody is NOT tuned to C6â€.
Seriously, a group featuring 3 women playing lap style guitar? That is cool on a scale of One to Forever! |
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David Knutson
From:
Cowichan Valley, Canada
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 10:43 am
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Great looking combo. I guess the mando-cello and harp guitar are covering the bass. Every time I see one of these photos with multiple steelers I'm reminded to spend a little extra practice time just making sure my intonation is tight.
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David K |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 10:47 am
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| Fred Treece wrote: |
Seriously, a group featuring 3 women playing lap style guitar? That is cool on a scale of One to Forever! |
In that era, there may well have been more women who played Hawaiian style than there were men who did. Two of my old pals have moms who played, one of which learned from her mom. One told me that all of her girlfriends played Hawaiian guitar when she was young. When I asked her why, she said guitars were cheaper than accordions. |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 10:51 am
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Kathy Wilson in the Jazz Age FB group said ...
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| "1926 c. Skirts had just risen to below the knee in 1925 and progressed upward another inch by 1926. Skirts fell by the 1930's. So 1926 c. is my best guess!" |
When I see vintage pics, I always think in terms of the instruments. it never occurred to me to think in hemlines!
And yes, Mando-cello more likely than octave mandolin.
_________________
Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com |
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Sam Conomo
From:
Queensland, Australia
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 12:04 pm Da band
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Wow,
Love am,
I wish I could hear
Them.
Sam. |
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David Matzenik
From:
Cairns, on the Coral Sea
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 12:18 pm
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I am thinking Robert Crumb material.
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Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother. |
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Noah Miller
From:
Rocky Hill, CT
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 12:50 pm
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| These three couples are the parents of ZZ Top. They are pictured here performing an embryonic acoustic version of what would become "Sharp Dressed Man". |
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David Knutson
From:
Cowichan Valley, Canada
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 1:10 pm
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We can always count on you for the accurate historical reference, Noah. 
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David K |
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Adam Tracksler
From:
Maine, USA
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 2:35 pm
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| David Matzenik wrote: |
| I am thinking Robert Crumb material. |
^^ This. |
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Rick Abbott
From:
Indiana, USA
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 3:10 pm
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| Noah Miller wrote: |
| These three couples are the parents of ZZ Top. They are pictured here performing an embryonic acoustic version of what would become "Sharp Dressed Man". |
Good one, Noah!
It may have been Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers, you never know.
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RICK ABBOTT
Sho~Bud D-10 Professional #7962
Remington T-8, Sehy #112
1975 Peavey Pacer 1963 Gibson Falcon |
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Scott Thomas
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 3:45 pm
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| I noticed that the steel guitars get progressively shallower left to right. It never occurred to me that such bands may have progressed to the point where multi-steel guitar bands separated themselves by different registers. If that's the case, the 12 string may have been strung as a six and used for its relatively larger/deeper body. |
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Nic Neufeld
From:
Kansas City, Missouri
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 4:36 pm
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I would guess something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eEIIB5hVy4
"I finished MILES ahead of you chaps!"
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Waikīkī, at night when the shadows are falling
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me |
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Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 6:57 pm
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| Noah Miller wrote: |
| These three couples are the parents of ZZ Top. They are pictured here performing an embryonic acoustic version of what would become "Sharp Dressed Man". |
...or "Legs"...hubba hubba. |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 30 Dec 2020 9:14 pm
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An extraordinary photo on many levels. Not even the banjo looks normal. And you wonder who these people actually were. Three couples? Total strangers? One family?
Adam, I may have asked you this before but remind me - in your avatar pic, who's the guy in the background?
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Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 31 Dec 2020 3:45 am
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This group is from Baltimore, MD.
From writer Michael John Simmons:
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I have the original of that photo. This is what’s written on the back. No date but some interesting info. The 1923-26 dates people are suggesting feel right. I don’t see many flattop Hawaiian guitars in photos after Nationals came on the scene 1927 and Rickenbacker electrics showed up in the early 1930s. |
Picture file
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Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com |
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Kirk Francis
From:
Laupahoehoe
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Posted 31 Dec 2020 9:22 am what could this group have sounded like?
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isn't that H. L Mencken on mando-cello?
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The mainland is intimidating, bewildering, and uncomfortable. And you have to wear shoes. -- Theroux. |
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David M Brown
From:
California, USA
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Posted 1 Jan 2021 5:37 am
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| Ian Rae wrote: |
| An extraordinary photo on many levels. Not even the banjo looks normal. |
Is it a banjo-uke? 4 course mandolin-tuned banjo? |
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Mel Bergman
From:
Camarillo, California, USA
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Posted 1 Jan 2021 1:31 pm
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| Wow, that sure does look like Mencken. If it is, this catapults this already great photo into another dimension . |
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Brooks Montgomery
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 1 Jan 2021 5:21 pm
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As cool as the photo looks, having three or more acoustic steels (or dobros or weissies) all playing at once, tends to sound like a Chinese marching band IMO.
At least that’s been my experience at reso-summit or other jams where multiple steels are playing.
Never-the-less, classic photo!
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A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first. |
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Don Kona Woods
From:
Hawaiian Kama'aina
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Posted 2 Jan 2021 5:05 pm
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It appears to me that the lady on the left is playing with a round steel bar and the other two with a flat steel guitar bar.
That would make a difference in the sound for sure. |
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