[Harp-L] Harder than it looks

[Headly Westerfield <headlyw@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.nptelegraph.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14448474&BRD=377&PAG=461&dept_id=531813&rfi=6

05/01/2005

Harder than it looks

By DIANE WETZEL , The North Platte Telegraph

"There once lived an Indian maid, a shy little prairie maid, what sang a 
lay, a love song gay as on the plain she'd while away the day.

She loved a warrior bold, this shy little maid of old, but blythe and gay, 
he rode one day to battle far away."

On the final day of the annual Country Bluegrass Festival, I walked across 
the parking lot with a lump in my throat and a stinging in my eyes that had 
nothing to do with the dust in the air. I had just finished talking to Fred 
Larson, the "Harmonica Man." In the course of our conversation, I had 
mentioned that when I was a child, my grandmother played the piano, and I 
always asked her to play "Red Wing." She would play with much vigor and we 
would belt out the words together.

Fred and I were talking about how he grew up listening to old 78 records on 
the family Victrola, and hearing his uncle play the harmonica.

"I bought a fifty-nine cent dime store harmonica," Fred said. "I play 
mostly by ear, and every song I play has some special memory for me, either 
of the person who taught it to me or the place where I learned it."

While we were standing in a hallway at the Centennial Building a t the 
Lincoln County Fairgrounds with crowds of people jostling past, Fred pulled 
out a harmonica from his "apron" that has room for six harmonicas and 
proceed to play a rousing rendition of the song I most associate with my 
grandmother.
From Council Bluffs, Iowa, Fred works for the Union Pacific when he isn't 
traveling around the area to jam at festivals. He owns more than 40 harmonicas.

"If you blow one out, you need to be able to grab another one while you are 
jamming," Fred said.
Fred plays a diatonic harmonica, which is a 10-hole, 20-reed instrument.

"People often think of them as just a toy," he said. "If you don't sing, 
you can pour your voice into the harp. Think of Louis Armstrong. He sang 
just like he played the trumpet. He didn't have a great voice, but he could 
get the emotion in a song.

"People say playing the harmonica is easy," Fred said. "Then why aren't 
there more people playing it?"
Along with his uncle, Fred said he was inspired by his father, who played 
piano. He listened to Billy Preston, Artie Shaw, Gene Autry and Burl Ives, 
all who inspired him.

"People I meet come up to me and say how much they like my music," Fred 
said. "That's what makes it for me. It doesn't matter if you are rich or 
poor, we are all on the same level when we have the universal language of 
music."

Before our visited ended, Fred played two more songs, just for me. While my 
foot tapped along to "Whiskey Before Breakfast" and "Darlin' Nellie Gray," 
I found myself thinking it was time to get my old Fender guitar out of 
storage and limber up.

"You play what you hear," Fred said. "If I hear a song, I can play it. If I 
don't have a harp with me, I whistle all the way home so I remember."

"Now the moon shines tonight on pretty Red Wing, the breeze is sighing, the 
night bird's crying.

For afar 'neath his star her brave is sleeping, while Red Wing's weeping 
her heart away.."

A picture of Fred Larson can be found 
at 
http://images.zwire.com/local/Z/ZWIRE377/zwire/images/Harmonica330234.jpg 
with the following caption: "Fred Hanson of Council Bluffs, Iowa, plays one 
of many harmonicas he carries with him. Saturday afternoon Hanson was at 
the fifth annual Country Bluegrass show showing off his talent and part of 
his collection of more than 40 harmonicas. "



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