[Harp-L] Re: Subject: JJ Milteau's YouTube videos...'Rockin'/Charlie McCoy

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

On Mar 29, 2008, at 12:52 PM, EGS1217@xxxxxxx wrote:
>  Charlie McCoy uses a Bb and F to play it.

Ok, then he IS across the scale for those 8 chugs. (Or maybe, there's  
more to it than that?). I should have asked him but was too busy on  
other subjects. I use harps only 2 notes apart. I'm probably on a  
draw when he is on a blow.

> .  However, do 8 years of formal Latin studies count?  ;)

I hope to SMILE they do. You could always write me a prescription. lol
> I'm so envious (and admiring) of you getting to play with him.   
> He's a genuinely nice and 'real' guy.  I was thrilled to get a  
> front-row seat at SPAH for his performance three years ago (Kansas  
> City)...his Shenandoah (which he dedicated to a recently departed  
> friend) brought me to tears.

Shenandoah is one of the few pieces he does straight. I suggested a  
few others. He will be doing 'The Nearness of You' on his next  
album..straight...I think?.
> This must have been an incredible day you spent together.....I'm  
> only one of many here who would love to hear about it?

Wasn't much TO it. A bunch of us got together in Ft. Myers (where he  
has a condo), and we had a dream of an afternoon. Lotza great stories.

We did some duets. 'I really don't want to know', a fast Texas Swing  
version of 'You don't have to call me darlin...darlin', and more.

We talked about the country tuning, and how in 76 he was confronted  
by a fellow who asked him how he did Danny Boy and reasoned that  
Charlie used a harp with the 5 draw raised. But that's not how  
Charley was playing it (back then). He was using a D and an A (for  
the bridge). I have always played it with only one harp...C...crossed/ 
smokey tuned. The tune is originally in Eb, and I have also used a Ab  
but it's a little low in pitch for me. Besides the Ab is harder for  
me to bend.

I took that tuning to Nashville in 75 and played 'Frosty the Snowman'  
with it with Ernest Tubb on the Ryman Christmas show. I showed it to  
an older chromo player named Jim or John something. Rydell or Raydell  
or something like that. That old guy was really good as I remember.

Now there ARE tunes that you DO need more than one harp (discounting  
modulations). DYKWIM to miss New Orleans requires 3 harps (because of  
the double keyed bridge). So, I use a C. Eb, and D in that order. 'As  
time goes by' requires a second harp 4 steps up. That's the problem  
with diatonics for most people( from planet Earth )


Next week, Charley is going home to Nashville and then on to France  
in June. During spah he will be in Belgium & Holland.

smokey-joe
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