Re: [Harp-L] New to list and harmonica in general

[David Payne <dmatthew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I was thinking about the threads of recent last night during a jam on my front porch, that went about 7 hours. I invited cousin Roger Adkins, a singer and fine finger-picking acoustic blues guitarist and Steve Williams, primarily an old-time fiddle player, but player of many instruments, including harp. Then there was me and I've not figured out what I am yet. 
So Roger shows up first and we're playing prewar blues, Charlie Patton and the like. Steve shows up with some harps, a mandolin and some funny-looking prewar remake lap guitar. We're turning the heads of folks walking down the street, including the Mexicans walking home from work at the local Mexican cuisine facility.   
We keep playing blues and Steve is ripping some blues mandolin. We keep this up until Greg Vincent shows up and we start playing blues stuff Greg knows, bluegrass eight bars and other stuff, Folsom Prison Blues and the like. At this point, it's 11 o'clock at night. Greg's got one of his Martin's, which just booms. We shift into the really hard driving fast bluegrass. I'm playing diatonic on lead, 48 chord on rhythm. With the mandolin and 48 chord both booming chops, the 2 and 4 beats were falling like sledgehammers,I mean it was rockin'... and LOUD. We were having so much fun and being so loud, I was SURE the cops were going to show up and I was kind of hoping they would, because a disturbing the peace visit from a local constable would validate that it was one hell of musical good time. 
About 11:30, there's a guy, who was visiting my neighbor, on my steps watching and listening. He was a heavy metal guitar player. I hand him an Original Coors and a guitar and he joins right in playing bluegrass. Steve leaves after midnight and we keep playing bluegrass until Greg leaves around 12:30. Then it's just Roger, me and the other guy until 1 a.m. or so. 
I did get some vid of some of it, the early parts anyway, unfortunately not the rockin' and rollin' after Greg got there. At that point, the porch was crowded with like 10 people, guitar cases and beer cans.  

If you play on your porch, in a park, etc. enough, you develop this sense of what music is about. Its universality becomes very clear. When you see someone playing music in that kind of environment, you don't care what your background is, you don't care what their background is, your attention is immediately drawn to it. When Jimmie Rogers worked as a railroad brakeman, he didn't thumb his nose at the black bluesmen playing in the work camps, nor did they refuse to play with him because he was white. Instead, they fused ideas and formed something that would become the grandfather of country, bluegrass and rock n' roll. 

 Music has been THE great cultural leveler. It has been that way since the dawn of time and still is.

Dave
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