[Harp-L] Tony Glover

["Brendan Power" <bren@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have to add my voice to the chorus of appreciation for Tony Glover's book.
The second one (Blues Harp Songbook, 1975) got everywhere - even to far-away
New Zealand where, in 1976, a previously non-musical university student had
just heard Sonny Terry live and been blown away by the blues harp. He went
out and bought a harp the next day, went to the music shop to buy an album
with harp on it - and got sold a Bob Dylan record!

After discovering that Bob's songs were great but his harp was not, a
further trip uncovered gold: Sonny Boy Williamson's double LP Chess
compilation "This is My Story". I wore those discs out trying to learn the
occasional phrase and nuance of Sonny Boy's awesome tone and deceptively
simple style. But the learning process in that far off time and place for a
totally musically ignorant beginner was tortuous and slow. Blind alleys and
red herrings abounded: for example, I spent my first year playing with a
rolled tongue embouchure, baffled as to why I couldn't bend notes!

I had absolutely no clue about music theory, and that's where Tony's book,
with it's basic introduction to harp lore and technique, was invaluable. It
still took days of re-reading to understand what 'positions' were, but
eventually I got it. And not just that; the little floppy disc in the back
was a fantastic sampler of wonderful harp players I'd never heard before. My
jaw dropped when I heard 'Juke' for the first time on that little disc. I
played it over and over and over...

I liked his quirky, amusing language too (someone mentioned the Appendix
became 'Kidney', typical of his whimsy :). 

But we shouldn't speak of him in the past tense. It seems Tony is still
playing in the Twin Cities area: http://www.mwt.net/~koerner/tonyglover.html
How about inviting him to SPAH next year? 

Thanks, Tony Glover!

Brendan Power
WEBSITE: http://www.brendan-power.com 
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic