[Harp-L] Artist Thomas Benton - His Harmonica History?

[John Jordan]

And reading further, he is credited with the "tabs" notation that many/most
use today. Maybe common knowledge, but new to me and very interesting.
This page at the Country Music Hall of Fame is interesting as well.
https://countrymusichalloffame.org/inductees/thomas-hart-benton1

John

On Wed, Sep 26, 2018 at 9:54 PM John Jordan <hooktool at xxxxx> wrote:

> Where is the show you are playing? I can't help, but glad you posted this,
> he's one of my favorite artists and I had no idea he played harmonica. So
> thanks!
> John
>
> On Thu, Sep 20, 2018 at 2:01 AM philharpn--- via Harp-L <harp-l at xxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>> I stopped at Tom Benton's house/museum about 10 years ago (???) while in
>> St. Louis for a SPAH convention.  I inspected Benton's chromatic harmonica
>> collection (12 holes) and his harmonica notation. He used a tablature
>> system of numbers and arrows-- now a very common tablature for diatonic and
>> chromatic.  I don't know if he was the first to use the system-- but it
>> probably was not very common when he used. ALSO, there would not be very
>> many harmonica books when Benton started out. He started on the diatonic
>> harp and later switched to the chromatic. Somebody from the Benton museum
>> showed up at SPAH to give a talk and only about three people attended the
>> talk. Which means the chromatic crowd didn't have a clue who Tom Benton was
>> and/or didn't care to learn. I think I learned about Benton from Phil
>> Duncan, the Mel Bay harmonica author.
>>
>>
>> The web account says he bought a more expensive harmonica to play
>> half-notes; wrong term. The chromatic allows half-steps -- which means
>> flats and sharps (the black keys of the piano). There are no "missing
>> notes" like on the diatonic. The C chromatic can play in any key -- like
>> the piano.
>>
>> If you contact the Benton house/museum you could probably get a list of
>> the tunes he played and tabbed out and/or the songs on the 78 rpm records
>> he recorded. I'm sure I must have written something for American Harmonica
>> Newsletter at the time -- but that was on a PC computer. I'm now using a
>> Mac and there is no electronic index.
>>
>> The 1941 three-record 78 rpm album would have 6 songs if it one song on
>> each side of each record. Benton must of used a swing rhythm to play the
>> tunes because the rest of the musicians on session couldn't follow him
>> until he took his shoe off and they could follow the beat of his shoeless
>> foot.
>>
>>
>> Here is the links for the Benton home and studio state historic site
>>
>> <
>> https://mostateparks.com/park/thomas-hart-benton-home-and-studio-state-historic-site
>> >
>>
>> There is Teachers Guide
>>
>> A video of actor portraying Benton <
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVM8hJuuOqo>
>>
>> Hope this helps
>> Phil
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Harpin' J.Scott <harpinj.scott at xxxxx>
>> To: Blunt White <playharp at xxxxx>
>> Cc: harp-l <harp-l at xxxxx>
>> Sent: Wed, Sep 19, 2018 10:48 am
>> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Artist Thomas Benton - His Harmonica History?
>>
>> He seemed to favor early American folk tunes. Particularly "Old Joe
>> Clark",
>> "My Horses Ain't Hungry", and " Buffalo Gals".
>> Great website for more info here:
>> https://countrymusichalloffame.org/inductees/thomas-hart-benton1
>>
>> Best of luck!
>>
>> On Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 10:40 AM Blunt White <playharp at xxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> > Greetings - I've been asked to play harmonica at an Art Show opening of
>> > Thomas Benton's works (Benton is famous for murals/paintings depicting
>> > American life in late 1800's and early 1900's).   Benton was also a
>> > harmonica player and released an album in 1941 called Saturday Night at
>> Tom
>> > Benton's (it's on iTunes).   I'll be performing with some other artists,
>> > guitar, fiddle etc.   An art historian will be speaking about his art.
>> >  Does anyone have a story about his harmonica?  Was there a particular
>> song
>> > he liked, if so I would to play it.  I want to do right with this
>> > opportunity.  Thank you
>> > Best,
>> > Blunt White
>> > Stonington CT, USA
>> >
>>
>>