Mudcat Café message #282460

The Mudcat Café ^TM
Thread #24481 Message #282460
Posted By: Rick Fielding
22-Aug-00 - 12:53 PM
Thread Name: Derivation of 'Kisses Sweeter than Wine'
Subject: RE: Derivation of 'Kisses Sweeter than Wine'

Just a little footnote on the Jimmie [F] Rodgers who had several monster hits in the late 50s, early 60s (remember "Ten More Miles to Tukumcari"?!)
One of the very few guitarists (Ritchie Havens and one of the BeeGees were two others) to play exclusively in open tuning (D or E, if I remember correctly) and do ALL his fretting with his thumb. One of his "tricks" was constantly modulating up the scale for each new verse. I believe the composer credit on his version was "Paul Cambell" (no mention of Leadbelly) so when it came down to nuts, bolts, and dollars, the song had NO previous history. 'Dat's de folk biz.
Rick