"They Say Drums was a-Calling"; Text and Photos by Bill Steber "Glenn Faulkner of Gravel Springs, MS plays the one-string "diddley bow" by sliding a pocket knife along a length of raised broom wire while plucking the wire with his right hand. This primitive instrument, historically played by African-American children in Mississippi, is actually an American adaptation of similar instruments still in use in African today. It's earliest ancestor is the hunter's mouth bow, one of the world's earliest know instruments, which is depicted in cave paintings at Lascaux. The diddley bow is an essential element in the formation of the blues because it was a tool with which young musical aspirants learned the rudiments of musck and slide technique. More importatly, the one-string is often played as an extension and/or mimic of the human voice, and uniquely-African contribution to American music. Faulkner, who owns the only electrified diddley bow in Mississippi, is one of only a handful of musicians for whom the one-string is their primary instrument. "I guess I'm gonna hold on to that one string," says Faulkner. "There's always somebody in music with a guitar, But that one-string, I guess I'm one of the last one that can play it." "
"The diddley bow may have been the first instrument that produced the sound of sliding rhythm and the whines and cries of a single string that later became the distinctive sound known today as the "Blues". It was common to the rural south in the 1800's and was made by taking a piece of broom or cotton wire and stretching it between two nails tied to the side of a wooden frame house, with a bottle or "snuff can" wedged under the wire to create tension for pitch. The string was plucked while sliding a piece of metal or glass on it to produce notes. The "diddley bow" is similiar to an African one-string instrument that was called an "Umakweyana." "