Review: Fretkillr on You Tube

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: PoppaGator
Date: 27 Jun 08 - 11:47 AM

Ooops, I hadn't noticed that the first video I saw, "I'll Fly Away," was not FK hiumself, but rather "Son Of..."

I thought there was somthing about that performance that was not up to the quality of all the other cuts. Now I understand why Murray told me to go back and have another look! (My only excuse: somebody up above on this thread provided the link, and it was indeed the first URL to appear in this discussion about FK, so I assumed it was him.)

As Lowden J noted above, Son of FK is a pretty good guitar player in the same style as the "real" FK, and a passable singer, BUT ... not quite up to snuff. Close but no cigar!

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: van lingle
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 08:02 PM

I know this is FK's thread, and he is dynamite, but there's another chap with a youtube channel who is also quite good name of Daddy Stovepipe.

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 06:08 PM

I don't understand why it matters who this guy is. Or why his motives seem questionable.

Who ever he is he is a fine musician and an excellent performer. He has figured out where to locate a camera that best shows how to do what he does and how he does it.

He is apparently more interested in showing how to play than he is in increasing his notoriety.

This is a little like a guy who is a bit unselfish. I think thank yous are more important than who and how come.

Don

Lowden, hoe are you recording this stuff?

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: Lowden Jameswright
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 05:06 PM

He's the real deal as far as I'm concerned - my favourite CD's are labelled simply "Fretkiller 1" and "Fretkiller 2" - amazingly good quality audio; he must be using a bloody good video camera or is particularly adept at synchro. Unlike most folkies I know he sure knows how to get the music messages across - up to 35 songs on one CD!

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 03:11 PM

Poppagator, that isn't Fretkillr playing "I'll Fly Away". He is a guy by the name of Todd Emrick who for reasons best known to himself, chooses to adopt the soubriquet of "sonoffretkillr" on YouTube. Competent enough but nothing earth-shattering.

I really do hope that Fretkillr turns out to be the real deal, guitar, voice, harmonica, and that my ( and many others' ) doubts are proved groundless.

He is certainly the real deal on the guitar, no question about it

this little snippet is right up there with Norman Blake or Tony Rice

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: Lowden Jameswright
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 02:46 PM

Oooops - just visited the link posted above; no way is that Fretkiller! He's not a bad guitarist, and has a reasonable voice, but I'm sorry - "Son of Fretkiller" somehow failed to pick up the relevant genes.

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: Lowden Jameswright
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 02:33 PM

I've been playing guitar since 1965, and harmonica since 1960. I put the two together from around 1970. Whilst I don't claim to be in Fretkiller's league I don't have any problem recognising the genuine nature of his playing and singing; I'd find it very difficult to believe any of it is "fake"!

Now there was some debate recently about the guitar playing on Dylan's album tracks "Don't Think Twice" and "Girl of the North Country". I was pretty certain that Dylan wasn't playing the tasty finger-style guitar, but took a lot of flak from folks who wouldn't even consider the possibility of a session guitarist doing them. I'm told that Bruce Langhorne was that man.

Mr Poppagator always seems to me to be the voice of reason on this site.

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 12:24 PM

Well, that's the first time I watched and listened to I'll Fly Away and I thought it was mediocre, esp. compared to the others. BUT, has anyone noticed IFA was posted by "sonoffretkillr?" So, how do we know they are one and the same in the videos? Maybe that would explain the less-than-polished performance of IFA and his showing his face, apparently only in vids posted by sonof. Just my take as a listener only.

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: PoppaGator
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 12:14 PM

"Care to revisit the link, Poppagator, and revise your opinion ?

Well, I just went back there to sneak a peek at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDKiv0e4Isw. It's morning, and I'm at work where I have no audio on my computer (and where I shouldn't be doing this at all, but always do).

His face is indeed visible, as I noted last night ~ I don't imagine that's the part of my opinion that needs revising. Watching him play in silence was interesting/informative ~ he performs a couple of very impressive stretches on the fingerboard during his introduction before settling in to a simpler chording/picking sequence as starts singing the verses.

Since I can't hear the selection again right now, I have to rely on my memory, which is demonstrably imperfect. (Obviously enough, I hadn't really noticed nor remembered those virtuoso-level left-hand-finger stretches that occur only in the opening seconds of the presentation.) But I choose to stand by my original impression that his playing on this performance of "I'll Fly Away" is a bit less polished than on any of his other pieces that I watched afterwards, and even his singing ~ which is always very good and true ~ is a bit less than perfect on this one, too.

A big difference between live performance and posting videos is that as a YouTuber, can do retake after retake, wait for a day when your voice is at its best, etc. Fretkiller's "I'll Fly Away" seems to catch him in a more unguarded moment than any of his other postings that I watched: he lets us see his face, and he also lets us witness a less-than-totally-polished performance. It doesn't make me think any less of his talent; certainly, his most important asset, the ability to truly express feeling through music, comes through every bit as well here as in the other selections, all of which seem to have been more carefully polished and selected.

I agree that this fellow is very, very good, but I take strong issue with the proposition that he's so transcendantly impressive as to defy belief.

Also, I find it entirely plausible that such a gifted musician might indeed remain unknown outside a small circle of acquaintances. We're all human and all have weaknesses as well as strengths, and I believe that there is a whole category of players whose have high levels of talent for singing and playing, but do not necessarily have what it takes to pursue public recognition, and/or what it takes to want such recognition. Does it not stand to reason that some folks might lack the "drive" to succeed in public, while lacking little or anything else in the way of musical talent?

We certainly know of individuals who have more than enough assertiveness to get themselves up on stage but who might be a bit lacking in some aspect of their performance ~ maybe they can play really well while their singing is barely passable, or vice versa, or something else. Why should it be so hard to believe that others might have a different selection of strengths and shortcomings?

One of the very best guitar players I ever knew NEVER played outside his dorm room in college. I had heard about him long before I actually heard him play, because only after we met through mutual acquaintances, AND got to know each other pretty well, AND he was able to see that I was a bit of a player myself, did he feel comfortable about leting me witness (and accompany) his playing ~ which was absolutely phenomenal.

Now, at the age of 60+, and only after his son had graduated with a degree in music (jazz guitar) and begun working with a world-class zydeco band, this fellow has begun "playing out," joining an Irish/Celtic ensemble with whom he plays a few gigs a year (only around St. Patrick's Day) and has recorded a self-published CD.

Some people just feel a need to "hide their light under a bushel" to some degree, just as others ~ we all know a few ~ demand a lot more public attention than they really deserve.

By the way: there's one thing about Fretkiller that I do find a litle hard to believe: he claims never to have learned a thing from either "tabs" or "dots," but picked up everything he knows from "just listening." The things he does are just too intricate for me to believe he could possibly have "heard" how to play every bit without some very specific instruction about where to place each and every finger for each and every note. If not tabs or dots, he must have had some very close personal instruction.

I think he is just trying to make sure that he's not bombarded with requests for transcriptions.

Yes, of course one can "hear" how a given piece is played without watching or consulting some form of notation, but only after one has already developed a level of expertise. The question is how one attains that level without help.

I think we're all agreeed that this guy has very obviously been playing for many years and that he's at least as gifted a singer as he is an intrumentalist

I have a question for "GUEST heardhimplay": Can you tell us his name and where you heard him "in concert"? And, better yet, where we might catch one of his performances? Without some more revelations, I can certainly understand that many of us will be skeptical about what you're telling us.

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 03:43 AM

My reasoning regarding Fretkillr is similar to my reasoning regarding the moon landings.

If the moon landings had been faked, there would have to be so many people involved in the cover-up that it is beyond the bounds of probability that not one would have come forward by now and blown the cover. This has not happened, ergo, the landings were genuine.

I adopt a similar approach regarding Fretkillr.

We hear and witness great guitar playing, we hear fabulous vocals, and we hear virtuoso harp playing.

We assume that this is all emanating from the same man.

imo, it is just too improbable that any one man so richly blessed would have remained totally anonymous for all these years and suddenly surfaced on YouTube, unbeknownst to anybody (apart from GUEST "heardhimplay" whose contribution I take with a large dose of salt ).

It is also too improbable, if he were indeed one person, that nobody would have come forward by now and revealed his identity.

je repose ma valise ...

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 03:07 AM

Poppagator says

"The first link provided above, to "I'll Fly Away, " is a video in which he shows his face (unlike all the others I saw). So he's not completely anonymous, although he doesn't give his name"

Care to revisit the link, Poppagator, and revise your opinion ?

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: GUEST,heardhimplay
Date: 26 Jun 08 - 01:14 AM

I can vouch that fretkillr is the real deal. Heard him in concert a couple weeks ago playing his original pieces. He is a great guitarist and I think also has an amazing voice.
   Anyone with the level of talent fretkillr displays has been playing a long long time, He has a high level of repect by the best in the business. His posts on YouTube are treasures to be appreciated and a must watch for budding guitaists. Perhaps a big part of why he is sharing these gems is to help teach the next generation of guitarists. Enjoy the posts while they are there and share with all.

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Jun 08 - 11:40 PM

PoppaGator, I think you are exactly right about the private types coming out on youtube, though I think there are also a lot of folks who haven't had any other way of reaching any audience and now have the whole wide world and are enjoying the heck out of it. IMO, there is a lot of tremendous talent out there just waiting to be discovered and now, thanks to youtube and others, they have some kind of chance.

This guy does a beautiful job. I love listening to 12 strings!

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: PoppaGator
Date: 25 Jun 08 - 11:10 PM

Geez, it's easy to tell who hasn't spent much time, or any, in the US. Fretkiller is very impressive, to be sure, but by no stretch of the imagination does he sound impossibly black. I haven't heard many singer/players quite as talented as intrumentalists, but I certainly have encountered singers ~ yes, even European-American (white) singers ~ similarly competent as blues performers.

He simply exhibits an understanding of the blues, unlike many wannabes (including many successful and often-recorded singers who don't really "get" the blues, as much as they might want to, or even as much as they might think they do).

And, he is singing very naturally in a voice of is own, using the full vocabulary of blues intonations, pronunciations, etc. Very much in the same vein as, and no "blacker" than, say, Mose Allison, Jim Kweskin, Paul Butterfield, Charley Musselwhite, and hundreds of unknowns and amateurs. It's obvious that his voice and vocal approach are natural and true to himself, because he uses the same voice and sensibilty for all of his work, including plenty of non-blues repertoire

His playing is indeed impressive, especially since he flatpicks and fingerpicks, plays in standard and other tunings, and gets the appropriate sounds out of 12-string and regular 6-string guitars. But of course his talent goes beyond the technical; this is a guy who has the feeling, and it comes out clearly through his playing just as it does through his singing.

I played about a dozen of his songs, and didn't happen upon even one on which he plays the harp ~ so I can't give an opinion about its "genuineness." But I don't have the slightest impression that any of this stuff is faked. Now, I did come across one selection where he doubletracks his own vocal ~ I think it's a Willy Nelson song ~ but he's not pretending it's anything that it's not, and he explains what he's up to in the accompanying text.

The first link provided above, to "I'll Fly Away," is a video in which he shows his face (unlike all the others I saw). So he's not completely anonymous, although he doesn't give his name. (He does tell us he's living in Long Island, NY.) This was the first of his videos that I saw, and while I thoroughly enjoyed it and admired his obviously sound sensibility, I thought the guitar playing was, well, imperfect ~ which I liked; from what I had been reading over the past couple of days, I assumed this guy would be absolutely clean, which often comes at the price of a bit less feeling. I prefer the "ragged but right" approach, and he's pretty much always pretty damn right, and only a little ragged once in a while.

After "I'll Fly Away," I watched several more of his videos where the instrumental work WAS virtually impeccable, but even on the cleanest of them, he's never anything less than an absolutely authentic singer and performer.

I missed "the lesson you get for free." The link Don gives in the post where you uses that phrase leds me to FK's home page for his "channel," providing access to all of his pieces, along with an introductory text where he says "these are not intended to be lessons." Of course, simply watching and re-watching (and pausing, and rewinding) the performances can provide lessons. But this guy's work is not the same as deltabluestips's ~ he doesn't stop or repeat or provide spoken commentary, he just performs the songs.

Not to be too too disagreeable, but I'm even willing to believe that fretkiller might conceivably have gotten this good staying in his room and "playing to the mirror."

Some players, even some who can really sing as well as play, simply have no interest in performing in front of anyone except maybe the closest of friends ~ sometimes only fellow guitar enthusiasts, to the exclusion even of family and other friends. I have occasionally encountered a stay-at-home player of astounding skill; when you think about it, someone who never gives a thought to performing is perhaps the kind of musician most likely to sing and play with utter authenticity and truth, because they don't ever give a shit about whatever anyone else might think.

The recent historical development of cheap digital video and YouTube is just now providing the world with a window into these bedrooms for the first time ever. Maybe fretkiller is a working pro, or at least an occasional semi-amateur open-mike-type performer, or maybe not. But I'm sure that some of the most impressive hotshot musicians now emerging on the internet are essentially private types whose only conduit to the outside world is their webcam.

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 25 Jun 08 - 12:34 PM

nobody can be "sure".

you can't be sure he is all genuine, I can't be sure he isn't all genuine.

everybody (including me) wants to believe he is all genuine, but the evidence is against it imo.

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: Lowden Jameswright
Date: 25 Jun 08 - 08:11 AM

I'm sure he's all genuine (guitar/Harp/Holder/voice) and I don't care what colour he is. This guy and the "Headless Scouser" (Deltabluestips) alone are worth the Broadband subscription (Mudcat thrown in with the package of course) - they deserve Internet Knighthoods.

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 24 Jun 08 - 02:29 PM

If you say so, Don, I just have my doubts ...

I am also starting to have doubts about whether the dude playing guitar is actually the owner of the voice we are hearing.

I have never heard any white man sing with such a "black" voice, and there has to be a nagging doubt, especially as he never shows his face.

People say he sounds like Leon Redbone, but I would never mistake Leon Redbone for being black, nor would I mistake Paul Geremiah for being black (and these are the two closest voices to the authentic article imo) but this guy, I could swear I am hearing a black man sing.

So, we have a virtuoso finger and flatpicker (which he undoubtedly is ), who plays virtuoso harmonica and who possesses an authentic black voice. Sump'n doesn't add up imo.

That said, I still love the videos.

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 24 Jun 08 - 09:59 AM

Hi Murray

I know one person who plays at that level with Harp Holder. I have heard Clint Black play nearly that well with a holder. Peg Leg Slim could play like that just stuffing it in his mouth.

Granted this is virtuosity at its best that we are hearing but it is possible.

Don

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 24 Jun 08 - 03:34 AM

The link GUEST above supplies is to Fretkillr playing "Uncle Pen"

I am afraid it is stretching credibility just a little too far to believe that anybody could play the mouth harp to that standard with the instrument held in a brace, while simultaneously flatpicking like that.

In fact I don't think the harmonica could be played like that in a brace, period, even if he weren't playing the guitar. Control like that requires the instrument to be hand-held.

A harmless subterfuge, however, which doesn't detract from Fretkillr's otherwise amazing talents.

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Jun 08 - 10:38 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bfQjCR-G-I

I used to think that song could not be done well solo, or without a fiddle. Wrong. Fretkillr is everything music should be in one man.

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: van lingle
Date: 23 Jun 08 - 10:35 PM

Exactly, I got some woodsheding to do on that intro to Hesitation Blues.

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 23 Jun 08 - 10:25 PM

I enjoy the talent, the playing and the voice. But the real jewel here is the lesson you get for free.

Don



http://www.youtube.com/user/Fretkillr?ob=1

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: van lingle
Date: 23 Jun 08 - 10:15 PM

Wow! Thanks for the link,Don. So much good stuff. He really puts his own stamp on some of these old warhorses.

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 23 Jun 08 - 05:55 PM

this thread should be kept refreshed.

I agree with Don, this guy is amazing, to date he has uploaded 105 videos to YouTube, none of them less than superb.

I can't help wondering who he is, I know he is keen to maintain his anonymity, but with a voice like that and guitar talent like that, somebody must know who he is, you don't get that good playing to the mirror in your bedroom.

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: open mike
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 02:15 AM

o.k. try this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDKiv0e4Isw
and this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YjKnXy5GcE&feature=related

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: open mike
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 02:07 AM

well i missed them...what videos are you talking about? no links...

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: GUEST,Don Meixner
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 08:19 PM

I am bringing this to the top because I think this is great stuff and shouldn't be missed.

Don

Subject: RE: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: GUEST,Guest R
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 03:36 PM

Ditto that - it should also be said what a fine voice he has, which his guitar skills complement wonderfully well

Subject: Review: Fretkillr on You Tube
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 11:33 AM

Check these videos out. They are all fine bits of guitar playing by a very good guitarist. But better still, the video is such that it is a great How To of the song being done.

Standard and other tunings altho' they aren't identified as to which is being used. The only short point.

This is must view for guitarists.

Don