Influences

Subject: Influences
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 08:36 AM

In the Mental Blocks thread, the conversation has wandered into how we learn to play music... either by playing along with records, or with other musicians (or some combination of the two.) Many people learn by taking lessons.

What I started thinking about is who has influenced my music the most.
Sometimes, the people who influenced our music the most may not be obvious. For example, Two of Elvis' biggest influences were Arthur "Big Boy" Cruddup and Perry Como. That's like having Dennis Day and the Sex Pistols for your two major influences.

Rather than making this another "list" thread, I'd be interested in hearing not only who your influences were, but what there was (or is) in their music that you feel has become part of your music. Others may be surprised to hear who your influences are, because their music may sound very different than yours. That's why it would be interesting to hear what you've taken from your influences that has helped to give you your own personal style.

I'll start out with just one, rather than my own list.

Lonnie Donnegan: As much as anyone, Lonnie influenced the way I sing, and yet you'd probably be hard pressed to hear any Lonnie in my singing, if you heard me. There were a lot of qualities in Lonnie's music that I loved. I loved his energy and enthusiasm. Talk about somebody always being "on"! I liked his playfullness and his choice of material. And, I liked how he took a song and made it his own, even having an electric guitar on some of his recordings at a time when that was not acceptable over here in the U.S. When I finally heard Rock Island Line by Leadbelly, (and Whoa Back Buck, for that matter) I realized how many "liberties" Lonnie took with his music, and I loved it! Lonnie was not a scholarly re-creater of anyone else's music. Whatever he sang, it became HIS.

What I took from Lonnie was how much shear enjoyment there was in his music. Everyone sounded like they were having a great time. I liked the looseness of it, and the fact that all the people singing harmony with him sounded like they had pretty much every-day voices and were a little rough around the edges. I liked his adventuresomeness. As I began to learn folk songs, I think I approached them in the same way that Lonnie did... they were great songs that were fun to sing, and I just went ahead and sung them, not trying to sound like the recordings.

But, the one thing I may have taken from Lonnie more than anything else was his sense of rhythm. Lonnie could get you up on your feet dancing. Not contra dancing, or the more formalized forms of dancing. Dancing, like people do spontaneously, in the aisles, whether it's rock and roll, gospel or any music that has a good beat to it.

Well, that's enough of that... now I'll just sit back and read your comments... if you can, try not to just post a list... I'll be back again telling you what I took out of Frank Sinatra's singing (especially for one of his greatest fans... Kendall.)

Jerry

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Wesley S
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 09:05 AM

Richie Havens is one that springs to mind for me. Not only his rhythms but also the way he made a song his own - just like Lonnie Donnegan did for you. But also he made me notice that when you slow down a song and change it's tempo it can become something very different than what it started out as.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Midchuck
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 09:14 AM

In approximate chronological order:

Hank Williams (the real one)
Homer and Jethro
Buddy Holly
The Kingston Trio
Bob Gibson
(the young) Joan Baez
The Clancy Bros. & Tommy Makem
Ian and Sylvia
Doc Watson
Dick McCormack (a local VT singer/songwriter)
Utah Phillips
Willie Nelson
Waylon Jennings
Jim Ringer
Ian Tyson (again, in his Cowboy Culture stage)
Tom Russell

Those are just the major ones that I can think of right away.

Peter

Subject: RE: Influences
From: GUEST,Gern -where's my cookie?
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 09:16 AM

OK< I'll try this. I too took something from Sinatra and Billie Holiday (Sinatra's model), like many others-- a conversational phrasing and attention to diction. From Dylan I tried to adopt some vocal recklessness and impulsiveness. It often didn't work, of course, as it often misfires for Dylan. From Bill Monroe I absorbed a tendency to sing in full-throated release with a casual approach to accuracy of pitch. Especially from John Lennon comes my attention to rhythmic delivery. From Louis Armstrong I learned to experiment with tone and wander around melody. My harmony inspirations are as varied as Don Rich, the Everlys, Brian Wilson and Ralph Stanley. As you can see, I'm open minded in my musical thefts. Instrumentally, my piano shortcuts the styles of Fats Waller, Jerry Lee Lewis and Earl Hines. My guitar work shamelssly borrows from Clarence White and Doc Watson--their easier stuff. My banjo will steal from anyone accessible. On bass, I imagine myself as Jack Cassidy.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 09:28 AM

The accordion playing of Mudcat's Skipjack K8 continues to be my biggest influence, as it has been for more than three years. Of the accordion players I've heard, his way of playing comes closest to my own way of understanding and relating to this instrument. I was listening to a tape of him playing a couple of days ago and I can still hear aspects of his playing that I haven't tried yet, but I would like to someday.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: MikeofNorthumbria
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 09:41 AM

Hi Jerry,

I agree absolutely with your comments on Lonnie - he is "The man without whom ...". Last time I saw him in concert (a year before his death), he was still giving the audience absolutely everything, as he had been doing for the previous half-century. His perpetual zest and enthusiasm, more than any of his other virtues, have influenced me hugely over the years.

Another performer with a similar power to communicate was Alex Campbell. Whether he was singing for toddlers or for senior citizens, for hard-core folkies or for people who neither knew nor cared about folk music, Alex could always manage to find a way of capturing their attention without compromising the integrity of his music.

Finally, I'd like to praise one more great performer: one who has the ability to make each individual in an audience of thousands feel as though they are sitting by a fireside having a one-to-one chat with him - Pete Seeger.

These three heroes all influenced my (limited and amateurish) efforts as an entertainer - but they also had a far more profound impact on my professional career as a college lecturer. It was mainly from them that I learned how to communicate effectively with students, and I still owe them for it.

Wassail!

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 10:10 AM

I'd say three of them:

I was first exposed to Burl Ives, and thought he and his style were great: A really nice, individual voice, and a very straightforward way of presenting a song.

Pete Seeger, in what I think of as his early manifestation, when at least the LPs I was getting concentrated on traditional type folksongs, as opposed to his later, more sociological personna. This "early Seeger" is one of the two real bases of the style I try to shoot at.

Then Richard Dyer-Bennet, for his elegance. This is the other half. Not that I can pretend to have mastered either his elegance or his wonderful guitar accompaniments, but it's my other target to shoot at.

My aim may be bad, in either case.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Amos
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 10:43 AM

Frank Warner, Burl Ives, Seeger and the early Weavers, Huddie Ledbetter, Woody Guthrie, Josef Marais, and I guess I would have to add Theodore Bikel to the list. Each of these taught me a piece of the past; and Dylan and Phil Ochs added the electricity that made the frog jump.

A

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 10:46 AM

What a good start to this thread... I thank those who expounded on why they were influenced by someone, and what they assimilated as part of their own style. I does take a few minutes to try to think of what it is that made someone so important to us, and what we've encorporated into our own music. And like you, Guest Gern, my influences are very broad ranging. Many of yours, like Buddy Holly and Everly Brothers are at least peripheral influences on my style.

But, that's for later. Right now, I've just really enjoyed reading what has been posted.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Influences
From: GUEST,Martin Gibson
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 10:47 AM

The Kingston Trio, especially Nick Reynolds singing harmony.

Waylon Jennings
Buck Owens
Marty Robbins

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 11:34 AM

Norman Blake - Not the fancy flatpicking, but his accompaniment style, particularly the right-hand stuff. He's the best at adding a signature extra touch to his rhythm work without being overbearing or competitive. And his timing is, of course, impeccable.

I've never sat down and consciously tried to imitate Norman's playing, but I hear elements of it in my own playing that must have gotten there by osmosis.

Bruce

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 11:44 AM

That's the best way that people influence us, Bruce... as the song says, "I've got you under my skin." Their music becomes a part of us and when we create, we draw upon all the music we've heard and loved over the years and we create something that is part them, but uniquely us. And we in turn will influence someone else, and the music is carried on.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 11:54 AM

Excuse me, Bee-Dubya-El... I was thinking about Bruce, reading your posting. My synapse was napping.

Frank Sinatra: This one's for Kendall.

The thing that Frankie boy gave me earlier in his career before he became a charicature of himself, was his phrasing and playfulness with words. Words are to be savored, not merely sung. Frank could find wonderful rhythms in the way that he phrased that could take an old famliar line and make it sound brand new. While I don't sing like him, and reached a point where I couldn't listen to him anymore, his love of the rhythm of words became part of me as a singer. And as a songwriter. Say the line "And over by the cotton mill the catfish bite." There is a rhythm in that line that wouldn't be there if it was "you can catch catfish over by the cotton mill." Now, even that second line has a naturral rhythm to it, but it is a different rhythm and wouldn't fit the song.

The other thing that Frankie had was an impeccable pronunciation, while still sounding reasonably natural and unaffected. It's important to me to be able to hear and understands the words to a song when I'm listening to it. Even when a singer is playful with the words, I still want to understand them.

Unless of course it's Sam The Sham singing Woolie Bully.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Chief Chaos
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 12:23 PM

The Beatles
John Denver
Billy Joel

The Beatles for their wide range of musical style from R&B makeovers to love songs, silly bits, etc. Prolific writing, pioneering efforts.
John Denver for his love of nature and just how the music makes me feel.
Billy Joel, the American Balladeer as far as I'm concerned. I hear myself in his songs.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: PoppaGator
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 12:31 PM

Jerry, I know you're American, and I have to wonder when and how you managed to hear enough Lonnie Donnegan to be so strongly influenced. I'm almost as old as you are, grew up in the metro New York area where I managed to hear a fairly wide variety of music via various media, and remained blissfully unaware of him until after his heyday (i.e., after learning about the Beatles' skiffle origins).

I don't believe I've *ever* heard Lonnie's "Rock Island Line" -- even until today. I remember a "top-40" single of "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor" that *might* have been his recording. If it was, it was my one and only exposure to an artist I have since learned was so very important in influential across the pond.

I could list a whole lot of favorite singers, but let me mention one name (as you did), someone who made a great impression on me when I was first learning to play: Tom Rush.

For one thing, he made it clear to me that a white boy could, indeed, sing the blues, even a bookish schoolboy type like myself, singing and playing in his own personal style, and working primarily as an interpreter ("cover" artist), only rarely writing songs. Also, he was *way* ahead of his time by including Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley songs on his first album along with more purely "folk" stuff. That was sometime around '63-64, long before Dylan set loose the folk-rock controversy.

I'm not saying I ever thought Rush was the best or greatest of any category, not even way back when and certainly not in the light of all the intervening years. And of course I know nothing at all about him personally. He just struck a chord with me, so to speak -- and I still think he's underappreciated, and pretty darn good. I recently learned he's still at it, performing in the New England area, and I wish him the best.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: C-flat
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 01:08 PM

I fell in love with the guitar at an early age and, as a result, loved anybody who could really play. I didn't make any distinctions between musical genres untill I started to be image-conscious (about 14), when it seemed to matter who you were caught listening to.
My biggest influences, growing up, were the singer/songwriters of the late sixties/early seventies like James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Jim Croce and Joni Mitchell.
In my attempts to imitate their various styles I was educated in some of subtleties of guitar like moving bass lines, alternative tunings and intricate finger-patterns. Like most kids of my generation I loved the excitement of the Beatles and the Stones and wished I could belt it out like Rory Gallagher but I always came back to music that I felt was more gentle and thought provoking in the way ballads are.
In recent years I've found jazz to be a wholly different playing experience and focused on the style of Django Rheinhartd, a player of such sublime skill that his ability to put expression into his playing leaves me breathless. It's much more fun to play than endless songs of unrequited love but the romantic in me will always return in my quiet moments.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 01:49 PM

Hey, Poppa G:

My quartet is playing at a House Of Prayer started down in New Orleans by Daddy Grace. Any relation? They have TROMBONE bands. Talk about rocking for the Lord!

I first heard Lonnie singing Rock Island Line, and I still can recite his opening introduction, word for word. At the same time, I used to haunt a dirty old warehouse where they sold 45 rpms that came from juke boxes. They were a quarter a record, which was cheap, even then.
I don't know where these juke boxes were, but they sure had an eclectic mix of music. I picked up several Lonnie Donnegan singles that I never heard on the radio, and certainly not on a juke box. I picked up stuff as different as Oscar Peterson, Jimmie Rodgers. Sal Salvadore ( a jazz guitarist) and very obscure country, rhythm and blues and rockabilly artists. It was a cheap way to hear a wide range of music. I also bought two Lonnie Donnegan albums, which I still have, and treasure. My only regret is that I never got to hear him "live." Her sure was lively on records. Exuberant is the word.
I'll send you some stuff to broaden your musical horizons...

Jerry

Subject: RE: Influences
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 02:35 PM

Subject: RE: Influences
From: GUEST,Whistle Stop
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 02:40 PM

Sorry, that was me. This is an interesting thread.

PoppaGator, Tom Rush is alive and well, and still performing. I had a chance to meet him recently at the Boston Folk Festival, where I was a finalist (and third-place winner, out of close to 400 entries) in their first annual songwriting contest. Tom Rush introduced the finalists, was one of three judges (Joel Mabus was another), and played a fine set to finish the evening off. Tom now lives out west somewhere -- Wyoming, I think -- and spends a lot of his time taking care of the homestead and animals. But he still gets out there to play, and still sounds great.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Midchuck
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 02:44 PM

Tom now lives out west somewhere -- Wyoming, I think -- and spends a lot of his time taking care of the homestead and animals. But he still gets out there to play, and still sounds great.

Moose, actually - no, really, Moose, Wyoming - it's north of Jackson on the way to Yellowstone.

I just got a self-produced CD of his called "Trolling for Owls" which is all live concert cuts of his humorous stuff. A few songs and a good deal of chat. Great fun. I guess it's only available at his gigs or through his website.

Peter.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: freightdawg
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 02:53 PM

Can't say I'm much of a performer, 'cause the only ones to hear me play are my cats (at least for now), but a couple of names have been mentioned and they influenced me as well.

The very young Waylon Jennings influenced me from the time I could turn on the stereo. His "Love of the Common People" and "I Tremble For You" have been imprinted on my musical memory. I grew up dreaming I could have his rich voice and deep, soulful way of singing a song.

John Denver would be a later influence, as much for his guitar accompaniment as his lyrics. I have found very few JD songs that are not extremely well written from every viewpoint - lyrics (technical), melody, message (poetry, impact), etc.

In terms of albums owned, however, the deepest influence on me has been the Statler Brothers. As someone mentioned in regard to Frank Sinatra, the lyrics of the Statler Bros. songs are incredibly well crafted.   They demonstrated to me what harmony was all about. Their work was amazingly consistent as well. They just never put out a bad album.

Many thanks, however, to everyone else here at Mudcat who has brought other performes/singers to my attention. I hope my circle of influence gets bigger.

Freightdawg

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Mooh
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 03:21 PM

Originally my music influence was the music of my church, largely English, with hymns, psalms, choral anthems and the like. There was an effort in the '60s to introduce folk and folk ways and I rode along on that influence also. I enjoyed all this along with piano and vocal studies until about the age of 13 when I started to enjoy the rock and roll that I heard my older siblings play around the house. I shortly developed a taste for Jethro Tull, Steeleye Span, The Stones, and Led Zeppelin, but I never gave up my previous loves. As a teenager I witnessed Roy Buchanan live and that cemented my love of Telecasters and blues.

Little changed, even through a Neil Young phase and a localised celtic scene until I met and heard Simon Mayor about ten years ago. His mandolin and his musicality has been the single biggest influence of my adulthood.

I write and improvise in a variety of styles, and I hear everything from Bach to blues, from Pete Seeger to Oscar Peterson in my work, though I wouldn't pretend to have a fraction of any of those talents in even my brightest moments. I like blues solos on guitar and Bach harmony, so it's little wonder that I might also site prog-rock influences like Yes, ELP, and the like. Tull's Bourree anyone?

A parent of one of my guitar students commented that I used music from everywhere. Good thing, otherwise I'd be bored and the student wouldn't get what they need. Hope I can pass it on.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: PoppaGator
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 04:24 PM

Jerry, sorry, no relation to Daddy G. (Is that the Daddy G who played saxophone on those old Gary US Bonds records? -- kidding ;^)

I assume that the House of Prayer you're playing may have been founded in NO, but is now located up in your area. (?) I haven't heard brass instruments in church very often, the notable exception being jazz funerals.

Speaking of unexpected instruments in church, are you familiar with the "Sacred Steel" phenomenon? That's hard-rocking black gospel music with the pedal steel guitar as primary instrument. Needless to say, sounds nothing like the Nashville sound. I think it's common to one particular denomination with congregations in Florida (I think) and also (definitely) New Jersey. Arhoolie Records put out an album featuring several different artists a couple of years back, and one spectacular young player, Robert Randolph from Orange NJ, has broken out into the secular market, developing a big following among "jam band" fans.

Glad to have provoked a little more discussion of Tom Rush. I discovered a web site featuring him a year or so ago, and got the impression he was still in the Boston area because all the gigs mentioned were located there. Interesting that he's also established in a new home out in the mountain west.

I'm not sure just what I found so appealing about Tom Rush "back in the day," but it must have had something to do with his eclecticism in the midst of the rigid purism of that era. It's not as if he were the best white blues singer of his time, or even his town -- Geoff Muldaur was laying down some incredible vocals with the Kweskin Jug Band right there in the same time and place -- but Tom Rush had a helluva sense of style, singing "Too Much Monkey Business" with his acoustic box, right in between Cisco Houston and Robert Johnson tunes.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: GUEST,Martin Gibson
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 05:00 PM

Feightdawg

I, too was very influenced by the young Waylon Jennings. I am very familiar with what you mentioned and even farther back. His first 2 RCA albums "Folk-Country" and "Leavin'Town" were my true bridge from the folk group world into country music in the mid 1960's. I still sing "That's The Chance I'll Have to Take" written by I believe the great Jack Clement. About 5 years ago while in Nashville I found the elusive Nashville Rebel movie on VHS (at the Ernest Tubb record shop) and finally got to see it after a 30 year wait.

The recently released Waylon Live 2-disc CD whhich was recorded at the heighth of Waylon's total personna in the mid '70s has some never before released live versions of early Waylon songs that blow the original studio versions away.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 05:23 PM

Poppa Gator: U iz smarter than U realize. The lyrics from "Quarter To Three" by Gary U.S. Bonds..

"Oh don't you know the people were dancing like they were mad.
It was the swingingest band they had ever had
It was the swingingest song that could ever be
It was a night with Daddy G"

Charles Manuel Grace, known as Daddy Grace was the founder of the church in the late 30's, and the bands are called Shout Bands. I have a CD of their music. The usual lineup of the bands is one drummer, one sousaphone player, one baritone horn player and five or more trombone players, Occasionally, a saxophone or trumper will be added. I don't know for a fact, but it's very possible that Daddy G played on Quarter To Three. He died in 1960.

Another bit of music esoterica..

Daddy J

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Willie-O
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 05:29 PM

"Wings"

(slam)OUCH!

Subject: RE: Influences
From: PoppaGator
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 05:43 PM

Gary Bonds' sax player on "2:45" as well as the earlier "New Orleans" was called "Daddy G." Bonds was from the Virginia Tidewater area, and considerably younger than Daddy Grace; who knows whether it was the same G, I mean, same guy. The US Bonds tunes were recorded (shortly) before 1960, so I suppose it's possible.

We have a couple of trombone-heavy contemporary brass bands in N.O. right now. Bonearama is probably the best of all; they have a decent CD called "Live at the Old Point Bar," but I don't think it's possible for a recording to duplicate the sheer physical force of the live sound of five trombones, a baritone trombone, sousaphone, electric guitar, and drums. I know they have toured the northeast -- they were in NYC for the blackout earlier this year, and wrote a song about it.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: freightdawg
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 06:34 PM

Oops!

Upon further review I need to add one more very recent influence - this time in terms of on stage delivery and showmanship.

Seamus Kennedy.

First time I saw Seamus was here in Albuquerque at a zoo festival. Seamus had to compete a couple of times with a squawking peacock. Seamus got the best of him everytime. I just love the way Seamus can blend his comedy routines with his ballads and then pull off a real tear jerker to top it all off. If I ever do get to perform I hope I can put together a show as completely enjoyable as Seamus'.

Freightdawg

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Bob Hitchcock
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 07:57 PM

What a really cool thread, thanks for starting it Jerry.

As for myself I would have to say that growing up in the UK it was Hank Marvin of The Shadows who got me started wanting to play guitar (along with just about every kid I grew up with). Eddie Cochran showed me how much energy you could create with a song. Roy Orbison demonstrated a thing called Taste, difficult to define but easily recognized. Wes Montgomery pushed me to play better because I could not understand how anyone could play like that, so I had to try (still trying today). Bob Dylan, you can be outspoken and different, it's OK. John Hiatt, lyrics are very important. And finally, everyone I jammed and sang with over the years far too numerous to mention but each one special in their own way.

Bob.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: RangerSteve
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 08:02 PM

A big influence was a country station in Hoboken, NJ (it's not there anymore), that featured an hour of the Grand Ole Opry every Saturday night, where I first heard the Crook Brothers and realized what you can do with a harmonica. They also had a DJ named Lee Arnold on weeknights who didn't have to follow the top-40 format and played a lot of good music from the 40's and 50's. It was on his show that I first heard Grandpa Jones. I had dreams of becoming a C&W singer/guitar player in the manner of Buck Owens or George Jones (I have the same flat top haircut that they gave up), but that Grandpa Jones recording (Daisy Dean) changed my whole outlook on things. As soon as I had the money, I bought a banjo, and I've never regretted it. Other influences: Stringbean and Hobart Smith for the banjo, Dr. Humphrey Bate for the harmonica. Wilf Carter for singing (I don't sound like him, but I like his smooth style).

And in person, Hank Sapoznik and Ray Alden for showing me how to play clawhammer style.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Joybell
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 08:30 PM

The songs themselves - over and above any singer of them. The way they sound, the stories within them, and the stories surrounding them. People like my parents and my true-love influenced my selection of songs and helped me to find sources, but I would have to say that over all it has always been the songs themselves. Joy

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Gurney
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 11:53 PM

Barry Skinner of Coventry, who first made me realise that songs don't have to be 'pretty.'
Cyril Tawney, who further pointed out that attack (as he termed it) or impact (as I prefer to term it) is as important, or more so, than any other song element.
I was a bit of a slow starter. It was all recorded music in my early environment.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Jim Krause
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 12:09 AM

I almost said Bill Staines, but that's too obvious. I could have said Phil Ochs, but that might be expected too. I like a songwriter who can handle the English language with aplomb, wit, and charm. I also like a songwriter who is a good composer as well, who has a well demonstrated ability to craft a strong melody. In my estimation, there is a 19th century songwriter who wasn't a professional musician, but worked in the printing trade, I believe. He is most remembered for his 1876 hit "My Grandfather's Clock." Of course I'm talking about Henry C. Work I don't think this guy ever wrote a weak melody. And the puns in some of his songs are more than just clever. When it comes to satire, oh! can he be biting at times, but you have to laugh at the absurdity, too.
Jim

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Fortunato
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 02:41 PM

Happy New Year Jerry!

In something like chronological order:
Jerry Lee Lewis
Hank Williams
Ernest Tubb
Hank Snow
Elvis Presley
Johnny Cash
Ian Tyson/Monte Dunn
Mississippi John Hurt
Mac Wiseman
The Country Gentlemen/Charlie Waller
Doc Watson
Norman Blake

Subject: RE: Influences
From: mg
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 03:14 PM

I would say Bing Crosby and the Lennon Sisters..mg

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 04:09 PM

What an interesting thread. It's made me question myself from WAAAAAYYYY back.

I think my major influences have been Hank Williams, Kitty Wells, the early Waylon, Elvis, Roy Orbison, John Denver, Ginny Hawker, Hazel Dickens...

I notice a common thread linking all of these people- a certain sound and clear lyrics. I'm with those who feel that if they can't make out the words, ya shoulda made it an instrumental!

Of course, there are a great many other people I love and resonate to, for instance, the Carter Family, Don Reno & Red Smiley (for the harmonies and the guitar work)... And of course, current singers and cuts, people like Seamus Kennedy, Don Rigsby, Doyle Lawson- absolutely everybody I listen to has an effect.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Margret RoadKnight
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 05:00 PM

Another common thread - rarely is a woman mentioned.......intriguing....

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 05:53 PM

Not many women responding, and those that have haven't mentioned many women. You didn't mention any, Margret.. There have been women folk singers who I greatly admire, some of whom I'm have the pleasure to know and even sing with. Among them, Jean Ritchie, Almeda Riddle, Sally Rogers, Caroline Paton, Lui Collins, Jean Redpath, Helen Schneyer, Cathy Barton,Dallas Cline, Lorraine Bennett... should I go on? While I love their music, they haven't been a strong influence on mine. Of this list, the two that would be the closest to an influence would be Jean Ritchie and Almeda. I admire them enormously as musicians and people. Like many of us, the Carter Family was a major influence on me, but not just because of Mother Maybelle. It was the whole package... the honesty, the plain-spokenness, the guitar style, and most of all, the songs. I had the great pleasure of spending a weekend at a festival getting to know Janette Carter, who is one of the most delightful people I've ever met.

Funny, I never even thought of this as a male/female thing...

Male singers who have not been a major influence on my music include some of my very best, longest known friends of my life, whose friendship I treasure: Art Thieme, Gordon Bok, Jim Bean (who I think of as Jim and Cindy Bean as they are inseparable and could have as easily been included in the women singers, Dave Para, Pat Conte, Luke Faust... should I go on?

I'm not sure what the point is that you're making, Margret. Howzabout some of your influences?

Jerry

Subject: RE: Influences
From: freightdawg
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 05:56 PM

Margaret,

I would not take the lack of female influences too seriously. First, little boys (judging from the names, most of the respondents are male) tend to focus on male singers when they are very small. Second, at least in my opinion, the great female singers tended to be more "followers" than "leaders" when it came to making a new sound or breaking any kind of mold. This may have been more a result of the control of the producers of the day dictating their content rather than the women themselves being "followers." But, having said that, if I had been a little girl and could have anticipated singing soprano or alto, here are some great female singers who have been very influential to the modern scene:

Tammy Wynette, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Lynn Anderson, Anne Murray and of more recent vintage, Allison Krauss (please forgive if I misspelled any names!)

I cannot hear Leann Rimes without being transported back to some of these legends of my distant past. All these singers have songs that touched me deeply, but in terms of aspiring to sing like them or follow a style that they pioneered, I'm afraid my gender kind of stopped that. In one sense they all share one feature that I do hope to follow, and that is they all sing clearly and strongly and with a great deal of emotion. These women were, and are, tremendous influences in country music, at the very least.

Freightdawg

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Joybell
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 06:03 PM

Ah but Margret, I didn't know I was a woman when songs started to work on me. Gender doesn't come into it for me. As I grew up of course the songs I sang became the ones to which I could most easily relate. I have always regarded singers as being vessels through whom songs passed. Singers both male and female who allow songs to work through them have always been my favourites. There were local women singers I admired during my young-woman years. You were one. Terese Virtue was another, and Shayna Carlin. There were and are many other women singers - Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Jean Redpath, Jean Richie, June Tabor, Maddy Prior. And many men - my True-love and Danny Spooner, Cyril Tawney, The Clancy Brothers, Utah Phillips, the Grand Bard of Cornwall. Joy

Subject: RE: Influences
From: PoppaGator
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 06:30 PM

Margret, perhaps if more women were participating in this particular thread, we'd be reading about their female influences. Corect me if I'm wrong, but most if not all of the repondants naming male role models have themselves been guys.

How 'bout you? Care to tell us the women who have influenced you?

Subject: RE: Influences
From: PoppaGator
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 06:54 PM

Ah, the perils of net-surfing at work. I began writing my reponse to Margret, got called away to perform some constructive task, and returned much later to finish up and post -- in the meanwhile, three other posts had appeared before mine, making the exact same point (in most cases, more throughly).

(Just so y'all don't think me dumb enough to repeat what had already been said.)

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Jeri
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 07:17 PM

I also wonder who Margaret's influence have been.

I started to reply to this yesterday morning, but found my post getting a bit long, and I was still leaving people out.

When younger, I was more apt to try to sing like a certain person. I remember walking amongst a field of generators with noise-protection ear muffs on, singing Joni Mitchell songs. Judy Collins was another one, but I would have been much better off not trying to sing so high. I really got into singing harmony along with Credence Clearwater Revival records. Linda Ronstadt and the power she had when singing those torch songs. I love the way Jackson Browne sings clear and steady, and stays with notes until they're finished. Later on, it was Maddy Prior and Sandy Denny. Pretty, but flexible and expressive voices, conveying a world of meaning with an edge now and then.

Now, it's more about mentors and role models than who I want to sound like. Helen Schneyer is one. Rick Fielding is the biggest influence on my musical life. I wouldn't mind sounding a bit like Helen, and I wouldn't mind picking like Rick, but if I ever start singing baritone...

Subject: RE: Influences
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 10:23 PM

I think I've only ever heard two female accordionists (that I was aware of). One of them was Sharon Shannon, who plays her accordion like a fiddle... a tragedy, if you ask me, and Minnie White, a Newfoundland accordionist. My brain doesn't go fast enough to play the kinds of things Minnie White plays.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Jeri
Date: 08 Jan 04 - 11:06 AM

CarolC, who else has influenced you, accordion-wise? I'm playing now, and I'm painfully unaware of accordion heroes. Preferably in the "not too fast, but sounds good" category. (I see a free reed session in next year's Getaway!)

Subject: RE: Influences
From: mooman
Date: 08 Jan 04 - 11:18 AM

Dear CarolC,

For a wonderful female accordionist have a listen to Raquel Gigot from the Belgian/Irish band

Orion

Rudy and Raquel are friends of mine. "Blue room" from the CD of the same title gives a good idea of Raquel's playing and there are samples from several other CDs.

Very best wishes for 2004 to you and JtS.

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: Influences
From: mooman
Date: 08 Jan 04 - 11:50 AM

While I'm at it...some of my influences (in no special order)!

Guitar: Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder, Lou Reed, Davy Graham, Jimmy Page

Tenor banjo: Barney McKenna, Kevin Griffin, Mick Moloney

Mandolin: John Colfer, Mick Moloney

Octave mandolin/bouzouki: Johnny Moynihan, Andy Irvine, John Faulkner

Songwriting: Nick Cave, Pete Morton, Ani DiFranco, Lou Reed

Singers: Although I'm not really a singer myself I admire so many and its hard to make a list!

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 08 Jan 04 - 11:57 AM

Accordians... hmmm. My wife and I have become friends with a wonderful man and his wife who live in the area. He plays accordian.. he's Italian, and his style is very reflective of his heritage. I thought I'd introduce him to a range of accordian styles he wasn't familiar with, so I have him five CDS: One by Art VanDamme.. a fine jazz accordianist, and Lou DiPippo, and very unknown jazz accordianist, one by Jo El Sonnier, a cajun accordinaits who has gone Nashville now, Clifton Chenier (a Zydeco accordianist whop plays in a blues style, and a CD of two blind black street singers from Philadelphia (Clay and Scott) who do gospel accompanied only by an accordian. My next CD to copy for his is by Nathan Abshire, considered the finest of the Cajun accordianists by many.

Whatever style you love, there is plenty of recorded material to stimulate you. As for me, I don't play accordian. My wife is my Main Squeeze.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Influences
From: CarolC
Date: 08 Jan 04 - 02:12 PM

That's fantastic, Jeri. Good luck with it. Skipjack is practically my only influence, other than the music itself. I do get quite a lot of my inspiration from the music itself. I also love the way Mudcat's own Bernard (Cromarty) plays this piece: Click on "Dark Island" just under the photo of Bernard

In order for an accordionist to be an influence for me, he or she must use the basses as much as the keyboard and have a good bass technique, because the basses are very important to the way I play and the way I relate to the accordion.

I'm going to send you a PM with an idea I just had.

Thanks mooman! That's some beautiful music your friends have made there. Very best wishes to you and Mrs. moo as well.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: GUEST,Vinyl Junkie
Date: 09 Jan 04 - 08:23 AM

What a fascinating thread. I still haven't read it all but I would like to make a contribution even though I am not a musician. However, I am a vinyl/CD addict and own loads and loads or recorded music and I would like to cite those that have influenced my taste.

First of all there is Alexys Korner whose Blues and Soul show in the late 70s (when I was a teenager-I am 45 now) introduced me to a wide range of blues music from Charlie Patton to Muddy Waters, the jazz of Charles Mingus, Roland Kirk and Oliver Lake, and to traditional African music. I respect this man more than anyone else. I even brough a single re-released from the early 60s that he recorded with Davy Graham called 34/AD, which in turn introduced me to Davy Graham and to the folk boroque guitar in general.

Second, there was Charlie Gilliett's Honky Tonk which played a variety of rock 'n' roll, r'n'b, country and some of the best of 70s rock music: Graham Parker, Costello, Ian Dury, Southside Johnny, etc. Sad to see him peddling this phoney so-called World Music nowadays, but in the 70s he was a major influence on my ears.

Thirdly, there was the Melody Maker. I intially bought this to read about rock music but it incidentally introduced me to folk music and Jazz. Reading an article on John Coltrane encouraged me to risk £2.99 on Africa/Brass and I have never looked back. Where else would I have discoved Martin Carthy, Bob Davenport, Nic Jones, etc if it wasn't for Colin Irvin writing every week about them.Other journalists I respected were Karl Dallas, Richard Williams, and, although writing for the NME, Charles Shaar Murrey.

Forthly, Eric Clapton. It was Clapton who opened my ears to the blues. My first blues album was John Mayall's Bluebreakers featuring Eric Clapton which I bought because of Clapton's name on it. From there, and with the help of Alexis and Charlie, I have built up a considerable knowledge of the blues and a collection of blues CDs and records.

Lastly, Greil Marcus, whose book, Mystry Train, opened my ears specifically to Randy Newman, The Band and Robert Johnson, although I thought his chapter on Elvis was ridiculous.His other books are shite!

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Margret RoadKnight
Date: 10 Jan 04 - 01:28 AM

Greetings, all! And apologies for not getting back earlier to respond to your responses re any female influences.
(Btw, like most of you, I don't think of it as a gender thing either, it's just that the absence of women - certainly at that point, and for whatever reason - was very noticeable, to me, anyway.....)

So, here goes with my early & important influences (as opposed to the many extremely talented performers I've enjoyed and been tremendously impressed by - they're probably for yet another thread....):

- Odetta (repertoire, voice & vocal approach, distinctive guitar),
- Nina Simone (ditto, but substitute piano, and add arrangements),
- Paul Robeson (voice, repertoire, political stance reflected through art),
- Malvina Reynolds (ditto, minus voice), and
- the local (Melbourne) and '62-live-in-concert Glen Tomasetti, who played guitar and sang a broad range of international songs (and gave me my first gig - obviously a woman of taste and discernment)

Cheers, chers
Margret

Subject: RE: Influences
From: GUEST,Diva
Date: 10 Jan 04 - 06:45 AM

Interesting thread. I have been incredibly lucky in that most of my influences have become good friends. Gordeanna Mc Culloch,Heather Heywood,Maggie Macrae, Cy Laurie,John Eaglesham,Willie Scott and most of all Sheila Mc Math, who can sing but doesn't but took me along to Kilmarnock Folk club and encouraged me to sing and to listen and made me realise that there was more out there than folk rock.

Subject: RE: Influences
From: John P
Date: 10 Jan 04 - 10:04 AM

Early on:
The Beatles
The Who
Deep Purple
Simon and Garfunkel
The Band
Cat Stevens
Elton John (the early albums)
Somehow out of this I started playing the blues . . .

And then:
Yes
Led Zeppelin
Genesis
Keith Jarret
Gentle Giant
Jethro Tull
Chick Corea
John McLaughlin
King Crimson
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

And then I fell in with a folkie crowd, and was introduced to:
Steeleye Span
Martin Carthy
Lo Jai
Malicorne
Maluzerne
The John Renbourn Group
Pentangle
Melusine
Muzsikas
Sebo Consort
Kornog
The Silver Strings Macedonian Band
Alan Stivell
William Pint (a good friend and musical co-conspirator who has had a big influence on my playing).
Anna Peekstok (my wife, who consented to play music with me after finding that we both saw lots of similarities between Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, medieval music, European traditional folk, and the blues. She continues to amaze and influence me musically).

And a bunch of early music, most notably:
Thomas Binkley & the Studio der Fruhen Musik
Atrium Musicae de Madrid
Les Menestriers

Lately, a lot of Scandivavian, Flemish, and Dutch music:
Garmarna (especially the early albums)
Lais
Kadril
Frifot
Vasen

And, as someone said earlier, the songs themselves. I spend many happy hours pouring through books of old folk songs, finding the threads of different versions, the odd turns of phrase, the intensely satisfying melodies. This isn't done in any scholarly or folkloric way, although I suppose some of that sticks to me. It is just for the joy of the music.

John Peekstok

Subject: RE: Influences
From: Jeri
Date: 10 Jan 04 - 10:45 AM

CarolC, I downloaded Bernard's 'Dark Island', and it's a very good example of what sort of musician influences me. He knows what his instrument is capable of and uses every bit of it to benefit the music. I'll never be a fast player on any instrument, but I can hope for 'good'...I can hope for 'expressive'. Bernard, if you're lurking - masterful treatment of that tune!

CarolC, thank you!

Subject: RE: Influences
From: CarolC
Date: 10 Jan 04 - 01:57 PM

You're welcome, Jeri. I feel the same as you do about the way he plays that piece.