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Monday, February 1, 2010

Muhlenberg Thumb Finger Pickers

This thread started getting unraveled when the Mimbres Man posted a link to Chris Smithers singing an evolution song. I was not familiar with Mr. Smithers, but I sure know where he's coming from musically. This probably could start with John Prine singing Paradise:

And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

We really should have a song by Mose Dager. He's just a name to me, but he is the man who first developed Muhlenberg finger picking. Unfortunately, I don't think there are any recordings of him playing. We'll have to start with the next generation, Ike Everly, father of the Everly brothers, and so on down the line. The only one of these that I've been able to see live is Doc Watson. I've been to a couple of his concerts years ago. His concerts were like musical history lessons - just wonderful. Just in passing, I should mention that Merle Travis was one of the early developers of electric guitars ... for better or worse.

I threw in the Minnesota guy at the end for Kevin R.









2 comments:

Margadant said...

Thanks for the pickers. Liked Ike; enjoyed Doc; and got a good grin going with Smither.

Mimbres Man said...

The last guy was impressive on the 12 string.