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Post by millring on Dec 25, 2023 9:15:03 GMT -5
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Post by majorminor on Dec 25, 2023 11:36:09 GMT -5
What a coincidence. Can’t say I’d never heard of him until last week.
Many years ago in Alaska a performer named Hobo Jim used to do this song called Jackson Sundown. Basically a telling of how an old Nez Perce Indian “Blanket of The Sun” won the Pendleton Roundup Rodeo in 1916. Based on a true story. Jackson Sundown had been a child in the group with Chief Joseph when they made their run north through Montana trying to reach Canada. 20 plus years ago my now wife knew I really liked the song so took a cassette recorder in to a Hobo Jim show and got a bootleg for me and wrote the lyrics out on a sheet of Best Western stationary which I still have. I came across this lyric sheet recently and got curious about if the song was ever recorded and who may have written it originally. Turns out it’s Danny O’Keefe.
Here’s my arrangement
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Post by dradtke on Dec 26, 2023 10:01:26 GMT -5
Interesting article. The "show from 2016, which I did at a friend’s venue in St. Paul" would have been Glenn Elvig's Creek House. Some of you may be familiar with that. Melva and I heard O'Keefe play there but I'm not sure if it was that particular show or not.
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Post by howard lee on Dec 26, 2023 10:50:27 GMT -5
Could you tell us about your John Walker slope-shouldered dreadnought? Is it the Wise or Clark Fork model? Back/side wood? Top? Scale? Level of satisfaction?
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Post by coachdoc on Dec 26, 2023 11:16:16 GMT -5
I’m still in love with my Matt Arcara rosewood 000. I also have a very nice Bubinga Martin 000. I never play it I love my Arcara so much.
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Post by majorminor on Dec 26, 2023 11:35:59 GMT -5
Could you tell us about your John Walker slope-shouldered dreadnought? Is it the Wise or Clark Fork model? Back/side wood? Top? Scale? Level of satisfaction? I kinda screwed up with that guitar. John Walker lives just a bit north of me and I got to go in his shop and pick my woods and spend a little time with him. That model is his Wise River which is basically his iteration of a J35. Mahog x sitka fairly simple trims. Short scale. What was custom about it for me was figured mahogany back and sides - just an incredible fiddle backed piece - and a wide 1 7/8" nut x 2 5/16" string space at the saddle. I told him I wanted a "big vintage neck" on it and he obliged. Anyway I was going thru a period of hand, elbow, and wrist pain and it's the first guitar I've ever run in to that hurt me to play. After about 6 months of Aleve I sold it. What I learned is if I'm going up to a 1 7/8" nut then a typical thinner to medium neck thickness is better for me. That guitar sounded incredible and every time I hear a recording of it I'm mad at myself. |
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Post by coachdoc on Dec 26, 2023 11:59:08 GMT -5
When Matt was building my 000, I got to pick out the wood, but even better, when he was carving the neck I got to sit with him and every couple of strokes he’d hand it to me and ask ‘how’s this?’ I’d answer and he do a little more. Just now I reached over and grasped the neck and a shiver went up my back. Yup. It still works.
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Post by howard lee on Dec 26, 2023 12:15:04 GMT -5
Could you tell us about your John Walker slope-shouldered dreadnought? Is it the Wise or Clark Fork model? Back/side wood? Top? Scale? Level of satisfaction? I kinda screwed up with that guitar. John Walker lives just a bit north of me and I got to go in his shop and pick my woods and spend a little time with him. That model is his Wise River which is basically his iteration of a J35. Mahog x sitka fairly simple trims. Short scale. What was custom about it for me was figured mahogany back and sides - just an incredible fiddle backed piece - and a wide 1 7/8" nut x 2 5/16" string space at the saddle. I told him I wanted a "big vintage neck" on it and he obliged. Anyway I was going thru a period of hand, elbow, and wrist pain and it's the first guitar I've ever run in to that hurt me to play. After about 6 months of Aleve I sold it. What I learned is if I'm going up to a 1 7/8" nut then a typical thinner to medium neck thickness is better for me. That guitar sounded incredible and every time I hear a recording of it I'm mad at myself.
Sorry it didn't work out. Seemed like a lovely one. A luthier friend here feels that the most comfortable playing necks are narrower than 1-7/8", but have a nice, hand-filling profile (aka "big vintage neck"). He built mine with a vintage V-neck, or what he calls his "boat" neck, and my hand is supported just about all the way around. It causes no pain.
So this video you posted happened before the sale?
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Post by majorminor on Dec 26, 2023 12:55:14 GMT -5
I kinda screwed up with that guitar. John Walker lives just a bit north of me and I got to go in his shop and pick my woods and spend a little time with him. That model is his Wise River which is basically his iteration of a J35. Mahog x sitka fairly simple trims. Short scale. What was custom about it for me was figured mahogany back and sides - just an incredible fiddle backed piece - and a wide 1 7/8" nut x 2 5/16" string space at the saddle. I told him I wanted a "big vintage neck" on it and he obliged. Anyway I was going thru a period of hand, elbow, and wrist pain and it's the first guitar I've ever run in to that hurt me to play. After about 6 months of Aleve I sold it. What I learned is if I'm going up to a 1 7/8" nut then a typical thinner to medium neck thickness is better for me. That guitar sounded incredible and every time I hear a recording of it I'm mad at myself. Sorry it didn't work out. Seemed like a lovely one. A luthier friend here feels that the most comfortable playing necks are narrower than 1-7/8", but have a nice, hand-filling profile (aka "big vintage neck"). He built mine with a vintage V-neck, or what he calls his "boat" neck, and my hand is supported just about all the way around. It causes no pain. So this video you posted happened before the sale?
Yes - that video was taken several years back. Someone I know was interested in the song and the easiest way to teach/show it to him was to post a youtube vid. |
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Post by majorminor on Dec 26, 2023 12:56:32 GMT -5
Looking at that embedded video still I wonder if Todd is going to take umbrage with the manner in which I play a G chord.
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Post by Marshall on Dec 27, 2023 8:50:16 GMT -5
I'm always sad when I read these stories and listen to songs like that. I see what a difficult and random career music was for our generation; struggling and waiting for that Big Break. |
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Post by howard lee on Dec 27, 2023 17:36:08 GMT -5
Could you tell us about your John Walker slope-shouldered dreadnought? Is it the Wise or Clark Fork model? Back/side wood? Top? Scale? Level of satisfaction? I kinda screwed up with that guitar. John Walker lives just a bit north of me and I got to go in his shop and pick my woods and spend a little time with him. [...]
Now I seem to recall when that all occurred. You certainly posted about it on some iteration of this forum.
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