Blues, Stomps, & Rags #6
Last week, I posted music by Rich DelGrosso. Next week, I'll post an old blues mandolinist. However, like Del Grosso, Andra Faye is a contemporary blues mandolinist, who played with "Saffire –– The Uppity Blues Women", an acoustic blues band, from 1992 to 2009 when they disbanded. Faye comes from West Virginia, but now lives and performs in the Indianapolis area. According to her website, her mandolin influences include Howard Armstrong, Rich DelGrosso, and her "mentor" Yank Rachell, who also settled in Indiana. Andra Faye also plays stand-up bass, fiddle, and guitar. She worked as a nurse for some time before becoming a professional musician in her early thirties. Here, she plays her interpretation of a tune by the great blues singer and guitarist, Memphis Minnie.
(If the connections don't work, look up "In My Girlish Days, Andra Faye" on YouTube,)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3BOItPCRm4
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
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