Good Fiddler Magazine article on Kenny Baker, recalling Roy Hall and his Blue Ridge Entertainers, one of the lost Bluegrass pioneers
http://www.fiddle.com/_mndata/fiddle...lerWin9495.pdf
http://www.hillbilly-music.com/artis...x.php?id=13777
Good Fiddler Magazine article on Kenny Baker, recalling Roy Hall and his Blue Ridge Entertainers, one of the lost Bluegrass pioneers
http://www.fiddle.com/_mndata/fiddle...lerWin9495.pdf
http://www.hillbilly-music.com/artis...x.php?id=13777
But Amsterdam was always good for grieving
And London never fails to leave me blue
And Paris never was my kinda town
So I walked around with the Ft. Worth Blues
Butch Robins has posted some youtube video of his days with the Blue Grass Boys when Mr. Baker was with them.
I watched about 5 minutes, and didn't want to go near my fiddle for a long time afterwards.
Mr. Baker made the extremely difficult look effortless. He was possibly the best we've ever had.
Warning to all itinerant fiddlers: If you watch any of this footage, you might find yourselves wanting to give it up for good.
He was also an accomplished guitar player. He recorded an album with Josh Graves in the early 70's...
Charley
A bunch of stuff with four strings
Jim
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19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
I love his waltz playing (and he played a lot of them). It has universal appeal even for those who don't like bluegrass. In fact I'd say KB is one of those musicians who transcends style and genre.
Bren
Very enjoyable read, Fretbear.
Thanks for posting.
Mick
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
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K.B . . . . I listen and the more I learn the more I hear and . . . I started with fiddle at the same age as K.B. recorded Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe. So ever "catching up" is well beyond me ... yet I persevere. K.B.'s fiddling is accessible to my ear, though I do have two, and I continue learning. Judicious use of The Amazing Slowdowner and a Dick and Jane level of notation reading keeps me going. Play on friends. R/
I love hanging out with mandolin nerds . . . . . Thanks peeps ...
His quote, "Well that's the way I *blank* heard it." Tells me he was an intuitive, instinctive player, with an ear that was extraordinary.
IOW, if ha played what he heard, he heard tunes, in a way, dare I say, better than most anyone.
I know this is a mandolin site, but one can't listen to KB and get his bowing, it must be seen. Blows my mind.
He grew up in a family of fiddlers. I have a recording from a jam session at his brother's house. Everyone on that recording is a good fiddler. That helps growing up with it.
I had a couple of his LPs. Frost On The Pumpkin was a really great record.
David A. Gordon
I LOVE that album, “Something Different” and “Bucktime” are really great showpieces for Kenny’s unending talent.
Timothy F. Lewis
"If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett
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