Category Archives: Posts with Video

These posts contain embedded links to a YouTube video(s) with a musical soundtrack that is (somehow) related to the topic of the post.

No. 8

Posted on April 18, 2018 by sixstrstories

sixstr stories was born on Sunday, April 18, 2010 in Somerville, Massachusetts. I was visiting my daughter and casually mentioned to her that I was thinking of starting a blog. (At the time, she had a blog.) Before I knew … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Video, Random Topics | Tagged Eight Miles High, The Byrds | 2 Comments

A Ballad Of The Blues & The Electric Guitar

Posted on March 31, 2018 by sixstrstories

Verse 1 I recently found a book at my local library: Talking Guitar: Conversations With Musicians Who Shaped Twentieth-Century American Music (2017) by Jas Obrecht. The first chapter in this extraordinary collection of interviews is titled: “Guitarchaeology: Setting The Stage.” In … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Video, Random Topics | Tagged Big Bill Broonzy, Blue Smoke, Curtis Jones, Dick Spottswood, George Barnes, Good Time Tonight, Hobson Hot Box Johnson, It's A Low Down Dirty Shame, Jas Obrecht, Sweetheart Land, Talking Guitars, Vocalion Records | Leave a comment

This Historic Day In Music: “Sweetheart Land” & “It’s A Low Down Dirty Shame”

Posted on March 1, 2018 by sixstrstories

On March 1, 1938, singer/guitarist Big Bill Broonzy entered the NBC studios in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Broonzy was a popular Chicago-based Blues musician who’d cut his first record in 1927. The names of the musicians playing piano, tenor sax and … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Video, This Historic Day In Music | Tagged Big Bill Broonzy, First Electric Guitar on a Blues Record, George Barnes, It's A Low Down Dirty Shame, Sweetheart Land | 1 Comment

This Historic Day In Music: Mary Chapin Carpenter

Posted on February 21, 2018 by sixstrstories

Songwriter, singer & guitarist Mary Chapin Carpenter has performed at the Prescott Park Arts Festival in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, three times over the past five summers. She shared the stage with singer/songwriter Marc Cohn on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 and … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Video, This Historic Day In Music | Tagged Bias Studios, Come On Come On, Duke Levine, Jon Carroll, Marc Cohn, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Only A Dream, Portsmouth NH, Prescott Park Arts Festival | 1 Comment

Two Kings, Two Birthdays, Two Songs

Posted on January 28, 2018 by sixstrstories

Lead Belly and Sam Cooke. The “King of the 12-String Guitar” and the “King of Soul.” Last week, as I read the birthday entries for those two artists on my January list of “Historic Days In Music” – January 20, … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Video, Random Topics | Tagged Bring It On Home Vol.1, Charles Edward Smith, Folkways Records, Fred Ramsey, Happy & Artie Traum, Having A Party, Lead Belly, Lead Belly's Last Sessions, Relax Your Mind, Rene Hall, Sam Cooke, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes | Leave a comment

This Historic Day In Music: Elizabeth Cotten – Take 3

Posted on January 5, 2018 by sixstrstories

It’s been five years since I last celebrated Elizabeth Cotten’s birthday here on sixstr stories. I think it’s time to do so again. On January 5, 1893, in the town of Carrboro, North Carolina (right next to Chapel Hill), George … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Video, This Historic Day In Music | Tagged Arhoolie Records, Cotten Picking, Elizabeth Cotten, Elizabeth Cotten - Live!, Folksongs And Instrumentals With Guitar, Folkways Records, Freight Train | Leave a comment

A Little Christmas Polka

Posted on December 22, 2017 by sixstrstories

Must Be Santa! The Rounder Christmas Album is one of my all-time favorite Christmas collections. Released in 1995 by Rounder Records – the legendary-and-still-going-strong Cambridge, Massachusetts-based label – this 19-track album contains a recording that is one of my family’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Video, Random Topics | Tagged Brave Combo, Must Be Santa, Must Be Santa (Polka), Rounder Records | Leave a comment

This Historic Day In Music: “Two Tone Stomp” & “Have To Change Keys To Play These Blues”

Posted on November 17, 2017 by sixstrstories

In the Fall of 1928, Lonnie Johnson and Eddie Lang were the two best and busiest studio guitarists in New York City. Lonnie Johnson… …was born Alfonzo Johnson in the Storyville section of New Orleans, Louisiana on February 8, 1894. … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Video, This Historic Day In Music | Tagged 11 Union Square NYC, Acosta Music Company, All Music Guide To Jazz, Bill Dahl, Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar, Eddie Lang, Fraulini Guitars, Gibson Guitars, Guadalupe Acosta, Have To Change Keys To Play These Blues, Hear Me Talkin' To Ya, James Sallis, Jas Obrecht, Lonnie Johnson, OKeh Records, Texas Alexander, Thomas G. Rockwell, Todd Cambio, Two Tone Stomp | Leave a comment

This Historic Day In Music: “Crazy Blues”

Posted on August 10, 2017 by sixstrstories

From the opening notes of the introduction, “Crazy Blues” sounds like a Jazz record. But when Mamie Smith starts to sing, the music takes a turn. “I can’t sleep at night, I can’t eat a bite because the man I … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Video, This Historic Day In Music | Tagged Crazy Blues, Mamie Smith, Mamie Smith & Her Jazz Hounds, OKeh Records, Perry Bradford | Leave a comment

The Past Five Historic Days In Music

Posted on July 8, 2017 by sixstrstories

Day One. John Smith Hurt was born in Teoc, Mississippi, on July 3, 1893. He grew up to be the singer, finger-style guitarist, recording artist and performer know around the world as Mississippi John Hurt. Here is a recording that … Continue reading →

Posted in Posts with Video, This Historic Day In Music | Tagged Elvis Presley, Mississippi John Hurt, Ringo Starr, Stephen Foster, The Beatles | Leave a comment