Most blogs, I would guess, have a Theme: “a subject or topic of discourse or of artistic representation.” (The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, New Edition, 2005)
Movies, television shows and radio programs have Themes: “Instrumental music, sometimes with a very singable melody, often has foreground status during the opening credits.” (The Harvard Dictionary of Music, Fourth Edition, edited by Don Michael Randel, 2003)
For example?
Well, there’s the big one: the Star Wars (Main Theme) – also known as Luke’s Theme. This grand symphonic masterpiece was composed by John Williams for the original “Star Wars” movie in 1977 and has been featured in each of the sequel and prequel films since.
Similarly, there’sthe James Bond Theme – created in 1962 by Monty Norman, a British singer, pianist and electric guitarist-turned composer, for the first James Bond movie, “Dr. No.”
One you might not know is Paris, Texas – a haunting acoustic slide guitar piece created and performed by Ry Cooder for the 1984 Wim Wenders film, “Paris, Texas.”
From the small screen, there’s Dog On Fire.
Dog On Fire?
I hadn’t known it was called that either, but every episode of “The Daily Show” on the Comedy Central channel kicks off with this high-energy rocker. Originally composed by Husker Du singer/guitarist Bob Mould, the version used on “The Daily Show” is performed by the band They Might Be Giants.
My all-time-favorite theme music from a television show isthe main title theme from thirtysomething. Composed by guitarist W.G. Snuffy Walden, the soundtrack for the opening credits of this Emmy Award-winning ABC drama delightfully danced its way across my living room for the first time in 1987.
Finally, the theme music that I’ve probably heard more times than all of the others on this list combined: the Morning Edition Theme by B.J. Leiderman for National Public Radio’s Monday-thru-Friday morning news program.
Movies, television shows, radio programs. So, why not a blog?
Today was the last day of the 2014 baseball season for my beloved Boston Red Sox.
This year’s team suffered from the same kind of inconsistent pitching and lackluster hitting that continually cursed the Red Sox teams that I grew up with. Any hopes for back-to-back World Series Championships were long gone by the end of July. At least the 2014 Boston Red Sox didn’t lose as many games as the 2012 Boston Red Sox.
Ah, well. Wait’ll next year!
In the celebration of victory and the resignation of defeat, the game of baseball has long been a source of inspiration for creative artists of every persuasion. I feel quite safe in stating that the novelists, journalists, essayists, poets, short story writers, reporters, biographers and bloggers of the world have produced more published written works about – or in some way involving – baseball than any other sport.
Songwriters have had to contend with the fact that the quintessential baseball song was written by Albert Von Tilzer and Jack Norworth in 1908. Some may have been daunted, but many have not been deterred.
Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, John Fogarty, John McCutcheon, Ry Cooder and Tom Paxton – to name a few – all have a song or two in their repertoire about baseball.
High on my list of favorite baseball songs is one by the great Steve Goodman (July 25, 1948 – September 20, 1984). The sad-but-hilarious “A Dying Cubs Fan’s Last Request” is one of three songs that Steve wrote about his beloved hometown baseball team, the Chicago Cubs.
In my post of May 3, 2013 called Staying Through The Credits, I wrote about “Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball,” one of the classic R&B numbers on my list. Written by pianist and singer Woodrow “Buddy” Johnson, the absolutely essential recording of this song was cut by Count Basie and his Orchestra in July of 1949.
There’s even a whole album on my list. The Baseball Ballads is the 2002 CD by North Carolina-based songwriter, singer & guitarist Chuck Brodsky. This unique and highly recommended collection contains 10 outstanding original baseball-themed songs including “The Ballad of Eddie Clepp” and “Gone To Heaven.”
Just recently, I’m pleased to say, my list got one song longer.
Earlier this month, I was in the iTunes store picking up a copy of Doc & Merle Watson’s 1982 version of “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” for a playlist I was putting together when something caught my eye. At the bottom of the far right hand column of the “Listeners Also Bought” section on the page for Doc & Merle Watson’s Guitar Album was a link to a song called “Baseball” by Sam Baker.
I clicked the preview button and, not even letting the preview finish, immediately purchased the track. As I sat back and listened to the entire recording, I fell in love with this song.
Here’s a live version from March 22, 2014, filmed at a place in The Woodlands, Texas, called “Dosey Doe.”
Take a few minutes and listen to “Baseball” for yourself.
Accompanying songwriter, singer & guitarist Sam Baker are Chip Dolan on keyboards and Tim Lorsch on cello.
So, how did you like that?
Sam Baker was born in Itasca, Texas in 1954. “Baseball” is from his first album, Mercy, that he released in 2004. Sam’s fourth and latest album, Say Grace, came out in 2013.
Check him out.
P.S.: If you liked the video/live version of “Baseball,” get the studio version from Mercy. It’s even better.
P.S.S.: I’ll be rooting for the Washington Nationals in the post-season. Go Nats!
My wife Andrea is a long time member of the Chapter to Chapter book club. The club’s book for September (at Andrea’s suggestion) was The Social Animal – The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement (2011) by David Brooks. Mr. Brooks is best known as an op-ed columnist for The New York Times.
Over dinner the other evening, Andrea shared some excerpts from The Social Animal with me that were about music.
I’d like to share them now with you.
In Chapter 21, “The Other Education,” Mr. Brooks writes:
“Listening to music involves making a series of sophisticated calculations about the future….When the music conforms to our anticipations, we feel a soothing drip of pleasure.
But the mind also exists in a state of tension between familiarity and novelty. The brain has evolved to detect constant change, and delights in comprehending the unexpected. So we’re drawn to music that flirts with our expectations and then gently plays jokes on them.
Life is change, and the happy life is a series of gentle, stimulating, melodic changes.”
Here’s to Andrea, Mr. David Brooks and a happy life.
“Little Martha” is a fingerstyle acoustic guitar instrumental piece created by Duane Allman. Duane recorded it as an acoustic guitar duet with Allman Brothers bandmate Dickey Betts in October, 1971. “Little Martha” was released on The Allman Brothers’ album Eat A Peach in 1972.
In his younger days, when fingerstyle guitarist Leo Kottke set out to learn “Little Martha,” he was not aware that the music he was hearing on The Allman Brothers’ recording was being performed by two guitarists.
I’d say that Leo Kottke worked out a pretty good rendition of “Little Martha” anyway.
Check it out for yourself.
This recording is from Leo’s 1995 album, Live. It was recorded in April, 1995 at the Fox Theatre in Boulder, Colorado.
If you’ve never heard Leo Kottke before, I highly recommend this CD. Live captures Leo Kottke on a very, very good night. That means that this collection is full from beginning to end with Leo’s simply mesmerizing fingerpicking virtuosity on six and twelve-string acoustic guitars. There are also several songs that feature his much-better-than-he-thinks-they-are vocals and a couple of tracks that contain examples of the kind of ramblingly hilarious and delightful stories that Leo regularly tells during his concerts.
Leo Kottke’s guitar music was first preserved in the grooves of a vinyl disc in 1969. That first album was called 12-String Blues. Leo’s superb, who-needs-two-guitars rendering of “Little Martha” first made it onto vinyl on his 18th LP, A Shout Toward Noon in 1986.
Leo Kottke was born this day, September 11, 1945, in Athens, Georgia.
Most recently, I found Christine Miller again, this time hanging on a wall.
On Sunday, August 24, 2014, my very good friend and cousin Jack and I spent a thoroughly enjoyable and, yes, enlightening day at the Thomas Edison National Historical Park, 211 Main Street in West Orange, NJ.
At the Park, the Main Laboratory Building of the Laboratory Complex is also known as “Building 5.” At the Main Street end of Building 5, on the top floor of this long, three story structure, we found Thomas Edison’s Music Room.
This very, very cool room was one of the first, if not the first, music recording studio.
Among the many fascinating and original artifacts in this room were several Edison Diamond Disc Phonographs like the ones used in the Tone Tests. The phonographs stood in the center and right hand side of the Music Room; the lids of their tall, boxy wooden cabinets lifted open, each one ready and waiting for someone to turn a crank and drop the needle on an old Edison Diamond Disc.
All around the Music Room the walls were decorated with a number of large, framed portraits of many of the artists who recorded for Edison Records.
After taking that photograph of the Music Room, I turned around, looked up and there, hanging on the wall, I found Christine Miller.
Christine Miller was born on February 11, 1877.
Her recording career lasted until 1918 when she married Daniel M. Clemson, a steel manufacturer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The next place that I found Christine Miller was in a box.
Not long after reading Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music by Greg Milner, I embarked on a little musical recordings shopping trip through an area known as “Antique Alley” along Rte. 4 in Northwood, NH. The first store I stopped at was called Eagle Antiques. When I asked Chuck, the owner, if he had any Edison cylinders, he suggested I see Jeff at Fern Eldridge & Friends Antiques a little ways further up the road.
At Fern Eldridge & Friends, Jeff answered my request with the presentation of two, medium-size cardboard boxes each containing about 35 – 40 Edison cylinders. All of the cylinders in each box were standing on end with the label edges pointing up.
One of the first cylinders to catch my eye bore the name “Christine Miller.”
The recording on the cylinder – an Edison Blue Amberol Concert Record, #28166 – is of Christine Miller singing “Annie Laurie.” Miss Miller is accompanied on this recording by an orchestra. Edison Records released this cylinder in 1913.
“Annie Laurie” is an old Scottish ballad. Its lyrics were allegedly written by the poet William Douglas some time in the early 1700’s but not published until 1823. The poem was definitely set to music by Lady John Scott of Spottiswoode, Scotland and first published in 1835.
Thanks to the website of the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project, Department of Special Collections at the Donald C. Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara, here is that recording!
If you would like to hear other performances by Christine Miller, the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project website (cylinders.library.ucsb.edu) has links to seventeen more Edison Records cylinder and disc recordings of Miss Miller made from 1912 to 1917. Among the selections in this collection are Christine Miller’s recordings of the songs “Abide With Me” and “The Old Folks At Home” as used in the September 17, 1915, Montclair, NJ, Tone Test.
And… The Library of Congress’ National Jukebox website (loc.gov/jukebox) has links to digitally preserved recordings of eight records by Christine Miller made for Victor Records from April to June of 1914.
Tomorrow, Part 3.
P.S.: If you would like to read more about the other treasures I found on my Antique Alley shopping trip, please visit the blog archives for September 2011 and scroll down to the blog post of September 2 called “78s & Cylinders.”
The first place I found Christine Miller was in a book.
The book was Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music written by Greg Milner, published in 2009.
Mr. Milner introduces Miss Miller on page 4, in the second paragraph of his description of a concert that took place in Montclair, NJ on September 17, 1915. Christine Miller, a singer and Edison Records recording artist, was one of the featured performers in this concert.
The by-invitation-only Montclair event was sponsored by the Phonograph Sales Company, which, in the summer of 1914, had opened a phonograph shop on Main Street in nearby East Orange, NJ. The Phonograph Sales Company was operated by employees of Thomas Alva Edison, Inc., whose headquarters were in West Orange, NJ. The accompaniment for Christine Miller and the two other soloists at this concert was not provided by the usual orchestra, band or even a pianist, but by an Edison Diamond Disc Phonograph playing an Edison Records Diamond Disc.
This kind of concert was known as a “Tone Test.”
A Tone Test concert presented a live solo performer playing or singing along with an Edison Diamond Disc Phonograph playing an Edison Records Diamond Disc recording of that same performer playing or singing a particular piece. The live soloist would then, at various times, stop playing or singing along with the recording, hopefully leaving the attentively-listening audience unable to tell whether what they were hearing was the live performance or the Diamond Disc.
Mr. Milner explained that Thomas Edison believed that when an Edison Records Diamond Disc was played on an Edison Diamond Disc Phonograph, the recorded musical performance on the disc was not being “reproduced,” it was being “re-created.” Thomas Edison was convinced that his Diamond Disc Phonograph was as much a musical instrument as a violin, a piano, a flute or a singer’s voice.
The logo below was printed on the paper sleeves of Edison Records in the early 1900’s.
So, to prove to the ever-skeptical buying public that the Diamond Disc system produced the completely pure and life-like musical sound that Thomas Edison believed it did, Thomas Alva Edison, Inc. embarked on the “daring experiment” of staging live Tone Tests.
The first Tone Test was held in East Orange, NJ, in February, 1915 and featured vocalist Christine Miller.
On June 21, 1915, The Civic Committee of The Woman’s Club of the Oranges hosted a Tone Test concert featuring “Miss Christine Miller, The Celebrated Concert Contralto.”
At the September 17, 1915 event at The Montclair Club in Montclair, NJ, Christine Miller skillfully wove her live voice in and out of several Edison Diamond Disc recordings. Starting with an aria from Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Miss Miller continued with the Scottish hymn “Abide With Me” and then presented “The Old Folks at Home,” a song by Stephen Foster, for the grand finale.
In the words of Mr. Milner: “The crowd went wild.”
Thomas Alva Edison, Inc. continued conducting Tone Tests featuring Christine Miller across the country throughout the Fall of 1915, including a major event on October 21 – Thomas Edison Day – in San Francisco, CA. In April of 1916, Miss Miller appeared in a highly publicized Tone Test held at Symphony Hall in Boston, MA.
The last of the Tone Tests were held in 1925.
Tomorrow, Part 2.
P.S.: If you would like to read more about what I found in the pages of Perfecting SoundForever, please visit the blog archives for September 2011 and check out my post of September 30 called “The Power of Reading.”
If you’re a new visitor to this blog, the purpose of my Wrestling With The Angel series (or category) is to highlight and share individual songs that are on a list of mine entitled: Devastatingly Great Songs. The title phrase, “Wrestling With The Angel,” is my paraphrase of a line from a poem by Herman Melville called “Art.” You can read the complete poem in my archived post of November 4, 2011: “The Source.”
Some songs are like Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo.
Lisa sat to have her portrait painted by only one artist; but that artist, Leonardo da Vinci, produced a single work of art, his “Mona Lisa,” that is an endlessly fascinating and now, of course, iconic image of this young, 16th century woman.
Some songs are like Norma Jeane Mortenson.
For seventeen years, Norma Jean posed and acted before the cameras of dozens of photographers and movie directors. But from the thousands and thousands of photographs and twenty-seven feature-length films that these artists produced, not one single image paints a complete portrait of the young model and actress known as Marilyn Monroe.
“These Days” by Jackson Browne is a Norma Jeane Mortenson-kind of song.
Now, the first time I heard “These Days” I was listening to a Tom Rush album.
Singer-guitarist Tom Rush (born February 8, 1941 in Portsmouth, NH) recorded two Jackson Browne songs, “Colors Of The Sun” and “These Days,” for his first album for Columbia Records. Titled Tom Rush and released in March, 1970,this record was the musician’s seventh LP. Tom’s first album, the independently-produced Live At The Unicorn, came out in 1962. In 1965, his fourth album – and first on Elektra Records – was also titled Tom Rush.
On the Tom Rush Tom Rush album I was listening to, “These Days” was the first track on side 2.
Listen for yourself.
The musicians on that recording were: Tom Rush, acoustic guitar & vocals; Trevor Veitch, lead guitar; Duke Bardwell, bass; Warren Bernhardt, piano; and Herbie Lovelle, drums. The string arrangement was by Ed Freeman.
I fell in love with “These Days” and learned to play and sing it from Tom Rush’s recording. I could relate to the introspective observations of the lyric’s wise-beyond-his-years protagonist. I savored wrapping my voice around the curves and rhythms of such a finely crafted melody. I had, by that time, acquired enough fingerpicking guitar skills to be able to bring out all of the rich and emotive harmonies of the chord progression’s half dozen or more open-position chord fingerings. It was (and still is) a completely rewarding experience to be able to sit down and play and sing this song.
But, I would have to wait three and a half years to finally hear how Jackson Browne himself would play and sing “These Days.”
Songwriter, singer, guitarist and pianist Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948 in Heidelberg, Germany, to an American serviceman father and Minnesota-born mother and raised in Los Angeles, California from the age of 3) recorded his self-titled first album in 1971 for Asylum records.
Jackson’s rendition of “These Days” appeared on his second album, ForEveryman, in October 1973. Accompanying Jackson’s lead vocals and acoustic guitar on the track are David Paich, piano; David Lindley, electric lap steel/slide guitar; Doug Hayward, bass & harmony vocals; and Jim Keltner, drums. The track notes on the back cover of the ForEveryman record jacket state that the arrangement of “These Days” contained within was “inspired by Gregg Allman.”
Listen to this one, too.
For all of the beauty and multi-faceted brilliance of the performances on each of those recordings (and the intriguing differences between them), I have found myself over the years returning time and time again to the Jackson Browne recording because of the truly dazzling contributions of David Lindley.
Maxi-instrumentalist David Lindley (born March 21, 1944 in San Marino, CA) was a member of the psychedelic Rock band Kaleidoscope from 1966-1970. In 1968, he started doing freelance session work, adding his talents to recordings by Leonard Cohen, The Youngbloods and Graham Nash.
David Lindley began performing with Jackson Browne around the time Jackson’s first album came out. When it was time for Jackson to go on tour in support of JacksonBrowne, he initially had a hard time reproducing the album’s full-band arrangements in a live, in-concert setting, mostly because of how well he and David worked together as a duo.
Jackson explained this dilemma in an interview by Derk Richardson that appeared in the February 2006 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.
“In putting together a band,” Jackson recalled, “no matter what I did, it wasn’t as cool as just me and David. I thought, ‘It’s going to take a lot longer to make a band do what we do together,’ and it did take a long time. That became my quest – to get a band to play as emotionally and truthfully as what happened with just me and David.”
To me, on that recording of “These Days,” the music that Jackson Browne and David Lindley create with one voice, an acoustic guitar and an electric lap steel/slide guitar does indeed render the accompaniment of the piano, bass and drums virtually irrelevant. From the way Jackson’s voice and David’s guitar meld in harmony on the first notes of the first verse to David’s epic 48-bar solo that is the song’s coda, all of that coolness and emotion and truthfulness commandingly radiates from every second of this performance.
Go back. Close your eyes and listen again.
Over the years, I’ve learned much about the song “These Days.”
Jackson Browne wrote “These Days” in its first form when he was 16 years old.
The first artist to record “These Days” was the one-time Velvet Underground vocalist and Andy Warhol protoge Nico (born Christa Paffgen, 1938-1988). Nico’s version was included on her 1967 solo album, Chelsea Girl, and featured Jackson Browne’s fingerpicked electric guitar accompaniment.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, a band that Jackson Browne had briefly been a member of in 1966, released their rendition of “These Days” on their 1968 LP, Rare Junk.
Greg Allman’s inspirational version of “These Days” came out on his solo album, LaidBack, which was released almost simultaneously with For Everyman in October, 1973.
The Nico and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band recordings of “These Days” are four verses long, including a second verse that did not make it into the Tom Rush version or Jackson Browne’s For Everyman version.
In 2001, film director Wes Anderson included the Nico recording of “These Days” in the soundtrack of his film The Royal Tennenbaums. The popularity of the movie resulted in a resurgence of interest in the song and directly inspired Jackson Browne to re-learn and begin performing “These Days” in the style he used for Nico’s recording.
Jackson presented his “new” version of “These Days” on his 2005 live album, SoloAcoustic, Vol. 1.
If you’ve got the time and a little listening left in you, here’s that recording.
This summer, on Tuesday, August 19, my wife and I attended the Concord, New Hampshire stop of Jackson Browne’s “2014 Solo Acoustic Tour.” Not long into the second set, Jackson fingerpicked the distinctive introduction of “These Days” on a small body, sunburst Gibson acoustic guitar. (This was one of 23 guitars – and a piano – that Jackson had on stage with him for that evening’s concert.) The gorgeous performance of “These Days” that he gave for us that evening was almost exactly like the “Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1” recording above. One difference was the addition of the brilliant electric lead guitar work of Val McCallum, Jackson’s “surprise” accompanist for the evening. (Val brought 6 guitars.)
The other difference was that Jackson included the “missing” second verse of the 1967 Nico recording.
Here’s what it looked like.
Finally, according to the song’s Wikipedia page, since 1975, “These Days” has been recorded by an additional 21 different artists or bands.
This is a story about two Jazz musicians, two Country musicians and a Blues song.
On July 11, 1930, a headline in the Los Angeles, California newspaper – the California Eagle – proclaimed: “Louie Armstrong Famed Record Artist in City.”
The 28 year old New Orleans-born Jazz musician and entertainer had indeed made his first visit to the West coast, taking the train from New York City. Louis’ wife, Lil Hardin Armstrong (32 years old, Memphis, Tennessee-born and an accomplished Jazz pianist, recording artist, band leader and composer in her own right) had traveled with him to Los Angeles.
Louis Armstrong was scheduled to begin an extended engagement at The Cotton Club, one of the most popular Los Angeles-area nightclubs, located in the suburb of Culver City. He would be leading the New Sebastian Cotton Club Orchestra and the club was heralding Louis as “King of the Trumpet” and “The World’s Greatest Cornetist.”
On July 16, 1930 – the day before he opened at The Cotton Club – Louis and Lil Armstrong spent part of the day at Hollywood Recording Studios in Los Angeles. They went there to make a record with the reigning King of Country music – singer/guitarist Jimmie Rodgers.
Jimmie Rodgers (born September 8, 1897 in Pine Springs, Mississippi) had been recording at the Hollywood Studios since the 30th of June. The session on the 16th was the last of nine dates in July when Jimmie was in the studio. Jimmie Rodgers’ producer on all of these recording sessions was Victor Records’ Director of Artists & Repertoire, Mr. Ralph Peer.
Ralph Peer (born May 22, 1892 in Independence, Missouri) had first recorded the then-unknown Jimmie Rodgers on August 4, 1927 in Bristol, Tennessee. Peer was working as a talent scout doing field recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company. Rodgers recorded two songs – “The Soldier’s Sweetheart” and “Sleep Baby, Sleep” – on the next-to-the-last day of 10 days of auditions and recording. These legendary sessions are now known simply as The Bristol Sessions.
Ralph Peer had known the Armstrongs even longer than he’d known Jimmie Rodgers.
In 1924, Ralph was working for OKeh Records. He met Louis and Lil in Chicago that year, probably around the time the couple got married. In 1925, Ralph Peer signed Louis Armstrong to his first recording contract while Louis was playing with the Fletcher Henderson band in New York. Peer then arranged for Louis to record with his own five-piece band, including Lil on piano, back in Chicago.
That band, Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five gathered for its first recording session on November 12, 1925. From then until December of 1927, Louis and Lil played together with either His Hot Five or His Hot Seven on forty-eight recordings for OKeh Records. Lil Hardin composed several of the pieces these groups recorded, including “My Heart” – the first number cut by the Hot Five.
[OKeh Records were marketed by The Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation starting in September, 1918. OKeh Records established a “race records” series in 1922. Louis and Lil Armstrong had first recorded for that branch of OKeh in April, 1923 when they were members of King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band. OKeh Records was acquired by Columbia Records in November, 1926. “Race records” was a term that was used throughout the American record industry up to 1949.]
The song that Louis and Lil Armstrong would record with Jimmie Rodgers on July 16 was called “Blue Yodel No. 9 (Standin’ On The Corner).” Written by Rodgers himself, “Blue Yodel No. 9” bears a certain resemblance in some parts to two older songs: “Frankie And Johnny” and “The Bridwell Blues.”
There are some Folk music scholars who claim that the song “Frankie And Johnny” has been around since the Civil War or even earlier. On April 4, 1904, a song by Hughie Cannon called “He Done Me Wrong (The Death of Bill Bailey)” marked the first time that a melody similar to that of “Frankie and Johnny” appeared in print. The first time an actual song was published called “Frankie and Johnny” was on April 10, 1912. This song was credited to “Leighton Bros. and Ren Shields.” Jimmie Rodgers recorded his rendition of “Frankie and Johnny” under the title “Frankie And Johnnie” on August 10, 1929.
“The Bridwell Blues” was written by Nolan Welsh and Richard Jones. Baritone vocalist Welsh recorded the song in Chicago, Illinois for OKeh Records on June 16, 1926. Pianist Richard Jones and cornetist Louis Armstrong accompanied Welsh on the recording.
Here is “Blue Yodel No. 9” by Jimmie Rodgers with Lil Hardin Armstrong on piano and Louis Armstrong on trumpet.
When Victor Records released “Blue Yodel No. 9” on September 11, 1931, neither Lil or Louie were given credit on the record for their contributions. “Blue Yodel No. 9” would also be the last record that the not-so-happily married Armstrongs would make together.
It would not, however, be the last time Louis Armstrong would play “Blue Yodel No. 9.”
On October 28, 1970, 69-year-old Louis Armstrong was the special guest on that evening’s nationally televised broadcast of The Johnny Cash Show. For one of the numbers that he performed during the show, Louis sat down with the 37-year-old Cash (born February 26, 1932 in Kingsland, Arkansas) and put together a rousing re-creation of “Blue Yodel No. 9.” Lil Hardin Armstrong’s piano part was played off-camera by Bill Walker, The Johnny CashShow’s musical director.
[The Johnny Cash Show aired on ABC-TV starting on June 7, 1969. The fifty-eighth and final episode of this hour-long, prime time, music/variety program ran on March 31, 1971. Every show was taped before a live audience at the Ryman Auditorium, in Nashville, Tennessee.]
As you watch the video below and listen to this performance, keep these words of Louis Armstrong in mind: “When I pick up that horn, that’s all. The world’s behind me, and I don’t concentrate on nothin’ but it… That my livin’ and my life. I love them notes. That why I try to make ’em right.”
Louis Armstrong was born this day, August 4, 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His mother was Mary Ann Albert, his father was William Armstrong.
sixstr stories 