The whole Western Swing nexus

Ando

I've been playing some sideman honky-tonk guitar lately (a la Dave Biller) and am listening to some of that older stuff. I don't recall seeing many threads here about the specific influence of Django on guys in the whole US "country" scene, so if any of you would like to pitch in and flesh this out, that'd be great.

Jimmy Bryant and Roy Nichols come to mind, as does Jorgenson, and of course now Biller and Whit Smith and probably many others.

To get specific at the tune level:

Bryant recorded a tune with Speedy West called "Bryant's Bounce" (something like that) with rhythm guitar which actually sounds like la pompe. This is on the "Stratosphere Boogie" collection.

I hear Nichols play some Django-like solo ideas in Merle Haggard's "Is this the beginning of the end?" He does it on a steel-string acoustic over a faux "south of the border" kind of beat, and it sounds great. This is in the Haggard box set.

Nichols also laid down a really finely-chiseled solo on a Haggard cover of Jimmie Rodgers's "Peach Picking Time in Georgia." Good changes in that tune, and Nichols stretched out a dominant seventh arpeggio with a diminished one before tying a ribbon on the phrase. Really tasteful. In Haggard's "Same Train, Different Time."

I'll post audio of these solos if anyone's interested.

Ando

Damn, Ted, that is cool. What a career!

By the way, congrats on getting tapped to play on the Samois stage. You sounded great in the AJL tent, too.

Playing with the big dogs... that's the stuff.

a

ted,
is there any more you can say about the upstroke being square? wrembel also leaves out the up, to give it more of a... i don't know- he showed me some Police stuff and Rolling Stones to make his point. when you pompe, do just focus on the downs? any help is much appreciated.

Cuimean

It would be interesting to compare pre- and post-WWII recordings. I've heard some Farr Bros. stuff from the '30s that shows more of a Lang/Venuti influence. It makes sense; guitar and fiddle were common in rural American music. Hearing groups like the Mound City Blue Blowers or some of the early Lang/Venuti sides must have spoken to country and "hillbilly" musicians in a way that massed trumpets and saxes didn't.

Americans who served in Europe during the war, however, probably would have had more exposure to Django. The liner notes to the Arhoolie comp "Pachuco Boogie" note that L.A.-based guitarist Jorge Cordoba served in France and was influenced by Django after seeing him play live.

Ando

Here's Billy Strange at the opening of "Bryant's Bounce." I hear him doing straight downstroke flat-four rhythm for a bit, and then at 0:26 he starts throwing in what sounds like some quickflick upstrokes -- and it sounds closer to pompe. It really starts swinging.

Ando

This is Roy Nichols on a Merle Haggard version of Jimmie Rodgers' "Peach Picking Time in Georgia." A dobro player opens the first half of the solo section, and then Nichols leaps in. The contrast is striking. If there's any Django influence in Nichols' recorded work, it's here.

Ando

And last, here is Nichols and Haggard again with "Is this the beginning of the end?" I've included the opening, first verse, bridge, solo, and the rest to the finish -- so you'll hear some abrupt cuts (copyright issue). I've selected the parts where Nichols provides fills and solo. Lots of downstrokes in his playing, and listen how freely he ornaments around Merle's singing. This also strikes me as Djangoesque in character.

I hope you guys enjoy these.

Quadropenta

I'm a little late to this discussion.. :^)
Chet Atkins' early recordings with Dale Potter
have a hotclub flavor, though its mixed with country
and western swing sounds of the time. Both Atkins
and Les Paul were hugely influential to country guitarists
(and Paul in the 50s featured a Django sound in his playing)
I was friends with Tiny Moore--an electric mandolin player
with Bob Wills. He told me western swing players were very
aware of Django's electric guitar playing in the late 40s and early 50s.
It may be harder to trace this influence, but I can hear it in Tiny's
playing, and in the music of other hotshot players of the time.

CalebFSU

Hey Ted is Buddy Catlett related to Big Sid Catlett????