A friend of mine asked Sam if he was worried about dying. He said, “The Lord’s gonna have to draft me. I ain’t gonna volunteer.” The day before Sam died, my friend called me and said, “Ole Sam is at the draft board.” 💙🙏🏻
@@kingcujo420 i reckon. Im 45 and love this stuff im also from lil old New Zealand and to read this young comment restores my faith in the next generation around the world. Take it easy people learn to love; forgive and restore each other.
don't get too sentimental, it's a song about fuckin the boss-man's wife but still being so humble you won't sleep in the big man's bed. he just here to give some lovin' then you can "send'im back to the field so it can rain some more"
Repent and trust in Jesus. We all deserve Hell for our sins, such as lying lusting coveting and more. We can't save ourselves, but Jesus can save us. He died on the cross to save us for our sins and rose from the grave defeating death and Hell. You must put your faith in him only. He is the only way to Heaven. Repent and trust in Jesus. Romans 6:23 John 3:16❤❤😊
@@christianweatherbroadcasting no one deserves hell you piece of shit and anyone who worships a god who says so is a fuckin lunatic, god was silent for the holocaust so he can suck my fuckin dick.
Sam Chatmon comes from a musical dynasty. His mother Eliza was a minstrel show performer, and she had several children with different men. Sam Chatmon and his brother Bo Carter (who wrote Corrinna, Corrinna) formed the Mississippi Sheiks. Sam and another brother, Lonnie formed the Bluebird act 'The Chatmon Brothers.' Their father, Henderson Chatmon was a minstrel show fiddler, and likely also the father of Charlie Patton. Though born a slave, Henderson Chatmon was almost certainly the offspring of his Dutch master, and was known to closely resemble his father/master so much that he was sometimes pulled out of the minstrel shows he played for 'being too white'. His complexion did not darken until well into adulthood. He passed these caucausian features on to his sons. Sam's mother, Liza, was also very fair-skinned, and she too believed her father to be a white man of German descent. So for anyone wondering why Sam Chatmon (or Charlie Patton) look caucausian, it's because they were likely of 50% German/Dutch and 50% African descent. Also, Sam states here that his songs pre-dated the Blues, which they did. While the roots of the Blues run deep, pre-dating even the slavery period, "The Blues Music" as popularly understood wasn't commercially marketed until the 1920s. To call Leadbelly or Sam Chatmon "blues musicians" completely negates the bulk of their output, which consisted of field hollers, gospel, folk, jug band, polkas, waltzes, classical and popular standards.
Thank you for these fools saying he looked like a white man, it's the one drop rule. He looks like my grandfather. These idiots try and turn a blind eye to slavery. My great grandfather was half white and his father was a slave owner he was born in 1873 and died in 1983 a year before I was born. He fled rome georgia bc he killed a white man and he left his family by hopping on a train headed for Alabama. These entitled fucks don't have a clue what black people went thru back then.
Thank you Marvin for all the great info and insight! I can't decide if you saved me time in my own research or perhaps lengthened my trip down the rabbit hole with all those amazing spurs on lineage; LOL! Seriously although his memory deserves all the accolades in the comments, thank you for the illumination!!!!
I'm from north Carolina originally and started out playing blues and folk music when I was about 8 years old. I started doing this because I was introduced to this old man in my neighborhood who played that type of music. I would sit and listen to him play for long hours and my mom didn't want me hanging out with him because he was an elderly alcoholic. He showed me chords for the first time and how to do little licks and hammer-ons and walk-ins. I enjoyed it so much as a kid without realizing how it was going to impact my entire life. As a kid in North Carolina, making a pallet on the floor was nothing new. That's what we called it when you would lay a few blankets on the floor to sleep on. I always slept with my head in the V of my arm. I did this so much that even though I have a shit ton of pillows now, I still sleep in the V of my arm now. I'd give anything to go back to those mornings of waking up on a floor pallet, to a breakfast of fried eggs and liver mush. Those were truly my favorite days. Now I'm still the same kid in love with that music, except for I'm 30 now. I still play blues, folk, and bluegrass. P.S. while I was in middle school I used to swipe these Alan Lomax books from my school and I learned a lot of blues and folk songs from them. I kept those books forever and somehow along the years I either lost them or someone swiped them from me. I hope wherever they are that they are helping someone learn some truly magnificent songs :)
As a guitarist I come here constantly to remind myself of where the blues came from, what it means to be an American. Truly inspirational and special. Also listen to how high the action is on that guitar and the tone freaking insane!
When I listen this old voice I imagine that it coming from that times when were revolvers, winchesters, steam trains and long-long dusty roads from end to end of the country... When people were tough like iron but has soft singin souls... I really love a music of old America... Thank You, mr. Chatmon from Russia!
Repent and trust in Jesus. We all deserve Hell for our sins, such as lying lusting coveting and more. We can't save ourselves, but Jesus can save us. He died on the cross to save us for our sins and rose from the grave defeating death and Hell. You must put your faith in him only. He is the only way to Heaven. Repent and trust in Jesus. Romans 6:23 John 3:16❤❤😊❤
That's what my grandma would say in her Arkansas accent when I'd go stay the weekend,let me make you a pallet on the floor, and she would lay some blankets down on the floor for my bed.
tbh I've always felt that Indianapolis is more or less the real gateway to the south because as soon as your south of indy you start hearing the accents more and more
I used to live in West Virginia, l don't like it but I must say they should have they're own blues style because WV is more poor and depressed than the Mississippi Delta!
My mom used to make me a pallet on the floor. When I first heard this song it was Mississippi Fred McDowell, and it reminded me of my childhood, and always makes me smile. This fellas rendition of it was a real treat
I saw him perform in 1972. He played a cheap Stella acoustic, the kind you could buy for about $15 in the 1960's, but the sound he got out of it was perfect for the Delta blues he played so well. Also a good singer who could swoop into a nice falsetto when a song called for it.
Are you this cool now? It doesn't just appear at a certain age. Start being cool today and keep doing it. Then if you are fortunate enough to live to old age, don't worry, you will still be cool.
The Elderly are so precious and wise!!! They've got so much to teach us!!! Take care of your elder's till their dying days!!! Keep them home with you!!! God Bless!!!
All the music we have lost when people like this leave, we have a lot of the mainstream music of our past. this is the kind of stuff not passed down or very little known the real gems most will never hear, this is the music we need to protect for our future.
I was in his company in around 1975 when we stayed In Ken & Phyllis Swerilas house in El Cajon Cal. Boy could that man talk and play music. Absolute one of the highlights in my life in the musical field. RIP Sam Ken &Phyllis.
I love this guy. I'm surprised no one noticed that he's tuned a step and a half down. He's playing in C but the result is A. When the strings are that lose they sound a little out of tune even if the guitar is tuned correctly. I myself am getting old and have tuned down on occasion to compensate for the loss of hand strength.
You're right - I just posted a similar reply before seeing yours. It doesn't sound out of tune with itself to my ears - at least not significantly. It's not exactly a step and a half down, just a little less.
❤️❤️❤️ I’m 34 years old and I love music and get tired of listening to the same genres and song from the same time errors. I don’t play any instrument really but just have so much love for listening to music. People think I’m crazy cause My playlist has everything from From rap country blue grass funk reggae rock gospel etc... I think I pretty much have most genres except opera. I can’t get enough music in my life.
same.. I'm up to 75K mp3's now, many are full albums.. I can't get into rap much.. I'm missing John Prine now.. I heard an interview with him where he said "I was told my songs get played more around the campfire than the radio.. I'm alright with that"
obviously the people who gave this thumbs down dont know sh!t about music and tradition. What this man is playing paved the road for rock and roll, pop, and the semi talented artists of today. Artists who cant write songs to save their lives, they have a team of songwriters and the best recording engineers just to put out a song or an album.... This man played music because he loved it, not to get rich and have 12 car garages or be featured every 20 mins on the radio.... He played music because it was a part of him, not to make money. go listen to some robert johnson from the 20's. yes its not perfect, but it IS from the heart. Respect real music and real musicians. You dont have to like every song.... but you should be able to pay it some sort of respect for paving the way.
This is real music,no producers saying what people want to hear,no fancy record execs telling you how to look to sell more records,not even a care if anyone outside of friends hear it,jam on old timer jam on!
Wow! He sings a bunch of verses that I've never heard as part of "Pallet". That's a true folk musician, he carried a bunch of history around in his head. He probably made up many of those verses himself. What a fantastic bluesman.
Reading this title, I have a vision in my minds eye, of my sweet long passed on Grandmother, when the family was at their house to visit, when we were trying to decide who was going to sleep where, telling us kids, that she was just going to "make us a pallet on the floor". Basically, a "pallet" was just some blankets on the floor where us kids would all sleep since there was not enough beds and couches to lay on, the adults got those, us kids were on the floor. RIP Grandma.
True. Both my grandfathers were assholes, each in his own way. I attribute it mostly to living through two world wars and the depression of the thirties --had to be a hard man to provide for a half-dozen children (both of my parents were the youngest of six kids) and a wife, working the land and in the shipyards.
Clifton Painter you sound stupid, all you have to do to grow old is nothing. It’s literally the one thing that you can’t change with effort, money, will power.
I was expecting Bluegrass. This is true blues. Thanks, it sounds like he enjoyed his life. Sam could have a pillow and pallet at my place if he were still around. Unfortunately he was my grandfather's age. Gone but not forgotten. I'd even have thrown in a blanket and breakfast (If he liked Eggos & coffee). Great tune. I'll look for more of his music.
I just met a guy who grew up in Mississippi. His grandmother was friends of Sam Chatmon and Bo Carter. He told me to check them out. Thank God that I did!!
This video of Sam has more to say than just his song. A lot of great wisdom from a good life Shines from that Happy face of his! No doubt many a story lie underneath that hat he sports too? Much Respect Sir.
You know I watched this video about 6 or 7 years ago, and Sam's voice and face has never left my memory. Truly an amazing dude. That full step down on that geetar sounds so full.
What relieves me in here, is that Sam Chatmon was 81at this time, and hearing and seeing play and sing that way reminds me that whatever happens, no matter how low and blue you feel, as long as you have music, you'll be safe. I promise you, as long as you keep playing or listening to the blues, you can make it through anything in life. This is the point of the blues, singing and telling your pain through music.
I'd been playing guitar for about eight years when I "discovered" the blues whilst watching a "Blues Night" on BBC2 here in the UK in the mid-80s. This was when I was introduced to the likes of Big Bill Broonzy, Soony Williamson and Brownie McGhee, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Lightnin' Hopkins, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Son House and so many more. It changed my life; I started playing the blues and never looked back. So good to see these old guys' music preserved for ever.
Sam was a guest of ours at Benedictine College in Atchison, KS in 1977 as we hired him for a small concert. At the time i had no idea what a gem we had in our midst, nor did any of my colleagues. Sam played a nice concert for our students but i admit we never really appreciated what a force we had amongst us! Chalk it up to youthful ignorance. He was a total gentleman and when we tried to ply him with some booze prior to the concert he would have none of it! What can i say, we were 18-19 and thought every performer wanted to be imbibed prior to performance. He was a great performer and we enjoyed his songs despite our ignorance of his roots / music! So sorry i did not appreciate his greatness at the time, but youth is wasted on the young.
What saddens me the most is all the music we have lost, with every person like this that has gone. So much music from our past we will never have the pleasure to listen to. People had real talent for playing instruments before technology.
Sam shared a lot of time (4 days!) with me during two folk festivals in San Diego, 1972 and 1973. He was an incredibly fun guy to talk with, and his playing was obviously outstanding. Many people were entranced watching him play.
Kinda mind-blowing to think that this song was already old by the time Sam Chatmon learned it. When you really start to think about all the different kinds of music from the years before recordings that are just lost to history...
This is an incredible video...I had no idea he was on RUclips...I know this guy. Reconized him immediately. He is a little older in these videos but you cant mistake his style. One of the last living authentic delta blues players. Oh...BTW I grew up in Miss. and lived in the delta for years. Back then for a few bucks - and a little kicker- Sam would be happy to come over and play.
He’s also singing about old world hospitality. Which is a concept several thousand years old. To entreat the traveler. To call him guest. Which is a powerful tradition to keep the world from devouring itself. Men might war. Might rob. Might kill. But no one who wished to deal with anyone well ever again let violated the tradition. And so the world became one people might travel through.
never heard the song or heard of him before. u reckon u just gotta like a fellah like him though. thx. for sharing so i will be listening to some more Sam Chatmon i guarantee
wow this is just so special and beautiful! i only know (and cover) the Gillian Welch version but this here make me wanna make a batch of great-grandma's cornbread!!
I'm very proud to see his legacy lives on. I got to personally witness his performance of these songs as a child from Compton, California. He is my dad's stepfather although we don't do "step" in our family.
Oh dear, I'm 83 and still pickin'. Seeing Sam I'll keep on.
Hope you do brother!!! peace!
Bless you my brother!
Keep on pickin!
A friend of mine asked Sam if he was worried about dying. He said, “The Lord’s gonna have to draft me. I ain’t gonna volunteer.” The day before Sam died, my friend called me and said, “Ole Sam is at the draft board.” 💙🙏🏻
never stop pickin !!!
I bet he never would have thought in his wildest dreams 2 million people would watch him sing this
Haha,yeah
That's a great thought. 👍
@@SoulGnosis ..yes,it is..haha
Might as well have been a silent movie.
add one more to it. Not sure how I found it...but I sure did enjoy it.
It's 2021, I'm 20 years old, and Sam is still moving hearts and souls even after so many decades.. God bless you Sam... rest in love
Its pretty awesome that someone your age is still loving this old time music..👍
@@kingcujo420 i reckon. Im 45 and love this stuff im also from lil old New Zealand and to read this young comment restores my faith in the next generation around the world.
Take it easy people learn to love; forgive and restore each other.
im 17 from Jennings county Indiana, southern culture yessir!
I’m a 20yo boy from Quebec,Canada. We got have the souther soul!
I'm 37 1983... good to see that people younger than me still care about good music and talent
"Don't never drive a stranger from your door, he may be your best friend, you don't know."
Just make me down a pallet on yo flo'
Yep that sure is what he said
artalli • A great lyric for sure .
don't get too sentimental, it's a song about fuckin the boss-man's wife but still being so humble you won't sleep in the big man's bed. he just here to give some lovin' then you can "send'im back to the field so it can rain some more"
@@FormalFistFight You are not sentimental at all, aren't you, little tough guy? Making America wild again...
Alan Lomax is the patron saint of American folk music.
And John Lomax too!
Repent and trust in Jesus. We all deserve Hell for our sins, such as lying lusting coveting and more. We can't save ourselves, but Jesus can save us. He died on the cross to save us for our sins and rose from the grave defeating death and Hell. You must put your faith in him only. He is the only way to Heaven. Repent and trust in Jesus.
Romans 6:23
John 3:16❤❤😊
@@christianweatherbroadcasting no one deserves hell you piece of shit and anyone who worships a god who says so is a fuckin lunatic, god was silent for the holocaust so he can suck my fuckin dick.
It may have taken 5 years, but the fact that an Alan Lomax field recording has 561 000 hits sorta restores my faith in humanity.
Up to 753,325 views today!
Awesome.
@@Zb_Calisthenic ..820,827 now.
@@genemounce8302 823,000
@@genemounce8302 omg 823,001! ...i replayed it
When he finally started playing (1:46) I sat up and listened very hard. It was like traveling into the past to hear an old language.
Indeed.
Amen
I was the same way lol that’s funny when I read this.
This song brings tears to my eyes. There's an intensity and urgently to it that I can't put my finger on, but it hits me square in the soul each time.
@@gingegingerton Who hurt you?
The Lomax family did a great service, recording these American legends. Thank you!
Sam Chatmon comes from a musical dynasty. His mother Eliza was a minstrel show performer, and she had several children with different men. Sam Chatmon and his brother Bo Carter (who wrote Corrinna, Corrinna) formed the Mississippi Sheiks. Sam and another brother, Lonnie formed the Bluebird act 'The Chatmon Brothers.' Their father, Henderson Chatmon was a minstrel show fiddler, and likely also the father of Charlie Patton.
Though born a slave, Henderson Chatmon was almost certainly the offspring of his Dutch master, and was known to closely resemble his father/master so much that he was sometimes pulled out of the minstrel shows he played for 'being too white'. His complexion did not darken until well into adulthood. He passed these caucausian features on to his sons.
Sam's mother, Liza, was also very fair-skinned, and she too believed her father to be a white man of German descent.
So for anyone wondering why Sam Chatmon (or Charlie Patton) look caucausian, it's because they were likely of 50% German/Dutch and 50% African descent.
Also, Sam states here that his songs pre-dated the Blues, which they did. While the roots of the Blues run deep, pre-dating even the slavery period, "The Blues Music" as popularly understood wasn't commercially marketed until the 1920s. To call Leadbelly or Sam Chatmon "blues musicians" completely negates the bulk of their output, which consisted of field hollers, gospel, folk, jug band, polkas, waltzes, classical and popular standards.
Thank you for these fools saying he looked like a white man, it's the one drop rule. He looks like my grandfather. These idiots try and turn a blind eye to slavery. My great grandfather was half white and his father was a slave owner he was born in 1873 and died in 1983 a year before I was born. He fled rome georgia bc he killed a white man and he left his family by hopping on a train headed for Alabama. These entitled fucks don't have a clue what black people went thru back then.
Thank you. I was wondering.
Wow I had no idea about him and bo carter, I'm gonna go listen to their joint music
Thank you for this. I grew up in Bolton Mississippi around the corner from a house that had a sign about the Chatmon’s out front.
Thank you Marvin for all the great info and insight! I can't decide if you saved me time in my own research or perhaps lengthened my trip down the rabbit hole with all those amazing spurs on lineage; LOL! Seriously although his memory deserves all the accolades in the comments, thank you for the illumination!!!!
I'm from north Carolina originally and started out playing blues and folk music when I was about 8 years old. I started doing this because I was introduced to this old man in my neighborhood who played that type of music. I would sit and listen to him play for long hours and my mom didn't want me hanging out with him because he was an elderly alcoholic. He showed me chords for the first time and how to do little licks and hammer-ons and walk-ins. I enjoyed it so much as a kid without realizing how it was going to impact my entire life.
As a kid in North Carolina, making a pallet on the floor was nothing new. That's what we called it when you would lay a few blankets on the floor to sleep on. I always slept with my head in the V of my arm. I did this so much that even though I have a shit ton of pillows now, I still sleep in the V of my arm now.
I'd give anything to go back to those mornings of waking up on a floor pallet, to a breakfast of fried eggs and liver mush. Those were truly my favorite days.
Now I'm still the same kid in love with that music, except for I'm 30 now. I still play blues, folk, and bluegrass.
P.S. while I was in middle school I used to swipe these Alan Lomax books from my school and I learned a lot of blues and folk songs from them. I kept those books forever and somehow along the years I either lost them or someone swiped them from me. I hope wherever they are that they are helping someone learn some truly magnificent songs :)
Gotdamn you 30? I thought this was written some 67-odd years ago from back in the way-backs
❤
Really enjoyed your story
@Ace-gi4bp 34 now but yea I'll still be playing when I'm 67 too haha
@missybelmore4631 thank you, I'm glad you did
Just looking at this man's face says more words than he can express
Naw partner love and moonshine;)
U don't know shit
Love to been able to sit around sip on a jar and learn a few things that feller knows
A face with a view.
Jake what do you know? Are you really really smawt?
As a guitarist I come here constantly to remind myself of where the blues came from, what it means to be an American.
Truly inspirational and special. Also listen to how high the action is on that guitar and the tone freaking insane!
The syncopation of the early blues is so beautiful. Ragtime on guitar :-)
Nice call !
I had to google that word lol. Very true.
There was alot to do without much
Claus H Excellent point! Well said. 👍👏
When I listen this old voice I imagine that it coming from that times when were revolvers, winchesters, steam trains and long-long dusty roads from end to end of the country... When people were tough like iron but has soft singin souls... I really love a music of old America... Thank You, mr. Chatmon from Russia!
Repent and trust in Jesus. We all deserve Hell for our sins, such as lying lusting coveting and more. We can't save ourselves, but Jesus can save us. He died on the cross to save us for our sins and rose from the grave defeating death and Hell. You must put your faith in him only. He is the only way to Heaven. Repent and trust in Jesus.
Romans 6:23
John 3:16❤❤😊❤
@@christianweatherbroadcasting
shut up with that crap!!
None of my northern friends use the term 'pallets'. To us southerners, it means a stack of blankets on the floor to sleep on :)
I’m a senior citizen in central Missouri. I was a youngster, actually slept on a feather bed at grandmas house. And slept on pallets a few times too
From Indiana. We use it up here, or at least my family does
A pallet is something you use in a warehouse to move a large quantity of goods, usually made of wood slats.
@@LucasJRice The word "pallet" predates forklifts, and refers to a thin bed on the floor.
Yes! A pallet is a couple blankets to lay in between. A pillow if you're lucky. Pallet Parties were always fun. I can't believe I'm explaining this...
That's what my grandma would say in her Arkansas accent when I'd go stay the weekend,let me make you a pallet on the floor, and she would lay some blankets down on the floor for my bed.
Anonymous Goat I'm from South Carolina. I remember hearing that the first time when I was young when going to stay the night at a friend's house.
@@hootiehootheblowphish4109 I live in a studio and I do that all the time when I have a friend spend the night.
my mom as well but she's from indiana
tbh I've always felt that Indianapolis is more or less the real gateway to the south because as soon as your south of indy you start hearing the accents more and more
Same with my grandmother from Texas
This is History: the true Peoples History of the United States, not second or third hand commentary. Precious and beautiful. Thank you.
How did you hold a guitar when you were three years old ?
I HELD IT
Hello friend, how're you doing today?
Best answer I ever heard
Suzuki Method😁😄
4 yrs old n in his Hands, Beevis
♥️
Holy fuck. What a beautiful preservation of a moment in time.
Ain't no three year old knows the true meaning of the blues. Sam: "I reckon I might".
This comment deserves 1000 likes
Dewie I've been halved.
honestly one of the most gangster things ever said
WRONG KID DIED GOD DAMMIT.
Dwight K Schrute..I couldn't agree more and I ain't pranking you like Jim Halpert.
Just found out this is my great grandfather. Wish I could have met him at least once. He's so amazing!!
So sorry that he passed! He was a great musician
I saw him in Ames, Iowa, about this same year. Sat on the stage by himself, didn't say much...and played for over 3 hours, no break. Wow!
sam chamon is your grandfather , fabulous history for your family
Monica Blakely really
Monica Blakely yes yes yes
thank you Alan Lomax.. for perserving this great music and history
Hello friend, how're you doing today?
Reminds me a lot of my family back in West Virginia. I was way too young to understand. Thank you for the video
Hey its you, love you're music and all of the others you post.
I used to live in West Virginia, l don't like it but I must say they should have they're own blues style because WV is more poor and depressed than the Mississippi Delta!
Thanks😀👍😎😘
First time I heard all the lyrics .
Kegz amen homie I was lucky to be round dem ol folk in the land of the wild and wonderful , great gramps and granma ......salt of the earth 🌏 people
My mom used to make me a pallet on the floor. When I first heard this song it was Mississippi Fred McDowell, and it reminded me of my childhood, and always makes me smile. This fellas rendition of it was a real treat
Amazing. RUclips - you’ve done it again 🙏
Damn, Quist giving complementing a video like this warmths my heart.
RUclips?
RUclips didn't do shit except ghost, ban and filter truth. RUclips has become a dungheap, just like Facebook and Twitter.
@@canigetachannel That's cool bro, but have you ever tried cold lasagna? That shit is bomb.
@@hunterfontaine5832 truue cold lasagna slap
I saw him perform in 1972. He played a cheap Stella acoustic, the kind you could buy for about $15 in the 1960's, but the sound he got out of it was perfect for the Delta blues he played so well. Also a good singer who could swoop into a nice falsetto when a song called for it.
Thankful that Alan Lomax, John Bishop, and Worth Long and others were able to capture these original old blues players/singers.
Greetings from Vancouver Island British Columbia Canada
This video is an absolute treasure of american history
You know this fellow had some stories, you can see it in those glorious lines in his face. A real treasure.
Hoping I can be this cool at that age
hahahaha same
Are you this cool now? It doesn't just appear at a certain age. Start being cool today and keep doing it. Then if you are fortunate enough to live to old age, don't worry, you will still be cool.
@MichaelKingsfordGray Come, now. How do you know that's not a real name? People are odd animals, you know. Lol
@MichaelKingsfordGray I hope you can learn to recognize a joke some day.
Sam was 81 when this recording was made, departed this ole world in 1983
He ain't playing that tune... he living it
Sure is
The Elderly are so precious and wise!!! They've got so much to teach us!!! Take care of your elder's till their dying days!!! Keep them home with you!!! God Bless!!!
this is music that should be kept alive and live forever! why are we going away from this
This is touching. The blues is soul food, it really is.
z baker except as he states. This isnt blues. More folk
All the music we have lost when people like this leave, we have a lot of the mainstream music of our past. this is the kind of stuff not passed down or very little known the real gems most will never hear, this is the music we need to protect for our future.
Wow......i dunno what else to say as this kinda music is beyond incredible on so many levels
Yup
I was in his company in around 1975 when we stayed In Ken & Phyllis Swerilas house in El Cajon Cal. Boy could that man talk and play music. Absolute one of the highlights in my life in the musical field. RIP Sam Ken &Phyllis.
I love this guy. I'm surprised no one noticed that he's tuned a step and a half down. He's playing in C but the result is A. When the strings are that lose they sound a little out of tune even if the guitar is tuned correctly. I myself am getting old and have tuned down on occasion to compensate for the loss of hand strength.
You're right - I just posted a similar reply before seeing yours. It doesn't sound out of tune with itself to my ears - at least not significantly. It's not exactly a step and a half down, just a little less.
@@Jonpriley xxl
I mos def noticed im a guitar player and i think it was awesome!
Loose*
Also you can hear that loose high E buzz, apart of the blues
❤️❤️❤️ I’m 34 years old and I love music and get tired of listening to the same genres and song from the same time errors. I don’t play any instrument really but just have so much love for listening to music. People think I’m crazy cause My playlist has everything from From rap country blue grass funk reggae rock gospel etc... I think I pretty much have most genres except opera. I can’t get enough music in my life.
same.. I'm up to 75K mp3's now, many are full albums.. I can't get into rap much.. I'm missing John Prine now.. I heard an interview with him where he said "I was told my songs get played more around the campfire than the radio.. I'm alright with that"
Please have a go learning an instrument. You're still young. Trust me, you'll never look back.
obviously the people who gave this thumbs down dont know sh!t about music and tradition. What this man is playing paved the road for rock and roll, pop, and the semi talented artists of today. Artists who cant write songs to save their lives, they have a team of songwriters and the best recording engineers just to put out a song or an album.... This man played music because he loved it, not to get rich and have 12 car garages or be featured every 20 mins on the radio.... He played music because it was a part of him, not to make money. go listen to some robert johnson from the 20's. yes its not perfect, but it IS from the heart. Respect real music and real musicians. You dont have to like every song.... but you should be able to pay it some sort of respect for paving the way.
doug h WELL ARTICULATED! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
That I do give him.
I just knew myself better after listening to Sam Chatmon. What a treasure these soulful pickers are.
This is real music,no producers saying what people want to hear,no fancy record execs telling you how to look to sell more records,not even a care if anyone outside of friends hear it,jam on old timer jam on!
One of the first songs I ever learned on guitar--over 50 years ago
Thanks, Rick
Thank God for videos like this so we can see what we missed in America’s rich musical past.
The best parts of America, right here to listen to...
And with these old timers, they lived the music that they wrote. I could listen to this all day.
Wow! He sings a bunch of verses that I've never heard as part of "Pallet". That's a true folk musician, he carried a bunch of history around in his head. He probably made up many of those verses himself. What a fantastic bluesman.
Reading this title, I have a vision in my minds eye, of my sweet long passed on Grandmother, when the family was at their house to visit, when we were trying to decide who was going to sleep where, telling us kids, that she was just going to "make us a pallet on the floor". Basically, a "pallet" was just some blankets on the floor where us kids would all sleep since there was not enough beds and couches to lay on, the adults got those, us kids were on the floor. RIP Grandma.
this is a fine piece of gold
ole' timers are the "salt" of the earth....such "beacons" for us younger folk on our journey!
i "agree" with your.....very "relatable" and "cogent" "comment"
Ole' timer here and SOME of us are. Most are just normal folk. Age in not an accomplishment and there are plenty of old assholes.
D67 6788
True. Both my grandfathers were assholes, each in his own way. I attribute it mostly to living through two world wars and the depression of the thirties --had to be a hard man to provide for a half-dozen children (both of my parents were the youngest of six kids) and a wife, working the land and in the shipyards.
Clifton Painter you sound stupid, all you have to do to grow old is nothing. It’s literally the one thing that you can’t change with effort, money, will power.
I was expecting Bluegrass. This is true blues. Thanks, it sounds like he enjoyed his life. Sam could have a pillow and pallet at my place if he were still around. Unfortunately he was my grandfather's age. Gone but not forgotten. I'd even have thrown in a blanket and breakfast (If he liked Eggos & coffee). Great tune. I'll look for more of his music.
I came to watch this after I sung it at my grandfathers funeral. The only song he requested. Alan is a treasure.
From south Carolina,I play blues harmonica,self taught, you are awesome!!!
Never have I heard a guitar sound so Beautifull.
Giving thanks to the people who recorded it. And to the man playing the guitar and singing most of all.
I have a soft spot in my heart for anyone who pronounces it, gui- tar.
U mean GEEEE-TAR!!!
It ain't put on. That's how almost everybody from my corner of Missouri said it.
All this music will be lost to the RUclips archives one day :( we all need this music!
Hello Susan..
I just met a guy who grew up in Mississippi. His grandmother was friends of Sam Chatmon and Bo Carter. He told me to check them out. Thank God that I did!!
This video of Sam has more to say than just his song. A lot of great wisdom from a good life Shines from that Happy face of his!
No doubt many a story lie underneath that hat he sports too?
Much Respect Sir.
Kenny
Loves. REd.HEADED. WOMEN
I sing much BETTER
@@kennycock112 you're such a dick!
His face expressions, beard and accent are the most blues thing ever.
You know I watched this video about 6 or 7 years ago, and Sam's voice and face has never left my memory. Truly an amazing dude. That full step down on that geetar sounds so full.
What relieves me in here, is that Sam Chatmon was 81at this time, and hearing and seeing play and sing that way reminds me that whatever happens, no matter how low and blue you feel, as long as you have music, you'll be safe. I promise you, as long as you keep playing or listening to the blues, you can make it through anything in life. This is the point of the blues, singing and telling your pain through music.
Why was this so rejuvenating!
Listening to this, only but helps me realize - Not much has changed since then, but the cost of living... Dope...
Id have love to sat and just listened to anything this gentlemen had to say or play may you be at peace sir .
The swag absolutely pours outta this ol man!!! What a treasure!!!
I love it! Brings back memories from my youth.
Old gems like this.... Must be alot forgotten forever. Thank you for the experience.
I grew up in Mississippi in the 1960s-1970s. My grandmother used the phase " Make your pallet on the floor Gary" when I spent the night 🌙.
A real gem! I wish I could play like that! This is an achievement! Thanks for sharing this moment.
🎶🎶
His vocals when he starts singing is absolutely spot on.
This is the coolest old dude who ever lived.
A treasure. Thank you, Alan Lomax Archives
Wonderful. A man of music history.
Simple man, great music equals the richest person alive. God Bless Sam Chatmon
Such good music by Sam. Love his guitar style. Thanks to those who preserved this music. It makes my day!
Love this so much...reminds me of a song my daddy used to play and sing to us kids called Freight Train.
Jinxie B. Elizabeth Cotton wrote Freight Train. Look it up.
AMAZING VIDEO!!!!
thank you A Lomax. for getting all these great American songsters that never got on records on tape so we can enjoy it today
Hello friend, how're you doing today?
Thank God we all have these Lomax treasures. Great song.
Awww man..... this is pure gold. Thanks for sharing this moment with us!!!
Chills man. Chills
This is gold.
It's amazing how he stands so cool singing while playing the guitar at the same time.
EPIC
I'd been playing guitar for about eight years when I "discovered" the blues whilst watching a "Blues Night" on BBC2 here in the UK in the mid-80s. This was when I was introduced to the likes of Big Bill Broonzy, Soony Williamson and Brownie McGhee, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Lightnin' Hopkins, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Son House and so many more. It changed my life; I started playing the blues and never looked back.
So good to see these old guys' music preserved for ever.
Sorry, I meant Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, and Sonny Boy Williamson.
Sam was a guest of ours at Benedictine College in Atchison, KS in 1977 as we hired him for a small concert. At the time i had no idea what a gem we had in our midst, nor did any of my colleagues. Sam played a nice concert for our students but i admit we never really appreciated what a force we had amongst us! Chalk it up to youthful ignorance. He was a total gentleman and when we tried to ply him with some booze prior to the concert he would have none of it! What can i say, we were 18-19 and thought every performer wanted to be imbibed prior to performance. He was a great performer and we enjoyed his songs despite our ignorance of his roots / music! So sorry i did not appreciate his greatness at the time, but youth is wasted on the young.
What an absolutely legend, what I'd have given to spend even just a day with this man, the story's he could tell :(
Beautiful voice.
This video made me shed some tears, what a wonderful man. I admire his outlook and ability to create such magnificent music.
What saddens me the most is all the music we have lost, with every person like this that has gone. So much music from our past we will never have the pleasure to listen to. People had real talent for playing instruments before technology.
Sam shared a lot of time (4 days!) with me during two folk festivals in San Diego, 1972 and 1973. He was an incredibly fun guy to talk with, and his playing was obviously outstanding. Many people were entranced watching him play.
Kinda mind-blowing to think that this song was already old by the time Sam Chatmon learned it. When you really start to think about all the different kinds of music from the years before recordings that are just lost to history...
This is an incredible video...I had no idea he was on RUclips...I know this guy. Reconized him immediately. He is a little older in these videos but you cant mistake his style. One of the last living authentic delta blues players. Oh...BTW I grew up in Miss. and lived in the delta for years. Back then for a few bucks - and a little kicker- Sam would be happy to come over and play.
Sam's been dead for 32 years darling.
Right...he died February 2, 1983. So whats your point. I got an early start.
Kate Allen
Forgive me. Your profile pic looks like you're way too young to have witnessed him in person. Cheers!
Brian Waddle Yeah you made an assumption. That may not be her picture, could be anyone :) Nice words :)
I can’t imagine back then this gentleman knew this recording would live on and be listened to in 2020... I almost feel like I’m a time traveler...
First heard this sung by MIssissippi John Hurt years ago still love this music , simple and plain like life in those days
I’m fascinated by live color video of someone who live so much so long ago. 40 years ago.
He’s also singing about old world hospitality. Which is a concept several thousand years old. To entreat the traveler. To call him guest. Which is a powerful tradition to keep the world from devouring itself. Men might war. Might rob. Might kill. But no one who wished to deal with anyone well ever again let violated the tradition. And so the world became one people might travel through.
never heard the song or heard of him before. u reckon u just gotta like a fellah like him though. thx. for sharing
so i will be listening to some more Sam Chatmon i guarantee
wow this is just so special and beautiful! i only know (and cover) the Gillian Welch version but this here make me wanna make a batch of great-grandma's cornbread!!
Sam Chatmon was a great bluesman.
Thanks for sharing and for keeping it alive.
I'm very proud to see his legacy lives on. I got to personally witness his performance of these songs as a child from Compton, California. He is my dad's stepfather although we don't do "step" in our family.
Sweet Jesus it’s could make an angel cry...