Norman Blake: The Full Story! "I'm a Blind Dog in a Meat Market!"
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- #SongbirdsFoundation #NormanBlake #VaultSessions
Four years ago, we had the pleasure of setting down with Norman Blake and Joel McCormick for an interview. Norman told us before we started, that due to some health issues he wouldn't be able to play much, if any. We pulled ten of our most iconic acoustic guitars and this is a full version of what happened-as he put it, "I'm like a blind dog in a meat market!" The only parts that we cut or edited were long sections of tuning and dead air. So, we hope that you enjoy the show with one of the greatest pickers of all time!
The Guitars:
1941 Martin D-45
1942 Martin Herringbone D-28
1924 Gibson F-5 Mandolin and L-5 Guitar (both signed by Lloyd Loar on March 31, 1924)
1947 Martin D-28
1937 Gibson Advanced Jumbo
1937 Martin 000-45
1934 Gibson Nick Lucas Special
1936 Martin D-18.
Timestamps:
00:00:11 "Salty"
00:01:40 Where did you grow up?
00:02:16 Who were some of your major influences?
00:05:11 What was it like playing with some of your major influences
00:07:21 were there any licks that really inspired you while you were learning to play?
00:13:26 "High Dad in the Morning"
00:19:00 "Caperton Ferry, Ruins of Richmond, Valley Head"
00:24:08 What was it like working with Johnny Cash
00:39:38 "Yellow Barber"
00:42:37 "In My Father's Footsteps"
00:45:10 What was your first guitar?
00:48:18 Didn't you also make some music with Steve Earle?
00:50:26 "Lula Walls"
00:54:03 Joel, how did you meet Norman?
00:55:01 "Rock of Ages"
00:58:55 On having a stroke and not performing
01:00:45 "Farewell Francisco Madero"
These sessions keep the music alive by helping the Songbirds Foundation raise money to buy guitars for kids…check out our website to find out more-songbirdsfoundation.org. SUBSCRIBE for more!
I got something to admit. I used to have lots of spirit, writing and singing and playing music, jumping around and dancing. When my dearly beloved wife passed from cancer, something powerful left out of me. Then I got crushed head to toe front to back in a 70 thousand pound concrete mixer I rolled upside down. Hardly is the time I even pick up an instrument anymore, but, watching things like this here story with Norman Blake, I feel a revival stirring inside me. Real glad to run across this. Thank you Norman for putting this out here , and thanks to everyone involved in making this video. I am very encouraged.
It’s a dark world. At you become re-accustomed to playing, the love you had for it will return, you won’t associate it with the past but with the present, and you will enjoy it once again.
I totally understand. I started playing at 12 and not a single day went by that I didn’t play the guitar several times a day. I took it with me everywhere I went. Then when I was 25 or so I went through some very stressful events and something inside me just snapped. I suddenly didn’t have the desire to pick up my guitar anymore for my usual daily jams. It just sat in the corner all the time. Then it ended up put away in the case and I didn’t even see it anymore. Now it’s been about 12 years since I’ve done any playing. I can still play it but my rhythm and timing has taken a serious blow. I can still pick the Wildwood flower and stuff like that like I always could but it’s my strumming and timing that feels like I’m starting all over again. But I just bought a new Martin guitar and trying to revive my old love for playing. So you are definitely not alone
man that sounds horrific. hope you're ok now with your injuries.
Prayers and love, brother. Life is full of surprises, and it’s up to each of us to choose how we respond. These days I wake and say “This is the best day of my life!” I realized no one is going to call me up and say tell that, so it is up to me to make every day the best day, to take advantage of every moment and not let the seconds slip through my fingers. It has taken me 73 and a half years to get here, and I WILL make today the best day of my life!! 🙏❤️❤️
I got know Norman and Nancy in the early 1980s. They would stop at my house in Albuquerque on their way to Telluride or somewhere west. They would stay for a week sometimes, with James Bryan. I would work on their fiddles, and then they bought a couple from me. Norman would walk around the house playing his mandolin all day long, one tune after another. It was a lot of fun getting to know him and Nancy, and then his friend Peter Ostroushko, who played one of my mandolins for years. Norman was a funny old guy, even when he was young! But I believe nowadays he is not given the credit he deserves. He and his band helped to bring back old time music
Norman Blake is simply a National Treasure! For all you younger folks watching, you need to dive into Norman's work here on RUclips and beyond, you won't be disappointed.
He’s absolutely amazing!
I'm loving this! I'm 29 and I'll consider myself young until 99 if the good lord don't want me sooner. What's on your top list for music to listen too? I'm discovering this genre and the ones connected to it, and would love some pointers :) After hearing Honkey Tonk Heroes I've started delving into all these gems.
@@CS_Sardine Bob Minner, Roscoe Holcomb, Ola Belle Reed, Cindy Walker
Whiskey before Breakfast is obviously mind boggling but I also really enjoy The Fields of November
Texas Gales showed me that I ain't learned nothing about guitar in 26 years lol
I met this man in his yard. Locals told me he'd lived there for years and I stopped by with a guitar to jam, but he had a root canal that morning. So happy I got to shake his hand and thank him for his music.
Norman, Doc and Tony Rice are the best flat pickers that ever lived.
…..Clarence White has entered the chat
@@jordanbyates
Clarence never gets enough credit, in my opinion...
I have had the good fortune of getting to meet Norman and Nancy on a number of occasions. In the early seventies I worked for a guy whose brother was a former roommate of Norman’s. I bought a brand new J-50 in 1973, and Norman was the first person besides me to play it. Fortunately he gave it his “thumbs up.” Fast forward a decade, and the band I was in were booked for a show at a local college. Several hours before we went on their radio station to talk about our music, then headed to our sound check. After we finished, one of the stagehands told me there was someone who wanted to meet me. I asked who, and his reply was that it was Norman and Nancy Blake and then asked if I knew who they were. Turns out that they had lIstened to interview and decided to drop in. I got the chance to hang out with them that afternoon and they ended up attending the show. What an honor! Over the next few years they would drop by the record store I ran to shop and to visit. Great people and great musicians!
I was one of those people in the 70's that hung on every word and note. I miss those days.
Funny how Norman goes from "i can barely play, probably" to not being able to resist singing harmony with Joel. Long live Norman Blake, a class act if there ever was one.
I had heard his records and seen him live, but never heard him talk. I didn't realize he had worked with EVERYBODY. What a guy.
You can start a greatest of all time flatpickers starting with Norman, Tony, Doc and Clarence without argument. After that there’s a lot to choose from but these four without question laid the foundation for those to come.
It’s so great to see that Norman is still playing so well, with an intellect that is as sharp as a tack. Norman Blake IS one of “the Greats”. Thanks so much for posting !
@@larkinblake1327 Thanks for the note Larkin. Best wishes to you and your family….and to many more years of healthy picking for your father !
Norman may think he can’t sing a good song anymore but the way he set in on “Farewell Francisco Madero” after several years with only a few preliminary notes while he found his place and then rendered a very, very nice performance in vocals and picking. He’s amazing and as others have said he’s a treasure.
He's a living, breathing compendium of the last 70 years of folk / bluegrass music. Amazing. I hope Norman Blake lives another decade, if not more.
How lovely is this ❤
For a 35 year old flatpickin' lover and poor attempter from the same area as this terrific man, very lovely. Helps me to appreciate the roots of my southern appalachian heritage. It's quickly disappearing.
Dude, Norman's got beautiful mandolin tone. I love how utterly physical his whole style is on all of the instruments he plays
Great to see Norman alive and well; congrats to his election into the BGMHoF.
Love the way Norman plays Whiskey Before Breakfast.
I still love Norman's voice, he's aging with style and grace. There's much admiration and he's such an inspiration to soo many. Love you !! Norman
As highly as I regard all the acoustic heroes, I think Norman taught me how to love acoustic old time, rootsy music and instruments better than anyone. Very much obliged sir! I recall seeing Norman & Nancy at a beautiful colonial meeting house in Fitzwilliam NH one year, around apple pickin' time IIRC.
Yeah same here. What a guy
Wonderful Norman Blake! Can't wait to come at Songbirds!
What a pleasure to sit and listen to one of the greatest musicians living like he’s in your living room playing with the touch and tone he always and answering the questions you might have asked yourself. Thank you!
Lovely. He really is a treasure. So awesome that he did this. Kudos to you guys for asking good questions, and just letting him talk and play.
Norman Blake is one of my favorite guitar pickers. He makes everything loos so easy and natural, plus he is always having fun, which makes it fun for me to watch.
It is interesting to watch - the rythm player and Mr. Blake tap their feet to different tempos.
That's a good observation thanks for pointing it out but divide in half and multiply by two
While Norman's guitar playing puts him in a very small group of the world's best, it's his mandolin playing and even more so, his composing of original mandolin pieces that i think defines him as nothing short of a genius. I feel blessed by many things but having gotten to live when Norman was playing and recording is one that's pretty high on the list.
Peter Ostroushko told me that he thought Nine Mile Waltz? And Blake’s March were two of the finest mandolin pieces he ever heard
Norman is a huge inspiration to me, picked up playing the mando from listening to his early albums. A deceptively brilliant musician.
Far far too long ago to remember exactly when I had the great fortune to see a show with Norman and Nancy. It was in a small room at the University of Bridgeport with too few people in attendance and I was able to sit in the front row right in front of them. Not being a newcomer to Normans music (I owned every record of his that I could find at the time) I was in total awe during the show. Amazing performance. Thank you both.
Stories and tunes on vintage instruments along with Norman’s memories of every detail!
Love this. Norman is a favourite of mine.
My grandson Jakob just won second place in West Virginia flatpicking competition, he used to call him Norman Bwake
Norman can play anything! Wonderful, talented, humble human being, who played with the greats!
Thanks so much for this, it's wonderful to see Mr. Blake looking and sounding so fit.
thank you for this. he's been my soundtrack since my first gravel road.
AMEN
Words can’t describe 🔥
So nice to hear Norman play some more. He still has his signature sound. I listened to him for many years. Got to see him live once in this little down home saloon. Special times. Thanks for sharing.
Fantastic. I'm so glad I took the time to watch this.
84 years old, still at it. I’ve always loved his music, but listening to his knowledge is just as good or better. I could listen to him all day. Why didn’t you ask him about Tony Rice?
I was first introduced to you when I watched O Brother Where Art Thou, but I didn't know it yet. Years later I watched the Ballad of Buster Scruggs and I became obsessed with the soundtrack. In particular the song that was played in the bar when the Sun Saba Songbird walks into it. I found your video where you flatpick it for a DVD recording and since then your music has been a staple in my life. I am grateful to have lived in the world at the same moment you are alive. Your gift to the world is great, well done.
"Farewell Francisco Madero" sounds great with Norman on that 1937 Martin 000-45 guitar, and that song begins at approximately 01:00:13 in the above video.
love this guy..ol southerner lol by the ol railroad track
wow! I've listen to Blake all my life and had no clue he could play mandolin like this! amazing musician! thank you for sharing this wonderful video!
Thank YOU for watching! ❤
God bless Norman Blake! The joy and inspiration this man and his wife has given me is immeasurable. I treasure every minute of the time I've spent listening to his music. I am probably his biggest fanning the whole of from South Africa :)
I had the rare treat to hear a N&N Blake mini- concert in a small town where I was living in the mid '70s. I don't know the exact date, but they played until midnight, as I recall. I chatted briefly with them and told them how much their music had influenced my picking. He told me to keep pickin'. I have, after all these years, and taken up the mandolin as well.
P.S. Another music icon has left us, as I write this. Loretta Lynn at 90 has gone to the other side.
I could listen to this all day ! Thank you
It's always a treat to see anything Norman Blake does he has always been my favorite flatpicker and a influence on my own playing. It's good to see he is still in good health and still picking. I'm not sure which I enjoyed watching him pick or getting to listen to him shoot the shit with you guys. Thank you so much for this!
Norman, I just want to say how much your olde-time Georgia music has inspired me for many years since I saw you and Nancy and James playing at State 4 in Winfield. That's the first time I heard "Ginseng Sullivan"".
Hahaha his Monroe impression is impeccable
In the 70's, I heard Norman Blake play black mountain rag... Ripped it up....
I was able see Norman in Louisville KY Nineteen Seventy Six on Main Street at "the Bluegrass Bar" which was a "Real" hole in the wall. There might have been Ten...no more than Twelve people there that Saturday Night. What a treat it night was....He has put lots of miles on his fret board since then...His performance was flawless. Thanks Norman...
This is frigging fantastic! Period!
Norman sure is a National!!Treasure!!
I bought home in sulphur springs years ago Norman is an amazing guitarist
I love this Man😃
Yeah, my first guitar was in 1962. It was a Harmony arch top and I swore it sounded like Peter, Paul and Mary, which of course it did NOT. I played with it till the windings on the strings started to come unwound. There was no internet in those days or Amazon or place to get new strings in my home town, so I just kept on playing. Then I broke a string and my dad took pity on me. Somehow, somewhere he found me a new set of strings. This new set lasted me till after I graduated high school in '65. I had that cheap $ 20 guitar for a couple more years when I found a music store in Denver and bought a brand new Gibson J-50 in '66 for $ 250 with a cardboard case.
Wow... Wonderful.
Norman was my hero anyway but this video just makes me love him even more, his voice sounds great to me!!!
What a talent, and what a career!
Thanks for all the great music, Norman!
Norman is my go to feller if and when I want to learn a new tune to play on mandolin. He is just so smooth and layed back. First time I ever heard him live and playing mandolin, I said to a buddy, I 've got to get a mandolin and learn to play like that. Here we are many decades later and I'm getting closer to having a satisfied soul. Thank you Norman.
Big Norman (and Nancy) fan. Thx.
Thanks for this! Yes, he is a treasure for sure!
A living legend here folks .
I just love Norman! He's just simply the real thing with no embellishment! I've been a fan since I first heard him on a record my uncle had.
your still my hero, totally enjoyed the Video!
It’s great to see you Norman! Thanks for your gift of music. I still hang on Avery line and riff.
Wow saw him play at the fair I was the only one that knew who he was greatest player out there and those guitars in the background
or incredible. Millions of dollars there . Can’t replace those .
It's funny but I just noticed this video while sitting in a park about a quarter mile away from a small room at the University of Bridgeport where I was seated in the front row about as close to Norman and Nancy as this video looks. The show was so many years ago I couldn't even guess when it was. I can still hear the music and see that show in my mind. It was just great. I was a fan of his for year before that show and still own all his records even though l have a record player. People like these are priceless.
Norman is spot on about the short attention spans, the sound bites, and the chop chop on everything. I can totally, completely agree with him.
We have become a world of fleas on crack that hopped into the espresso.
If something requires more than 5 words or 10 seconds, forget it. It's not gonna happen.
I try to share this kind of stuff, and after 10 seconds, the eyes glaze over, and out comes the phone.
Time to look at lady Gaga's new tattoo.
Technology is taking away so many things we may never get back.
The playing sounds so effortless after Seasoned and earned time, Gentlemen! The clackin' on the mandolin sounds like mountain clogging: The guard and E string, thanks! Glorious, fellas!
Thank you so much for recording and posting this. I discovered Norman 40 years ago and have listened ever since. I. Ave incorporated several of his original tunes into my repertoire.
I always liked the way he would go through the entire tune at least 3 times and each time would vary a little, get a bit fancier or add an instrument for more harmony parts. The entire "Underground music from the mysterious South" or " Natasha's Waltz" albums(CD) are examples of this. He taught one of my jamming friends clawhammer banjo.
THE BEST!
I hope he's still well! absolutely a great!
Norman is a national treasure!!
You didn’t ask him about the tony rice albums!! I guess Norman’s done too much cool shit. God imagine smoking up with Norman, just a super cool cat
awsome
LOVE THIS!!
man, I didn't want that to end!!
This is amazing!
What a treat this channel is, seeing how amazing, iconic musicians use iconic treasured instruments to make great music. I’m looking forward to more electric guitar features.
Thank you so much! We've got lots of content coming y'all's way :)
Among other Blake tunes I admire and try to emulate is one called the Old Hollow Poplar I think it is one Nancy put together, but played only once in a concert somewhere. It is in a book, but I can't find it, so I worked it out by the 'old school' method -- by "ear" !
That's the old fiddle tune Hollow Poplar, best known from the 1970s Rounder recording by Kentucky fiddler Buddy Thomas.
@@Mignarda I have Hollow Poplar in a book of old fiddle tunes and I don't think it's the same tune. Norman and Nancy's version is more interesting. I will have to delve into this old tune more and see if it is the same tune. Thanks friend, Bob
Hollow Poplar comes from the book of fiddle tunes collected by R.P. Christeson called the Old-Time Fiddler's Repertory, Vol. 1, published by University of Missouri Press.
I really enjoyed the video, such a great story.
🙏
✨
👑
He's so cool.
What a great interview! A bit sad seeing no questions were asked about playing with Doc Watson and Tony Rice
hey, I got the same kind of shoes as Norman/ good fit.
🤩
Glorious
Thank you for sharing
💥
Nice
If anyone knows how to get a hold of this man, I would love to interview him for an up and coming article.
Wonderful. These guitars are all in pristine condition. I can't help but to wince every time Norman leans that guitar against the metal buttons on his bib overalls...LOL.
well paint and varnish don't make the music. Look at Willy Nelson's Trigger with the hole scratched into the face.
I’ve stuck with old time roots music and bluegrass stuff since I was a kid. I started at 12 and had nothing but a bluegrass song book with a chord chart on it. Many of the songs I didn’t even know, I just tried singing the words and playing the chords the book said to use. And to this day at 39 years old when I pick up a acoustic instrument I naturally desire to play old time traditional stuff. It’s just what sounds “ right” on a acoustic guitar to ME. Other types of music on acoustic instruments just don’t excite me any. I am NOT bashing other music I’m just saying the old time stuff is what I feel like a acoustic guitar was created for 👍🏻
And let me tell you young guys something…your friends might laugh and make fun of you for playing old “ hillbilly” stuff…but the girls will flock around you like hens around a pile of corn 🌽 👍🏻😎. Trust me it works 😂
I believe they have played together before.
I was like a blind dog in a meat market watching this.
It was energy we took some substances those days 😂
I still try whether or not on purpose to play like Norman.
What a great interview and presentation of one of my favorite players Norman Blake. If I could of done anything different it would be to turn up the MC some to hear him, and put a different mandolin in Norman's hands to remove the clicking. Thanks for this.
Looks like Leo was enjoying the playing.
Thank you for sharing this with us. What mics were used?
'36 Sunburst !
I'm getting me some overalls.