Posted by Mike Joyce on May 11, 19102 at 19:31:52:
In Reply to: Re: More on Earl's Guitar Music Transcriptions posted by Jim Plecan on May 10, 19102 at 14:16:19:
Hi Jim,
Well, if the truth were known, the inventor(s) is probably lost forever. Earl's guitar playing is a lot more complex with several styles that are blended. Mama Maybelle Carter was playing a similar style when Earl was born. The fingerpicking or thumbpicking or thumblick (it has a number of different names) also was around before Earl. Western Kentucky boasts that it came from that part of the country and the tree begins with Arnold Schultz to Kennedy Jones to Mose Rager and Ike Everly to Merle Travis to Chet Atkins.
But there were Mississippi Delta blues men like Mississippi John Hurt, and from North Carolina there was Blind Boy Fuller and Arthur (Blind)Blake. My great uncle, Norman Woodlieff was playing a form of that style with Charlie Poole and the NC Ramblers in the 20's.
I think what can be said, though, is that Earl created a sound not only on the banjo but on the guitar that is unique and easily identifiable as his and his alone.
In the next few weeks, I'll try to transcribe a medley of Earl's guitar breaks from a number of his gospel tunes like Paul and Silas, God Loves His Children, So Happy I'll Be, You Can Feel It In Your Soul.
There are a lot of tunes that Earl played that were never recorded like "Washed in the Blood of the Lamb", "Little Church in the Wildwood", "Turn Your Radio On", the list goes on.
And the pearl of his fingerstyle guitar playing (in my opinion) was the "Nine Pound Hammer" which unfortunately only an abbreviated version was recorded. My hope is that it will be found someday in some of the surviving Martha White videos that are rumored to exist.
I hope you like the transcriptions.
Best regards,
Mike