Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Clinch Mountain Backstep

Buddy Winston: banjo
Zoomer Roberts: guitar
rehearsal for 1984 World Tour

This Ralph Stanley piece is just this side of being modal, which means the usual A, D and E7 chords don't work well as accompaniment. After approaching it unsatisfactorily from several different directions, we devised the arrangement heard here: using A, Em and -- in the second section -- C. The rest of the time I double the melody on the bass strings. The result is both ancient and modern.