So Low Tech

Last Saturday after completing a bare minimum of the necessary chores, Kristin and I wandered down to Leadbetters. A friend was playing the afternoon gig with no microphone, no amps, just he and a guitar.

Nick's Guitar in it's infancy

The friend playing was Nick Trossbach. Besides being a musician, Nick is a luthier who made the guitar he used. Nick gave impetus to this musing. I extend him my thanks. Catch Nick when you have the opportunity; you won't be disappointed.

His performance transported me to a simpler age.  For a couple of hours, the guitar resonated music, hands clapped the beat, voices joined in harmony.

I understand the need for amplification and  appreciate the depth and texture electronics give to instruments. But the sound of unadulterated music touched an atavistic chord in my soul.

Music is in our DNA. Some anthropologists believe that producing melodious sounds predated speech. Perhaps music precipitated the spoken word. Before hollowed log drums and bone flutes, man stomped and clapped...a primal hambone.

 Digression Break: Hambone, also known as a Juba dance, came to this country through West African slaves. It's an a cappella form of dance in which hand-clapping, thigh-slapping,  and foot-stomping produce the rhythm. The style became a crowd favorite at county fairs and minstrel shows. Levon Helm's first performance was doing a hambone at a fair in Arkansas as a youth. This led to his love of percussion. Back to our regularly scheduled blog:

Saturday's interlude brought to mind friends and family sitting around a bonfire, or a front porch,playing and singing for fun. That has always been one of my favorite settings. Stop by my stoop in Fells Point one weekend morning when the weather is nice, and you'll see what I mean.  As ever BB

"To stand up on a stage alone with an acoustic guitar requires bravery bordering on heroism. Bordering on insanity." - Richard Thompson