With the arrival of autumn, students have returned to the campus, and the average age of our university township has fallen to 21 years. E-scooters traverse the leafy streets and sidewalks while the trees artfully repaint their foliage. The local music scene is slowly reviving itself. On a recent Sunday afternoon, a blues harmonica player (yellow T-shirt below) sat-in with the G&F jam band at the brewpub.
Bluegrass music is no stranger to harmonica players. Earl Taylor played the mouth harp with Flatt & Scruggs in the 1950-60s. Doc Watson not infrequently played a mouth organ, or so-called French harp, on a neck holder simultaneously while picking his guitar. Jimmie Fadden, drummer for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, is heard playing the harmonica throughout the ground-breaking 1972 “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” album. Grammy Award winning and multi-instrumentalist Charlie McCoy is probably the most famous and recorded country harmonica player in Nashville.
When our guest musician above is not playing blues harmonica, he is a full-time oil-on-canvas painter whose impressive brushwork is exhibited at the Columbia Art League gallery on a regular basis.
Lastly, the BRC archives corroborate that the Harptone Manufacturing Corporation made instrument cases for C.F. Martin Company guitars in the mid 1930`s.
From the BRC: Keep on keepin` the blues away.
No Comments