Bring on the douns

Josy and I experimented on Tuesday, September 13, and then again on Thursday, September 22, to see how my songs sound when she plays douns and I sing.   We feel encouraged ~~ I feel ecstatic, actually ~~ about how good they sounded.   It's the foundation for the way I hear my songs in my head.

On Tuesday we found some grooves with Coconut Oil and Burnt Sugar Blues.   I figured if we couldn't find good riffs for those two songs, we better just give up and go home.   But they sound cool!   Yay!

On Thursday we refreshed Tuesday's songs, then added Wayfaring Stranger and Fever and enjoyed another round of good luck.   The two links here go to youtubes of the nearest inspirations for our take on these cover songs.   I rewrote about half the words in each so I'll update this post with links to my versions.

Bob Miller of Foliba offered super suggestions and recorded the basic rhythms with his phone so we would remember them for next practice.   In this picture, Bob wears a white shirt as he plays the douns.

Foliba plays Open Mic at Cafe Paradiso in 2012

Josy started drum lessons with Fonziba Koster about seven years ago, and has developed into the go-to doun player in her intermediate drumming group, keeping a steady beat for their traditional West African polyrhythms, from simple to complex.

I feel overjoyed and deeply honored to hear Josy holding the basic rhythm structures for Burnt Sugar Blues' songs.

"Woke up this mornin'"? Don't think so!

This facebook post became blogworthy because of comments by friends . . . . 

My initial post:

What is it with blues songs that open with, "Well I woke up this mornin', sun was startin' to rise ...." 

When I feel blue, I wake up in the evening, maaaybe the afternoon. 

Morning is for SLEEPING after you're up all night worrying about the way things might have been, or up all night doing the music thing ~~ playing or writing or blogging or imagining new riffs or rhymes or rhythms. 

So I just might rewrite some of those songs to say, "Well I woke up this evenin', sun was sinkin' away ...."

Here's the link to facebook to see the comments:
https://www.facebook.com/christy.ann.welty/posts/10154566281663234

Hickory Highlands Hen

Josy and I, two seeds of the gestating Burnt Sugar Blues, visited the open house at the Farmhouse at Hickory Highlands on Sunday, May 22, 2016.  The gorgeous afternoon highlighted treasures of the house that John Freeberg and Susan Walch grew atop a prairie hill over the course of five years.

While there, we communed with the cows and calf, and checked in with the chickens.  This little red hen contented herself in my arms ~~ she even snoozed a bit ~~ until she politely excused herself to freshen up without squirting my shirt.

I appreciated that!

Christy holds a snoozing Hickory Highlands hen ~~ Photo by Josy Welty