Let’s talk about Norman. What do you think of when you hear that name? If you are a fan of adult literature maybe you think of Norman Mailer. If you have kids and are into children’s literature, you think of Norman the Doorman. If you are a fan of military generals, you think of Norman Schwarzkopf. And if you like to be scared out of your wits by Alfred Hitchcock, you think of Norman Bates.
But if you are a fan of the acoustic guitar, your mind will naturally gravitate to Norman Blake. Norman is a guitar legend and he celebrates his eighty fourth birthday on Thursday. Happy Birthday Norman Blake!
Quite honestly, Norman Blake is absolutely my favorite living musician. I only wish that I could adequately express what this phenomenally gifted musician has meant to me so that others could have a similar experience. I first became aware of his music in the early 80’s when I heard Green Light on the Southern played on a local bluegrass station (WAMU in Maryland). I bought the CD, Blake and Rice and enjoyed all of the cuts immensely. Until that time the only guitar picking I had heard of that quality was from Doc and Merle Watson. The Frosty Morning Band was one of my most treasured listenings and now all of a sudden i had this fresh guitar duo who played other great songs like Last Train From Poor Valley. I was awed.
Following the epiphany of being exposed to Norman Blake’s great music over the radio, I sought out other CDs that I might enjoy as much as Blake and Rice. When Blake and Rice 2 came out that was a no brainer of course. But most of Norman’s music is very different from those two great collaborations. Other Norman Blake CDs I purchased over the years showed me a very different side of a musical genius.
For one thing, Norman Blake the guitar legend is much more than a guitar god. He is a bone fide multi-instrumentalist. His mandolin work on the Blake and Rice CDs shows his virtuosity on one of his other favorite instruments and if you listen to enough of Norman’s guitar playing you can tell how his guitar picking style was influenced by his mandolin roots. If it has strings Norman can play it. He backed Johnny Cash for years on multiple instruments including Dobro, mandolin and guitar. As a Nashville studio musician he backed Bob Dylan and others. He played Dobro on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Circle Be Unbroken album. He even plays fiddle on some of his CDs.
I’m sure Norman made a good living with his back up and studio talents but he has done so much more than that musically. Norman Blake has made music that nobody else would have made. Maybe he was comfortable enough from his income as a sideman or maybe not. When all is said and done what I most admire about Norman Blake the musician is that he has always set his own musical standard. He has made beautiful music that you would like if you really listened to it, but the music he poured his heart and soul into could never be a commercial success. His musical collaborations show a wide range of influences from John Hartford (as part of the band Aero-Plain with Vassar Clemens and Tut Taylor) to the Irish band Boys in the Lough to Peter Ostroushko.
Norman Blake is a supremely talented songwriter. Like many great songs, his songs tell a story that captivates the imagination. Songs like Ginseng Sullivan, Billy Gray and Church Street Blues are heard at many Bluegrass jams. But Norman Blake’s music is not really Bluegrass. It’s Norman and it’s very much rooted in old time and traditional country music.
For my money, Norman Blake, more than any other musician of his generation, has made music in the old time style relevant to a contemporary audience. Like Doc Watson he adapted old time fiddle tunes to the guitar but the way he plays them is anything but old timey. Listen to the way he plays tunes like Arkansas Traveller and Elzic’s Farewell. His out of the box virtuosity, touch and tone is true to the genre but definitely not your average Saturday night fiddle jam. One of my favorite Norman Blake CDs is one called Old and New. About half of the recordings are traditional and the other half Norman Blake originals. I defy you to tell the difference.
Blake’s compositions in the old time style are culturally relevant in other ways as well Listen to this this Blake composition published during the height of the Vietnam war. The tune could have been about any war but this tune in the traditional style from 1972 showed how traditional music might be old time but it’s anything but old.
Once a maid said to a soldier who was sure of going over
To a land beyond the raging ocean foam
Where the bullets fast were flying and a number of men lay dying
Far from the peaceful shores of home
Meet me yonder won’t you then love in the lane by the pine grove
When you’ve come home from a far and distant land.
When the hills are filled with clover after all the wars are over
When the fields are white with daises once again.
Norman Blake has recorded almost 40 Albums. I own 22. My jam buddies are used to hearing new gems than I dig out on a regular basis. They used to ask where the tune came from. Now they often know to guess that it might be a Norman Blake tune. When I tried Norman’s mandolin version of Hollow Poplar at my regular old time jam, people eventually recognized it but it was so far from the standard version that it was a bit of a jam buster. And you’re unlikely to hear at any jam such as tunes as a beautiful cello duo Norman does with his wife Nancy called Home of the Soul. Kind of like Last Days on Earth, great tune but not at all jammable.
Crossing #9, Lonesome Jenny, Old Time Farmer, Radio Joe, Randall Collins, Slow Train Through Georgia. There certainly are a lot of Norman Blake songs that are jammable besides the other ones mentioned above.
Over the years I have tried to model my playing after Norman Blake more than anybody else. I only wish I could have done a better job. But there will never be another Norman Blake, that’s for sure. Happy Birthday Norman Blake!
