An enduring memory from my early schooldays is of the music teacher who said, “Do you know that we each have a musical instrument of our own?” At the time I found this puzzling. Musical instruments, particularly the piano, were expensive and you had to “have lessons” which cost more money, beyond the budget of many families. The answer to the teacher’s question was of course “Your voice” – and his singing lessons were completely for free and enjoyed by us all. As I grew older I was reassured that although I was not an outstanding singer I could hold a tune and was able to learn a part to sing in a choir. But I never thought of myself as a musician in the way that some of my friends were, learning the piano, violin, clarinet and so on. Singing was just what anyone could do, and didn’t count compared with playing a ‘proper’ instrument.
Those of us who get involved with playing bluegrass music, at whatever level, can be excused for thinking that the thing is to be able to play the guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle or whatever. Some find their niche in playing the bass – and it’s true that everyone loves a bass player as long as (s)he has good timing, can hold the band together and as necessary drive the music along. So it may come as a surprise to learn that one of the maestros of the mandolin, with his highly individual and distinctive style of playing the instrument, said “I think of myself as a singer. I honestly do. I don’t consider myself a picker. I’m a singer.” This was John Duffey, in an interview with Dix Bruce for Mandolin World News back in 1981, and other remarks of John Duffey to this effect can be found in the fascinating biography “John Duffey’s Bluegrass Life” compiled by Stephen Moore and G.T. Keplinger and published last year. This is a ‘must read’ – one of those books you can open at any page and be instantly absorbed. I shall be coming back to this one in a future article!
John Duffey’s distinctive high tenor voice was a one-off. He knew this and also knew how to employ it to maximum effect in the bands he played with, notably the Country Gentlemen and the Seldom Scene. His tragic early death in 1996, at the age of 62, was a major loss to bluegrass music, and his influence is felt to this day. In the words of the title of a retrospective collection of his recordings, he will be “Always In Style”. He is one of the top three classic bluegrass tenor singers who come instantly to mind, the others being Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley.
High tenor singing is a staple of classic bluegrass music, indeed the tenor singer can often eclipse the lead vocalist, which is shame as there have been some wonderful lead singers over the years – Lester Flatt, Carter Stanley, Jimmy Martin, Charlie Waller, Larry Sparks… and the list goes on. These guys usually need to venture into the tenor range themselves, in fact Lester Flatt sang tenor with Charlie Monroe’s Kentucky Partners before he became a Blue Grass Boy. Singing is central to bluegrass music. While there will always be instrumental-only albums (like the influential ‘Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe’), in the majority of bluegrass collections the vocal tracks outnumber the instrumentals by at least four to one. Primarily the instrumental breaks complement the vocals and provide extra interest – certainly true of John Duffey’s mandolin playing!
One reason why beginners in bluegrass focus on the instruments rather than the singing is that the kind of voice you have is a matter of luck, i.e. it is a natural gift and you either have it or you don’t. Most singing teachers will say that anyone can learn to sing, but I always take this to mean that you can improve your singing with tuition, encouragement and practice. It doesn’t mean that everyone can front a bluegrass band as the lead or tenor singer. On the other hand in theory anyone can acquire a great-sounding musical instrument, by diligent searching and realistic use of $$. Of course you have to learn to get the sound out of your Martin, Gibson or whatever, and in practice some people are able to take this further than others. Ambition needs to be tempered with realism. I can understand that if, like the composer Joseph Haydn when his voice broke, you are told that you sing like a crow, you are more likely to focus on picking, particularly if you manage to acquire an instrument with good tone and volume. You can purchase a guitar (or whatever) but you can’t buy a new voice.
In the long run I guess most of us learn to settle for what we can realistically accomplish in music with the time, talent and resources that are available to us. Good singers are in demand, but there is also much satisfaction to be gained from learning to play an instrument to the best of your ability. We each have to find our own way, and I wish you every success in your musical endeavours!
John Baldry
November 2020
