The Steel Guitar Forum

Phrasing, feel, poignancy, and a beautiful conception of placing the melody against the tempo - it's all there. Is this Joaquin Murphey's most beautiful solo? I think so.

https://home.comcast.net/~aevolk/music/RichMan.mp3

John McGann transcribed it in the JM book we did a few years ago. If b0b's sold out, McGann Scotty's and maybe Elderly still have a few of 'em left, I think:

http://www.johnmcgann.com/joaquin.html

My favorite pretty Joaquin solo is Throw A Saddle On A Star with Andy Parker and the Plainsmen, which is just gorgeous.

Yep, thanks for reminding me of that one. Definitely a toss up.

Beautiful swing/jazz phrasing and ideas. Sounds a lot like Stéphane Grappelli. At first I thought I was hearing Grappelli's violin, then I realized it was a steel guitar!

Funny, I was thinking Django. Thanks for sharing, Andy!

Are these melody runs using his 8 string setup with the high B string or do you think this is straight C6 sound?

Elderly doesn't have the book. I want to find it.

I have ordered it through John McGann's site. Thanks, Andy.

Big Django influence in Murphey's solos. Murph even lifted a few specific choice Django licks in this brilliant solo:

https://home.comcast.net/~aevolk/music/ ... gmurph.mp3

Or this one .... Murph moves from astoundingly swinging single notes to full chords ... shades of Wes Montgomery!

https://home.comcast.net/~aevolk/music/ ... rBells.mp3

"THREE LITTLE GIRLS DRESSED IN BLUE" on Tex Williams Capital release.......was 'a sweet solo'. That's on the flip side of "With Men Who Know Tobacco Best".

Mark MacKenzie wrote:Are these melody runs using his 8 string setup with the high B string or do you think this is straight C6 sound?

The transcription shows (lo to hi): ACEGACE

Murph always had a G on top. The low C# and weird high B on the bottom was on his C6 by around 1947. Much of what he played could be done without all that though. He told me he listened to a lot of Django,Benny Goodman and George Shearing but never other sreel players.

In the jazz idiom -- into which Joaquin falls more squarely than any other -- the greatest players often revered and took their cues from players of instruments other than their own. Charlie Christian taking from Lester Young is a great example. Makes sense: you're much more likely to end up with something fresh on your instrument if you steer clear of the pack.

The "Silver Bells" recording sounds like Murph has the high string on bottom. Similar to the same tuning as he uses on the Fidoodlin recording. Bobby Black gave me that tuning as a Em9th. I have it written down somewhere , but it is different than the usual C6th with the C# and high B on bottom. Tho it does have a few high strings on bottom. Andy, where did you get that recording ? That one really knocked me out.

Some of his early work even after 47 sure feels like he is using a straight C6.

Todd

Pretty sure that "Sparkling Silver Bells" recording is on the "Dance-o-rama" record from Joaquin's stint with Spade in the early '50s.

I received an email from John McGann who said the book would be sent out early next week. So if anyone is looking for it, it is available through the link Andy posted.


http://www.johnmcgann.com/joaquin.html

Ray, are those tunes you mentioned available somewhere?

Thanks again, Andy, for posting these.... GREAT STUFF!

I've got a bunch, but here's a great one:
"I Can't Wait That Long" by Dick James with Joaquino.

go to www.myspace.com/mikeneer to hear it.

You can hear the high B string on the bottom on this solo (I think--I know something's weird in there). It's such beautiful precise chordal playing. Very eery and beautiful. His chord choices have a very unsettling quality to them in the bass notes and I think it fits the song perfectly.

I've never heard that one Mike, thanks for posting it. I'm really fond of Joaquin's solo on "Rich Man, Poor Man," too. My favorite aspect of Joaquin's playing is that he always had impeccable taste.

You're not too bad yourself, Tony! Yes, he did show impeccable taste and restraint. You know he coulda just tore the roof off....

Todd, that Joaquin cut - as well as the whole album - is available for download here:

http://westernswing78.blogspot.com/2008 ... nce-o.html

The entire http://westernswing78.blogspot.com/ is an amazing resource for great American music rescued from the dustbin of history by collectors with great taste and the kindness to share! I wish I had the time to listen to it all. Check out the Bob Dunn cuts from later in his career on electric steel.

Hard to know about the tuning JM used on a given cut. He was purposely circumspect about that in his lifetime and given to experimentation. As the late Marian Hall told me (I'm paraphrasing) "Everyone was always wondering what tuning Joaquin had on his guitar but it wasn't in the tuning, it was in the brain!"

I sent that Dance-O-Rama album to High-Falutin' Newton. I received it from Chris Kennison. I was after that one for the longest time and it is truly a favorite of mine. Fidoodlin' is also another good one.

"Throw A Saddle On A Star" had Ozie Waters as the featured recording artist, and was backed by Parker and the Plainsmen. They also recorded a killer version of Hank Penny's tune "Missouri."

"Saddle" was Speedy's favorite Murph solo, mine was "Rich Man Poor Man," and so we cheerfully agreed to disagree.

These were commercial recordings. But I have some live radio shows of the Plainsmen and also the Caravan where Murph takes some hellacious solos in nightclub or radio station situations.

Incidentally, what Michael Johnstone has to say about Murph can be taken as GOSPEL. He was Murph's benefactor and yes, caretaker, for the last years of Joaquin's life. It's because of Michael that I got to have several great phone conversations with Murph, got to finally meet and hang out with him, and pick his brain for many questions I had about the Caravan, the Plainsmen, his tunings, everything. The fact that Murph called me his friend is one of my great honors, IMO. Michael is responsible for this and many more contributions that made Murph's life better in his last years. Michael Johnstone is "the man."

One thing I asked Joaquin about was some of the solos he took with the Caravan and Spade. He was genuinely astonished that I'd be interested in that material; in fact he asked "you like that stuff?!" His head was more into the chordal playing of Shearing, and he'd grown out of the Benny Goodman/Django phase he'd been in during the 40's.

I've posted this somewhere before. My favorite ride by Joaquin was when he was first with Spade Cooley at the Riverside Rancho in So. Calif. It was on the original recording of "You Can't Break My Heart, It's Been Broken Before" with vocal by Tex Willaims.
He takes the first chorus after the vocal, continues on through the bridge, and then finishes it out, getting better with each measure he plays. I was able to see the band in person and watch Joaquin play. Even though I was underage, I had a Local #47 union card which got me in the door free. (a courtesy around So. Calif. Ballrooms for Musicians) This was in the middle 40's.

He was Murph's benefactor and yes, caretaker, for the last years of Joaquin's life. ... Michael is responsible for this and many more contributions that made Murph's life better in his last years.

Michael's contributions were way beyond what you all might think and it was because of his efforts Joaquin had a dignified exit.

Michael and Chas essentially pulled Murph out of the gutter and offered him friendship and basic life support in his last years. Mike, Chas, and Herb have helped us all remember one of the greatest steel players of all time and keep the recorded legacy of this giant of American music in memory. He truly deserves to be remembered on the level of musicians like Charlie Christian, Carl Perkins, Etta James, etc. whose contributions are indelible. Like Vance Terry, he had a sad life but left a record of musical genius.

I too witnessed what Mike, and Chas did for Joaquin in his last years.
I will be eternally grateful to Mike for inviting me to his home, and allowing me to spend time with Joaquin.
Rich man poor man, is one of my favorite solo's of any instrument or genre, to be honest it chokes me up.
If I said what I really thought, you would think I was crazy.
That said, I don't think he had developed his C6/A9 tuning by this point.
Im guessing this tune is 50/51, and it sure sounds like a regular 6th in the bass.
About 12-16 bars into the solo you can hear him use a grip that alternates between strings 2 4 7, and 3 5 8.
That's not possible with his C6/A9.
Also in this period he used McAuliffe's 13th for some really fast chordal work.
The bucklebusters recordings are about 54?, I don't know when he started using that tuning, but I don't hear it before.
Also there is another thing, it seems to me as amplifier technology improves, it allows his style to become more chordal.
Lee

That Westen Swing Blogspot is an excellent site....thanks for that Andy