Listening Guides

Listening Guide 14.1

Listening Guide 14.2

Listening Guide 14.3

Listening Guide 14.4

Listening Guide 14.1

"It's Mighty Dark for Me to Travel" 2 beats per measure

iTune link = It’s Mighty Dark for Me to Travel

Analysis of "It's Mighty Dark to Travel" (SCCCM, 13/2, CD 2/9)

This recording was made in 1947 with the star-studded group that defined bluegrass: Monroe, Flatt, Scruggs, Wise, and Howard Watts on bass. The song was composed by Monroe; it was filled with the imagery of wandering and loneliness that he favored. Both verse and chorus are 16 measures long, and both use the same chord sequence. They are distinguished only by the lyric.
       The arrangement equitably features alternation of vocals and instrumentals. Monroe plays an introductory verse on his mandolin. Notice that rather than merely trilling a note to keep the sound going, Monroe picks the note he wants to sustain in strict sixteenth note rhythm, contributing to the composite pulse of the band.
       The vocalists enter singing the chorus. Lester Flatt is singing the lead below Bill Monroe's "high lonesome" tenor harmony. The fiddle follows with a paraphrase of the chorus melody, concluding the introductory segment of the arrangement (instrumental/vocal/instrumental).
       Lester Flatt now sings the first verse. Notice that any vocal entrance following an instrumental is delayed by one measure. This was a technique developed by Flatt to add space between the conclusion of the instrumental solo and the resumption of the vocal. Since many bluegrass pieces employ very fast tempos, this delaying technique (in this case, adding a seventeenth bar to the instrumental chorus) was used for a number of aesthetic and logistical reasons. An aesthetic reason would be to "let the smoke clear" from the instrumental display and give the listener time to make the transition back to the vocal. A logistical reason would be to give the instrumentalist time to back away from the microphone and the singer(s) time to move in. (Keep in mind that many bluegrass bands had only one microphone to work with; they developed smooth choreography and musical devices such as this delay to get in and out of the microphone area.) This technique is not necessary and is not used going from the vocal verse to the vocal chorus. Notice that the only time that Monroe sings harmony with Flatt is when the chorus is sung.
       The first verse/chorus combination is followed by Earl Scruggs's banjo solo. He picks out his improvised melody on the lower strings while playing harmony and maintaining a sixteenth note patter on the upper strings. Most banjoists before Scruggs used a "frailing" or "claw hammer" technique, brushing down the strings with the backs of the fingers followed by picking a note with the thumb. Scruggs uses an energetic three-finger picking technique in his right hand, allowing him to pick faster and to play more complex melodies and rhythms. From his performance, it is easy to recognize what a crucial addition the banjo was to the bluegrass string band texture.
       Flatt and Monroe follow with a second verse/chorus combination. Monroe then plays the chorus melody on the mandolin, as he did in the introduction; this acts as an interlude to the second half of the arrangement. A third verse/chorus combination is sung, followed by "Chubby" Wise's improvised fiddle solo. Wise uses rapid single-line figures and slides into blue notes, taken from blues and jazz, as well as employing double notes and more traditional fiddle devices. After the fiddle solo, Flatt and Monroe sing the chorus alone, as they did in the introduction. This concludes the piece.

Listening Guide 14.2

"Earl's Breakdown" 2 beats per measure

iTune link = Earl's Breakdown

Analysis of "Earl's Breakdown" (SCCCM, 13/3)

One of the techniques Scruggs perfected on the banjo was tuning it as he played. He composed "Earl's Breakdown" to showcase this technique. Instead of just sliding his finger along the fretboard to raise and lower the pitch of a string, Scruggs actually turned the tuning peg on the head of the instrument to make a note slide up or down. The trick was to then quickly and accurately reset the string to its original open tuning. To this end, Scruggs developed a special tuning gear for the banjo; the peg comes out the back of the head instead of from the sides. This makes it easier for the banjoist to manipulate the gear while playing.
       The form of "Earl's Breakdown" is verse/chorus, typical of many fiddle tunes and many folk songs. Scruggs demonstrates again the syncopated rhythms and intricate melodic lines that can be rendered by his three-finger right-hand technique. The other members of the Foggy Mountain Boys perform equally sterling solos.
       In the verses, Scruggs used the common technique of sliding his finger along a string to raise or lower its pitch. The melody of the chorus is designed to feature Scruggs's tuning trick, a virtuoso display that has delighted audiences for years. At the beginning of the chorus melody, Scruggs picks his high D string once, then moves to the lower B string. Immediately after picking the B string, he turns its tuning peg to loosen the string and make the note slide down. Lester Flatt finishes the melody on the guitar while Scruggs tightens the string back up to its original note.
       Flatt and Scruggs broke up in 1969. Lester Flatt returned to more traditional bluegrass, with his Nashville Grass, until his death in 1979. Earl Scruggs formed the Earl Scruggs Revue with his three sons. They experimented with electrifying bluegrass, indicative of the cross-influence bluegrass and progressive rock were having on each other at the time.

iTune link = Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue

Toby Keith's hit song from his album Unleashed is subtitled "The Angry American" and is the antithesis of Alan Jackson's mournful—and considered by some wimpy—"Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning."
       The verses are effectively presented. Each starts only with Keith's voice and an acoustic guitar without a distinctive rhythm, expressing a reflecting and contemplative mood. Halfway through the verse, the electric guitar enters with a punchier beat and more growling, distorted sound. The full band enters by the chorus, playing in aggressive style. By the end of the chorus, the lyrics and texture of the sound perfectly depicts the blossoming anger of the song.
       The electric guitar starts its sixteen-measure solo in the last two measures of the sixteen-measure chorus. This is called "dovetailing" the phrasing—a new musical phrase begins before the previous phrase has concluded.
       The second verse begins the same way that Verse 1 did, but it is only half as long. This was a good compositional decision on Keith's part. Now that the song has come to an emotional boil, we don't want the song to back off and be as contemplative as it was in the first verse. By the sixth measure, the song stalls momentarily, followed by immediate anger, a driving tempo, and Keith's most explicit lyric concerning his boot's target.

iTune link = Not Ready to Make Nice

The Dixie Chicks's Taking the Long Way album was the group's attempt to rise from the ashes after they were ostracized by the country music world by political comments made by member Natalie Maines over the Iraq war and President George Bush. The album adopted a less country and more rock-based style, and the songs had a harder edge. The bet paid off and the group did well at the Grammy awards, due in part to the quality of the album's music, the crossover audience they gained with their new style, and the growing anti-war sentiment among the public.
       The song "Not Ready to Make Nice" reflects the group's ambiguous response to the vitriolic feelings of the public. It reflects regret and anger, resolution and defiance. The verses are subdued, intimate, and full of hurt. The choruses are strong and angry. The short instrumental interlude between Verse 2 and Chorus 3 has a big, majestic, orchestral quality reminiscent of, say, the Beatles's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. However, at the end of the song, the mood seems to slip back into reflection, hurt, and withdrawal.