Mel Bay

Author: Tom Feldmann
Format: 2 DVDs
Instrumentation: Guitar TAB

Skip James is perhaps the most stylistically original of the blues performers from the Mississippi River Delta region, with his unusual Dm (Crossnote) tuning, haunting falsetto vocals, and an intense, variable marriage of music and text. James made a number of recordings for Paramount before the Depression carried him into obscurity, but those recordings would form the basis of his reputation and secure him as one of the legends of that classic era of blues.

In this 2 DVD set Tom Feldmann brings you through Skip's classic 1931 blues recordings as well as a few fan favourites from his rediscovery years, Crow Jane, Worried Blues, Look Down the Road and All Night Long. Nearly all of the 1931 guitar recordings were played using Crossnote tuning and DVD One is dedicated to those songs with Feldmann teaching you every aspect of Skip's playing in this tuning. DVD Two continues with two more classics in Crossnote tuning and then turns to Standard tuning for songs in D and E positions and ends with Skip's lone Spanish tuning (Open G) recording, Special Rider Blues.

Tablature is included as a PDF file on each DVD. In addition the original 1931 recordings of the songs covered are included as well as live footage of Skip James from the 1966 Newport Folk Festival.

DVD One:

• Crossnote Tuning:
  • Cypress Grove Blues
  • Devil Got My Woman
  • Yola My Blues Away
  • Hard Time Killing Floor
  • Cherry Ball Blues
  • Four O'Clock Blues
  • Hard Luck Child

DVD Two:

• Crossnote Tuning:
  • Illinois Blues
  • I'm So Glad
• Standard Tuning:
  • Drunken Spree
  • Crow Jane
  • Worried Blues
  • Look Down the Road
  • All Night Long
• Spanish Tuning:
  • Special Rider Blues