The song of the week is 'Homestead On The Farm' (a.k.a. 'I Wonder How The Old Folks Are At Home') in the key of A. 'Homestead On The Farm' was recorded by the Carter Family in 1929, but in bluegrass circles, this song tends to be more closely associated with Mac Wiseman, who first recorded the song more than 20 years after the Carters. On the points where Mac Wiseman's arrangement differs from the Carter Family's arrangement of the song (chord progression, melody, etc.), bluegrass players have tended to follow Mac. Mac Wiseman, who at the age of 91 is still active in music, played guitar and sang harmony on Flatt and Scruggs' Mercury Sessions recording of 'Someday We'll Meet Again Sweetheart', which was one of the very first records Flatt and Scruggs made together after they left Bill Monroe's band. And, in the role of lead singer and rhythm guitarist, Mac Wiseman was Lester Flatt's immediate successor in Bill Monroe's band. Mac, for instance, is the lead singer on the original 1949 Bill Monroe recording of the popular bluegrass standard 'Can't You Hear Me Calling'. Here are two of Mac's recordings, and one live performance, of 'Homestead On The Farm': A Great American Folk Singer: Mac Wiseman sings "I wonder how the old folks are at home." - key of Bb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6uxNzkH1Vc I Wonder How The Old Folks Are At Home - Mac Wiseman - key of A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82_0ui4taWI Mac Wiseman: Old Folks At Home: Live 1978: - key of A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBzQXXDC6w4 The chord progression I use for Homestead On The Farm is the same as the one that Mac Wiseman usually used: Verse: 1411 1144 4411 2255 Chorus: 1411 1144 4411 2511 (In the key of A: 2 = B. The '2' chord is a whole-step higher than the '1' chord, so in the key of Bb: 2 = C; in the key of G: 2 = A, etc.) Notice that the verse ends on the '5' chord, instead of the '1' chord. This requires the verse progression to be followed by the chorus progression in order for the song to sound resolved. Since the verse ends with one being left hanging on the '5', the chorus may easily come across as though it were simply the second half of a really long verse. For this reason, the parts of the song (breaks, verses, choruses) are usually arranged in such a way that the verse progression is never played twice back to back without the chorus progression intervening. A typical jam arrangement of the song is: Intro break - played over the chorus progression, (so that the intro break sounds resolved) Verse 1 Chorus Break - played over the verse progression Break - played over the chorus progression (by a different instrument than the one that played the immediately preceding break) Verse 2 Chorus Break - played over the verse progression Chorus If more breaks are needed than this, another break over the verse progression followed by another break over the chorus progression may be inserted right before Verse 2, and/or another break over the chorus progression followed by another break over the verse progression may be inserted right before the final chorus.
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Jason's Intermediate Jam Blog 2017 - 2018started as Beginner Jam in Jan 2015 Songs regularly called at Bluegrass Jams and links from Jason's "Song of the Week" emails. (from Renee)
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