Year Of The Locust - cover of Nancy Blake tune

[Deleted member 196982]

Simple little instrumental tune I got off a tribute album by Bob Minner, titled “From Sulphur Springs to Rising Fawn : The Songs of Norman Blake.”

Year Of The Locust (Farewell To Old Rufus) - cover

Cover of a Nancy Blake tune that, until Bob Minner released "From Sulphur Springs to Rising Fawn: The Songs of Norman Blake" in 2022, had only appeared on the 1986 "Grand Junction" album (vinyl and ca

on.soundcloud.com

Each part recorded in sequence, i.e., overdubbed, with the first mandolin you hear done first, second (higher) mandolin next and the guitar last. Two mics were put on each instrument one small dynamic and a small condenser, but summed to mono. Mixed in Logic Pro.

The full title of this song is “Year of the Locust (Farewell to old Rufus)” and I have had no idea what it is about or who or what Rufus was*. But it’s catchy, to my ear, and I’ve copied the instrumentation and arrangement off that album, though I’m playing a bit slower and only go through the tune’s AABB form twice, with no variations. That’s going to come some time later after it percolates in my brain a while.

*(edit) Rufus Blake was Norman Blake's father, so I've been informed!

 

[Scott Baxendale]

Simple little instrumental tune I got off a tribute album by Bob Minner, titled “From Sulphur Springs to Rising Fawn : The Songs of Norman Blake.”

Year Of The Locust (Farewell To Old Rufus) - cover

Cover of a Nancy Blake tune that, until Bob Minner released "From Sulphur Springs to Rising Fawn: The Songs of Norman Blake" in 2022, had only appeared on the 1986 "Grand Junction" album (vinyl and ca

on.soundcloud.com

Each part recorded in sequence, i.e., overdubbed, with the first mandolin you hear done first, second (higher) mandolin next and the guitar last. Two mics were put on each instrument one small dynamic and a small condenser, but summed to mono. Mixed in Logic Pro.

The full title of this song is “Year of the Locust (Farewell to old Rufus)” and I have no idea what it is about or who or what Rufus was. But it’s catchy, to my ear, and I’ve copied the instrumentation and arrangement off that album, though I’m playing a bit slower and only go through the tune’s AABB form twice, with no variations. That’s going to come some time later after it percolates in my brain a while.

Sounds great. I always loved Norman and Nancy’s music.

 

[mark skinner]

Nicely done Keith. ? I Really liked the Celtic feel in this one. Don't have my headphones with me right now , but it translated very well on laptop speakers nicely. Enjoyed it .. mark

 

[Papanate]

Great separation of the instruments - really sonic candy.

Simple little instrumental tune I got off a tribute album by Bob Minner, titled “From Sulphur Springs to Rising Fawn : The Songs of Norman Blake.”

Year Of The Locust (Farewell To Old Rufus) - cover

Cover of a Nancy Blake tune that, until Bob Minner released "From Sulphur Springs to Rising Fawn: The Songs of Norman Blake" in 2022, had only appeared on the 1986 "Grand Junction" album (vinyl and ca

on.soundcloud.com

Each part recorded in sequence, i.e., overdubbed, with the first mandolin you hear done first, second (higher) mandolin next and the guitar last. Two mics were put on each instrument one small dynamic and a small condenser, but summed to mono. Mixed in Logic Pro.

The full title of this song is “Year of the Locust (Farewell to old Rufus)” and I have had no idea what it is about or who or what Rufus was*. But it’s catchy, to my ear, and I’ve copied the instrumentation and arrangement off that album, though I’m playing a bit slower and only go through the tune’s AABB form twice, with no variations. That’s going to come some time later after it percolates in my brain a while.

*(edit) Rufus Blake was Norman Blake's father, so I've been informed!

 

[mbsmike]

Wow super nice, both content and quality. Great mix also. Enjoyed immensely!

 

[Deleted member 196982]

Thanks for the kind, supportive comments!

I've since found out that this song only appeared on a Nancy & Norman Blake album from 1986, originally released on vinyl, though there was a cassette release. No digitized version, so I'm going to have to borrow someone's deck or turntable someday, grab an old LP off discogs or wherever, and listen to the version from them. I suspect my transcription of what I heard on Bob Minner's (great) version has muddled the true melody by assigning the lower notes to one mandolin and the higher notes to the second, when they might be criss-crossing in his rendition. It does work, and fits the way I think of "parts" but I might go back and re-do it if I find out the melody line goes in directions different from my melody/harmony assignment. Our son has agreed to take on a part and my usual picking bud will do the guitar so maybe when we can all get to gather at one of the holiday times later this year. And, by then, I can probably play it up a bit closer to the 140-ish bpm of the version I've heard. (But, TBH, 120-ish doesn't sound bad, if I do say so myself )

 

[dachay2tnr]

Tasty. Well done. Well played.

 

[Deleted member 196982]

Just dredging up this thread to show the video of the recording we made yesterday - when I could finally grab some of my son's time on this visit, and get my open-mic friend over to play guitar in the same hour window! The cat was disinterested, though provided some distraction, but we still managed to get through it a couple times. This was the last take. (And, pardon my fooling around with Final Cut's "magnetic mask" thing - just discovered on that other video I posted in "show off", so, you know, gotta use it everywhere ).

 

[dobro]

I liked the first one, but preferred this one. All things being equal, I think group chemistry beats overdubs just about every time.

Great tune, yes?

 

[Deleted member 196982]

I liked the first one, but preferred this one. All things being equal, I think group chemistry beats overdubs just about every time.

Great tune, yes?

Thanks. Yeah, just sitting around playing with other folks is the best, and partly why I’m mostly seeking out bluegrass-y music opportunities anymore.

I was able to land a copy of the original release of this and the main tune is essentially the same as you can hear on Bob Minner’s album, though I’d describe the second mandolin part as a little more “descant-y” (which I didn’t transcribe).