A track from the slowly-in-progress album, "Mer Rouge, Louisiana": soundscapes from the Mississippi River Delta.

Photo by Henry W. Tilbury, Jr., 1968

Cropduster

Memories of lumbering machines making their way toward a horizon as far off as the end of a summer day.

A track from the album-in-progress "Mer Rouge, Louisiana".

Photo: "1968 Rice Harvest", by Henry Tilbury, Jr.

Harvesters At Sunset

This is a string of short motifs that came out of a late-night session of sitting around with the banjo I bought recently. It was built by Bob Gramann of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and it is the first banjo I've ever played with a neck wide enough to fit my Sasquatchian paws. The action is great and it's leading me to play further up the neck...climbing the hill, as it were.

Climbing The Hill

Sometimes it's relaxing to sit with the banjo late at night and noodle around until something pleases my ear, and then to hone and repeat the riff over and over, as a sort of instrumental mantra. It's usually neither complex nor highly original, it's just...folk music, as played by a folk.

This is what it sounded like tonight.

Rabbit Tracks

Recently, at our weekly Rural Grit Happy Hour, the theme for open mic was "songs that bring you joy". Well, I've always thought this one was a beauty. Betse Ellis jumped up and joined me with some sweet fiddling when I played it live; wish we'd recorded that! But here it is with just me and a mostly-in-tune autoharp.

In other news: I have a website now, with art and music on display! It's good for killing a few minutes, so check it out here: https://www.hanktilbury.com/ Hope ya enjoy it.

Walking The Cow (Daniel Johnston)

I haven't kept much of what I recorded as a studio engineer in Nashville back in the 1990s, but one set that stands out is from a day in 1996 when my friend Bill Verdier came to the studio and, with guitar accompaniment from Peter O'Hanlan, laid down two excellent fiddle tracks for a project he was working on. I got chills hearing this as it was being played, and I still get chills 26 years later.

I learned today of Bill's passing, and I just wanted to offer up these two samples of his excellent musicianship. I'm glad I got to hear him. He will be missed.

Remembering Bill Verdier

Got these brushes and some jars of paint
I'm gonna turn myself into a saint
Not sure just what it is I seek
I just know I'm tired of this long losing streak

Got some boards laying 'round, some nails and screws
Got an old motor I can probably use
Tonight I think I'm gonna take a trip
Gonna build myself a rocket ship

This bird's got some singing to do
This bird's silent days are finally through
I'm gonna leave this pile of laundry here
And see what it's like up in the stratosphere

'Cause I'm tired of walking on the ground
I'm tired of standing up and falling down
Old gravity's gonna loosen its grip
When I blast outta here in my rocket ship

So many people miss the mark
They spend their whole lives trying to find a place to park
And it seems like the only colors they see
Are the ones coming at 'em through a flat-screen TV

I'm done with living like a rat in a maze
I'm ready to set the sky ablaze
It's time to give this world of fools the slip
Tell the boss I got me a rocket ship

Did you see the moon last night?  God, I love it
I wonder what Rene Magritte would've thought of it
Well, tonight when you look up there
You'll see me flying 'round it without a care

So honey, don't bother lighting candlesticks
I won't be 'round for dinner at six
And I'll bet you God's gonna flip
When he sees me coming in my rocket ship

Words & music (c) 2014 Hank Tilbury

Rocket Ship

Dan Greenwood, a.k.a. http://soundcloud.com/lonesomedstringband, is a fine singer and player of multiple acoustic instruments, and I've been enjoying his talents for some time now.  He's also a storehouse of folk-music information and a fine writer--the "liner notes" to his tunes are some the best I've come across on SoundCloud, and I always learn something new from reading them.

So, when Dan recently made a comment about wanting to play wash tub bass along with a tune of mine, I said, "go ahead!"  Well, not only did he do that, he played some solid rhythm guitar and added a harmony vocal that, for me, makes the whole thing sizzle.  It's just what the song was waiting for!

Hope you enjoy this little jam session from the Kansas-Pennsylvania border.

Space Bar (featuring the Lonesome D String Band!)

Hank Tilbury: ukulele; Martin Kirwan: guitars, bass

It was sometime late last year I started listening to a guitarist from Wicklow, Ireland, whose lyrical touch with traditional Irish melodies hooked me instantly.  Before long, he began posting some of his own improvisations.  These pieces had a much different feel--they were more about texture and instrumental interplay and subtle shifts of mood.  Since then, I've looked forward to every bit of music posted by Martin Kirwan, a.k.a.https://soundcloud.com/martin-k-g.   A lot of you know his work already, but if you don't, get on over there and feast your ears.

It's a real honor to me that Martin took an interest in one of my tunes and filled it out with an arrangement that turns a little ukulele sketch into a solid piece of music.  His guitars and bass take it beyond anything I'd imagined while preserving the excitement I felt when I was playing with the idea.  And he's a real gentleman, too--it's been a pleasure writing back and forth.

I've been fortunate to meet some great musicians out here in cyberspace, and one of the biggest thrills I've had is when one of them does something great with a tune of mine.  You can hear more collabs here: http://soundcloud.com/hanklebury/sets/collabifications/

The Quiet Stomp (featuring Martin Kirwan)

This is a song written in response to a prompt by the "Muse and Method" group, which consists of some of my creative friends here in Kansas City. The theme this time was to create something based on the words "If Only".

Francine, do you remember how the ocean laid so still
The world seemed perfectly flat there, we had eternity to kill
I don't know what was between us and I guess I never will

But Francine, do you remember how the people looked so small
Way down on the beach below from the balcony so tall
You wouldn't go near the railing, afraid that we would fall
Oh, Francine

And then came the moment I'd longed for, when finally we kissed
I accidentally bit your lip, I was so embarrassed
You pushed away and shook your head, said "I should've expected this"
And you turned and walked, and you left me there
Oh, Francine

If only I'd been smoother on that long-lost summer day
Maybe my life would be better now, you know, I couldn't really say
Or maybe I saved us some trouble and we both wound up okay
Oh, Francine

This is a work of fiction, by the way.

Photo by Henry Tilbury, Jr., circa 1954

Francine

The latest challenge from my friends' "Muse and Method" group was to create something based on the idea of "Cycles". It had me thinking of how clawhammer banjo playing is so reliant on repeated patterns--cycles, if you will. I've fooled around in the past with multitracked and interlocking banjo patterns (Steve Reich's worst nightmare?)and thought I would revisit the idea here.

This track consists of five five-stringed banjos playing in five-four time. The picture is Charles Demuth's "I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold".

An older, looser, maybe more fun version of this experiment, from 2012, is here: https://hanklebury.bandcamp.com/track/the-dream-of-rain

5x5x5

Solo improvisation for acoustic-electric guitar, feedback, electronic harmonizer.  Recorded sometime during the final days of the 20th Century.

Image: "Above the Delta II", 24"x36", oil & acrylic on wood panel, 2009.

The Idle Moment

My friends with the "Muse and Method" creative challenge have issued another prompt. This time the topic is "March".

This track was built with two samples from my personal collection of field recordings. The 4-beat rhythm loop is the percussion section of the Shawnee Mission North High School marching band, recorded at the Overland Park Fall Festival in 2011. The horn sound is an air horn on an antique steam tractor, recorded at the Northwest Michigan Engine and Thresher Show, Buckley, Michigan way back in 1989 and played back through a keyboard sampler.

The Marty Street Hi-Steppin' Boogie

The Buckley Old Engine Show is held every August in Buckley, Michigan.  Learn more about it here: http://www.buckleyoldengineshow.org/

This is the sound of steam-powered whistles at 7:00 AM, recorded from my tent located over a quarter of a mile (roughly, half a kilometer) away, on Saturday, August 17, 2013 using a Zoom H2n recorder.

These whistles once sounded the work calls for factories which have since closed down.  They are now brought to Buckley every year and mounted on a tower outside the Steam Engine building.  (I took a picture of it for you.  See 'em up there?)  Steam is piped up through the tower and, at various times throughout the day, the whistles are sounded by people pulling on long ropes.  These things are LOUD, and they echo across the fields for a long time.  They make up the best-sounding alarm clock I ever heard--the recording still gives me goosebumps.


Morning Whistles at the Buckley Old Engine Show

I've begun in earnest to dig through the hours of antique engine recordings I gathered at the Buckley Old Engine Show, looking for dope grooves and killa beats...and, let me tell ya, there are plenty.  With steam engines bringin' the funk to all corners of the early-20th-Century industrialized world, it's no wonder Luigi Russolo was moved to write his manifesto.

This track features raw sounds edited into loops and individual accents.  No time stretching, pitch shifting, reverb or other digital hi-jinks were employed.  The star of the show here is a 1911 Farquhar steam tractor, blowing smoke and sparks 40 feet into the air and tooting its horn to the delight of the assembled crowd.

Photo: a one-ton portable lighting system.

http://www.buckleyoldengineshow.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Russolo


Syncopated Poppin'

This is what comes from a coolish April night under a full moon, on the back porch with a banjo in a weird tuning, while the dogs loaf about the back yard.

April Moon

“I like my songs raw, with the pulp and seeds. Those are nutrients. It’s not good to listen to too much highly processed music.”—Tom Waits

This is another one of those tunes that came about under the moon, on the back porch.

The Pulp and the Seeds

It was right about midnight, and I'd spent the evening catching up with this, that and the other.  Before bidding farewell to the day, I picked up the baritone uke and thumped on it a while.  Then I got in bed and read about two paragraphs of "Flow" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (whose name itself takes up about two paragraphs) and fell asleep.

I usually don't fall asleep that easily.  I think the ukulele helps.

Image: "Trees at Twilight", watercolor, 2004.

And Then He Said "Goodnight"

Improvisation for nylon-string guitar fitted with a third bridge and piezo pickup at around the 14th fret, from the wee hours of September 9th, 2016. (See the setup here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/hanktilbury/albums/72157640155318583)

Photo: Detail of a construction dumpster on a sunny day.

Sunlight And Rust

If "The Rattletrap" were a single, this would be the B-side...my cigar-chomping record-company boss would have his boys roaring up and down the roads to stock those jukeboxes, from Seattle to Miami and everywhere in between. Everywhere, especially Smackover, Arkansas! The guys in sharkskin suits would hit up those amphetamine-guzzling deejays with a little payola, and the kids would go MAD over that crazy sound! Rack jobbers would barely be able to keep the stores stocked as the must-have record of nineteen-fifty-whatever took off like a flying saucer!

Aah, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself in past tense...anyway, hope you enjoy it.

The Smackover Stomp

It's always an honor when I get a chance to collaborate on a track with the master percussionist Hearn Gadbois. He sent me a short improvisation a while back, and I sat with it a while, wondering what to do, until the next step became obvious: it had to be gourd banjo.

If you haven't done so already, please treat yourself to some of Hearn's imaginative sound-paintings: https://soundcloud.com/hearn-gadbois

Photo: West Bottoms, Kansas City, Missouri -- October, 2016

Anubis and Ra Visit the West Bottoms - with Hearn Gadbois

I was listening to one of Uncle Hassell's old tapes (https://soundcloud.com/uncle-hassell/barges-on-the-mississippi) at home the other night when I picked up my gourd banjo and started improvising over the drone. Eventually, the improvisations settled into the melody of this old ballad. Years ago, I engineered a recording of renowned violin maker and fiddler Sam Zygmuntowicz playing this tune at a stately tempo, accompanied by the great John Hartford on banjo. That version has always stuck with me. Now I've gone and turned it into a dirge, but it makes for a pretty good dirge.

Photo: Henry W. Tilbury, Sr., Monticello, Arkansas, circa 1915.

In The Sweet Sunny South

It never boils, but it does simmer.

I came up with this crooked little tune a few years ago as an exercise to improve my drop-thumb technique in playing melodic runs. Since then, it has regularly sat in front of me like an energetic terrier, its eyes bright and its rear end wagging furiously in anticipation of a walk. And rarely do I go on that walk without falling down a couple times, but I have become a better player overall as a result. I have never played this tune flawlessly; what's here is about as good as it ever gets, and it's okay enough to share. Hope you enjoy it.

The Watched Pot

Sometimes you set up parameters to explore, plug in, and see what happens. Sometimes it feels pretty good, and it goes places that surprise you.

This piece is an improvisation for electric autoharp and two square-wave-modulated delays in my digital audio workstation (Presonus Studio One). Long ago, I was inspired by the recordings of guitarist Henry Kaiser, who used this technique extensively and wrote about it in Guitar Player magazine. I was a recording engineer at the time and had access to studios equipped some of the very expensive gear that would produce this effect, and I would often try it myself after work was over. It was a delightful thing to play with, and I missed having it available after I went on to "civilian" life. Fortunately, I've lived long enough to find I could re-create this effect on a DAW that cost me all of $50.

I won't go into a description of how square-wave modulation works...but here's Henry Kaiser explaining it pretty thoroughly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbJFlX_L6To&t=514s

Unexplored Corridors #1

The pandemic has forced my friends at Rural Grit Happy Hour back in Kansas City to move their weekly open mic session online. It's sad that they can't meet in person, but it has allowed me, three years after moving to the East Coast, to join in on something I've sorely missed. It's great to (virtually) hang out with these folks once again.

A couple of weeks ago, the theme was Songs About Food, and it prompted me to complete an idea that had been floating untethered in my head for a while.

For the action-packed video version of this song, go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqxP18LbsCQ&t=35s

Egg Salad Sandwich

Cheap beer and dark bars and banjos that ring...these are a few of my favorite things.

Thanks for listening, and thanks for creating!

hanklebury

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