Wordpress doesn’t seem to be working today. This is a big problem for my other blog since I can’t access either the blog or its admin functions. I have been trying to blog about a short documentary on Mississippi Fred McDowell, but it doesn’t work. Here is the text I have been trying to upload along with a link to the video.

Here is the video, and here (below) is the short text I wrote.

This is a nice mini-documentary featuring Mississippi Fred McDowell’s music and some film footage of people in Mississippi. I can only assume that some of the footage was taken in Como, MS where McDowell lived. Como is part of the hill country section of the state whose blues is more modal than the better known Mississippi delta blues.

McDowell is one of my favorite guitar players - his playing is simultaneously simple and complex, if that makes any sense. Each song has just a few musical elements to it, but the syncopation and intonation are deeply felt and tremendously complex in their own right. His playing is immediately recognizable and unique; I’m not aware of any other guitar players that sound remotely like him unless they are consciously trying to copy him. Brilliant stuff, for sure.

Anyway, as soon as I can get my Wordpress site working again I want to upload the same text and video link. That blog has really turned into a travelogue of sorts as I move around the internet, looking for music of interest. When I began the blog I also wrote some posts on the news and a couple of historical concepts, but I seem to have settled into a running commentary on my internet excursions.

I’ve been practicing a number of McDowell’s tunes on the guitar lately, and I think I have a few things down. Some of his tunes are fairly simple to learn while others are hellacious. I have been trying to work on “Break ‘Em On Down” today, but the syncopation of the main groove is simply beyond me at the moment. Other tunes like “Louise” are easy to get, but really tough to play consistently while singing. I swear, the dude was a real guitar wizard if there ever was one.

McDowell’s music also reminds me that I really want to be able to play bottleneck on an electric guitar. I recently setup my Strat for bottleneck playing, but it just doesn’t feel or sound as good as my old National Duolian. McDowell used a Gibson copy for most of his electric playing, but the National has a nice fat neck and a 1 3/4 inch nut width that makes it ideal for bottleneck. Ideally I would like to find or build an electric guitar with similar neck dimensions that I would use exclusively for bottleneck playing. This is what I drool over when I visit the Warmoth website - I continuously custom build and price a nick fat-necked electric guitar that I can’t yet afford. One of these days though….

UPDATE: I sorted out the Wordpress site. Here is the story I had meant to post.