Current Repertoire as of 12/27/2012

Continuing to sing and play. 2012 has been a glorious year for my  musical adventure. Had lots of musical friends over to celebrate my 55th birthday, and we all sat around in a big circle and sang. Continuing to play at the Perry Hall Folk Music Night once a month, sometimes with Mark Huslage. Continuing to explore all kinds of American music, from old time country to rock, and also delving into the history of American music, with concentration on "roots music". Haven't put up any videos or files lately, but still have the notion to at least post all my songs as files for the future collectors at Library of Congress ;-) and for our kids. Take care.

Gary Kenneth Bass
almost famous folksinger
 

Gary's Repertoire

1.       Going Up the Country (capo 0, dropped D)

2.       Quinn the Eskimo(capo 1, C)

3.       With a Little Help From My Friends (capo 2, D)

4.       Get Together (capo 0, dropped D)

5.       Morningtown Ride (capo 5, dropped D)

6.       You Ain't Going Nowhere (capo 4, G)

7.       Kitty Alone (capo 0, G))

8.       Walkin' Down the Line (capo 7, DADF#AD)

9.       You've Got to Hide Your Love Away (capo 0, dropped D)

10.      The Circle Game (capo 1, A)

11.      If I Were A Featherbed (capo 6, dropped D)

12.      Last Night I Had The  Strangest Dream (capo 6, dropped D)

13.      Blowin' In The Wind (capo 1, G)

14.      Michael Row The Boat Ashore (capo 1, G)

15.      Paradise (capo 7, DADF#AD)

16.      This Land is Your Land (capo 4, G)

17.      Turn! Turn! Turn! (capo 5, dropped D)

18.      Buckeye Jim (capo 8, C)

19.      Mail Myself To You (capo 7, dropped D)

20.      If I Had A Hammer (capo 1, G)

21.      Tide and the River Rising (capo 0, dropped D)

22.      Lord, I've Got Some Singing to Do (capo 0, A)

23.      Dona Dona (capo 0, Am)

24.      Jubilee (capo 0, C)

25.      Kisses Sweeter Than Wine (capo 4, A)

26.      The Mill Was Made of Marble (capo 0, G)

27.      Mister Rabbit (capo 0, dropped C)

28.      Kitty Alone and I (capo 0, dropped D)

29.      I'm Satisfied (capo 1, C)

30.      In Tall Buildings (capo 0, C)

31.      Shake Sugaree (capo 0, G)

32.      Before I Met You (capo 1, C)

33.      Shine On (capo 0, C)

34.      Peace Will Come (capo 2, C)

35.      Doney Gal (capo 6, G)

36.      Close Your Eyes (capo 7, A)

37.      My Girl (capo 7, G)

38.      Old Friend (capo 0, A)

39.      Love the One You're With (capo 0, dropped D)

40.      Step By Step (capo 2, Am)

41.     Big Yellow Taxi (capo 2, DADF#AD)

42.     Erev Shel Shoshanim (capo 2, Em)

43.     Passing Through (capo 3, G)

44.     Bamboo (capo 1, dropped D)

45.     Child's Song (capo 1, C)

46.     Puff the Magic Dragon (capo 4, C)

47.      Eight Days a Week (capo 0, D)

48.     Thank You Song (capo 0, D)

49.     Punch and Judy (capo 0, C)

50.     Old Time Rock n' Roll (capo 0, dropped D)

51.     Give Me the Roses While I Live (capo 0, dropped D)

52.     My Dixie Darling (capo 4, G)

53.     Simple Man (capo -1, G)

54.     Stern Old Bachelor (capo 2, C)

55.     Are You Tired of Me My Darling (capo 2, D)

Tide and the River Rising

My little folk music adventure continues, having played last Saturday night at the Perry Hall Folk Music Night three songs (You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song, and Morningtown Ride) with my musical partner Mark Huslage. One of my old elementary school friends and his wife even drove an hour to see us (if that isn't a sign of friendship, what is?)

They say life keeps presenting you the same lessons until you learn them and I think I have finally realized that it just is no longer worth memorizing songs. This gives me a chance to relearn and learn more songs and keep my repertoire fresh for get togethers and performances. But most importantly the audience doesn't have to experience a blank stare when I can't remember the words. An old friend of mine was kind enough to remind me that I was also forgetting words when I was in my early 20's (I am now at the tender age of 54).

Currently working up a version of a beautiful song written by Cindy Kallet called Tide and The River Rising. If you've never heard the singing of Cindy Kallet, and you are a fan of early Joni Mitchell, she is well worth a listen, for her gentle voice and guitar playing alone.

Currently taking a break from making videos (allows more time to sing and read and involves too much effort rearranging the furniture :-) and sticking with making lo-fi audio recordings which are continuously being updated to be listened to and enjoyed at http://www.baltimoreguitaristgroup.com/files/ .

And for those who have read this far, my current repertoire (with keys reflecting not the actual key but the main chord used when capo is in place) is (drum roll please):

1.    Going Up the Country (capo 0, dropped D)

2.    Quinn the Eskimo(capo 1, C)

3.    With a Little Help From My Friends (capo 2, D)

4.    Get Together (capo 0, dropped D)

5.    Morningtown Ride (capo 5, dropped D)

6.    You Ain't Going Nowhere (capo 4, C)

7.    Kitty Alone (capo 0, kitty tuning of ggdgbg)

8.    Walkin' Down the Line (capo 2, kitty tuning)

9.    You've Got to Hide Your Love Away (capo 0, dropped D)

10. The Circle Game (capo 1, A)

11. If I Were A Featherbed (capo 6, dropped D)

12. Last Night I Had The  Strangest Dream (capo 6, dropped D)

13. Blowin' In The Wind (capo 1, G)

14. Michael Row The Boat Ashore (capo 1, G)

15. Paradise (capo 2, kitty tuning)

16. This Land is Your Land (capo 4, G)

17. Turn! Turn! Turn! (capo 5, dropped D)

18. Buckeye Jim (capo 8, C)

19. Mail Myself To You (capo 7, dropped D)

20. If I Had A Hammer (capo 1, G)

Well, that's all for now, but look forward to seeing you at our next performance on September 8th at Perry Hall Folk Music Night on Belair Road. Better start practicing.....................

Musically,

Gary Kenneth Bass (almost famous folksinger)

You Ain't Going Nowhere

Its been a productive musical period the last few weeks. The muse is continuing to stay with me, I'm pleased to report. Last month, I recorded a video with a miniature 12 string electric guitar, as part of the Small Guitar in Motion project and it was fun playing electric again, channeling my inner Hendrix, though at heart I am and always will be a folkie. The video is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL_O18rVTbU&feature=plcp and begins with an acoustic version of You Ain't Going Nowhere (by Bob Dylan) and digresses from there.  I've been playing this song on and off for almost 40 years now. One of the happiest tunes I know, and it just seems to keep on evolving with me (recently changed the chording and added some little embellishments just to make it even happier :-)

Recently started playing the old-time tune Kitty Alone again and worked up a new version with the guitar strings tuned so as to sound more like a banjo, moving both E strings up to G (talk about warp speed!) and the A string down to G. I now officially call this the kitty tuning, and it brought out in my playing new versions of Worried Man Blues and Take the Last Train to Clarksville (from that great folk music group The Monkees). Currently learning the song Walking Down the Line (by Bob Dylan, but never officially released with him playing until the legal bootleg series), using the kitty tuning. I first heard this song off a live album by Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger. I loved hearing Arlo teaching the audience the chorus by saying something like the reason that the guy in the song has a troubled mind is because he has flying feet.

The next few months or maybe the rest of my lifetime will be devoted to getting together with old and new musical friends alike (including my musical partner Mark Huslage in preparation for our next open mike at Perry Hall Folk Music Night on June 9th), and including my old fiddling friend Lisa Roberts, Mike Petti, Leah and Marlin and John, and last, but not least Q!

As I've said before, it just feels so good to be playing again.

Until next time.

Peace,

Gary Kenneth Bass (almost famous folksinger)

Morningtown Ride

Hello  friends,

Been working on the children's song Morningtown Ride for the last month, a song composed by Malvina Reynolds (best known for her song Little Boxes). Its been fun watching the song evolve before my very eyes, which comes from constant repetition and tweaking when you play a song to death (the only way this 54 year old can memorize a song these days). The capo gradually moved up the neck and this children's song eventually morphed into a gentle folk-rocker! (What will the fans say when I plug in-go ask Pete................). I intend to make a video of the song later today and post it on YouTube.

Got a chance to play out at the open mike at Perry Hall Folk Music night this past Saturday, with my musical partner Mark Huslage, and it was a great experience, with the audience singing along so sweetly on two of the songs. I thought I had gone to musical heaven. The set list consisted of Quinn the Eskimo, Going Up the Country, and With a Little Help From My Friends. The performance was dutifully recorded by my wife, though I'm not sure that the video is ready for prime time exposure :-)

Till next time......

Peace,

Gary Kenneth Bass (almost famous folksinger)

Get Together

Its been a productive musical month in the Bass household, recently recording two new videos with the Flip camcorder (overcoming my technophobia to learn how to use it), available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/mrmallow3/videos   (video versions of Quinn the Eskimo and Going Up the Country, previously only available as audio versions!). I'm looking forward to working on a video for the old Youngbloods tune Get Together this week, written by Chet Powers, and also recorded by the Jefferson Airplane. There is also a recorded version by Chet Powers too. Always loved the yearning quality of the song, especially the recording by The Youngbloods, and really liked the chime like guitar and the sitar-like guitar solo. Recently heard a version of the song on YouTube, as performed by Joni Mitchell and Crosby, Stills, Nash and John Sebastian which inspired me to rework the song much differently than how I used to play it almost 40 years ago (did I really play this song that long ago........).

Getting together with my current musical partner Mark Huslage this week in preparation for an open mike on March 17th at Perry Hall Folk Music Night, as part of the continuing worldwide almost famous folksinger tour :-)  (web site: http://www.perryhallumc.org/FolkMusicNight/ ). Hope to see you there.


In the meantime, if you are not already a member of the almost famous folksinger song of the month club, please send your name and address to almostfamousfolksinger@mail.com so I can notify you when a new video makes its appearance. Operators are standing by.......

Peace,

Gary Kenneth Bass

With a Little Help From My Friends

Well, the Almost Famous Folksinger World Tour continues (ha ha ha). This past Friday night I played at The Friendly Coffeehouse in Towson (sponsored by Baltimore Folk Music Society) and met up with old friends and made some new ones, including a cello player named Les (hope to play together one day) and local singer songwriter named Joe who gave me a copy of his CD after I told him how much I enjoyed his songs. Got to play two numbers: Quinn the Mighty Eskimo (the old Bob Dylan tune with a Garyism of a minor 7th thrown in) and With a Little Help From My Friends (that old Beatles chestnut but without the Joe Cocker arm gestures!), and had some nice harmonies on the latter from our daughter Sophie. Will be working on a working demo kitchen tape for With a Little Help From My Friends (with Sophie). Next stop for the world tour: Wednesday night (1/19/2012) at The Village Coffee and Tea Company in Dundalk (an open mike put on by The Baltimore Guitarist Group (a free meetup group to encourage people to get out and play). Hope to see you there!

Peace,

Gary Kenneth Bass

The Kitchen Tapes-A Fork in Progress

So, its time for another musical comeback (did I ever really leave???). Over the past year, I have been in hiding in my musical den, fine tuning my technique (working on the Mel Bay series and now in the middle of Volume 3, mastering the key of G!) and finally began singing again about two months ago. My videos (only a few at this time) are at http://www.youtube.com/user/mrmallow3/videos . Currently working on the song Quinn the Mighty Eskimo, and after singing it numerous times, have it memorized and even realized that it is not such a humorous song after all, but contains a deeper meaning...........Tentative title for a future album, did I say vanity project: The Kitchen Tapes-A Fork in Progress (The Working Demos-Volume 1), which would be for diehard fans and completionists only, with one copy reserved for The Library of Congress and another copy for the next outgoing time capsule into space (want to keep company with Elvis who is already out there). Well, yet another "lets talk about me" post is just about over, and I hope my music brings a smile to at least a few. It feels so good to be back again..............

Peace,

Gary Kenneth Bass