Estersohn The Songs

1 Louise 3:37 one from Mississippi Fred McDowell, who told me to keep my thumb movin’. E
2 Midnight Hour Blues (Leroy Carr ) 3:52 A classic from the great piano player. B
3 4 Bucks---A Dance (Hurt, S. McGhee, Davis, Watson) 1:52 Theme and variations for traditional guitar. Buck Dance, Uncle John; Buck Dancer’s Choice, by Sam McGhee from Sunny Tennessee; Buck Dance, The Rev.; and Doc’s Guitar from Doc Watson; arr. Estersohn A
4 S.U.V. Blues ©2004 2:06 A new blues for the 3 tons and a quart of milk set. B
5 Deep Elm Blues new lyrics ©2004 5:41 talking ‘bout some dangerous women C
6 Theater of Pain ©1973,2004 1:41 A bottleneck blues on the wood-bodied National. This song is definitely more sensitive than me. Don’t know how I wrote it. E
7 Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy 2:13 Dock Boggs meets Fred McDowell. E
8 Temptation Rag 3:49 A set arrangement of brilliant piano rag. A
9 Bulldog Blues©2004 2:06 old school bravado B
10 The Dealer©1971,2004 2:57...more of the same D
11 They Saw Me Comin' ©2004 2:03... yet tempered by a certain commercial naiveté. B
12 Blue Monk (Thelonious Monk) 3:12 is Blue Monk is Blue Monk. A
13 Prohibition Blues©2004 3:14 A topical blues on the insanity of this country’s drug laws. B
14 St. James Infirmary 3:16 My friend Peter calls such overdubbing an ego band. More like a sideman’s wet dream. GSPSQGPS
15 Stolen Moments 4:27 Guitar arrangement of an amazing tune from the album with the best title ever. Blues and the Abstract Truth. Can’t beat it. A
16 Pay Day /Thank You Uncle John (Hurt, Estersohn)©1971,2004 3:40 It seems increasingly bizarre as the decades pass, but at the age of 14, Uncle John was what I was calling the great and legendary Mississippi John Hurt. It was a Philly thing that I picked up from my teacher, Jerry Ricks. Five years after Uncle John passed I wrote this remembrance of him, which seemed to fit in with his song Pay Day. Some time later I made the whole thing a bottleneck number. E
All arr. Ted Estersohn ©2005
A = guitar, Gibson L 7 arch-top (1936)
B = vocal, guitar
C = add mandolin, Gibson A Jr. (1926)
D = add tenor banjo, Vegaphone Professional (1926); mandocello, Gibson K-1 (from the collection of Dave Betts)
E = vocal, National wood-bodied resonator guitar (1929)
GSPSQGPS = The Greater South Philadelphia String Quartet Glee and Perloo Society

TED ESTERSOHN ROOT AND BRANCH

Notes on the Songs