I got something to admit. I used to have lots of spirit, writing and singing and playing music, jumping around and dancing. When my dearly beloved wife passed from cancer, something powerful left out of me. Then I got crushed head to toe front to back in a 70 thousand pound concrete mixer I rolled upside down. Hardly is the time I even pick up an instrument anymore, but, watching things like this here story with Norman Blake, I feel a revival stirring inside me. Real glad to run across this. Thank you Norman for putting this out here , and thanks to everyone involved in making this video. I am very encouraged.

@haroldsteinblatt2567

Жыл бұрын

It’s a dark world. At you become re-accustomed to playing, the love you had for it will return, you won’t associate it with the past but with the present, and you will enjoy it once again.

@JohnnyRebKy

Жыл бұрын

I totally understand. I started playing at 12 and not a single day went by that I didn’t play the guitar several times a day. I took it with me everywhere I went. Then when I was 25 or so I went through some very stressful events and something inside me just snapped. I suddenly didn’t have the desire to pick up my guitar anymore for my usual daily jams. It just sat in the corner all the time. Then it ended up put away in the case and I didn’t even see it anymore. Now it’s been about 12 years since I’ve done any playing. I can still play it but my rhythm and timing has taken a serious blow. I can still pick the Wildwood flower and stuff like that like I always could but it’s my strumming and timing that feels like I’m starting all over again. But I just bought a new Martin guitar and trying to revive my old love for playing. So you are definitely not alone

@ShockwaveZero

Жыл бұрын

man that sounds horrific. hope you're ok now with your injuries.

@michaelmcraemusic

Жыл бұрын

Prayers and love, brother. Life is full of surprises, and it’s up to each of us to choose how we respond. These days I wake and say “This is the best day of my life!” I realized no one is going to call me up and say tell that, so it is up to me to make every day the best day, to take advantage of every moment and not let the seconds slip through my fingers. It has taken me 73 and a half years to get here, and I WILL make today the best day of my life!! 🙏❤️❤️

I was one of those people in the 70's that hung on every word and note. I miss those days.

Norman Blake is simply a National Treasure! For all you younger folks watching, you need to dive into Norman's work here on KZread and beyond, you won't be disappointed.

@TheOpinionatedGuitarist

Жыл бұрын

He’s absolutely amazing!

@CS_Sardine

Жыл бұрын

I'm loving this! I'm 29 and I'll consider myself young until 99 if the good lord don't want me sooner. What's on your top list for music to listen too? I'm discovering this genre and the ones connected to it, and would love some pointers :) After hearing Honkey Tonk Heroes I've started delving into all these gems.

@scubasteve4093

Жыл бұрын

@@CS_Sardine Bob Minner, Roscoe Holcomb, Ola Belle Reed, Cindy Walker

@bellyfullofbadberries502

Жыл бұрын

Whiskey before Breakfast is obviously mind boggling but I also really enjoy The Fields of November

@TypingHazard

Жыл бұрын

Texas Gales showed me that I ain't learned nothing about guitar in 26 years lol

You can start a greatest of all time flatpickers starting with Norman, Tony, Doc and Clarence without argument. After that there’s a lot to choose from but these four without question laid the foundation for those to come.

I met this man in his yard. Locals told me he'd lived there for years and I stopped by with a guitar to jam, but he had a root canal that morning. So happy I got to shake his hand and thank him for his music.

I had heard his records and seen him live, but never heard him talk. I didn't realize he had worked with EVERYBODY. What a guy.

I have had the good fortune of getting to meet Norman and Nancy on a number of occasions. In the early seventies I worked for a guy whose brother was a former roommate of Norman’s. I bought a brand new J-50 in 1973, and Norman was the first person besides me to play it. Fortunately he gave it his “thumbs up.” Fast forward a decade, and the band I was in were booked for a show at a local college. Several hours before we went on their radio station to talk about our music, then headed to our sound check. After we finished, one of the stagehands told me there was someone who wanted to meet me. I asked who, and his reply was that it was Norman and Nancy Blake and then asked if I knew who they were. Turns out that they had lIstened to interview and decided to drop in. I got the chance to hang out with them that afternoon and they ended up attending the show. What an honor! Over the next few years they would drop by the record store I ran to shop and to visit. Great people and great musicians!

Funny how Norman goes from "i can barely play, probably" to not being able to resist singing harmony with Joel. Long live Norman Blake, a class act if there ever was one.

How lovely is this ❤

@dakotawilson2921

Жыл бұрын

For a 35 year old flatpickin' lover and poor attempter from the same area as this terrific man, very lovely. Helps me to appreciate the roots of my southern appalachian heritage. It's quickly disappearing.

Norman, Doc and Tony Rice are the best flat pickers that ever lived.

@jordanbyates

Жыл бұрын

…..Clarence White has entered the chat

@piscator57

Жыл бұрын

@@jordanbyates Clarence never gets enough credit, in my opinion...

Norman may think he can’t sing a good song anymore but the way he set in on “Farewell Francisco Madero” after several years with only a few preliminary notes while he found his place and then rendered a very, very nice performance in vocals and picking. He’s amazing and as others have said he’s a treasure.

I still love Norman's voice, he's aging with style and grace. There's much admiration and he's such an inspiration to soo many. Love you !! Norman

He's a living, breathing compendium of the last 70 years of folk / bluegrass music. Amazing. I hope Norman Blake lives another decade, if not more.

I got know Norman and Nancy in the early 1980s. They would stop at my house in Albuquerque on their way to Telluride or somewhere west. They would stay for a week sometimes, with James Bryan. I would work on their fiddles, and then they bought a couple from me. Norman would walk around the house playing his mandolin all day long, one tune after another. It was a lot of fun getting to know him and Nancy, and then his friend Peter Ostroushko, who played one of my mandolins for years. Norman was a funny old guy, even when he was young! But I believe nowadays he is not given the credit he deserves. He and his band helped to bring back old time music

Love the way Norman plays Whiskey Before Breakfast.

Dude, Norman's got beautiful mandolin tone. I love how utterly physical his whole style is on all of the instruments he plays

It’s so great to see that Norman is still playing so well, with an intellect that is as sharp as a tack. Norman Blake IS one of “the Greats”. Thanks so much for posting !

@Les3201

Жыл бұрын

@@larkinblake1327 Thanks for the note Larkin. Best wishes to you and your family….and to many more years of healthy picking for your father !

Wonderful Norman Blake! Can't wait to come at Songbirds!

Great to see Norman alive and well; congrats to his election into the BGMHoF.

Lovely. He really is a treasure. So awesome that he did this. Kudos to you guys for asking good questions, and just letting him talk and play.

Words can’t describe 🔥

Norman Blake is one of my favorite guitar pickers. He makes everything loos so easy and natural, plus he is always having fun, which makes it fun for me to watch.

As highly as I regard all the acoustic heroes, I think Norman taught me how to love acoustic old time, rootsy music and instruments better than anyone. Very much obliged sir! I recall seeing Norman & Nancy at a beautiful colonial meeting house in Fitzwilliam NH one year, around apple pickin' time IIRC.

@joereadel

Жыл бұрын

Yeah same here. What a guy

What a pleasure to sit and listen to one of the greatest musicians living like he’s in your living room playing with the touch and tone he always and answering the questions you might have asked yourself. Thank you!

Love this. Norman is a favourite of mine.

My grandson Jakob just won second place in West Virginia flatpicking competition, he used to call him Norman Bwake

Norman is a huge inspiration to me, picked up playing the mando from listening to his early albums. A deceptively brilliant musician.

It is interesting to watch - the rythm player and Mr. Blake tap their feet to different tempos.

@intuneorange

Жыл бұрын

That's a good observation thanks for pointing it out but divide in half and multiply by two

Stories and tunes on vintage instruments along with Norman’s memories of every detail!

thank you for this. he's been my soundtrack since my first gravel road.

Far far too long ago to remember exactly when I had the great fortune to see a show with Norman and Nancy. It was in a small room at the University of Bridgeport with too few people in attendance and I was able to sit in the front row right in front of them. Not being a newcomer to Normans music (I owned every record of his that I could find at the time) I was in total awe during the show. Amazing performance. Thank you both.

Thanks so much for this, it's wonderful to see Mr. Blake looking and sounding so fit.

Norman can play anything! Wonderful, talented, humble human being, who played with the greats!

Fantastic. I'm so glad I took the time to watch this.

love this guy..ol southerner lol by the ol railroad track

I was first introduced to you when I watched O Brother Where Art Thou, but I didn't know it yet. Years later I watched the Ballad of Buster Scruggs and I became obsessed with the soundtrack. In particular the song that was played in the bar when the Sun Saba Songbird walks into it. I found your video where you flatpick it for a DVD recording and since then your music has been a staple in my life. I am grateful to have lived in the world at the same moment you are alive. Your gift to the world is great, well done.

Hahaha his Monroe impression is impeccable

While Norman's guitar playing puts him in a very small group of the world's best, it's his mandolin playing and even more so, his composing of original mandolin pieces that i think defines him as nothing short of a genius. I feel blessed by many things but having gotten to live when Norman was playing and recording is one that's pretty high on the list.

@peterwhite7428

29 күн бұрын

Peter Ostroushko told me that he thought Nine Mile Waltz? And Blake’s March were two of the finest mandolin pieces he ever heard

I could listen to this all day ! Thank you

So nice to hear Norman play some more. He still has his signature sound. I listened to him for many years. Got to see him live once in this little down home saloon. Special times. Thanks for sharing.

"Farewell Francisco Madero" sounds great with Norman on that 1937 Martin 000-45 guitar, and that song begins at approximately 01:00:13 in the above video.

God bless Norman Blake! The joy and inspiration this man and his wife has given me is immeasurable. I treasure every minute of the time I've spent listening to his music. I am probably his biggest fanning the whole of from South Africa :)

84 years old, still at it. I’ve always loved his music, but listening to his knowledge is just as good or better. I could listen to him all day. Why didn’t you ask him about Tony Rice?

This is frigging fantastic! Period!

AMEN

wow! I've listen to Blake all my life and had no clue he could play mandolin like this! amazing musician! thank you for sharing this wonderful video!

@SongbirdsFoundation

10 ай бұрын

Thank YOU for watching! ❤

I love this Man😃

In the 70's, I heard Norman Blake play black mountain rag... Ripped it up....

I had the rare treat to hear a N&N Blake mini- concert in a small town where I was living in the mid '70s. I don't know the exact date, but they played until midnight, as I recall. I chatted briefly with them and told them how much their music had influenced my picking. He told me to keep pickin'. I have, after all these years, and taken up the mandolin as well. P.S. Another music icon has left us, as I write this. Loretta Lynn at 90 has gone to the other side.

Norman sure is a National!!Treasure!!

It's always a treat to see anything Norman Blake does he has always been my favorite flatpicker and a influence on my own playing. It's good to see he is still in good health and still picking. I'm not sure which I enjoyed watching him pick or getting to listen to him shoot the shit with you guys. Thank you so much for this!

Yeah, my first guitar was in 1962. It was a Harmony arch top and I swore it sounded like Peter, Paul and Mary, which of course it did NOT. I played with it till the windings on the strings started to come unwound. There was no internet in those days or Amazon or place to get new strings in my home town, so I just kept on playing. Then I broke a string and my dad took pity on me. Somehow, somewhere he found me a new set of strings. This new set lasted me till after I graduated high school in '65. I had that cheap $ 20 guitar for a couple more years when I found a music store in Denver and bought a brand new Gibson J-50 in '66 for $ 250 with a cardboard case.

Wow... Wonderful.

Norman was my hero anyway but this video just makes me love him even more, his voice sounds great to me!!!

I was able see Norman in Louisville KY Nineteen Seventy Six on Main Street at "the Bluegrass Bar" which was a "Real" hole in the wall. There might have been Ten...no more than Twelve people there that Saturday Night. What a treat it night was....He has put lots of miles on his fret board since then...His performance was flawless. Thanks Norman...

A living legend here folks .

I bought home in sulphur springs years ago Norman is an amazing guitarist

Norman, I just want to say how much your olde-time Georgia music has inspired me for many years since I saw you and Nancy and James playing at State 4 in Winfield. That's the first time I heard "Ginseng Sullivan"".

Norman is spot on about the short attention spans, the sound bites, and the chop chop on everything. I can totally, completely agree with him. We have become a world of fleas on crack that hopped into the espresso. If something requires more than 5 words or 10 seconds, forget it. It's not gonna happen. I try to share this kind of stuff, and after 10 seconds, the eyes glaze over, and out comes the phone. Time to look at lady Gaga's new tattoo. Technology is taking away so many things we may never get back.

I just love Norman! He's just simply the real thing with no embellishment! I've been a fan since I first heard him on a record my uncle had.

Norman is my go to feller if and when I want to learn a new tune to play on mandolin. He is just so smooth and layed back. First time I ever heard him live and playing mandolin, I said to a buddy, I 've got to get a mandolin and learn to play like that. Here we are many decades later and I'm getting closer to having a satisfied soul. Thank you Norman.

Thanks for this! Yes, he is a treasure for sure!

What a talent, and what a career! Thanks for all the great music, Norman!

It's funny but I just noticed this video while sitting in a park about a quarter mile away from a small room at the University of Bridgeport where I was seated in the front row about as close to Norman and Nancy as this video looks. The show was so many years ago I couldn't even guess when it was. I can still hear the music and see that show in my mind. It was just great. I was a fan of his for year before that show and still own all his records even though l have a record player. People like these are priceless.

Big Norman (and Nancy) fan. Thx.

your still my hero, totally enjoyed the Video!

LOVE THIS!!

Thank you so much for recording and posting this. I discovered Norman 40 years ago and have listened ever since. I. Ave incorporated several of his original tunes into my repertoire.

man, I didn't want that to end!!

This is amazing!

You didn’t ask him about the tony rice albums!! I guess Norman’s done too much cool shit. God imagine smoking up with Norman, just a super cool cat

It’s great to see you Norman! Thanks for your gift of music. I still hang on Avery line and riff.

I hope he's still well! absolutely a great!

I really enjoyed the video, such a great story.

THE BEST!

Wow saw him play at the fair I was the only one that knew who he was greatest player out there and those guitars in the background or incredible. Millions of dollars there . Can’t replace those .

awsome

The playing sounds so effortless after Seasoned and earned time, Gentlemen! The clackin' on the mandolin sounds like mountain clogging: The guard and E string, thanks! Glorious, fellas!

I always liked the way he would go through the entire tune at least 3 times and each time would vary a little, get a bit fancier or add an instrument for more harmony parts. The entire "Underground music from the mysterious South" or " Natasha's Waltz" albums(CD) are examples of this. He taught one of my jamming friends clawhammer banjo.

Norman is a national treasure!!

What a treat this channel is, seeing how amazing, iconic musicians use iconic treasured instruments to make great music. I’m looking forward to more electric guitar features.

@SongbirdsFoundation

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much! We've got lots of content coming y'all's way :)

What a great interview! A bit sad seeing no questions were asked about playing with Doc Watson and Tony Rice

It was energy we took some substances those days 😂

He's so cool.

Among other Blake tunes I admire and try to emulate is one called the Old Hollow Poplar I think it is one Nancy put together, but played only once in a concert somewhere. It is in a book, but I can't find it, so I worked it out by the 'old school' method -- by "ear" !

@Mignarda

Жыл бұрын

That's the old fiddle tune Hollow Poplar, best known from the 1970s Rounder recording by Kentucky fiddler Buddy Thomas.

@robertshorthill6836

Жыл бұрын

@@Mignarda I have Hollow Poplar in a book of old fiddle tunes and I don't think it's the same tune. Norman and Nancy's version is more interesting. I will have to delve into this old tune more and see if it is the same tune. Thanks friend, Bob

@jamesrenz9475

Жыл бұрын

Hollow Poplar comes from the book of fiddle tunes collected by R.P. Christeson called the Old-Time Fiddler's Repertory, Vol. 1, published by University of Missouri Press.

I was like a blind dog in a meat market watching this.

Wonderful. These guitars are all in pristine condition. I can't help but to wince every time Norman leans that guitar against the metal buttons on his bib overalls...LOL.

Nice

🙏

@joannehack7588

3 ай бұрын

✨

@joannehack7588

3 ай бұрын

👑

I’ve stuck with old time roots music and bluegrass stuff since I was a kid. I started at 12 and had nothing but a bluegrass song book with a chord chart on it. Many of the songs I didn’t even know, I just tried singing the words and playing the chords the book said to use. And to this day at 39 years old when I pick up a acoustic instrument I naturally desire to play old time traditional stuff. It’s just what sounds “ right” on a acoustic guitar to ME. Other types of music on acoustic instruments just don’t excite me any. I am NOT bashing other music I’m just saying the old time stuff is what I feel like a acoustic guitar was created for 👍🏻 And let me tell you young guys something…your friends might laugh and make fun of you for playing old “ hillbilly” stuff…but the girls will flock around you like hens around a pile of corn 🌽 👍🏻😎. Trust me it works 😂

🤩

@joannehack7588

Жыл бұрын

Glorious

@joannehack7588

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for sharing

@joannehack7588

Жыл бұрын

💥

I believe they have played together before.

Looks like Leo was enjoying the playing.

I still try whether or not on purpose to play like Norman.

What a great interview and presentation of one of my favorite players Norman Blake. If I could of done anything different it would be to turn up the MC some to hear him, and put a different mandolin in Norman's hands to remove the clicking. Thanks for this.

Thank you for sharing this with us. What mics were used?

'36 Sunburst !

I'm getting me some overalls.

Someone better send this to cam knowler and Bob minner

Norman is the man, what is the first tune they are playing?

@JesseRayWells

Жыл бұрын

Sounds like Kenny Baker's 'Salty', he recorded it on the album 'Sleepy Eyed Joe'

@SongbirdsFoundation

Жыл бұрын

@@JesseRayWells That's right! Good ear! Just updated our caption with labeled time stamps for each song :)

@TomithyTTomilson

Жыл бұрын

Thanking you sir