Lew Dite Songster || I Faw Down and Go Boom

Lew Dite || Likes Likker Better than Me (DGBD tuning)

I thought I'd search out some DGBD tuning and see what I could find. Here's an Old Time music player named Lew Dite that has posted many traditional tunes. Here Lew is playing a steel string tenor guitar. But we can easily adjust to this tuning on our bari's too...

Lew Dite || Times are Getting Hard, Boys (Tenor Guitar DGBE)

Sometimes a sad tune hits the mark...

Lew Dite || Tin Pan Alley Songs

PDF-Minstrel Monday || Red River Valley

This is a traditional American song whose notes make me feel a longing for days gone by. Do you hear the sentimentality in the notes? Suzy Boguss includes this folk tune as her second song in her American Folk Songbook. Suzy was interviewed by the Denver WESTWARD Blog and she talks about being on tour with Garrison Keillor and about her old fifth grade songbook. She also mentions  how the Prairie Home Companion story tellin' genius would get thousands to sing the old songs along with him at each tour stop.  

Here's Roger Ruthen's arrangement which uses quite a bit of harmonics...
http://pdfminstrel.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/red_river_valley.pdf

So what's up with these "harmonics?" They give us more opportunities to fingerpick songs and express ourselves musically in more ways. So here we are playing melody notes and frequently combining notes with other notes in the scale, often thirds, to recreate the melody. What key is this arrangement? Can you see it from the chord fragments? Some chords are more full and we can clearly see the E, A and B7 for our I-IV-V7 song.

We can also watch the bari-uke playing songster, Lew Dite, sing and strum Red River Valley, here. Lew, who has been generously playing and posting many early American tunes, also provides a scrolling karaoke style version of the video on a LDSongScreen video. Lew is playing this in the key of G, using G-C-D7.

This song has been popular and my friend Jen of Jenfo (YT Channel "Bluffho") has done one of her Amateur Videos of Red River Valley with her baritone ukulele. She has a lovely voice and gives another perspective to learning the song. Jenn lives about an hour or so South of me but we have met at the Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz, hung out and enjoyed sharing some bari and music talk. I have linked to Jen's music site on my blog right hand column but I'd like to remind you that she has music there too. Her arrangement for the tune has some extra flavor, take a look, here.

See her songbook (just scroll down a bit.)

Lew Dite || Don't Think Twice, It's Alright (Bob Dylan cover on a Baritone Ukulele

Lew had the flu, but I like the song and the fingerpicking style...

Lew Dite || A Christmas Celebration Original on Baritone Ukulele

Let's hear some cheers for "Lew Dite" and his heartwarming Christmas tune. Today there are 1329 YouTube video uploads by this man. What a labor of love from an inspirational man. Here's his YT Channel Link. Additional to these are the karaoke-style versions of his videos, here.

Lew Dite || No Time for Roses

His Song for Occupiers of Wall Street, "No time for Roses" was originally written in 1996. Lew is a folk man.

WEEK FOCUS #3 || Songster Lew Dite

“Songster” Lew Dite is from Montreal, Canada and is a multi-instrumentalist that has become a one-man-Smithsonian of old-timey music. He brings to life these old tunes with amazing enthusiasm and has created a YouTube shrine to celebrate the music, playing Guitar, Banjo, Erhu, Strumstick, Ukulele and Baritone Ukulele. To appreciate the breadth of his offerings just check out his two YouTube Channels…

LewDite 1,086 Videos. http://www.youtube.com/user/lewdite

Lew Dite Songscreen (Karaoke Style) http://www.youtube.com/LDsongscreen

Lew often has a title of “Songs _____ ______ Taught Me to Love.” Perhaps someday someone else will post “Songs Lew Dite Taught Me to Love” due to his musical generosity.

This week's focus is on Lew's Baritone Ukulele Videos:

1) I Only Want a Buddy Not a Sweetheart

2) Pay Me My Money Down

3) Blue-Tail Fly

4) Memphis Yodel

5) Kentucky Waltz

6) Bottle of Wine

7) Kisses Sweeter than Wine

8) Two Brothers

9) Riding in My Car

10) Grandfather’s Rights

PLAYLISTS

Humble Uker Playlist Compilation (Listen while you work.)

"Back in the 1940's as a young boy I was introduced to the world of self-made music by my father (1903-1983) who sang and played the banjo uke and tenor banjo. There was no pretense here, just simple straight out stuff, much of it Tin Pan Alley. It was this simplicity of delivery that attracted me as a teenager in the 1950's to British skiffle music in general and Lonnie Donegan in particular. Exploring the origins of British skiffle led me to Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Big Bill Broonzy, the Carter Family, and all the old-timey music from the 20's, 30's and 40's..." (read more on Lew's YouTube Channel)

Lew also has a Sing-along Songs CD,. It is very reasonably priced. Mine is in the mail now. I am looking forward to enjoying the songs Lew Dite taught me to love.

Lew Dite || Menuett

This beautiful piece Lew Dite learned from Wilfried Welti. In the second part of the video Lew plays a Chinese erhu.

Lew Dite || St James Infirmary || Baritone Ukulele

Lew Dite || Baritone Ukulele || Vintage Folk Songster

The fun part of doing a blog on a specific instrument is that you get to see a broad range of genres performed using the same basic tool. Lew Dite archives the songs his elders taught him to love and shares them with future generations. Sometimes he calls it "porch music" which a remnant of the pre-radio days which seem centuries away.

Lew Dite on Baritone Ukulele || Pay Me My Money Down