Sonny Boy Nelson: How You Want Your Rolling Done? (1978)

[@bluesdrmr2]

We all owe Allan Lomax an incredible debt for preserving so much great music for us to treasure.

[@barristanselmy2758]

Anyone know tuning?

[@LukeMaynard]

@@barristanselmy2758 It looks like standard tuning to me. Watch his thumb; the root is the open A string, the 4 is the open D string, and the 5 is the open E string. So it's standard tuning played in A I think. There's a couple of tracks on here recorded at the same time in the same outfit, and they match up.

[@DownBYOB]

The man was 70! and he went on to live 20 more years! cheers to healthy stuff!

[@alicebowen1018]

Remembing it take me back it hits home real deep it took all had hold tears back after 5mins I couldn't stop crying I miss my Grandpa he play in clubs he played to guitar like had own mind he played harmonica like train coming I could listen as long as play

[@RebekahCurielAlessi]

Oh my gosh Alice now I miss him too!🎸

[@KatKrueger]

Props to the brotha dancing living his best life. 💙

[@saifulrimkeit296]

We owe so much to artists like Sonny Boy Nelson and recorders like Alan Lomax and friends. Thank you Alan Lomax. Without this recording we would have missed out.

[@theofficialdiamondlou2418]

Saiful Rimkeit well said.

[@djwsam575]

💙

[@caseylait7667]

some of sonny boy nelsons music is on spotify!

[@mns8732]

thank FDR and WPA who initiated the seed money for this work. yes, that's correct, the govt one worked.

[@SocialVoiceProject]

For more than two decades I've been a serious student and performing enthusiast of acoustic blues, specifically from the Mississippi Delta--what many musicologists call the roots of rock and roll, R&B, and many forms of popular music. It's a raw, folksy, but sophisticated artform flavored from Africa significantly filtered through the rich life experiences of African Americans of the Deep South. In my opinion, the best of the Delta bluesmen (and women) can be heard not in the recording studio but on back porches, at Friday night fish frys, and emanating from seedy juke joints. But we'd never have such an appreciation if it weren't for ethnographic recordists such as the legendary Alan Lomax. He traveled the backwaters of America for nearly seventy years capturing, preserving, and sharing the sounds of Americana. "Alan was one of those who unlocked the secrets of this kind of music," Bob Dylan wrote. "So if we've got anybody to thank, it's Alan." I encourage all of you to appreciate these unique music makers and the preservationists who recorded them for the sake of history.

[@russelljackson5625]

That ain't got nothing to do Africa that's original music from here in North America from Aboriginal black men and who we call today African Americans

[@yantheyam5622]

Feels like I'm sitting there with them. Quite an honor.

[@p61guy]

Amazing, Most people could not play a simple tune on thta warped worn out guitar! He has the talent to make it ring. Wonderful. Thanks for posting. Proves that you do not have to have much money to sound like a million bucks.

[@joelwilson1344]

@@ryanishkonk3446 Still, those strings looked like they were a mile above the fretboard, don't know how he ever managed to play it. Must of been some kind of superfingers he had to play that well.

[@michaellorah9051]

@@joelwilson1344 probably just low gauge old worn out strings. I've played some really messed up guitars with stings like that and it worked.

[@GuitarEvenings]

True that

[@earldarnell5221]

On the other hand, the sounds can't be replicated unless you find one of these remaining guitars.

[@tommyguns9008]

That’s a Kay Archtop from the 60’s. Real tough to play but those guys wanted that extra volume before amps and juice came in. Check out Sonny boy Nelson .

[@jimmycain8669]

Still going on right now, right here in Mississippi. It’s been like that all my life and before as I was born in 1949. I love the Delta blues.

[@poppinoffgamers1543]

Post some videos.man!

[@loisknight2570]

Right on! Mississippian ALLmy life!

[@itsspec-u-lay-tionyall5564]

Where would be the best places to see authentic delta blues? I live in Alabama but I'm from Memphis. Planning to take a delta trip from Memphis next time I'm there

[@sleepybear38]

@@itsspec-u-lay-tionyall5564 Go to Clarksdale Mississippi. Red's Lounge

[@mississippisnowplow]

@@itsspec-u-lay-tionyall5564 Look up Mississippi Blues Trail. It will take you to a lot of juke joints that are still in operation. Just be careful, I know some can be kinda sketchy.

[@NinoNinov-iy7jy]

Not sure why this music resonates so much with me. I’m not even from this country. In a prior life I must have been born here and played blues on the back porch.

[@robknibb]

I love how many dead notes he managed to hit and still sounds amazing!

[@longliverocknroll8261]

haha yeah even with that hes still one of the best players on these 78 archives hes all up and down that fret board bit around 3 mins with quick slides is great

[@carlhoffman3867]

Yeah, too bad some of these guys probably couldn't afford new strings, much less new(er) guitars. Even though the old ones are a huge part of the awesome sound.

[@CountryHouseGent]

Rob Knibb It's the dead notes that make it the blues. 'Feel' before 'Precision'. :)

[@jacksparrow-zj4jj]

you loved dead living notes...but...you, stupid being....you did not loved the sadness & misfortune of those people...

[@millerezra8]

Perfect imperfections

[@235buz]

This is a precious part of American history and should never be forgotten.

[@alundavies8402]

Never forget what our elders can teach us even if we learn how to paint and decorate from the elderly we carry on their traditions our traditions and these gentlemen are carrying it and new people are picking up the torch to carry it in traditions are a beautiful thing providing people can still do modern things as well.

[@alundavies8402]

I meant to write that musical traditions are important too and if young people don’t carry it along oft times this sort of thing people music dies and it must not do that.

[@garyyeigh6098]

Our American heritage, the very best.

[@normc8169]

This is so awesome. Today's music would have never be the same without those great bluesmen. Pillars of all those great artists following. RESPECT.

[@pawekawinski8470]

I love that dancing man!

[@cvolume]

god bless alan lomax for all these treasures. that old $20 guitar sounds like a million dollars in mr.nelson's hands, honest, soul stirring music right here! chris salt lake

[@sauzanneupane5665]

this is awesome ... just fucking awesome!!!!!

[@OrangeAlienStatus]

a legend. no other way to put it, who knows how many hits he had that never made it on tape

[@sonjadietz5297]

So tanze ich auch dazu....und es ist sooo ehrlich !!!!!!!!!!!! DANKE

[@douglashammann1987]

We should all be like dude dancing in bell-bottoms 😂😂 great song, thank you

[@nathaniel.7172]

Imagine if everyone stepped outdoors an hit the streets

[@ManewBlewww]

And with a dance performance!!! I won't forget it next time (-; thanks for this other jewel (:

[@violetnewcomb1195]

Ican listen to this all day !!cut a step too !!

[@squirrelnutcased]

You can't say you've learned to play this song until you've played it on one of those cheap old Sears archtops. Takes a lot of soul to push down that high action!

[@12bar145ne]

True, but it sucks playing a shitty playing guitar.

[@dante666jt]

@@12bar145ne no

[@nathanael8612]

@@12bar145ne put some new strings on wear em in an play at a lower pitch a bit an it makes id imagine any old guitar play well, I play a stella now as my main an only guitar until I maybe get a new guitar but I been playing this stella for years now

[@guapitatessa]

I love the Blues! thanks my deepest soul. He played heartely. One old brother enjoyed dancing. Thanks for sharing to us..

[@larryslemp9698]

That's gotta be one of the greatest videos of all time!!

[@theswampfox9584]

Nah but it’s cool

[@spoonful1018]

Saw him at the Chicago Blues festival do a version of Sitting on Top of the World - my brain left the top of my head and began rising to the sky - funny thing is, on its way up there were about a half dozen other ones

[@RobertJohnson-pf9dz]

Is that Little Hat Jones I see on your profile pic? He was also a wonderful blues musician. :•)

[@spoonful1018]

@@RobertJohnson-pf9dz yeah - love Kentucky Blues

[@daveyjoweaver6282]

True Heartfelt Music played with Spirit! A gift to humanity! Loving Thanks! DaveyJO in Pennsylvania

i have seen a lot of comments talking about the quality of the guitar, fuck that¡¡ that's heart, that's soul , that's music.

[@vicouschild92]

vozarrón el griton agreed! I have plenty of modern equipment but I always find myself playing my 64 silvertone bobkat through an old crate 20w with the gain knob broken off and stuck at 10

[@mirekchance]

Now thats blues for me, awesome guitar work and good singing. No bar jazzy electric guitar, etc for me. And amazing what this kind of music started or rather how it inspired many. I guess it was like Rap of previous generation. And this guy is awesome,guitar work and singing...

[@spacebrain1991]

i love his laugh around 4:00 min! AlanLomaxArchive is a treasure trove!

[@shirleybrakefield5081]

Saw him and Jack Owens in Clarksdale in '96. Both sounded great.

[@barristanselmy2758]

Im back here 8 years later. What a banger of a tune.

[@SkopTeocratico]

This is really great!

[@jonasjacobsen9702]

This is absolutely awesome! Gotta love the blues!

[@wilbertrobles1123]

A groove so smooth. Laid down by some rough hands. That is the blues.

[@justinbradfield6499]

I heard my bed springs poppin and my woman cryin!!!!!! I love it!!!!!

[@dennisdistant]

The old guy laughing lol. It cracks me up every time.

[@pmf598]

Well that was just lovely . . .anyone said its not , they wrong . . .😎

[@nickwadesbluesandgospelcha9072]

That dude walkin round is really feelin the music

[@tomjones6441]

So happy to find this so uplifting never heard of this artist before loved it all guitar so right singing so on put a smile on my face and toe tappin fool I became thanks sonny

[@miccajames]

Is that Honeyboy Edwards, just chillin....hanging out? Jesus so awesome

[@theofficialdiamondlou2418]

miccajames yes. I think so.

[@homesickclifford1966]

😯Love that bluesy flatfoot strutin' dude , I put on piece n roll like that in my living room, sometimes with mama,this music just makes you want to dance, 😁

[@JLHoon]

Anyone else notice the three young prospects observing from afar? I wish I could have been there with them.

[@catman953]

what a treasure , i can still remember times like that lol

[@olrikparlez3152]

How great is it to have access to these performances...to whoever was responsible...we thank you.

[@mickycockerill9922]

This makes the young ones in the family dance!!!!

[@patriciakimbrell3734]

Love the Music 💙🎸💙🌟💙🌟💙🌟💙🌟💙🌟💙🌟💙🌟

[@johnasker2816]

I really love this kind of music. From Barcelona. Hughs

[@edwardbenes5015]

Good stuff Thanks .

[@mickycockerill9922]

Just like Sam's pallet on your floor... this song has an exchange in notes that purely slide into one another perfectly ha 50 second mark until 1 minute mark!

[@martinellicock6577]

Finding this channel has made me feel like giving up playing on one hand, amd on the other, has made me want to practice 25 hours a day🤷‍♂️😁

[@darklingeraeld-ridge7946]

Wonderful.

[@WildBillZim1]

Magic

[@destinjohnny007]

eugene powell his real name used to play for prisoners at parchmen when he was 9. They would cry as he played so beautiful. He taught robert johnson how to play and was thought of in that region to be the greatest musician that ever lived by all the heavy weight players

[@ryanishkonk3446]

I thought Robert Johnson came before his time period

[@thomasmacmanus9913]

Yeah his solos are really good but its a subtle trick. The sign of a true master!

[@Funz2022]

@@ryanishkonk3446 no this man is older than Robert Johnson. The older Blues musicians who were rediscovered and recorded and played live again - Son House, Skip James, Mississippi John hurt, Big Joe Williams were older and recorded before Robert Johnson. Johnson's importance and history have been mistold and exaggerated by music fans.

[@johnnysvno6560]

Original blues

[@neonlittledog]

Really enjoyed,as Tony the tiger would say,Its Great,lol,Thanks for sharing.

[@unclebrizz1053]

I wish I knew those men's life stories.

[@CountryHouseGent]

Uncle Brizz It's all in the music. :)

[@joejohnson6321]

Uncle Brizz - It's a very well known story and if you live in North America and not living under rock, you know their is being victims of a society that virtually sees them as invisible.

[@markus310]

@@joejohnson6321 I'm not meaning to sound pedantic but I'm not sure that being a black person from the southern states of america during the early 20th century means that you have a predictable life. Sure, we understand there were shared struggles but how the hell can you know what each individual experienced in their lifetimes, what their beliefs and dreams were, how they felt about living and what they thought it all meant? VERY reductive view to see these men as only black men of the south

[@michaelbarnett2527]

@@joejohnson6321 SAW them that way. Until 40+ years ago.

[@jeffreydraney3928]

Superb. Epitomises the blues for me. The sound he gets out of that guitar, as TomBell said, it has seen a lot of jam sessions.

[@andydavis9696]

they played what was in their soul....

[@frank-ts1yr]

His voice

[@sydneydwoskin4950]

i want you to roll my belly like you roll my dough. i love how these old songs always make the food a woman makes kinda sexual. that's grown man shit right there! when did we stop doing that? love these men

[@GregStallion]

I'm gonna live and die a bluesman.

[@NeonBlade]

Awesome

[@TBrewer64]

holy crap. this guy is a fucking blues Mozart.

[@sauzanneupane5665]

you must check out some of Big Bill Broonzy's videos by Lomax... if Sonny Boy is Mozart... Big Bill is Bach

[@jjbluesbreizh]

Le vrai très bon blues acoustique , un sacré guitariste !!!

[@Tomsru]

How many miles has that guitar done and I wonder what stories it could have told?

[@TheMrcrazy711]

If you listen to it closely, you can hear those stories without a single word.

[@allen6924]

Is that a cracked top f-hole? That guitar must have been murder on the fingers. But he knew how to play that thing for all its worth.

[@freedomisntfree2089]

Those old timers worked their fingers to the bone fingers of steel, they weren't rich famous celebrities Most likely his fingers were murder on the guitar

[@749karakara]

le blues pur naïf et plein de sensibilité ,j'adore!!!

[@Anna-loves-you]

❤❤❤

[@jamesmcallister6749]

Mighty well played old pre war Gibson...looks to me like the small headstock ,,early thirtys maybe.a kalamazoo.

[@rev.jimjonesandthekool-aid4488]

sears?

[@TheeMikeForce]

That’s a cool red shirt

[@teentheblue3644]

Damn I couldn't even play on that guitar with such a warped neck, dude got some strong fingers

[@fastjen]

❤️

[@zivabroga7104]

How would it be if in 10,000 years, long after our present global civilisation is long forgotten, someone were to find this or something like (Sam Chatmon, R.L. Burnside) and only this! What a comment on mankind thanks America for the Blues!!

[@pisoipisoi7584]

freedom..,

[@mytapepoppedtoys2450]

Original. Gangsta.

[@k.m.slattery6263]

My right thumb has a blister again‼️😆

[@michaelbrunner8891]

How the hell he kept that thing in tune.

[@cheyennebrownlow3591]

Does anyone know if he’s playing in standard tuning or something else?

[@lilithelaine1238]

i wish i could say!!! curious

[@banjochris]

Standard tuning, A position.

[@barristanselmy2758]

That old guitar has some nice bass qualities about it.

[@toddwilliams6]

can't not smile

[@odysseyandecho]

Don’t think he could’ve had a more unforgiving guitar

[@ostendblues]

Give that guitar to the best player of today and he would sound like s...t on it. This is the real blues played on a worn guitar and still sounding like the best!

[@dufus2273]

that old guitar has never seen a case but it works great.

[@wrlord]

5:50 man, that is a face that has seen some things.

[@mylesphelps2590]

Looks like Belton Sutherland's guitar. Judging by other vidios he liked to pass her around

[@Eb-or]

He plays that guitar because he loves it. Maybe his grandad bought it for him....

[@isteria71]

i need lyricsssssss

[@chickasawCouncil558]

For those who are commenting about the dancing, do you wonder why this guy doesnt seem to bother the guitarist? How about researching the buzzard lope to see similar traditional afro/american dances.

[@nejm612]

🎩🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷

[@fuxgood]

That an ancient Harmony guitar? Looks like it to me.

[@HannibalHal]

How do I play this?

[@theofficialdiamondlou2418]

steelosteeZ you got to feel it.

[@michaeltoner1993]

go to the crossroads

[@dimasvicente9880]

Nelson Mandela Sou negro Sou forte Sim , Senhor Nelson Mandela sua Liberdade Um dia raiou! Nelson Mandela Os povos de maos sempre unidas O Racismo La' acabou! Nelson Mandela Meu Professor... meu livro na editora autografia.com.br/publique Paece and love.

[@genesevox7403]

Dude in the white bells is the cat daddy!

[@vjiced]

i want it rolled with raw papers unbleached king size

[@kevinevans8592]

Good morning u tube

[@butterflybullet]

Lyrics?

[@ryanjohnson7354]

Hey folks, is this an open tuning?

[@andresmedrano1425]

standard tuning one step low

[@mixmastercj100]

It's actually standard pitch, A position in the key of A.

[@TheeMikeForce]

Uncle Bill fucking with the neighbors

[@jacksparrow-zj4jj]

i love you for and ever.....

[@fuxgood]

They say cocaine is a helluva drug but so is alcohol!

[@stuartliddle7228]

so hes 70 in 78?

[@djwsam575]

Who s comin home last night baby doll ???