Muireann Bradley Richland Woman Blues

Transcribed from Muireann’s debut album ‘I Kept These Old Blues.’ Mississippi John Hurt’s ‘Richland Woman Blues’ is another epic finger picking showcase. There are only three main chords C, D & G (capo at the 2nd fret - key of D major) but her adaptation is astonishing when you consider not only is she blazing the strings with technical expertise but singing over this telling the story with aplomb.
Enjoy.
Footnote: The alternating bass (thumb) is by and large in straight time but her melody (fingers) has a swing feel not quite a dotted eighth. Although the tune is in 4/4 there are few bars of 5/4, Muireann seems to do this quite naturally and I think in other performances she would probably play these bars in 4/4, it depends on the day. She is a natural musical phenomenon. This doesn’t mean she doesn’t put the hard hours in to get to this level.
There is a mistake in bar 42, there should be an open 2nd string (the leading note onto beat 4) and the thumb plays the open 4th string on the ‘and’ of beat 4 (to replace the fretted note on the 5th string).