Ry Cooder Tamp em up solid

[@DrRussPhd]

One of the most talented people to ever pick up a guitar.

[@TimothySchulz-fl5zn]

Just brilliant. "Tamping" is jacking up a rail and shoveling ballast stone under a tie to level the track to help eliminate dips. Then you use a track gauge to make sure the tracks are the exact distance apart to keep your trains from derailing.

[@runswithbears3517]

What a performance! Ry Cooder is as real and honest as it gets. Pure soul!

[@mikekaup5252]

My friend Al Picard a French-Canadian Indian raised in the blue mountains in Oregon were tamping ties in the Argo Yards in Seattle for the UP in 1973. Al was singing That Old Black Magic to make the day go by. A black fellow was crossing the tracks and thought that Al was mocking him. He gave Al a very dirty look. I couldnt help but laugh at the misconception.Just another day on the steel gang. My God but we raised and replaced a lot of track that year. Hard work but lots of fun. Al and I lived under the Lucille St. Bridge in an old outfit car to Dave money. Good Times! I wish we could do it again.

[@peppinotorino2569]

I love this man since 1970. Happy i saw him twice in Milano.

[@paulroseblade]

my sons first birthday we came across him walking the dog pre set . he had the grace to shake hands

[@sgbsammy]

Amazing guitar ...i dont see anyone even attempting to play like he does...and his slide wrk beyond awesome

[@chriscampbell9191]

There are a few out there who play Delta style slide in Open D like Ry does. They add their own style to it, of course. Justin Johnson, Roy Rogers, Sonny Landreth, and a couple others I've seen. They don't fingerpick the same as we see Ry doing here, but on slide they're pretty good.

[@GreenManalishiUSA]

Ry has cited Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence as one of his influences. You can hear some of Spence's style in Ry's melodic and rhythmic arrangement. A true master musician.

[@garethjames7549]

hi, thank you so much for listing these videos of ry cooder at cambridge folk festival. these songs are the sound track of my childhood,we have this ry cooder session(on cassette only) taped off the tv(bbc2) over 2 days, from, i think 1979? along with;fool about a cigarette,billy the kid(on mandolin) farmer feeds us all...ect. any more videos you decide to post on you tube will be greatfully received. waiting in excited anticipation.

[@michaelwhitley2081]

Gareth James I’ve got that recorded as well!

[@Baci302]

Wow. Ry is a beast. One of my favorites. Looks like standard tuning with a dropped low D.

[@jimajello1028]

A faster version than the one on "Paradise & Lunch". Also some additional cord picking. The drop D tunning allows for many variables in the choice of notes. So cool with the alternating base line, cords & melody on a chosen off beat. The song that Cooders version is based on was written in the early 1900's. Cooder has done such a wonderful interpretation of the original. He could almost claim it's composition. A true classic for all time.

[@jimajello1028]

Actually, further investigation has now suggested to me that this song may have been a rail tamping song from before the US Civil War & after. The crews putting in spikes to hold the rails in place would sing it together to create a rhythm that helped steady the process. There may have been many lyrical & melody versions of this "rail tamping song". The earliest musical recording I could find of this song was a version recorded in 1933. It was the singing of "Old Dad Sam Ballard". I think it was recorded by John Lomax & Son for the Library Of Congress for the perservation of historical North American Music. It has since been recorded many different ways. It's musical arrangement may be considered "open to interpretation"? I am working on a guitar & vocal arrangement of this historically wonderful song.

[@goodun2974]

@@jimajello1028 , in concert, Ry sometimes talked about the railroad-track-laying origin of this song ---- I've heard this on several live bootleg records.

[@NSBarnett]

@@jimajello1028 Yes, kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZWYoIeCg9qhhpI, but with a lot of differences in the words of the two versions, so I expect there were versions from well before 1934, but I wonder whether Ry invented some of his own, or, if not, where he got them from. I think you have to tamp the rails in so they "work on down", not "won't come down" (listening to Sam Ballard), but what do I know? I only ever travel by rail, not work on it!

[@fastback57deloach27]

World class this chap!

[@IvoRobertoVincenzi]

Beautiful music! Thank you for attention on KZbin!🤗👋🎶🎵🎼🎸💐😀👏

[@williamfortneymusic]

Amazing performance, amazing shirt. 10/10

[@francoisebeylie2923]

Thank you Ry , very much ! Taildragger , thank you , more to follow !! yes , but when ? and where ?

[@dapperdan9478]

man that rocks, anymore vids please share :)

[@dalecooles]

Ry is is not a speed demon on guitar, but he knows how to play tasty licks on slide and amazing picking techniques on the six string. Bob Til You Drop is the first digitally recorded LP.

[@roderickbalt8993]

Interesting about the digital recording..Ry is both a genius in obvious ways but also in hidden ways...let's just say it runs very deep with him obviously haha

[@goodun2974]

Actually, Bop Til You Drop was *not* the "first digital recording", it was the first major-label rock/pop-music recording. Unfortunately, I can't remember the more obscure digital recording that came out before Bop Tll You Drop, but I remember this fact from my decades long career selling and installing audio equipment. Anyway, although Bob is a good record, I personally prefer some of his others from this time period, especially Into the Purple Valley, and Paradise and Lunch, which is where you'll find "Tamp 'Em Up Solid". The live album titled Showtime is also excellent. Lots of people really like the Jazz record, but for what it's worth, Ry hates it.

[@machtschnell7452]

Bop Til You Drop was the first digitally recorded popular album. There may have been some classical one which preceded it.

[@tangyorange6509]

I never knew that!

[@fatanky]

Hoping this might help me play the toon, but a lotta time spent on his face and not the geetar! Still, does give an idea. Baci302 is right, Ry's website has all his toons...dropped D it is. I started listening to Paradise and Lunch (1974) again as not heard for a while, and only on vinyl...then saw a James Taylor interview where he says the guitar playing on ..Lunch is the best he knows. My good friend and musician Barry Martin would agree I'm sure!

[@francoisebeylie2923]

Another song played by Ry Cooder at Cambridge Folk Festival : kzbin.info/www/bejne/aJzHYZyCgLuEhcU

[@philippaanderson2607]

does anyone know what Ry's guitar is here? is it an Olsen?

[@LukeMaynard]

I think this is too early. Jim Olson built his first guitar in 1977, and this looks to be a couple years before. 1974-75 maybe? Jim also never to my knowledge used a pinless string-through bridge like this. The guitar looks a LOT like a Takamine. There was a lawsuit in the '70s because they looked too much like Martins, and that new headstock with the little peak on it was a big part of their redesign. The specific model is almost impossible to guess today, but we have a few clues to work on: small jumbo body, Venetian cutaway, no pickguard, and a wide square bridge with a string-through design. The closest I think you could get to this in modern times is the Takamine EAN40C or TSF40C, which are virtually identical except they have a split bridge, modern electronics, and are missing the groovy custom inlay on the headstock. I think the cutaway has been redesigned too, the horn is more pronounced, but it's REALLY close. Hope this is helpful!

[@francoisebeylie2923]

An egret is painted on the extremity of the neck.

[@francoisebeylie2923]

@@LukeMaynard Do Takamine guitars have an egret painted on the extremity of the neck ?

[@samlemann]

@@LukeMaynard Its actually made by Lloyd Baggs - of pickup fame! theres an video on the LR Baggs site where Lloyd mentions it. Nice guitar!

[@traildoggy]

Rightous

[@akasdin]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bmXVmmBvlJmnftEsi=J576q7JpVwnjC1Gj Tamp em up solid means hit the support beams hard for mountain railroads and tunnels. But the railroad workers had their "gandy dancing, which were field hollers but lots of refrences to the times and experiences. But the Mississippi State Pennitanty :Parhman Yard." But those Farms were on old plantations and it was still 1850 in 1950. So it was a for-profit system where the prisoners either worked at the plantations all.day, or were rich southerners who the prison administration would rent a chain-gang, along with a few white guys on horses holding riffles and making them run. So these songs were antecedents to the railroad chants sung in the early 1800s. But the music the song to Tamp em.up solid is much more WWIi era sounding to me. Its nothing like the more Appalachian versions Allan Lomax recorded in 1930s, 40s, and 50s.

[@applecounty]

Is based on an English folk song?

[@jimajello1028]

Yes, it's a very old railroad song capturing the way people would use singing to create a rythemic driving of the spikes in that held the rails in place. I have heard the original that was recorded by the Library of Congress I think in the early 1900's. The melody is completely different. Ry Cooder captured alot of the original rythemic idea but brought the song to another whole different level. His superb guitar work on this song is unsurpassed. The song is considered traditional because Mr Cooder is an ethical moral man who gave credit to its original roots.

[@francoisebeylie2923]

You can hear more Ry Cooder at Cambridge on kzbin.info/www/bejne/qWatZ3V6bMp0bsU

[@aloisemason3044]

Ry Cooder is not equipped for this kind of song and has not the voice for it..This actually is disgusting..Needs a change..

[@harryorhal1]

Where the heck is this attitude coming from ?

[@machtschnell7452]

So you are deaf and not musically inclined. So sorry for you.