Good Gal - Acoustic Fingerpicking Blues - Josh White

Born in Greenville, South Carolina, Joshua White (1914-69) had to grow up early after his father was beaten for standing up to a white man and confined to a mental asylum, leaving his wife with six children to support. Before he was ten, Josh was hired out as a lead boy to a blind gospel singer, who took him on the road and hired him out to other blind artists. He was not well treated by these men, but one of them, Joe Taggart, took him to Paramount Records at the age of 14.

In 1930 White returned home to attend school, but two years later was signed by ARC. He soon became an influential recording star and his bright, fluid sound with its yodels and growls has a good-natured excitement that is still infectious almost eighty years later. His singing is very much in the pop style of his day, showing Leroy Carr's strong influence, while his guitar lines are extremely fast and smooth, with single-string runs that recall the work of Willie Walker. His preference for Vastopol tuning (DADF#AD), however, makes him unique among non-slide players.

In 1936 he cut his right hand badly, and had to reconfigure his facile fingerpicking style to cope with its continuing weakness. He relied more on strumming chords and occasional single string runs. You'll find plenty examples of this style on youtube.

His break back into showbusiness came in 1940, when he appeared with Paul Robeson in the play "John Henry". It closed after a week, but got Josh back on to records and an engagement at Café Society. He became a star of the New York nightclub scene, a favorite in left-wing circles and a frequent guest at the Roosevelt White House.
He kept on recording and remained successful (although with ups and downs) until his death during heart surgery in 1969.

This song, although a composition by pianist Charlie Spand, is one of Josh's best efforts in Vastopol/open D.
I'm playing a 1927 Supertone mahogany guitar.

The photo's which you see at the beginning of this video show Josh as he was in the 30ies. These photo's come from Josh's interesting biography called "Society Blues" by Elijah Wald

TABLATURE available : check out my playlist TABLATURE for how and where

- I tabbed out the introduction, which is pretty much the verse accompaniment.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• acoustic
• guitar
• fingerpicking
• blues
• josh
• white
• charlie
• spand
• daddystovepipe
• fingerstyle
• americana
• supertone
• society
• elijah
• wald

[danmcb]

nice work Daddy! love Josh White. Don't find much on CD though ... any rec's?

[daddystovepipe]

The Document label has several cd's devoted to Josh White's prewar recordings.

Just google "Document Records" and do an artist search. The two cd 1929-1933 and 1933-1935 are well worth having.

[bostonteabagger71739]

sounds great. just a quick correction though, Josh White was from Greenville SC, not NC. great vid.

[daddystovepipe]

Oops, thanks for pointing that out; I've corrected the description.

[mcob1]

was that a 12 string? mustabeen. pretty sure I saw josh in detroit in the sixties. stood tall, right? was "Mariah" in his repetoire?

[daddystovepipe]

No it's my 6-string 1927 Supertone, it was one of the most expensive models Sears sold (costed $14.95!!)

Indeed, Josh stood tall with one foot on a stool, his shirt top unbuttoned (he was a rolemodel to Harry Belafonte).

[VolpeRossauk]

Nice work man =) im 23 and this tune is still baddass to me

[wendellpeek]

Thanks for pulling out this chestnut! Great job...

[BRooo28]

your the man daddy

[Doginthefog]

Great man, 5 stars!

[ghostgal30e]

Great toe tapper

[Bluesmanstrat1]

Great song, Great performance as always. Thanks for posting!