Hi! Welcome to my first blog.
I will be featuring comments about bluegrass music and my new series of bluegrass paintings that I call The Bluegrass Series.
Above is my painting, Banjo Pickin' Girl.
Banjo Pickin’ Girl: 30" by 40" Acrylic on canvas. C 2008. Banjo Pickin’ Girl is based a song from the Kentucky all girl band popular in the 1930’s: The Coon Creek Girls- Lily May Ledford, vocal and banjo; Rosie Ledford, guitar; Violet Koehler, bass and vocal. The song was recorded May 30, 1938, in Chicago. Originally issued on Vocalion 04413 and Okeh 04413. The song originated from the "Baby Mine" songs-words Charles Mackay and music Achibald Johnson in 1874.
The painting of the banjo pickin’ girl is loosely based on an actual photo of Lily May Ledford. In a persimmons tree a possum watches a raccoon pump the water into the ocean. The shape of the state of Tennessee is found as a blue lake.
The Banjo Pickin’ Girl lyrics offer the images: Goin’ ‘round the world; Goin’ to Tennessee; and Goin’ ‘cross the ocean. The lyrics appear on a piece of parchment in the bottom left corner of the painting.
You can hear the Coon Creek Girls version on-line at Honking Duck. I've give the link at some point. There are several Coon Creek Girl songs I play such as Jim Along Josie. I'll also give more information about the history of this song or you can look on my web-site:
bluegrassmessengers.com
Recently I've made prints of my song paintings that are excellent quality and affordable. If you're interested in this or any of my artwork please e-mail me and I can give you details.
Take care,
Richard
