Norman Blake: Search & Destroy, POX and thread of general praise

Norman Blake, session musician.
Norman Blake, songwriter.
Norman Blake, interpreter.

This man is the best.

I think my favorite records are "Back Home In Sulphur Springs" and "Fields of November" but I also rep hard for "Blackberry Blossom" and "Directions."

BOOM -->

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEkVkJax2Co

Norman's mentioned at several points on the excellent Takoma One-Offs and Rarities thread; here's one of my excursions (dunno if those links still pertain, but prob the first at least):

Back in the 70s, we were having a plastic suburban house party, playing the first three Aerosmith albums over and over and over, 'til I finally freaked out and flipped on the TV. There was Norman, just picking away: not speedy and flashy, but cutting across, unstoppable. We were the ones who stopped, looked, and even listened. My first Norman Blake experience, unless you count my already having had whiskey before breakfast. You can also find a number of situations involving Norman (and sometimes Nancy) on The Steam-Powered Preservation Society's download/stream site,http://thespps.org"> http://thespps.org
However! They don't have a search function, so you gotta scroll down and read the descriptions of the sets, and even so, let your finger linger on the download link, while you write it down, cos when you get into the archive you'll see a whole dizzying tower of links, not nec near yr target. Or you can just do a control + F search for a name you're looking for in there, and hit info under a promising label, sometimes get a pretty thorough commentary that way. Being of the jazzier-grass tendency, I also searched for and found clements & friends (Vassar w Grisman etc), Tony Trischka, Peter Rowan (w a line-up incl Trischka & Statman), Country Gazette etc. Blake plays w Tut Taylor alot, so check their Tut stash. Oh yeah, they also work as a duo at the Marin County Bluegrass Festival of 1974, which also involves Garcia and Grisman in various line-ups, plus Doc & Merle, Jim & Jesse, Frank Wakefield, and a monster Nitty Gritty Dirt Band set folding in several of the above and more. Can find that w no trouble at
http://smadacounty.blogspot.com He's also got lots of Garcia, w Dead and others, Townes, etc etc. See the reposts link in left rail for complete list.

I LOVE NORMAN BLAKE.

NORMAN BLAKE FOR PRESIDENT!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQIIfvSsqR8

Ian - that clip up on top is amazing. I may hafta buy that DVD. I've only heard the one with whiskey in the title and that was years ago. What do you recommend?

my fave LPs of his are "Back Home In Sulphur Springs" and "Fields of November."
"Blackberry Blossoms" is also excellent -- listened to that one yesterday. he also plays on some of the best John Hartford records, and has credits as a session player all over the place..

How's his Takoma LP?

forgot i started this thread, searched for norman blake, have already posted the video i came here to post.

norman blake rules.

I LOVE NORMAN BLAKE.

NORMAN BLAKE FOR PRESIDETN

now officially the best songwriter in Teenage Fanclub, w/ Gerry's departure!

FIELDS OF NOVEMBER DAWG

NOT THE SCOT

:)

both are great, but i will resist the urge to post about the Scot when ian revives this thread in a couple more years

I LOVE NORMAN BLAKE.

In the 9 years since I started this thread, I think Blackberry Blossom has become my favorite record. But there's one thing about it -- which is that the opening track is "Are You From Dixie?" Now... as the opening track, it's easy af to skip it and just play the rest of the record. Which is what I've been doing for years. And I always tell people about how great the record is, but I don't think I ever remember to tell people they gotta skip the first track.

This is real nice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW8CoihjBhM

I've been on a huge flatpicker kick lately and listening to a lot of Norman and Tony Rice and Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings and a young guy named Jake Eddy who I think is incredible. Kind of not sure what thread to talk about it in.

Nancy Blake appreciation post.

Two famous Norman Blakes, who'd a thought it...

Massively underrated as a songwriter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ayqIDYhXkk

really love that album