mistaruddy (September 6, 2008 at 4:08 pm)

The UK blues scene allowed many Black American Blues musicians to tour and play over in Europe when their popularity, even amongst other black listeners, faded at home. Now the most actual "stealing" was done during the birth of rock n roll when white artists would listen to black R & B, copy it as closely as possible, then release a "cover" record and make millions. Many people use the blending and melding of musical styles to support their own bias in terms of cultural history.

mistaruddy (September 6, 2008 at 3:54 pm)

This whole stealing, borrowing idea is usually used to defend an agenda. No one creates anything completely from scratch unless you go back to the first time human beings uttered a sound, pounded on a log, or clanged metal together. There are a lot of black musicians (B.B. King included) who were fans of Elvis. When the Rolling Stones toured and played in front of thousands of people, they often booked old blues musicians as their opening act to pay homage for their influence. next message..

ApocalypsePlough (September 6, 2008 at 12:26 pm)

Elvis was a white man singing what black men had been singing for years. They don't get the credit, he does.....like you said about The Carter Family, their music was just traditional mountain music, brought down from the hills & re-arranged. But, they were the ones who popularized it, so that's where the credit goes. If they didn't bring it down from the hills and make it popular, few people would have heard it....certainly not people like me, who live hundreds of miles away.

ApocalypsePlough (September 6, 2008 at 11:58 am)

Well, everybody borrows/steals from someone else in the music field. Last night I watched a documentary about John Lennon and his musical influences. Almost all of his influences were American, and black, and he talked honestly about how certain riffs and harmonica playing and melodies from his songs, he took (stole) right from these singers, and changed them slightly. The Rolling Stones stole from American blues singers. Bob Dylan from Woody Guthrie.

jocwalk (September 4, 2008 at 11:44 am)

As sad as it is to say, you're right about Maybelle. The flip side of that is that the Carter Family gets too much credit for the music as much of their music was just traditional mountain music that A.P. Carter just re-arranged (if that), maybe changed the title, and recorded. Much of what was "written by A.P. Carter" was nothing of the sort. Still, they brought the music down from the hills and American music was never the same.

ApocalypsePlough (September 4, 2008 at 9:30 am)

You're right. And she never shows up in these "Greatest Guitar Legends" lists in magazines, does she?? Because: a) She's a woman, b) She's country, and it's always been hip to hate country, c) She's a woman. The Carter Family, though, will get it's deserved place in history. Hundreds of years from now, they will be remembered in the same way Mozart, Gershwin, Irving Berlin, et al, are remembered. I truly believe that.

jocwalk (September 3, 2008 at 5:16 pm)

I think it was originally recorded in C but as time went on, Maybelle changed the key a few times I guess based on changes in her voice or when singing with her daughters. I saw a video in which she had the capo on the 6th fret. The funny thing is that most people will never realize that Maybelle basically invented lead guitar. No one at that time was known for playing melody lines on the guitar. Until Maybelle, it had just been used as a rhythm instrument.

ApocalypsePlough (September 3, 2008 at 6:25 am)

Well, hopefully someone will buy it and give it to a museum, where it belongs, so others can see it. It is a piece of history. Give it to the Smithsonian. This woman's influence on guitar playing is still heard today. God, I'd love to see her guitar.

Antony2191 (September 1, 2008 at 12:37 pm)

TOO COOL!!!

krissass (September 1, 2008 at 3:25 am)

I just google searched this, and Mother Maybelle's guitar is worth $575,000 US right now