The Girl I Left In Sunny Tennessee - Music

There Is More Than One Artist With This Name 1 Norman Blake Born March 10 1938 Is A Traditional American Stringed Instrument Bluegrass Artist And Songwriter. Blake Was Born In Chattanooga Tennessee And Grew Up In Sulphur Springs Alabama. He Listened To Old-Time And Country Music On The Radio By The Carter Family The Skillet Lickers Roy Acuff And The Monroe Brothers Charlie And Bill Monroe . He Learned Guitar At Age 11 Or 12 Then Mandolin Dobro And Fiddle In His Teens. When He Was 16 He Dropped Out Of School To Play Music Professionally. In The 1950s Blake Joined The Dixieland Drifters And Performed On Radio Broadcasts Then Joined The Lonesome Travelers. When He Was Drafted In 1961 He Served As An Army Radio Operator In The Panama Canal Zone. He Started A Popular Band Known As The Kobbe Mountaineers. A Year Later While He Was On Leave He Recorded The Album Twelve Shades Of Bluegrass With The Lonesome Travelers. After Being Discharged From The Army Blake Moved To Nashville And Became A Studio Musician. For Ten Years He Toured And Recorded With Country Singer Johnny Cash And Continued To Play With Cash Intermittently Over The Next Thirty. He Met Nancy Short A Cellist With A Classical Music Background Who Was Playing In A Folk Group. He Was Asked By Bob Dylan To Play On The Country-Folk Album Nashville Skyline Then Became A Member Of The House Band On Johnny Cash's TV Show. Kris Kristofferson One Of The Guests Hired Blake To Tour With Him. Blake Recorded With Folk Singer Joan Baez And Appeared On Her Hit Song "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". In 1971 He Became A Member Of The Bluegrass Group Aero-Plain Led By Multi-Instrumentalist John Hartford With Fiddler Vassar Clements But The Band Didn't Last Long. Blake Also Played Dobro On The 1972 Album Will The Circle Be Unbroken By The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. In 1972 Blake Recorded His First Solo Album Home In Sulphur Springs Rounder 1972 . Soon After His Debut He And Nancy Recorded Their First Album The Fields Of November Flying Fish 1974 With Nancy On Hillbilly Cello. They Married In 1975 And Performed Together For Twenty Years. Most Of The Music That Norman Blake Plays Could Be Described As Neo-Traditionalist Americana Folk And Roots Music Folk Bluegrass Country Blues And Many Of The Songs He Plays Are Traditional But He Plays This Acoustic Type Of Music With A Style Speed And Quality That Has Evolved And Progressed In The Modern Age. Though Probably Best Known For His Fluid Renditions Of Classic Fiddle Tunes Transcribed For The Guitar "Fiddler's Dram/Whiskey Before Breakfast" Blake Has Also Written Songs That Have Become Bluegrass And Folk Standards Such As "Ginseng Sullivan" "Slow Train Through Georgia" "Billy Gray" And "Church Street Blues". Although Known As One Of The Most Prominent Steel-String Guitar Flatpickers Blake Is A Multi-Instrumentalist And Vocalist. Other Instruments He Plays Include The Mandolin 6-String Banjo Fiddle Dobro Banjo And Viola. He Is Known For His Loose Right-Hand Guitar Technique Which Arose Out Of His Mandolin Technique. Also Well Known Is His Devotion To 12-Fret Guitars Including Martin 00s 000s D18s D28s And Gibsons Like His 1929 12-Fret Nick Lucas Special. Blake Played On The Album Raising Sand By Robert Plant And Alison Krauss Which Won Five Grammy Awards And On The Soundtrack O Brother Where Art Thou? Which Won A Grammy For Album Of The Year. Norman And Nancy Blake Received Grammy Nominations In The Best Traditional Folk Recording Category For Blind Dog Just Gimme Somethin' I'm Used To While Passing Along This Way And The Hobo's Last Ride. In 1986 Norman Blake Was Chosen Best Multi-Instrumentalist By The Readers Of Frets Magazine. 2 Norman Blake Born 20 October 1965 In Bellshill North Lanarkshire Scotland Is A Scottish Singer Instrumentalist And Songwriter In The Glasgow-Based Band Teenage Fanclub. He Has Also Recorded As Jad Fair & Norman Blake And Been One-Half Of The Duo Jonny. read less