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music

Some picts of the recent songwriter round at Alligator Alley.

by johnford on October 21, 2005

Not the best quality due to the backlighting. Valerie Wisecracker, John Ford, Marie Nofsinger and Jerry Leeman .

link

My new (old) Kalamazoo

by johnford on August 11, 2005

A couple of years ago I picked up a very ragged mid ’30s Kalamazoo K-14. It was a budget guitar back in its day and is often attributed to being one of the guitars Robert Johnson used.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I wasn’t so much interested in its historical value, but in making the guitar become a great player. The guitar sat on the wall at home for a couple of years gathering dust. I would occasionally take it down and plunk at it trying to keep it in tune, all the while knowing there was a great guitar hiding in there. A few months ago I took my only electric guitar, a ‘65 Guild Duane Eddy, over to luthier Larry Lashbrook to give a fret dressing and set up. I was so thrilled with the work he did on it I decided to trust the Kalamazoo to his hands. Larry put in a truss rod, new frets and other adjustments. I just picked it up a couple of days ago and I was just amazed at how great of a job he had done. It just sounds wonderful. I knew it would be great for plunking the blues, but it’s also become a sweet fingerstyle folkie guitar. I just can’t give him enough praise and would highly recommend his work to anyone looking to give their guitar a tune-up or major overhaul. Larry is located in Fort Lauderdale.

Here’s a quick mp3 of what it sounds like. After I recorded it I noticed that the high e sting is flat (oh well) and I’ve also strung some lighter strings than Larry put on it (due to a condition I have with my hands) and I still don’t have the truss rod flushed out for the lighter strings yet. link to mp3–> Here

Another Untited Song

by johnford on June 11, 2005

Still don’t have the music worked out for this one quite yet. Maybe tomorrow. I can hear it in my head, but not my heart or my fingers:

You’re afraid of

What might happen

If you stopped that talking

For a dime or two

I’m still searchin for a reason

All this evenin’

But I don’t think

I’ll spend it on you

How can one be so lonely

one more, one and only

And not give a damn

about being alone

I need to stop thinking

So I’ll just keep on drinkin’

n’ drive you

And the blues away

Bet you don’t have many regrets

That you can-not forget

When the glass finds the bottom

in the end of the day

How can you be so lonely

one more, one and only

And not give a damn

about being alone

there’s just no place

left to go

been from Baltimore to Buffalo

n’ they all feel more r’ less the same

so i’ll keep drinking n’ smoking

To keep from feeling,

so..broken

But tonight I feel ok

How can one be so lonely

one more, one and only

And not give a damn

about being alone

How can you be so lonely

one more, one and only

And not care about

being alone

Slow Down

by johnford on May 29, 2005

If the truth be told, I don’t know too many other peoples songs. But I just had to learn this one. “Slow Down” by the late-great JB Lenoir. IMHO, this is great songwriting. What seems at first to be very simple lyrically, but just bubbling under the surface, wonderfully complex.

mp3–>> link

Lyrics:

JB Lenoir-Slow Down

slow down, slow down

let me step on board

I wanna ride your train

just before I go

you bout the sweetest

little girl

I believe I ever seen

and if I had you by my side

it would mean so much to me

slow down, slow down

let me step on board

I wanna ride your train

just before I go

i’m a stranger, i’m a stranger

and I will not be here long

if you would let me ride your train

i don’t think it will not be long

slow down, slow down

let me step on board

I wanna ride your train

just before I go

The fine folks over at freesologuitar.com have posted a couple of my tunes.

by johnford on May 26, 2005

Very nice. Although I must admit it’s a bit daunting to have a couple of my instrumentals on the same page as Muriel Anderson. Here’s a link to their cool site that features quite a few really fine guitar pieces by a number of very good acoustic guitarists… for free! link

I’m playing at the South Florida Folk Fest this Saturday at 11:00 in the morning. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and say hi.

by johnford on January 12, 2005

link

Make a believer out of you

by johnford on December 22, 2004

I started working on this a couple of months ago and hit a block. This morning I looked at it again and decided I’d just let it stand the way it is. Not even sure of a title.

second song in the player

mp3–>> http://johnford.net/music/mp3/secondarywimp/wimpy.php

lovin’ you

is sweepin leaves

on a windy day

every time I get close to you

it all gets blown away

I waited half a lifetime

to find someone so true

but sometimes a dream’s

further out of reach

when it’s standing

right in front of you

honey, people don’t last forever

they pass right out of view

but if you stand around this world long enough

someone can make a believer

even out of you

darlin’ you

burn the ice

right off my heart

on the coldest day in the deep of night

you fire up the dark

but it’s world of apprehension

and more fears

than the falling snow

and an ocean of tears

with more broken hearts

than anyone could ever know

honey, I can’t wait forever

pretty soon I’ll be passin through

but if you stand next to me long enough

I believe I can make a believer

even out of you

A somewhat new song: “Listening to Ghosts”

by johnford on December 2, 2004

I’m not sure this will ever “get better” or reach fruition. For now I’ll have to live with it. Music, maybe to come.

mp3–>> http://johnford.net/music/mp3/secondarywimp/wimpy.php

The new statue had fallen

south under deep el-em’

where dead men carved

their names with a knife

in this dust red brick building

alone roberts’ stone memory

lemon’s licks

ricoshet in twilight

tonight kids beat their trumpets

with the tourists and junkies

and I’m here, alone

listening to ghosts

steel wheels down in memphis

I’m the package you sent us

liquor stores

and the church, begs to steal

a pyramid dream

burns bridges between

the mud streaming

down sewers on Beale

as dawn I prayed to the man

with a stone horn in hand

while I dreamed

I was listening to ghosts

I’m still listening to ghosts

living in their lost notes

pouring blue

from a home in the night

play the one that rings dark

it’s so close to my heart

I one heard it

while listening to ghosts

in this beat hotel room

where love flirts with doom

praising curves

and the aching of wires

the lines etched in your face

light the shadows that trace

a night

born of lovers and liers

I’m living through you

but I never knew

in the end

I’d be singing to ghosts

I’m still listening to ghosts

living in their lost notes

running blue

from a home in the night

play the one that rings dark

it’s so close to my heart

I once heard it

while listening to ghosts

I Cried Like This

by johnford on September 11, 2004

Blues. I still haven’t gotten this worked out completely, but I had to record it so I wouldn’t forget it. Hats off to Lightnin’ Hopkins on this one.

mp3 –>> link

I spent the whole night long
thinkin on you
tossed and turned till morning
and nuthin’ ever seems to do
my tired bones ache
from cryin and dreaming over you

and I cried like this

lord knows I’ve tried to forget you
tear you from my troubled mind
dulled my achin’ heart
drinkin whiskey till I’m blind
but no matter how hard I try
i can’t leave you far behind

every night when I lay down
and close my weary eyes
when I set my head down
no matter how hard I try
it’s your face I see
till I fall asleep from cryin’

and I cry like this

I spent the whole night long
thinkin on you
tossed and turned till morning
and nuthin’ ever seems to do
my tired bones ache
from cryin and dreaming over you

and I cried like this