To honor the fact that much of Northwest Indiana is fighting one flu bug after another, I thought it would be an excellent time to learn Jimmie Rodgers' The T.B. Blues. Jimmie had personal knowledge of the subject, as he ended up dying of tuberculosis two years after the single was released. He was just 35 years old when he passed away, but his music legacy (and his trademark yodel) live on in country music. You can even visit The Jimmie Rodgers Museum if you happen to be passing through Meridian Mississippi!
Here is a version of The T.B. Blues sung by Pete Seeger that I just love, from his American Favorite Ballads 5-CD set issued by Smithsonian Folkways. It's where I first heard the song.
We're going to work on our yodeling chops to do this up right, so I tabbed out the melody notes the intro and chorus for banjo, guitar and ukulele. Have fun!
Last night we started work on Bob Dylan's Forever Young. Dylan recorded two versions-- one slow, one fast-- and we're going to tackle the fast version (video at the link).
Here is a beautiful cover by Joan Baez doing the slow version.
Baez celebrates her 77th birthday this week, and this song seems appropriate when considering her life and musical career. I also recommend her memoir And a Voice to Sing With. She published this is 1987 and really needs a sequel.
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