Topic: What about the blues?

[Mdub]

One of my favs. He did some work with Zappa.
Fiddle was a primary blues instrument until the harmonica came along.
Sugarcane sure makes it cry:

[tramp]

never heard of him
but i like
will have to try to find some more of his music

[Uncle Ernie]

Until the harmonica came along?!   
What- you're like 600 years old?

[azuredesign]

I also admired Don Harris, he did some great stuff with Hot Tuna too. I have to agree with U.E., the African bowed string instrument and the pitched blowing instrument that are the great granddaddys of the violin and harmonica are probably contemporary, and freaking ancient.

[zzpete]

Free Beer and Chicken. One of the best albums of all time. John Lee Hooker
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[Damfino]

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[Mdub]

Until the harmonica came along?!   
What- you're like 600 years old?

Uh, o.k.
Some Wikipedia cut and paste for the ignorant:
The harmonica was developed in Europe in the early part of the 19th century.
The first recordings of harmonicas were made in the U.S. in the 1920s.

The harmonica's versatility brought it to the attention of classical music during the 1930s.
American Larry Adler was one of the first harmonica players to perform major works written for the instrument by the composers Ralph Vaughan Williams, Malcolm Arnold, Darius Milhaud and Arthur Benjamin.

In the 1950's, the harmonica then made its way with the blues and the black migrants to the north, mainly to Chicago but also to Detroit, St. Louis and New York.

Now you know!

[Mdub]

I also admired Don Harris, he did some great stuff with Hot Tuna too. I have to agree with U.E., the African bowed string instrument and the pitched blowing instrument that are the great granddaddys of the violin and harmonica are probably contemporary, and freaking ancient.

You guys are funny!

The vid I posted IS Don "Sugarcane" Harris.

More cut and paste history:
Turkic and Mongolian horsemen from Inner Asia were probably the world’s earliest fiddlers. Their two-stringed upright fiddles were strung with horsehair strings, played with horsehair bows, and often feature a carved horse’s head at the end of the neck. ... The violins, violas, and cellos we play today, and whose bows are still strung with horsehair, are a legacy of the nomads

If you'd like to start a thread on the history of fiddle and harmonica in blues music, please feel free to do so.
Otherwise, please just post your favorite blues clips!

[Mdub]

Here is a fellow from England who does some incredible stuff!:

[azuredesign]

Yeah, it's the same Don Harris, the same guy that was in a great duo in the 50's and early 60's called Don and Dewey, and Hot Rats is one of my all time favorite records. What's so funny about that? Oops, I just checked about the Hot Tuna hook up, and I'm mistaken, that was John Creach.

Here's one type of wind instrument that was contemporary with bowed instruments in Africa a bit before the harp emerged.

http://www.kalimba.co.za/product_view/product_images/wind_nyanga_2.pic.JPG