Talk:Mississippi Fred McDowell

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United States: Mississippi Unassessed

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North Mississippi Blues

The article states, "McDowell continued to perform delta blues much as he had for decades" but according to Peter Noble in the liner notes for the AIM Records release Aim 0012 Mississippi Fred McDowell: Train I Ride there is a distinction to be made between Delta Blues and McDowell's style:

"The area where Mississippi Fred McDowell lived is known to have a 'North Mississippi Blues' style, as against the 'Mississippi Delta Blues' style to be found 100 miles east and along Highway 61 and the Mississippi River, whose centre is Clarksdale."

This article at Vintage Guitar Magazine on R.L. Burnside, also a North Mississippi style performer, supports this statement: http://www.vguitar.com/artists/details.asp?ID=205

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.172.92.6 (talk) 19:20, 3 January 2007 (UTC).[reply]

date of birth

someone listed it as jan. 12 1904. mcdowell was quoted more than once stating that he did not know exactly when he was born. if there's no source other than the headstone this should be fixed. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.225.239.203 (talk) 07:54, 17 January 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Fair use rationale for Image:Fred McDowell.jpg

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Slide on ring finger

McDowell did not play exclusively with a slide on his ring finger. It's been stated in articles/liner notes (the exact sources of which escape me at the moment unfortunately) that McDowell would switch his slide to his pinky when he played in Spanish (open G or A) tuning, using the ring finger for Vestapol (open D or E tuning). The vast majority of film/video footage of McDowell playing features him in Vestapol with the slide on his ring finger. However, this clip -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeAAMmk83Fc -- features him playing in Spanish and about 5 minutes in or so you can see the slide on his pinky. He needed to do this because of the fretted C7 chord (and brief F-shaped chord) that he plays in this tuning. Banjochris (talk) 02:25, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]