Alternating thumb - a country/blues crossover.

Practicing with fingerpicks and a thumbpick today, going through some books of folk and blues songs. Lately I've been consumed with writing songs for the upcoming Fraser Daley CD, and delving into some old-time guitar styles for ideas. I was playing along with this earlier:

I'm not sure that I'm convinced by the harmonica imitation, but a great record nonetheless. I love when country musicians play blues, and vice versa. Sam McGee (1894-1975) was an old-time country musician from Franklin, Tennessee. His style has been (rather anachronistically) called "Travis picking" after Merle Travis. But it's clearly much older than Travis, and seems to have been adapted to folk purposes from 19th century parlor guitar styles.


Parlor guitar wasn't far from 'classical' banjo of the late 19th century.


And all of this is not too far from prototypical blues guitar.