Setlist Chronicles -or- The Strange Bird Songs I Played Tonight

(Preacher Boy, live at Mission St. BBQ. Photo by Jake J. Thomas.)

Kind of an intriguing set tonight, if I do say so myself. I certainly bookended with a pair of the usual suspects, and there were a few other familiar chirps throughout as well, but all in all, quite a lot of strange birds making sonic appearances tonight. Lots of country blues in here. Here’s the full list of what I ran down:

1. If I Had Possession Over My Judgement Day (Robert Johnson, arr. PB)
2. Preachin’ Blues (Son House, arr. PB)
3. Levee Camp Blues (Mississippi Fred McDowell, arr. PB)
4. Old Jim Granger (from the Preacher Boy album “The Tenderloin EP”)
5. Diving Duck Blues (Sleepy John Estes, arr. PB)
6. Evil Blues (Mance Lipscomb, arr. PB)
7. A Little More Evil (from the Preacher Boy album “The National Blues”)
8. Revenue Man Blues (Charley Patton, arr. PB)
9. Milk Cow Blues (Mississippi Fred McDowell, arr. PB)
10. Catfish Blues (Willie Doss, arr. PB)
11. The Dogs (from the Preacher Boy album “The Devil’s Buttermilk”)
12. Spoonful Blues (Charley Patton, arr. PB)
13. Down And Out In This Town (from the Preacher Boy album “Gutters & Pews”)
14. Sliding Delta (Mississippi John Hurt, arr. PB)
15. Stagolee (Mississippi John Hurt, arr. PB)
16. A Person’s Mind (from the Preacher Boy album “The National Blues”)
17. Down South Blues (Sleepy John Estes, arr. PB)
18. Coal Black Dirt Sky (from the Preacher Boy album “Crow”)
19. Black Crow (from the Preacher Boy album “Crow”)
20. Railroad (from the Preacher Boy album “Gutters & Pews”)
21. Motherless Children (Blind Willie Johnson,/Mance Lipscomb/Dave Van Ronk, arr. PB)
22. Shake ‘Em On Down (Bukka White)

And for your listening pleasure, two straight-from-the-stage-to-yer-ear-buds guerrilla-live tracks:

Preacher Boy – Sliding Delta [LIVE]

(arrangement based on the Mississippi John Hurt version)

Preacher Boy – Levee Camp Blues [LIVE]

(arrangement based on a recorded performance by Mississippi Fred McDowell)

For the guitar heads amongst ye, this version of Sliding Delta is performed on a ’36 National (Grandpa’s National), which is set up for standard tuning. This chords are based on Key of E forms, but the guitar is capo’d at the 4th fret. Levee Camp Blues is performed on a different ’36 National (THE National), and the guitar is tuned to an Open G tuning, then capo’d at the 2nd fret.

For the footwear fanatics amongst ye, the stomps come courtesy of my cowboy boots, which are a Size 13.