Brand-new footage of Preacher Boy & Big Bones, with Zack Olsen on drums, performing “Shake ‘Em On Down” live at Biscuits & Blues, December 8th, 2014!

I first heard Bukka White perform this song on a vinyl album from the Takoma label, and it literally changed my life. That was when I was probably 16, maybe 17 years old, and probably 4, maybe 5 of those songs have been in just about every set I’ve ever played since. Shake ‘Em On Down, Poor Boy Long Ways From Home, Fixin To Die, Baby Please Don’t Go, Aberdeen Mississippi Blues, etc.  The point being, I’ve been playing Shake ‘Em On Down, for a LONG time … and I still love it. I LOVE to play this song …

For you guitar heads, it’s a pretty straightforward I-V-V progression, with a couple of arrangement twists. The National is tuned to Open D, and most of the action is actually on the low end, designed to mimic (albeit with a different rhythm) Bukka White’s original descending bass line …

The lyric is straight up raw blues poetry; sexy as hell:

She got somethin, I don’t know what it is
But it sure make me drunker than any ol’ whiskey still …

Bones takes an awesome approach with his harmonica on this version, opting to largely play a minor vibe, which ties to the main riff cleanly,  but then darkens up the IV and V which, on the National, are major. Killer manipulation of the abstract flatted third …

Anyhow, check it out, hope you enjoy!