Featured Interview – Scott Ainslie

by Terry Mullins

It could be something as complex and spiritual as destiny or even the perfect alignment of the stars with the planets.

Or, it could be something much simpler, something like a happy accident or even the stubborn refusal to give up pursuit.

Whatever you choose to call it, the end result is the same; Scott Ainslie ended up with a guitar he had long coveted.

And with that prized possession – a Gibson L-50, circa 1934 -nestled firmly in his hands, Ainslie’s latest album, The Last Shot Got Him (Cattail Music), was quickly given birth.

The album – with just Ainslie on guitar (plus a touch of banjo) and vocals – is like a love letter to another glorious time, a time when legends like Robert Johnson, the Rev. Gary Davis and Mississippi John Hurt were still alive and in their prime. Ainslie’s sixth solo offering seemed to strike a responsive chord with lovers of authentic acoustic blues far and wide…

Read more on their site, or download a pdf.

A Conversation with Scott Ainslie
by Mike Rogogna 
The Huffington Post, December 24, 2014

Mike Ragogna: Scott, your latest album The Last Shot Got Him was released back in October. What’s the reaction been to it so far?

Scott Ainslie: From the moment the first copies have gone out I’ve received very positive responses from listeners. The quality of the recording and the performances have both garnered considerable praise. And The Last Shot Got Him was chosen as the December, 2014 “Recording of the Month” by Rad Bennett at SoundStage! Ultra–at http://ultraaudio.com.

MR: How did the material come together for the project and what was the recording process like?

SA: I recorded 17 tracks to choose from for this record and released fourteen of them. The guiding principle was the voice and vintage of the guitar, a 1934 Gibson L-50. All the tracks are songs and tunes that the guitar might have been asked to play when it was young–ca. 1928-1941.

My process? I record all the tracks in my studio at Cattail Music in Vermont. I rough mix them and then Julian McBrowne and I mix the tracks together. For this project, I went to Toby Mountain for mastering. Both of these engineers are masters who believe in using a light touch with acoustic music and we have good results to show for that approach. Continue Reading

To call Scott Ainslie a musician is to shortchange his abilities; along with being a world class blues guitar player, Ainslie counts himself an author, historian, storyteller, and teacher.

The Brattleboro, Vermont, resident – whose roots run deep right here in Virginia – was introduced to the blues as a teenager. Since that foundational moment when he was fifteen, Ainslie has maintained a passionate love affair with early American blues music, going so far as to transcribe the original works of the legendary Robert Johnson in his book Robert Johnson: At The Crossroads and produce an instructional DVD on Johnson’s playing techniques.

Ainslie has also released five recordings, won grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council, and has traveled the U.S. and Canada to share his brand of American folk music.

Recently, Ainslie released his latest record, The Last Shot Got Him, a collection of tunes originally recorded in the early twentieth century by such luminaries as Mississippi John Hurt, Robert Johnson, Fats Waller, and more.

Ainslie I corresponded by email this week and I must admit to being transfixed by his responses to my questions. His understanding and appreciation of musical history virtually seeped through my monitor.

Continue Reading

“A Guitar, A Cello, and The Day That Changed Music” (Radio Diaries)

November 23, 1936 was a good day for recorded music. Two men – an ocean and more apart – sat before a microphone and began to play. One was Pablo Casals – a cello prodigy who had performed for the Queen of Spain. The other was the soon-to-be Delta Blues legend and guitarist Robert Johnson – a regular in the juke joints of the Mississippi Delta.

On this day, three-quarters of a century ago, Pablo Casals and Robert Johnson both made recordings that would change the course of music history.

Blues singer,guitarist, and historian Scott Ainslie, along with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Delta Blues musician David Honeyboy Edwards, and cellist Bernard Greenhouse talk with Radio Diaries’ Joe Richman about this one day, its recordings, and what followed from this remarkable coincidence.

(Mississippi John Hurt)
1928

I got the blues, I can’t be satisfied (2x)
You can keep those blues, gonna catch that train and ride. Continue Reading

(Cecil Mack, Chris Smith, Everett J. Smith)
1912

Well, the first shot missed him, a mile away
The last shot got him, so they say
Oh, the last shot got him
The last shot got him. Continue Reading

©1999, Scott Ainslie

I’m gonna blow off the top of this mountain
And fill up the valley below.
Before we get done, the dust will block out the sun
And we’ll peel back the layers of coal. Continue Reading

©1997, Scott Ainslie. All rights
reserved.

I found you burying your face, like a boy who cries:
Ragdoll legs and broken arms, one shoe off and one shoe on.
Rain trickles inside the collar: Yellow slicker, 3:00 a.m.
Silent, skewed and thickening—-I touch your shadow with my hand. Continue Reading

(Robert Johnson)

I’m gonna get up in the mornin’ – I believe I’ll dust my broom.
I’m gonna get up in the mornin’ – I believe I’ll dust my broom.
Girlfriend, that man you been lovin’, tell him he can have my room. Continue Reading

J.B. Lenoir

Far back’s I can remember
Either had to plow or hoe
One of those long ol’ nine feet sacks
Standin’ at the old turn row. Continue Reading