You Gotta Move.

Mississippi Fred McDowell was born in Tennessee, but he played the Delta Blues. Here he is, untouchable.

I've been working on a version of You Gotta Move, which is arguably his most famous song. There have been many covers of it. The one people are probably familiar with is by The Rolling Stones, though surprisingly I didn't know about it when I started to learn the song and I've still never heard it. Learning the song was easy enough, but I have troubles playing it, specifically keeping time.

This is particularly frustrating as my musical training in on the bass. Apparently hitting the root on beat one is something I am no longer capable of doing. As my friends are aware I tend to accompany my guitar playing with incessant, tuneless humming. It's subconscious, but it aids my phrasing and helps me keep time. My friend Mike commented once that I even breathed in time doing everyday activities. Well, my attempt to learn to sing has pointed out a flaw with this. This subvocal droning was the only way I kept time. When I sing, that's the time I keep and my fingers betray me. It's a difficult habit to break.

I'm not incredibly happy with it, but it's the best I can do for now. The recording is blown out and over the top. My slide work, which is as practiced as the song itself, slips and slides around. My vocals attempt to follow. My wool slippered feet slump on the hardwood in a gross interpretation of rhythm. I present to you, faithful listener, "You Gotta Move" by Fred McDowell.

For you poor souls still using Internet Explorer here is a link to the mp3.

If you like the guitar playing here there are more of my solo guitar recordings here on jimmycorp.com.