Blues Run the Game
Small World: How Paul Simon Found Himself in the ‘60s English Folk Scene
In 1965, a dejected Paul Simon went for an extended stay in England. When he returned home to New York toward the end of the year, he brought Anji with him.
Well, “Anji.” A piece of music, not a woman.
“Anji” — sometimes spelled “Angi” or “Angie” — was written and first recorded in the late 1950s by English guitarist Davy Graham, considered by many the first star of the U.K. folk guitar renaissance. It’s a snappy little fingerpicked number, a series of trills over a descending bass line. Really more jazzy than folkie. By the time Simon first heard it, apparently via the playing of another young star of the scene, Bert Jansch, it had become the touchstone for English acoustic guitarists. This was the piece they had to master to gain entry into that world and in the process serving to popularize the dark modal DADGAD open tuning as the scene standard.
Continue readingLaura Marling “Blues Run the Game”
Blues Run the Game – A Movie About Jackson C. Frank
This production appears to still be in the kickstarter phase, but we anxiously await the release of this documentary about the man who composed one of the greatest folk songs ever written – Blues Run the Game.
Jackson C. Frank – such a talent and such a tragic story.
– Johnny Foreigner
In the mid-60s, Jackson C. Frank released a masterpiece of folk music in Britain.
This young American songwriter was close to Simon & Garfunkel, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Roy Stewart, Al Stewart, Sandy Denny and many others.
All of them have been influenced by this enigmatic and tormented character.
Shortly after the release of his only album, he disappeared.
Wrecked by a series of tragedies in his life, he has been cut off from the world and got trapped by his demons.
Still today, young musicians like John Mayer, Laura Marling or Robin Pecknold perform
Blues Run the Game .
This documentary follows Jackson C. Frank’s footsteps to unknot the threads of a tragic destiny.
Facts and songs do not express everything about a man, a personality.
Who was Jackson C. Frank?
Who remembers him?
Where to find meaning, or even light, in a life as dark as his?
