Killing the Blues
by Roly Salley
Steve was the first to record Roly Salley's song in 1983 after the songwriter debuted it in Woodstock, NY. Steve's recording of Killing the Blues on his Whole World Round albumon the Kicking Mule record label popularized the song among his fans and he has sung it like an old friend for several decades. This email came in from out of the blue last summer, and surprised Steve in more ways than one as he read it. This is what it said...
Hi Steve,
I guess you could say it has been awhile with a capital A. I've been in California and Canada for many years...always playing with my band and doing other little musical things here and there. It fell to me finally this year to clean out a storage space that I've been holding for about twenty years and i came out of that with a trunk (or two) full of cassette tapes that are more or less the musical track to my "story". So i'm going through them while trekking around on tour this summer...converting them to digital files...and I came across a tape of yours that must have been a record...with my song "Killing the Blues" on it. The quality of the music and singing on that tape blew me away! What a great bluegrass combo!! For me, the rhythm has to be serious to begin with and the people playing o your record were ace time-keepers. On top of that...the playing and harmony singing is of a quality that might possibly restore a fella's faith! And one other thing...in Killing the Blues...you faithfully kept that extra bar in before it goes to the chorus line. That is something that you and Shawn Colvin alone pay homage to...and in my opinion...is key to the song. Thank you for that! And finally, I wish after all these years...the very best. I hope to run across you out there someplace one of these days. Regards from Roly
www.rolandsalley.com
I guess you could say it has been awhile with a capital A. I've been in California and Canada for many years...always playing with my band and doing other little musical things here and there. It fell to me finally this year to clean out a storage space that I've been holding for about twenty years and i came out of that with a trunk (or two) full of cassette tapes that are more or less the musical track to my "story". So i'm going through them while trekking around on tour this summer...converting them to digital files...and I came across a tape of yours that must have been a record...with my song "Killing the Blues" on it. The quality of the music and singing on that tape blew me away! What a great bluegrass combo!! For me, the rhythm has to be serious to begin with and the people playing o your record were ace time-keepers. On top of that...the playing and harmony singing is of a quality that might possibly restore a fella's faith! And one other thing...in Killing the Blues...you faithfully kept that extra bar in before it goes to the chorus line. That is something that you and Shawn Colvin alone pay homage to...and in my opinion...is key to the song. Thank you for that! And finally, I wish after all these years...the very best. I hope to run across you out there someplace one of these days. Regards from Roly
www.rolandsalley.com
A second version of Killing the Blues was recorded on Now & Then in 2003.
