Hillbillujah

This is the soundtrack to a movie about Leonard Cohen going on a rafting trip in rural Appalachia.

I've been playing more mandolin and banjo lately than I have in a while, and it seemed like this ought to be done.

Mandolin remains a bear of an instrument to me, between the small scale of the fretboard, the low sustain, the callus-defying double strings and the by-fifths tuning, but I feel like I'm starting to get a little more solid at it. Still can't tremelo pick with any consistency on the fast stuff, though.

I'd love to hear the same thing as performed by some rock-solid bluegrass players; I like what I can manage to choke out of these instruments, but a fingerpickin' dynamo I am not, and one of the thing that always impresses the hell out of me at bluegrass jams is the precision with which the really solid players can incorporate a melody into a really solid, motoring bit of speed-demon wonder.

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posted by cortex (15 comments total)

psst. you forgot the hallelujah tag.
posted by potch at 11:47 AM on June 18, 2009

details, details
posted by cortex at 11:49 AM on June 18, 2009

What I love about your stuff, cortex, is that when you have an idea, you see it through to a product. Kudos.
posted by potch at 11:56 AM on June 18, 2009

What potch said. This has really been pretty remarkable to watch.
posted by Corduroy at 11:59 AM on June 18, 2009

I reassert, there is nothing wrong with the banjo.
posted by jessamyn at 12:13 PM on June 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

How much for a cortex?

20 Hallelujah covers, same as in town.
posted by ORthey at 1:26 PM on June 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

I fear that my favorites are all filling up with Cohen covers, and that they're all going to be by cortex.

Well, not fear so much as love.
posted by sambosambo at 7:00 PM on June 18, 2009

Good Lord, man--Do you have nothing better else to do all day than sit down crapping out Hallelujahs?!

not that there's anything wrong with that...
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 8:21 PM on June 18, 2009

Good god, man, you're a machine.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:27 PM on June 18, 2009

There's a great line from the late mathematician Paul Erdos:

"A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems."

I think it's a good attitude. I haven't been recording nearly enough for a while now, and while I'd like to get my ass in gear and record some non-Hallelujah stuff, doing this beats doing nothing by a long shot.
posted by cortex at 9:13 PM on June 18, 2009

...while I'd like to get my ass in gear and record some non-Hallelujah stuff...

Naaah. You're good for 6 or 7 more of these, at least!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:22 PM on June 18, 2009

Are you taking requests yet? I would like to hear Zamfirallujah if you have the time.

oh yes ... [this is good]
posted by YoBananaBoy at 10:55 PM on June 18, 2009

This is freaking epic. Your mandolin playing sounds perfect for this. I think if it rolled any faster you'd start to approach the "ska" sound... but that may just be because I think I have the ska thing stuck in my head.

I'm pretty sure if we did this we'd play it as a Texas waltz - I'm typically super against "bluegrassification" novelties (ever since I heard the Rusty Thimbles cover "Closer"). Nevertheless, this was really classy - especially because you graciously avoided faux-southern-accent lyrics in favor of the banjo - which itself is a beautifully lyrical instrument. I cringed when I saw it because I was worried it would be all, "Haallleeewing-ding-diddly-luuuuyaaaa" but you didn't do that. You treated the genre with integrity and respect and this sounds really great. I'm going to download it and spread it around but if it's cool with you I'm going to label it just Hallelujah. Awesome job friend - really really pretty.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 6:44 AM on June 19, 2009

Oh man, YoBananaBoy. If I had a panflute...

I cringed when I saw it because I was worried it would be all, "Haallleeewing-ding-diddly-luuuuyaaaa" but you didn't do that. You treated the genre with integrity and respect and this sounds really great.

Yeah, I felt a little bit cheap even invoking the Hillbilly meme, but I was stuck for a better silly, thematic name.

I thought about working in some straightforward high-and-lonesome harmonies on like a late chorus, but I've never been able to kick those vocals quite the way I want 'em to sound, so, yeah, took a pass.

Spread away, sir.
posted by cortex at 7:55 AM on June 19, 2009

As a real life half-a-hillbilly, I have only one question to ask before bestowing upon you the title of honorary Hillbilly...How much corn liquor does it take for you to "warm up" to a first cousin? (Question doesn't apply if she's not cute, or if she's a he.)

Seriously, this is just really great. Please keep up with playing the mando and banjo, I'd LOVE to hear more songs like this from you! Damn, this is good.
posted by snsranch at 5:44 PM on June 19, 2009