The Yellow Dog Blues Get Looped

A few weeks ago, we asked listeners to send in cover versions of W.C. Handy’s classic “Yellow Dog Blues,” to help us celebrate the song’s centennial. So far, we’ve received dozens of versions, front-porch blues to programmed beats. Ari Swan, a musician and music teacher in Montreal, sent in this interpretation using her voice, a violin, a looping pedal, and a cello-playing collaborator:

Swan tells Kurt Andersen she was inspired to take the approach after listening to Bessie Smith’s version. “Bessie Smith won,” she said. “There’s no way I could be any better than that. I need to find a way to bring this into my own style.”

So she turned to Handy’s lyrics for inspiration. “If I had these, what would I do given my own musical aesthetic?” Swan asked herself. The result is delicate and lovely.

There’s still time to enter our contest.

ENTER: 1914 Blues Challenge
Record your own version of “Yellow Dog Blues.” It can be in any style, with any instrumentation, as traditional or as radically different as you’d like.
Marc Anthony Thompson (a.k.a. Chocolate Genius) will judge the entries.
The deadline to be considered for our challenge is Monday, June 16.
See the sheet music and submit your composition here