acoustic: house of the rising sun

It's Loki's fault. Loki being a mate of mine I met at the Open Mic in Cheltenham. He's a brilliant guitarist, a great voice, a keen ear for a tune and has a killer claw-hammer technique that I can only envy. He's also a pleasure to play with, whether it's the same song, or just sharing a stage, because he's an absolute gent to work with.

He lent me a pedal last Saturday. A TC Helicon Harmony Singer 2. Not a guitar pedal, but a vocal effect. Basically a choir of "screaming tarts", as a friend in a blues band once described the backing vocals, in a little blue stomp box. Backing vocals on a foot-switch, basically.

Loved it, so I had to find me one. Turns out finding one in stock with your usual retailers, for whatever reason, well, wasn't happening. So resorted to eBay, paid a little over the retail price, but it turned up this morning. And I'm very happy with it.

One of the first songs my Mum taught me on the guitar was Scarborough Fair. The other was House of the Rising Sun. Both remain favourites of mine, though I rarely play either these days in anything but my own company.

The clip above is a version of the latter, recorded earlier this evening.