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Bleaching Bones

from Long Train A​-​Rollin' by Marc Nerenberg

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about

I wrote "Bleaching Bones" about 15 years ago, and it's very high on my list of favourite songs that I've written. I had, painstakingly, by trial and error, fitted together this chord progression that I really liked, and I figured I had better write some words for it, or I would quickly forget it for sure. But I didn't really have any idea what I wanted to write about, so I played it for my wife, and asked her if the chord progression made her think of anything, and she said immediately, "A woman riding across the desert pursued by many men" and the song was born. I started with the line "Bleaching bones lay in the desert", concentrated on rhyme and meter, and followed the story wherever it took me, writing it sequentially from beginning to end, which is very rare for me. I recorded the several tracks for this on 19 and 20 March 202. My 1910 Fairbanks Banjo, used here, is strung with Nylgut strings, tuned e B E G# B. I'm using mostly an old time two finger picking style, with some little bits of clawhammer, here and there, wherever it appropriately accented the story. I'm playing a G harmonica in “3rd position” in Am, and I'm playing a washboard, using it in the Louisiana "Zydeco" music tradition as a straight ahead percussion instrument, by scraping it with two demitasse spoons.

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from Long Train A​-​Rollin', released August 2, 2021

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Marc Nerenberg Montreal, Québec

Marc Nerenberg is a veteran Montreal folksinger who plays old time banjo styles and blues harmonica. He has a narrative- centric repertoire, recounting stories in song and wrapping stories around songs. You may “be drawn in by a combination of Marc’s mastery of traditional banjo styles, his idiosyncratic singing, and [his] richly detailed ballads.” (Mike Regenstreif – Folk Roots/Folk Branches 2019) ... more

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