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Bluegrass Vocals Lessons: “Blues Stay Away From Me” (Duet Arrangement)

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This page contains a transcription of a video lesson from Bluegrass Vocals with Michael Daves. This is only a preview of what you get when you take Bluegrass Vocals Lessons at ArtistWorks. The transcription is only one of the valuable tools we provide our online members. Sign up today for unlimited access to all lessons, plus submit videos to your teacher for personal feedback on your playing.

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[MUSIC]
Okay here

this is our second

Louvin Brothers song.

And this is actually originally by
the Delmore Brothers who are one of

the great brother duet
teams through the 40s and

were very influential
on the Louvin Brothers.

In fact, the Louvin Brothers made
a tribute album to the Delmore Brothers

which is fantastic and
you should check it out.

So this is a song from that
album Delmore Brothers'

original song called
Blues Stay Away from Me.

But we're doing the version
by the Louvin Brothers.

It's pretty different,

actually the Delmore Brothers
actually recorded this one as a trio.

Which most of what they did was
just duets, just the two of them.

But they actually had
a third part on this.

And the Louvins do this as a trio,
it's good standard for jams.

Something people can kinda jump in on,
but if you really look

into the Lutheran Brothers arrangement
there's some really kinda weird and

wild stuff going on what with all
the harmony parts put together so

I think it's going to be a lot
of fun to take a look at.

And also, this song provides
a nice contrast to Knoxville Girl.

Which is kind of more typical for
how the sing which is real crisp and

clear now,
Blues stay away from me they really

kind of get this sort of
language blues phrasing going on

that sort of kind of plays around with
the resolve on the natural third so

it will also be good practice just
learning to navigate that area

around the flat three and
three cuz you're really gonna kinda hear

how this kinda takes a long
time to resolve in a few spots.

So I hope you enjoy this one.

[MUSIC]

[MUSIC]
Okay, so here's

Blues Stay Away From Me
in the lower key of E.

And we're gonna learn the melody first.

Now, this is one of the more
contoured of the notes.

It's super important to pay attention
to cuz it's a big part of how these

harmony parts fit together.

So, there's your one,

one, two, three.

Okay, and we're gonna start with
[MUSIC]

It should be a little quicker than that.

[MUSIC]
So that's a three to flat three,

then back to three.

[MUSIC]
And then, we're gonna hold that three for

a long time, and
then jump quickly to the one at the very

end at that note before we
go on to the next syllable.

So
[MUSIC]

And then it's two, one.

And then
[MUSIC]

So that's three, and

then two flat, three, two, one.

And then really gonna land on that
one square without the typical one.

A lot of parts would kind
of scoop up into that one.

But here the tenor part, once we learn it,

you'll see is being really
squirrely at that moment.

So, I think the lead is gotta
be really solid on the one.

Here's that first phrase again,
two, three, four.

>> [MUSIC]
And then

[MUSIC]

Is up to the four, and

it's like four to three to four,

same as we started timing wise.

[MUSIC]
And that's one,

two, one, without ornamentation.

[MUSIC]
So it's three,

two, five,

three, two, one.

[MUSIC]
Here's the second phrase.

[MUSIC]
And then under

the four cord goes
[MUSIC]

which is

[MUSIC]

slides into three twice.

And then
[MUSIC]

That is two, three, two

[MUSIC]

So one, two, one, three,

two flat, three, two
[MUSIC]

And again, landing really

squarely on the one.

So that whole phrase
[MUSIC]

So that's the part.

Let's do it all

together.

The lead

[MUSIC]

Two,

one,

two,

three,

four

[MUSIC]

[MUSIC]
Now, the tenor,

is sung by Ira Louvin.

Charlie Louvin sang the lead
of almost all the time.

Now, as is very common
with Louvin brothers,

Charlie's sort of playing
straight man to Ira.

Now, I think it was true,
personality wise and demeanor wise,

as well as often musically.

Now here, Ira kinda gets to have
the more kind of squirrely moving part,

which we'll see what I mean here in just
a second, so, it starts up on the five.

[MUSIC]
One, two, three, four, five,

mirroring the lead and going, blues.

So that's just following
really closely there to start.

Five, sharp, four, five, three, and then
[MUSIC]

and then stay away, that's four,

three, five, five, four,
[MUSIC]

so.

[MUSIC]
Stay away from,

and now, me.

Now, here's the contour that's really
important to pay attention to too.

See, it's going from four to five,

three to three, but
you gotta listen to the shape for it.

Stay away from me
[MUSIC]

me, it's kind of like a drunk and

stumble or something
[MUSIC]

me, it's first raised.

[MUSIC]
Blues,

stay away from me.

[MUSIC]
Now, if you remember the lead at that

point was just landing squarely
on one which lets the me,

that little squirrely thing in
the tender part make more sense and

have a more stable
ground to sound against.

Okay, now going into the fourth chord
[MUSIC]

Blues.

It's up to the 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
and blue, it's just a half-step drop.

6, flat 6, 6, blues,
why don't you, that's 5,

4, 3, get a little bit of contrary
motion there with the lead.

[MUSIC]
Blues, why don't you let me, so

5, 4, let me
[MUSIC]

and then that same move,

[MUSIC]

me to that

[MUSIC]

4, 5, 3, 3,

[MUSIC]

see,

here's the second phrase
starting on the 6.

1, 2, 3, 4,
[MUSIC]

blues, why don't you

let me be, all right.

And then I don't know why, and
here we're just mirroring the lead part.

Don't know why, so that's 5, 5, 5, 4.

[MUSIC]
Don't know why

you keep on haunting 3,

4, 3, 5, 5,

4 you keep on haunting me.

And then ending with that same maneuver.

[MUSIC]
I don't know

why you keep on

haunting me, okay.

So one time through
the entire tender part, here,

so
[MUSIC]

2, 1, 2, 3.

[MUSIC]
Blues stay

away from me.

[MUSIC]
Blues,

why don't you let me be,

I don't know why

you keep on haunting me.

[MUSIC]
Okay, so I want you to learn both parts.

And E and get really clear on
the contour of each of those and

you can practice to sing along with
the recording I have provided.

And then I would like you to post a video
singing along with either part and

you can either or both.

You can play the recording of the lead and
sing with tenor along with it or

vice versa.

But have fun figuring out how
these parts fit together.

And really getting a feel for the contrast
between the sort of straight man on

the bottom and the squirrelly, kind of
drunken-style maneuvering on the top.

[MUSIC]

[MUSIC].

Okay, so here we're up in the key of C for
Blues Stay Away From Me.

Now, once again the,
I really love how these two parts fit

together because the lead
part sung by Charlie Louvin.

Charlie's kinda play in the straight man,
so

his part is pretty simple,
not much ornamentation.

And he likes, just kinda hits the one and
hold to while arrows,

things on the tenor part is kinda
doing this real swirly thing.

Here we go.

[MUSIC].
So, we start on the three, one, two,

three.

And it's, so it's a quick,

it's a dip from three to flat three and
then back, so.

[MUSIC].
And then after holding on the three for

a while,
then at the very end of that syllable,

you dive down to the one,
just for split second, so.

[MUSIC].
And there's two, one.

Way from, so
that's a slide up into 3 on way and

then a two, fat three, two.

On from me, so and then we land on
that one it's no ornamentation.

It's just straight and clear, so.

[MUSIC].
Two, three, four.

[MUSIC].

Kinda overshot the mark when I
came down from that three, but.

Anyways, you can practice that and

you learn how to hit those notes
when you do the quick maneuver.

I mean, it takes practice sometimes, but.

And then going up into the four chord.

As.
[MUSIC].

Similarly to how we started out,
except for

it's four, three, four, so.

[MUSIC].

And then we're gonna dive
from the four this time.

[MUSIC].

Just a touch on the one at
the end of that syllable.

And stay away, and there's sliding
into 3 again and then from me.

So, two, five, three, two,
one, just like we started.

[SOUND].

From me.

So, into the fourth chord.

[MUSIC].

All right, then don't know why,

that's three, three, slides.

Why, don't know why, so

then down into the two, don't know why.

[MUSIC].

You keep on, that's one,
two one, and then haunting and

that's sliding up into the three.

Haunt and then tin', that's two,

flat, three, two and then straight on one.

Again, no ornamentation on the last note,
so.

[MUSIC].

Okay, so let's do that whole lead part.

Straight through from the beginning.

One, two, three, four.

[MUSIC]

[MUSIC]
Okay, so moving on to the tenor part

now here's where things get weird and fun
[MUSIC]

we're gonna start on the 5.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and
here it's mirroring the lead and just

dipping down a half step and right back
[MUSIC]

so that's the 5 to the sharp 4 another 5

[MUSIC].

And then at the end of that syllable
you're dropping to the 3 and

notice the leads dropping
from the 3 to the 1 and

so they're both just staying
in the chord tones 1, 3 and 5.

[MUSIC]
And then

[MUSIC]

that's 4, 3 and then

[MUSIC]

sliding up into 5 and then

[MUSIC]

that's like a sharp 4, 4 and then here's

where you get this squirrely line
[MUSIC]

this is real slow.

It goes from the 4 to
the flat 3 back up to the 3

[MUSIC]

it's fun to sing especially against that

root because the lead part
is just staying straight

on the one right there you're going
[MUSIC]

and then that part is kind of veering

around it's almost like
a staggering drunk or something.

All right so here's the first phrase
[MUSIC]

all right now in the 4 chord we're

gonna hit the 6th note
[MUSIC]

and again dipping just by half step

to the sharp 5 and then back up.

[MUSIC]
and then as we come down we're going

[MUSIC]

that's 5, 4, 3 then back to the 5,

4 we can do like actually

a downward grace note into the 4
[MUSIC].

So
[MUSIC]

and now we have that

same squirrely line
[MUSIC]

and then going on

to the 5 chord
[MUSIC]

so 5, 5,

5, 4
[MUSIC]

so 3, 4, 3,

5, 4 and then

that same 4 flat,

3, 3
[MUSIC].

Yes you've really gotta think
of the contour the shape

of
[MUSIC]

so it's a whole step from the 4 to

the flat 3
[MUSIC]

and then back up a half step to land on

the 3 for which is your chord tone.

So it's sort of surrounding the chord
tone, half step above, half step below,

and then resolving.

So it kinda creates some suspense
because it's kind of swerving around,

you don't know how it's gonna get back and

it does it kinda finally sticks
to that 3 as a chord tone.

All right so I'd like you to as usual,
just get to know both

parts practicing along with
the recording that I provided and

when you're ready, submit a video and
let me know how this is going.

[MUSIC]

Playing:		Looping:		Adjust:
space	play/pause	I	set loop start point	[	move start back 1 sec
←	back 10 secs	O	set loop end point	]	move start forward 1 sec
→	forward 10 secs	L	start/stop looping	SHIFT-[ or ]	move end
↑	rewind to beginning	C	clear loop	CTRL-[ or ]	move both
H	this help	F	full screen toggle	ALT-[ or ]	next/prev section

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