Learn a Cajun Harmonica Song

Go get your key of C harmonica and get ready to learn a fun Cajun style tune, “The Criminal Waltz”, with me and Joe Filisko (song lesson begins 4m 22s in):

Well, it’s been almost a year since the 2012 SPAH convention. Hundreds of harmonica players from around the world are getting excited about the 2013 50th anniversary convention. Unfortunately, I won’t be there. It’s been a rough year for me, but I’m working hard at turning it around. Thank you for all your support in helping me do that.

I was glad to finally dust off my video-editing skills so I could work on this Joe Filisko interview from last summer. We are coming to the end of the 16 lessons/interviews that I recorded, and I feel really happy about the way they turned out. It was really a fun project… But it’s not done quite yet.

In about 1992, JP Allen and I moved into an apartment together in Kent, Ohio. We turned one room into a music recording studio and another room into a wheatgrass-growing studio. We were both in our mid-20s and we both had a passion for the harmonica. We started hanging around with this great blues guitar player from this area, named Eric Noden. I’ll never forget hanging out at 501 West Main St. playing the blues with my friends Eric and JP.

Eventually, Eric moved to Chicago to play the blues. There, he hooked up with one of the greatest harmonica players, harmonica teachers, and harmonica historians that you will ever know – Joe Filisko. The two of them are now traveling the world, spreading the good music of the blues. It was my treat to pull Joe aside from our closing banquet at the convention and spend a few minutes getting a lesson on playing Cajun harmonica.

Above, I offer you that lesson. Have fun, and hopefully it won’t be another six months before I edit the final interview of the series. 🙂

P.S. Check out Joe’s bio here