Bluesboy Jag: Wassail Song
Source (it is a free download embedded in a zipped file)
On the one hand, I applaud the “cigar box” concept: if it
were possible to make my own instrument that does the job, why should I succumb
to the mercantile mentality that makes me pay for the namebrand rather than the
sound. When we listen to a musician’s chops, most of us cannot ID the brand of
the instrument (some of us can’t even ID
the instrument!). Why not play a cigar box guitar?
A cigar box guitar is literally a guitar hand crafted from a
cigar box: you cut a sound hole, slap a
neck onto the wooden box, decorate as desired, tune the strings. Obviously,
some are going to sound better/worse than the rest (hence the horror).
A four year old project (as far as I can see it goes back to
’08) Cigar Box Nation Christmas Songs features various contributors of Xmas classics. Requirement: tune must
include a cigar box guitar and the song must be public domain.
The musician here, Bluesboy Jag, claims a long road to where
he’s at now. His bio lists various jobs all across the spectrum: cook, tech
support, various manager positions and, of course, musician. You can learn more
about him here.
The song “Here We Come A-Wassailing” hints at an interesting pedigree. The song was apparently written in the mid 1800s but is based on a
tradition that probably goes back several centuries before that: Christmas
singers going door to door would be given food and drink at the doors of the
rich.