Parking Lot Picker's Songbook, Guitar Edition
review by Richard Turner

The Parking Lot Picker's Songbook is simply an encyclopedia of the best of American roots music.

Dix Bruce, author of the Parking Lot Picker's Songbook, defines "parking lot pickers" as people who congregate in the parking lots and other areas surrounding bluegrass festivals to enjoy casual music making. Informal music making with others is probably the most fun and satisfying musical experience one can have. In addition to this songbook and a guitar, you will need a few folding chairs, a pair of overalls to let people know that you are a definite dude of the hills even if you are a city slicker; if you are really a crummy musician, a portable barbeque with some meat on it might help attract better musicians to your area. I have found that some of the best musicians just play their instruments all the time and don't work very much; consequently, they are always interested in some free chow and might even give you a break and put up with your well-intentioned yet lousy singing and playing if food is available.

In this 304-page book with two CDs, Mr. Bruce has provided us with more than 225 songs from the bluegrass, old time, country, and gospel repertoire. Surprisingly, every song is recorded on the 2-CD set. Make no mistake- this is a songbook, not a book of written guitar arrangements. The melody (with lyrics) of each song is presented in staff notation and tablature. Chords are provided above the melody line and the songs are written in the guitar-friendly keys of C, G, D, and A.

Even though this book is presented as a "guitar edition" I don't see why banjo, mandolin, and fiddle players couldn't use this book very easily.* Of course, banjo players might have trouble holding the book right-side up. Remember, banjoists, the page numbers should be on the bottom when you are looking at the book! Also, if you are just looking at the cover of the book and it looks like the people are all standing on their heads while playing their instruments, this means that you have it upside down.

Understanding the limited transposing abilities of the average hillbilly, the author includes a section on how to capo up to accompany higher voices (if you are lucky enough to attract some girls or perhaps a countertenor to your BBQ), a Musix Transposer Wheel, and a capo chart. I actually have a drawer full of various music wheels that I have accumulated over the years but have never been smart enough to learn how to use them. This is why I studied music theory and became a professional musician.

Mr. Bruce also gives us a list of recommended instructional books and DVDs (all published by Mel Bay I hope!!), a list of recommended recordings, a guitar chord chart, an index by artist, and a section of historical notes on the songs. The notes include sources, descriptions, and humorous anecdotes. In the Mel Bay tradition, there is a whole lot of value here for just under thirty dollars!

As mentioned earlier, the two CDs contain all 225 songs in the book. Does this seem impossible? Well, it is if you sing all of the verses provided for each song. The compromise- and I think it was a good one- was to present just one verse of each tune. This way, the listener can get an idea of the mood, tempo, vocal phrasing, and a suitable accompaniment for each piece. The recording is meant to be instructional and it is up to you to flesh out your own arrangement with all of the verses, some yodeling, extra hollering, etc…Please do not be frustrated that the songs go by so quickly. I think it is amazing that Mr. Bruce got all of them on two CDs. The recordings were made by Dix Bruce on guitar, mandolin and vocals; and Bill Evans on banjo and vocals. I am not sure how Mr. Bruce can play the guitar and the mandolin at the same time but apparently he does.

I have never seen such a comprehensive collection of American folk music as this. While most of the tunes represent Anglo origins (you will also need some blues books for blues festivals), numerous songs in the collection came to us through the gospel tradition. It is a sad fact that elementary school kids (at least here in California) no longer sing folk music in the classroom on a weekly basis. In the United States, we are rapidly losing our folk music traditions if they're not lost already. My own best memories of grade school were loudly singing "My Grandfather's Clock" and "Erie Canal" in the third grade. If I had stuck with my education and made it to the fourth grade, I am sure that there would have been more good songs to sing. Unfortunately, my work as a sharecropper had to take precedence.

By some miracle however, I ended up being a college teacher, and a few years ago in our classic guitar workshop class we gave the students some short melodies for sight reading practice. One of those melodies was "Red River Valley," a song that I thought that literally everyone would know. After struggling with it, I asked the class how many of them had heard the song before. Only one student (a geezer) had heard "Red River Valley." I was so horrified by this complete lack of knowledge of American roots music that I proposed and now teach a class in the history of American folk music. I now strongly believe that Hank Williams was way more cool than Palestrina!

I can easily see private guitar teachers using this book to make hundreds of thousands of dollars (well, maybe not quite that much) teaching these tunes to their students. This book could be used to teach chords, note reading, tab reading, singing, and various accompaniment styles. In addition, these songs contain literally centuries of American history, all from the perspective of the common man.

As a single-volume work to include in the folk music section of a teacher's library, Parking Lot Picker's Songbook would be a dandy. Just look at your profit margin here! Each song in this book costs just over 13 cents. Let's say, you give a private lesson on one song and charge fifteen dollars for the lesson. Your profit is $14.87, and that is just for one song. If you buy the whole book rather than rip pages out while the store owner isn't looking, you are equipped to give more than 225 lessons, each with a $14.87 profit margin! How can you resist?

With so many songs in the book I obviously can't mention them all. To give an idea of the breadth of this book we have British ballads such as "The Cuckoo," mountain songs such as "Oh Death," "Darling Cory" and "Wildwood Flower," black spirituals like "When the Saints Go Marching In" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," and white gospel songs such as "Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb?" and "The Old Rugged Cross." The Parking Lot Picker's Songbook is simply an encyclopedia of the best of American roots music.

For amateurs, the Parking Lot Picker's Songbook will function exactly as advertised; you can use the CDs with the book to learn some tunes and immediately start making music with your friends. For pros, this is a great sourcebook of tunes for making arrangements. For teachers, this book will provide you and your students with most of the gems of American folk music.

I just love this book and heartily recommend it to everyone. Even if you don't like music, this book just might change your mind and open up a new world for you!

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*Editor's Note: Guitar, banjo, and mandolin editions of Parking Lot Picker's Songbook are currently available, with Dobro® and fiddle editions in the works. The books vary only in the type of tablature included with identical keys and song selection; the one exception is that the banjo edition contains a few tunes typically identified with the banjo.

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About the Author

After demonstrating an early interest in music with the clarinet and folk guitar, Richard Turner studied classical guitar with George Sakellariou and José Rey de la Torre and received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music from San José State University.

Since 1994 Mr. Turner has taught in the large classical guitar program at California State University at Fullerton. Several years ago he revived his early interest in American roots music and developed a course in the history of American folk music which he also teaches at Cal State Fullerton. His instrumental interests are diverse, including classical guitar, slide guitar, banjo, and steel-string fingerpicking and flatpicking styles.