Is it sustained, like a yodel, or more like a quick “yip” in a note? I have an old album of Southern Illinois bluegrass that uses the latter. If it weren’t buried in the lowest layers of my archaelogical strata of storage, I could check the liner notes.
I think the original “high lonesome” was Roscoe Holcomb; lot of his stuff on youtube … one example:
I really think this would be easer if you had a sound clip or something of what your talking about. Everyone seems to just be trying to guess what sound your talking about.
The example I was thinking of when I read the OP was Hank Williams in “Lovesick Blues.”
Note his voice on the first line, when he gets to “blues.” He does it all through the song.
Yes yes. Hank Williams. Also Bill Monroe. Followers of the style of Roscoe Holcomb. Note that Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and John Lennon also mention Holcomb’s music as a great influence.
Hank does it in pert near all of his songs. Not sure if he originated it, but he sure popularized it.
Another (non-musical) practitioner was Mr. Haney from Green Acres:
“You mean you do-on’t have a blunderbuss?!?”