For decades, Gregory Blackstock has been creating these delightful re-workings of familiar and beloved songs, entirely for his own enjoyment. As an autistic savant, he relies on his prodigious memory of songs heard at the roller rink in his early childhood, learned from records and television, or referenced from his printed accordion music. He reviews the song in his head, before effortlessly changing it to a favorite key, usually a more difficult one.

Blackstock draws the staff, working freehand, with a ruler, or tracing over a copied blank staff, and then adds all musical notations by hand. If the melody has words, no matter how obscure, he will include all verses in precise handwriting. In creating a cover for the music, he exercises his visual creativity, providing relevant information about the song in text or image. Blackstock draws his covers with colored pencils and ink over colored construction papers, sometimes collaging photographs as illustrations.

The exhibition will include over thirty music covers and sheets. As with folded sheet music, the basic size is 11 x 8 1/2 inches and builds out from there depending on the number of sheets required to copy and rearrange a song. As you will see in our exhibition, in some cases the cover is an interesting work of art while in others, the musical staff and notes are very beautiful in their own ways.

BALLAD OF THE MOONCUSSERS, ca. 1985-2005
Illustrated cover with text, plus 1 page of music on reverse side
11 x 8.5 inches
$1,800

BLUE TANGO, ca. 1985-2005
Text only cover, plus additional 3 pages of music
11 x 25.5 inches
$1,900

GREAT TELEVISION WESTERN THEME OF BRONCO (LAYNE), ca. 1985-2005
Text only cover, plus 1 page of music on reverse side
11 x 8.5 inches
$1,400

CALIFORNIA, HERE I COME, ca. 1985-2005
Illustrated cover with text, plus 1 page of music on reverse side
11 x 8.5 inches
$1,800

CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO, ca. 1985-2005
Text only cover, plus additional 3 pages of music
11 x 25.5 inches
$1,900

CIRIBIRIN, ca. 1985-2005
Text only cover, plus additional 3 pages of music
11 x 25.5 inches
$1,900

DRAGNET'S DANGER AHEAD MARCH, ca. 1985-2005
Illustrated cover with text, plus 2 pages of music
11 x 17 inches
$2,200

ELEGIE, ca. 1985-2005
Text only cover, plus additional 4 pages of music
11 x 34 inches
$2,300

HINKEY-DINKEY PARLEZ-VOUS - TRADITIONAL, ca. 1985-2005
Text only cover, plus additional one page of music
11 x 17 inches
$1,400

I'VE GOT SIXPENCE - A HAPPY WARTIME & SAILOR'S SING-ALONG SONG, ca. 1985-2005
Illustrated cover with text, plus additional 3 pages of music
11 x 25.5 inches
$1,900

JALOUSIE TANGO, ca. 1985-2005
Text only cover, plus additional 3 pages of music
11 x 25.5 inches
$1,900

MICKEY MOUSE CLUB MARCH, ca. 1985-2005
Illustrated cover, plus additional 2 pages of music
11 x 17 inches
SOLD

PARADE OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS MARCH, ca. 1985-2005
Illustrated cover, plus additional 2 pages of music
11 x 17 inches
$2,000

PRETEND, ca. 1985-2005
Text only cover, plus additional 2 pages of music
11 x 17 inches
$1,600

GREAT TELEVISION WESTERN THEME OF RAWHIDE, ca. 1985-2005
Illustrated cover with text, plus additional 3 pages of music
11 x 25.5 inches
$2,400

SALOME VISIONS 7-VEILS SNAKE DANCE, ca. 1985-2005
Illustrated cover with text, plus additional 4 pages of music
11 x 34 inches
$2,900

THE LITTLE SHOE MAKER, ca. 1985-2005
Illustrated cover with text, plus additional 3 pages of music
11 x 25.5 inches
$2,400

SLOW POKE, ca. 1985-2005
Illustrated cover with text, plus additional 2 pages of music
11 x 17 inches
$2,200

SUGARTIME, ca. 1985-2005
Illustrated cover with text and found photo, plus 3 pages of music
11 x 25.5 inches
$2,400

WALKING TO NEW ORLEANS, ca. 1985-2005
Illustrated cover with text and found photo, plus 1 page of music
11 x 8.5 inches 11 x 8.5 inches
$1,800

WHEN JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME, ca. 1985-2005
Illustrated cover with text, plus 2 pages of music
11 x 17 inches
$2,000

WHO PUT THE BOMP (IN THE BOMP BA BOMP BA BOMP), ca. 1985-2005
Text only cover, plus additional 3 pages of music
11 x 25.5 inches
$1,900

YINGLE BELLS, ca. 1985-2005
Illustrated cover with text, plus additional 2 pages of music
11 x 17 inches
SOLD

Additional musical work

A MUSICAL REVIEW OF THE MAJOR KEY CHROMATIC SCALE, 2007
Permanent marker on paper
18 x 12 inches
$2,200 framed

A COMPLETE MUSICAL REVIEW OF THE MINOR KEY CHROMATIC SCALE, 2007
Permanent marker on paper
18 x 12 inches
$2,200 framed

AN ORGAN & PIANO MUSICAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE DIMINISHED SEVENTH CHORDS, 2007
Permanent marker on paper
18 x 12 inches
$2,200 framed

A COMPLETE MUSICAL REVIEW OF THE AUGMENTED TRIAD CHORDS, 2007
Permanent marker on paper
18 x 12 inches
$2,200 framed