tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8892042024-03-13T02:32:03.616-04:00boblog -- by bob stepnoHere, mostly about music; oldtime-radio research at <a href="http://jheroes.com">JHeroes</a>;
more general blog, <a href="http://stepno.wordpress.com">other journalism</a>; and on Mastodon as <a rel="me" href="https://newsie.social/@BobStep">newsie.social/@BobStep</a>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.comBlogger282125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-62552612574536113912024-02-17T17:19:00.000-05:002024-02-17T17:19:10.468-05:00The Amazing 90 Minute Sextet<div>Just had to share this after writing it for a Facebook post ... </div><div><br></div><div>Wow! Last Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024 -- <a href="http://MeredithAxelrod.com">Meredith Axelrod</a> and Craig Ventresco <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/jZ7YR5PxzHU?si=x19pnnOlI_dw7yA7">show 1190</a> happened while I was off playing for the Floyd Contra Dance... </div><div>A whole week went by before youtube offered me this recording as Saturday breakfast music! </div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/jZ7YR5PxzHU?si=x19pnnOlI_dw7yA7">https://www.youtube.com/live/jZ7YR5PxzHU?si=x19pnnOlI_dw7yA7</a></div><div><br></div><div>An amazing 90-Minute Sextet (band name potential there!) with Meredith & Craig, in the bigger Bay Area living room of Eric (off camera, but i hear his mandolin at times) and Suzy Thompson, and duo Valerie Kirchhoff (vocals) and Ethan Leinwand (piano), a.k.a. the <a href="http://StLouisSteadyGrinders.com">StLouisSteadyGrinders</a> (dotcom). </div><div><br></div><div>Meredith, Suzy and Valerie ragtime-era blues harmonies are wonderful... but it's all wonderful...</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-13908505994503762472024-01-14T23:19:00.003-05:002024-01-15T13:42:19.853-05:00A Zithering Web search for a musician's research legacy<div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true">I posted part of this essay in a Facebook discussion among "old time" musicians who play the 20th or 21st century compositions of the late Midwestern fiddler Garry Harrison (1954β2012) -- but sometimes without getting the tunes exactly the way he wrote them. </div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true"><br></div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true">Jam session players' simplified versions of his tune "Red Prairie Dawn" set off a substantial rant recently by one of his fans, passionately requesting other players to preserve the intricacies of the tune. The discussion set me off on a compulsive morning of Internet research. I don't think I had ever heard Harrison's name before.</div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true"><br></div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true">I was happy to find that tune on YouTube, and I think I have heard it in concerts or jam sessions, although I never knew the name or attempted to learn it... (I primarily play the mandolin in sessions focused more on old Virginia and North Carolina tunes, not contemporary tunes written in an old-time style.) </div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true"><br></div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true">Here is the original "<a href="https://youtu.be/xF90s_DehPQ?si=4ershS9zVgr6-g6F">Red Prairie Dawn</a>": </div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true"><br></div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true"> <a href="https://youtu.be/xF90s_DehPQ?si=4ershS9zVgr6-g6F">https://youtu.be/xF90s_DehPQ?si=4ershS9zVgr6-g6F</a></div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true"><br></div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true"><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true"><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true">Trying to find out who Harrison was turned out to be a little harder than finding his tunes. My first Google search discovered several websites about a similarly named, but entirely unrelated, South Park cartoon character ("Gary," not "Garry") ... </div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true"><br></div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true">Simply adding the word "fiddler" to the search quickly sorted that out, and also revealed that along with being a much loved fiddler and composer, Garry Harrison was also a collector and organologist studying "fretless zithers." </div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br></div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true"><br></div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true">I have known players of some of those, so I went looking for his research, and fell into another question that fascinates me... the preservation of access to creative websites.</div><div><br></div><div>Harrison built an impressive website, originally at "fretlesszithers dotcom," but apparently his heirs did not maintain the registration for the web domain, although they reportedly tried to saved his writing and photographs elsewhere. There is a mention in the memorial page linked below that his instrument collection and a copy of the website were donated to an Arizona Musical Instrument Museum, but my quick search for his name there proved unsuccessful.</div><div><br></div><div>However, more than one <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121017232432/http://www.fretlesszithers.com/index.html">copy of the original Fretless Zithers website</a>, was saved at the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine before its original and secondary addresses expired. I was pleasantly surprised that the archived home page from 2012 even plays the site's original background music, since archive copies often are unable to maintain multimedia data, depending on file formats and other technical details. Here it is:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121017232432/http://www.fretlesszithers.com/index.html">Wayback Machine copy of FretlessZithers homepage.</a></div><div><br></div><div>Also preserved, sub-pages, including <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130427003104/https://www.fretlesszithers.com/wp.html"></a><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130427003104/https://www.fretlesszithers.com/wp.html">his research on 1920s zither player Washington Phillips</a>.</div><div><br></div><div>Here's a <a href="https://youtu.be/5vQZ_VNyA6Q?si=o6N7dTjzwx1bIyHe">YouTube sample of one of Phillips' recordings</a> -- which may inspire you to read Harrison's research revealing what ethereal "fretless zither" family instrument he was playing:</div><div><br></div><div>And here is the 2013 internet archive Wayback machine copy of the introduction to Harrison's <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130110122913/http://www.fretlesszithers.com/intro.html">FretlessZithers</a> research.</div><div><br></div><div>For anyone else who had only heard his fiddle tunes without knowing Garry Harrison... <a href="https://www.harpguitars.net/2012/09/14/garry-harrison-aug-16-1954-sept-4-2012/">this memorial page</a><a href="https://www.harpguitars.net/2012/09/14/garry-harrison-aug-16-1954-sept-4-2012/"></a> by another expert on uncommon instruments was the most expensive biography I found.</div><div><br></div><div>My browsing the Internet Archive Wayback Machine for the pages above began simply because a link from that memorial to Harrison's "fretless zithers" no longer worked. </div><div><br></div><div>The memorial page <i>does</i> provide biographical background and the names of Harrison's various musical ensembles and recordings, which can be found with a Web or YouTube search. <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/2479938-Garry-Harrison">A search of the record-collector resource, Discogs.com, also turned up a page about Harrison</a>, with links to other music-related websites for more information. (Screenshot below.)</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br></div><div><br></div><div><i><b>Personal Motivation</b></i><br></div><div><i><br></i></div><div>Some people get passionate about preserving fiddle tunes as originally played, before people forget the original composer, and for similar reasons. On the other hand, <i><b>I</b></i> get a bit obsessed about preserving access to creative work on the internet, such as Garry Harrison's fretless zither website. </div><div><br></div><div>That's probably because 20 years ago or so I decided to focus more on writing web pages than writing for peer-reviewed academic journals or commercial publication. As a journalism professor who wrote a doctoral dissertation about early web production, I was also frustrated to see so much of the creative work of the first 10 years of the World Wide Web disappear because creative tools and design standards changed, and publishers simply abandoned the originals.</div><div><br></div><div> I wonder if, someday after I am gone, readers (you?) might be finding this essay in an internet archive copy of one of my my blogs, with links to or from my original <a href="http://stepno.com">stepno.com</a> home page!?</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://Stepno.wordpress.com" rev="en_rl_none">Stepno.wordpress.com</a> </div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://Boblog.blogspot.com" rev="en_rl_none">Boblog.blogspot.com</a></div></div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true"><br></div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true">-β---------</div><div data-pm-slice="1 1 []" data-en-clipboard="true"><i>Jan.14, 2024, First draft, also an experiment in copying text from Facebook to an intermediary editor, and on to this "Blogger" software android app. I may have to come back with a browser-based page-editing system to correct errors, remove duplication, and make the YouTube video link turn into a video player. But so far, so good. I don't edit this blog very often, so it may be in the present condition for a good long while. But please drop me a line if you see major errors.</i></div></div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-14548004434140362652023-10-21T13:05:00.001-04:002023-10-21T13:20:23.828-04:00AntiViral OldTime MusicI let writing a "get well soon" email to a Blacksburg, Va., friend get out of hand, after hearing she had to cancel her monthly porch-picking jam session because of covid... The result, a couple of therapeutic listening suggestions for any others facing the 2023-24 season of flu-plus-covid:<div><br></div><div>The last time I was stuck inside with covid I discovered these two online "oldtime" musical phenomena ... Here they are in case any of you (knock on wood) wind up at home recuperating, and are tired of TV.<div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">The first is clawhammer banjo virtuoso <a href="https://getupinthecool.fireside.fm/">Cameron DeWhitt's audio podcast </a>-- recorded as he travels the music festival circuit playing with and interviewing elders and others who are part of "old time music" scenes all over the country. </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">He calls it "Get Up in the Cool," after an old tune, and in various episodes he's even "gotten up" with my banjo and guitar teachers (and Ithaca-based banjo-ukulele inspiration Jeff Claus), all of whom I met at Pinewoods Camp in Massachusetts 40 to 45 years ago. </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">My teachers back then were, for banjo, <a href="https://getupinthecool.fireside.fm/123">Paul Brown</a>, and for guitar (since I hadn't touched a mandolin or fiddle yet) Seattle's <a href="https://getupinthecool.fireside.fm/171">Hank Bradley</a>, who plays every instrument (as does Paul) and Hank's conversation with Cameron includes a wonderful story about hanging out with Doc Watson and blind mandolin and fiddle player Kenny Hall in the 1960s, along with the interesting geography of Hank's career in old time music.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><a href="https://getupinthecool.fireside.fm/">https://getupinthecool.fireside.fm/</a><br><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Along with the audio programs , searchable and streaming from his website or subscribable as a podcast, Cameron does have a few video clips available to anyone searching YouTube for his name or the series title, as well as some extra features for people who donate to help him pay the bills. For example, audio-only doesn't do justice to <a href="https://youtu.be/97OXfOfVKhE?si=OOgawxS2xcurRFnG">fiddler-singer-and-dancer Sophie Wellington</a>... but <a href="https://getupinthecool.fireside.fm/308">her GUitC interview</a> last summer was fascinating too...</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><a href="https://youtu.be/97OXfOfVKhE?si=OOgawxS2xcurRFnG">https://youtu.be/97OXfOfVKhE?si=OOgawxS2xcurRFnG</a></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">The second show is a different sort of "old time" -- ragtime, pop songs and blues from the 1890s to the 1930s, streamed live from their San Francisco kitchen by guitarists (and more!) <a href="https://meredithaxelrod.com/">Meredith Axelrod and Craig Ventresco</a> -- for more than 1,100 pandemic and post-pandemic shows. The live stream is on both Facebook and YouTube, but I used the YouTube archive most of the time, since it straightens out the webcam image and doesn't make them look left handed. Skimming back through the archives you will even find programs with guests, including <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/rxNJiNWKw6w?si=9JFOZJ8R9fkN7Hr0">cartoonist/mandolinist etc. R. Crumb</a>.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Craig plays guitar, mandolin, ukulele, and 12 and 4-string guitars as well as singing part of the time, and Meredith plays baritone and standard tuning guitars, ukulele, cello and vibraphone and has a lovely soprano voice that sometimes sounds like it is in a Time Warp from 1920. </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">This is just the most recent episode... a Sunday show starting appropriately with Craig's vocal on "Sing you Sinners," then a fancy ragtime duet. (Meredith doesn't sing for 15 minutes or so into the 50 minute episode) ..</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/sZ91zTSEPu4?si=L33KLWZnyg1K-noE">https://www.youtube.com/live/sZ91zTSEPu4?si=L33KLWZnyg1K-noE</a></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">(The livecasts on both Facebook and YouTube include live comments and requests from fans -- Pacific time 8p.m MTWThS, noon Sundays; they take Fridays off. The city of San Francisco passed a resolution in their honor when they hit 1,000 programs last spring. They kept going.)</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Both "Get up in the cool" and Meredith-and-Craig have archives of hundreds of hours of music and conversation... and tip-jars to make a living out of oldtime tunes and new media...</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Drop me a comment below if you'd like me to link to more-specific suggestions from their archives!</div></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Best healthy musical autumn wishes!</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Bob</div></div></div></div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-45371718734138088902022-11-14T12:01:00.004-05:002022-11-16T00:39:31.735-05:00Oldtime & folk music on Mastodon?I've just joined that new social networking federation of servers called Mastodon, mostly because of my old friends who are journalists deserting Twitter. But I am curious whether the Mastodon network will also develop a music presence so I'm linking my Mastodon ID here... trying to do this at first with my blogger app on android, but I may have to come back with a web browser to actually edit the code of the page and make this link work to confirm that this site and my Mastodon ID are the same person.
<div><br></div><div><a href="https://newsie.social/@BobStep">newsie.social/@BobStep</a><br><div><br></div><p>Meanwhile, I've found a list of Mastodon servers that identify with specific topics. Granted most were about technical topics this early in the Mastodon game, but I was still sad that out of 59 on that list only two gave music as a main interest... One for metalheads, and one for rave/electronic fans. <br><br>But it's early yet... "Regional" was another option, but only nine of 59 chose that designation, and none was about Virginia or Appalachia. Instead, we have San Francisco Bay, Ireland, Canada, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, two for Scotland, and one for the U.K. in general.</p>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-14061130244942416372022-10-07T12:05:00.004-04:002022-10-07T12:17:09.240-04:001960s Folk: Greenwich Village, Harry Smith, Oscar Brand, and Joe Rubin<iframe class="BLOG_video_class" allowfullscreen="" youtube-src-id="VYBnGmXgB1E" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VYBnGmXgB1E"></iframe><p>Compulsively wrote this on Facebook around 4 a.m. this morning, but thought I'd share it here too so that I can point non-Facebook friends to it.
</p><p>
Woke up in the middle of the night remembering the name of a song that eluded me at the jam session 10 hours earlier, so went looking for the song on YouTube -- and found this documentary about 20 years of a music-and-progressive-politics culture that was transmitted to me through the early-1960s record bins labelled "folk" and "blues" at the record shop a few blocks from my house... Joe Rubin, a white-haired gentleman I assumed was more into classical music and maybe jazz, ran the place and let me hang out in the back and play LPs that I couldn't afford. (While wondering if I ever thanked Mr. Rubin enough for putting so much music in my life, it just dawned on me that I may have first gone into his store to thank him -- for sponsoring a high school duckpin bowling team I was on!)
</p><p>
I read about the folks and songs on their LP liner notes, and in books by <a href="http://www.alan-lomax.com/" target="_blank">Alan Lomax</a>, <a href="https://poets.org/poet/carl-sandburg" target="_blank">Carl Sandburg</a> & <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Brand" target="_blank">Oscar Brand</a> from the library, as well as the great booklet inside the Harry Smith <a href="https://folkways.si.edu/anthology-of-american-folk-music/african-american-music-blues-old-time/music/album/smithsonian" target="_blank">Anthology of American Folk Music</a> record set, mentioned in the documentary as source material for many of the Greenwich Village folkies I admired... And I picked up an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Brand" target="_blank">Oscar Brand</a> folksong-guitar instruction book, a guitar, and a harmonica or two from an instrument store I'd walk by on my way home from school. (Nice clip of Oscar and the Simon Sisters in the film, along with so many others whose records were in those bins at Joe Rubin's record store.)
</p><p>
Before I went back to sleep I also found the song that I'd originally gone looking for, sometimes titled "Coffee Grows on Wild Oak Trees," and sometimes "Hello Susan Brown," including this recording, which was the first place I heard it about sixty years ago.<br>
</p><iframe class="BLOG_video_class" allowfullscreen="" youtube-src-id="6JKIwN7SZZI" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6JKIwN7SZZI"></iframe>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-49058077394144420492022-08-25T15:17:00.004-04:002022-08-25T15:25:59.524-04:00Fox Hollow memories<p> I've just discovered this University of Albany archive of music recordings thanks to a friend or stranger on Facebook... <br /><br />I was lucky enough to attend two or three of the Fox Hollow festivals in the 1970s, possibly including the last or next-to-last one. Located on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beers_Family" target="_blank">Beers Family</a> property near the New York, Vermont and Massachusetts state lines, they were very special. <br /><br />The donated tapes and archival notes on the website don't always match, but I'm having fun recognizing voices I haven't heard in years, sometimes piecing together the who-was-who from mentions of single names .... The fragmentary concert and workshop tapes don't always include emcees clearly announcing performers' names, so they're a bit like a blindfolded "seventies folk scene" trivia contest. Fun!<br /><br />Archive page at Albany.edu<br /></p><div class="d-md-flex justify-content-between align-items-start al-show" style="align-items: flex-start; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; display: flex; font-family: system, -apple-system, ".SFNSText-Regular", "San Francisco", Roboto, "Segoe UI", "Helvetica Neue", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; justify-content: space-between;"><div class="al-show-breadcrumb" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.875rem; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><nav aria-label="breadcrumb" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h1 class="breadcrumb-item breadcrumb-item-3 media" style="align-items: flex-start; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex: 1 0 100%; font-size: 1.5rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 20px;"><span class="col" style="box-sizing: border-box; flex-basis: auto; flex-grow: 1; max-width: 100%; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 0.25rem; position: relative; width: 563.617px;"><a href="https://archives.albany.edu/description/catalog/apap400aspace_992c7fc14c145cca4df35bc005f96969" target="_blank">Fox Hollow Festival, 1967-1980</a><div class="bookmark-span" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-top: -0.3rem; vertical-align: top;"><span class="blacklight-icons blacklight-icon-online al-online-content-icon" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><svg aria-label="Online" height="24" role="img" viewbox="0 0 640 512" width="24"><path d="M608 0H160a32 32 0 0 0-32 32v96h160V64h192v320h128a32 32 0 0 0 32-32V32a32 32 0 0 0-32-32zM232 103a9 9 0 0 1-9 9h-30a9 9 0 0 1-9-9V73a9 9 0 0 1 9-9h30a9 9 0 0 1 9 9zm352 208a9 9 0 0 1-9 9h-30a9 9 0 0 1-9-9v-30a9 9 0 0 1 9-9h30a9 9 0 0 1 9 9zm0-104a9 9 0 0 1-9 9h-30a9 9 0 0 1-9-9v-30a9 9 0 0 1 9-9h30a9 9 0 0 1 9 9zm0-104a9 9 0 0 1-9 9h-30a9 9 0 0 1-9-9V73a9 9 0 0 1 9-9h30a9 9 0 0 1 9 9zm-168 57H32a32 32 0 0 0-32 32v288a32 32 0 0 0 32 32h384a32 32 0 0 0 32-32V192a32 32 0 0 0-32-32zM96 224a32 32 0 1 1-32 32 32 32 0 0 1 32-32zm288 224H64v-32l64-64 32 32 128-128 96 96z"></path></svg></span></div> <form accept-charset="UTF-8" action="https://archives.albany.edu/description/bookmarks/apap400aspace_992c7fc14c145cca4df35bc005f96969" class="bookmark-toggle col-auto" data-absent="<span class="blacklight-icons blacklight-icon-bookmark"><?xml version="1.0"?>
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</span><span class="sr-only">In Bookmarks" method="post" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; flex: 0 0 auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 0.2rem; position: relative; width: auto;"><div class="checkbox toggle-bookmark" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; white-space: nowrap;"><label class="toggle-bookmark" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; min-width: 8.5em;" title=""><input class="toggle-bookmark" id="toggle-bookmark_apap400aspace_992c7fc14c145cca4df35bc005f96969" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0.2rem 0px 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;" type="checkbox" /> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="blacklight-icons blacklight-icon-bookmark" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><svg aria-label="Bookmark" height="24" role="img" viewbox="0 0 384 512" width="24"><path d="M0 512V48C0 21.49 21.49 0 48 0h288c26.51 0 48 21.49 48 48v464L192 400 0 512z"></path></svg></span><span class="sr-only" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Bookmark</span></span></label></div></form></div></span></h1></nav></div></div><dl class="al-metadata-section breadcrumb-item-4" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: system, -apple-system, ".SFNSText-Regular", "San Francisco", Roboto, "Segoe UI", "Helvetica Neue", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 50px;"><dt class="blacklight-acqinfo_ssim" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Acquisition information:</dt><dd class="blacklight-acqinfo_ssim" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-left: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left;">Don Person donated 164 reel-to-reel tapes in October 2020. <br />Andy Spence donated materials in August 2021.<br /><br /><br /></dd></dl>Meanwhile, browsing through the recordings brought me enough flashbacks to Michael Cooney concerts around the same time that I went off on a "What ever happened to...?" search and found his website up in the great state of Maine: <a href="http://www.michaelcooney.com/">http://www.michaelcooney.com/</a> <br /><br />He opens with an observation that is true here, too... <br /><br /><<<span style="background-color: #c6d2c6; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px;">Iβm TRYING to re-</span><wbr style="background-color: #c6d2c6; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px;"></wbr><span style="background-color: #c6d2c6; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px;">learn how to do this website stuff.</span>>><br /><br />Wishing him all the best! And thanking him for inspiring me to put these links out here on the old music blog that I neglect most of the year because all the bells and whistles usually have moved around since the last time I used it.<br /><br />I also discovered that Michael is a presence in some YouTube archives too... Including this VERY early episode of Sesame Street, around the same time as some of those Fox Hollow performances! I'm going to share it with a family across the way that I'd like to get strumming ukuleles and singing along... <br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AWEv7V6bO8M" width="320" youtube-src-id="AWEv7V6bO8M"></iframe></div><br />Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-30094132975738193072022-01-15T15:31:00.012-05:002022-01-15T18:21:32.475-05:00When the blues hit the mountains... <p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oldtime music crossover... </span></p><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "system-ui", ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="294" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L5lBfwWoGpg" width="459" youtube-src-id="L5lBfwWoGpg"></iframe></div><br />While looking for the words to a less-often-heard "shindig in the barn" verse to "Blue Ridge Mountain Blues," I found <a href="http://jopiepopie.blogspot.com/2013/06/blue-ridge-mountain-blues-1924.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">several "discography" lists</a>, including the two recordings as "Blue Ridge Blues" below... George Reneau's was apparently the first recording of the song. And Lulu Jackson's version gets left out of some of the "country music" or "oldtime music" lists, maybe because it crossed boundaries, but I'd love to read a history about how she wound up recording the song! Her "recitation" of the "There'll be a shindig in the barn" verse is, well, very special. <span class="pq6dq46d tbxw36s4 knj5qynh kvgmc6g5 ditlmg2l oygrvhab nvdbi5me sf5mxxl7 gl3lb2sf hhz5lgdu" style="display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; vertical-align: middle; width: 16px;"><img alt="π" height="16" referrerpolicy="origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t4c/1/16/1f642.png" style="border: 0px;" width="16" /></span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "system-ui", ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The song (credited to <a href="http://ragpiano.com/comps/chess.shtml" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cliff Hess</a> under the alias Roy B. Carson at <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl gpro0wi8 py34i1dx" href="https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/84608?fbclid=IwAR08-2myc-61Edca1VWTIS97OcttXTc7GrB9brtQc-HfsgRRvmx2KA4O--o" rel="nofollow noopener" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0" target="_blank">https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/84608</a></span>) certainly was popular. Other 1920s recordings were by Riley Puckett, Ernest V. Stoneman, The Blue Ridge Duo (Gene Austin and George Reneau), Vernon Dalhart and more. (Hess was a prolific songwriter and pianist who had played on Mississippi riverboats, wrote songs with "blues" in the title as early as 1916, and eventually collaborated with Irving Berlin.) The song also mentions an even older "oldie," "<a href="http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/FSWB270.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Where is My (Wandering) Boy Tonight</a>," published in 1877 and recorded by many artists from the dawn of cylinder and disc recordings.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "system-ui", ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">"Blue Ridge Blues" </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">George Reneau , guitar and harmonica, from April '24</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl gpro0wi8 py34i1dx" href="https://youtu.be/EwSaYwoZHZU?fbclid=IwAR3eTKHkBJlOC8SE9-RtbKhiI4DOgaAwdOoTy0_nGg8XoigTHpxHU6bhY5w" rel="nofollow noopener" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/EwSaYwoZHZU</a>
and again with Reneau and Gene Austin:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O0pJaS-rV9A" width="320" youtube-src-id="O0pJaS-rV9A"></iframe></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">
Al Hopkins' Bucklebusters / The Hill Billies, 1926 or '28 (including fiddle, guitar, banjo & banjo-ukulele!, and 3-or-4-part harmony singing!) </span></span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "system-ui", ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl gpro0wi8 py34i1dx" href="https://youtu.be/a3QxAYItsZM?fbclid=IwAR0XYuaX84sD0oCixVPjSxKp7gNo40hBnT-t-bkmVORNwi8mPXe1kDva6HE" rel="nofollow noopener" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/a3QxAYItsZM</a></span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "system-ui", ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Also as "Blue Ridge Blues" </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Lulu Jackson (vcl/gtr) and piano.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl gpro0wi8 py34i1dx" href="https://youtu.be/L5lBfwWoGpg?fbclid=IwAR0si4G0Q85jEv7plgLcLFMUtKFQILQ0fhmzMPzet6SFip2Vm1wDu5I7Ezo" rel="nofollow noopener" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/L5lBfwWoGpg</a></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">December 21, 1928, rec. in Chicago, Vocalion 1242</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "system-ui", ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Enough computer for today... but tomorrow (or someday soon) I'm going looking for more about Lulu! <img alt="β€" height="16" referrerpolicy="origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t6c/1/16/2764.png" style="border: 0px;" width="16" />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />I'm afraid she gets left out on both sides of the recording-industry color line, even by scholars. I just found a <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/1212223-Lulu-Jackson" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">blues discography note</a> from a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=SS0KAQAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22Lulu+Jackson%22" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">major reference book</a>: "This artist was of African-American ancestry, but her recordings are essentially in the hillbilly idiom and of little blues interest." (<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2281238.Blues_and_Gospel_Records" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Blues and gospel records 1890-1943</a> (1997), p. 430) Her versions of "Little Rosewood Casket" and "Careless Love Blues" are very nice too, and available on YouTube.
Apparently enough of her 78s have been collected to be reissued in compilations like this one found at the discography website, discogs:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.discogs.com/release/2283808-Various-Female-Country-Blues-Vol-1-The-Twenties-1924-1928" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Screen image of discogs song list for Lulu" border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="446" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXvHbcSlAAn-iSa74RLcbRDUq2TUvfqGnYlQ64UsAeOfPaUOSkoJFPMTKBnbojJFRzT-Al8flqzfKq0miIXL6D2SxIpQOK3_uR58B2FJQ-6IaC3NJ_Ln1Cyg3WnwGAV8pBHEiNAXu0F5f2rNcgw_aHW_DXOrICJ2HnUjUtlESaCQpXMQiS=w320-h283" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span class="pq6dq46d tbxw36s4 knj5qynh kvgmc6g5 ditlmg2l oygrvhab nvdbi5me sf5mxxl7 gl3lb2sf hhz5lgdu" style="display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; vertical-align: middle; width: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="pq6dq46d tbxw36s4 knj5qynh kvgmc6g5 ditlmg2l oygrvhab nvdbi5me sf5mxxl7 gl3lb2sf hhz5lgdu" style="display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; vertical-align: middle; width: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="pq6dq46d tbxw36s4 knj5qynh kvgmc6g5 ditlmg2l oygrvhab nvdbi5me sf5mxxl7 gl3lb2sf hhz5lgdu" style="display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; vertical-align: middle; width: 16px;"><br /></span></div></div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-86920184532046390552021-11-27T16:17:00.015-05:002021-11-27T19:38:29.730-05:00Am I in the cool yet? After 20 years of blogging!?Oh my! The second pandemic year of 2021 is almost over and I haven't added a new page here since December 2019! Here's a lot of catching up in a short space... and a plug for one of my most recent musical discoveries -- not an old video clip like previous entries here, but a podcast that has accumulated something like 300 hours of music and musician interviews, "<a href="https://getupinthecool.fireside.fm/" target="_blank">Get Up In the Cool</a>." Its name, by the way, is from <a href="https://youtu.be/h1lZQQeCNEs" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">a tune recorded in 1929 by Eck Robertson</a> that makes me think about climbing up to Rocky Knob in Floyd, Va., on a hot summer day. But the podcast is cool in another way. More about that in a minute. First, a couple of my own short smartphone video clips...<br />
<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0G1DKJzsTok" width="320" youtube-src-id="0G1DKJzsTok"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /><div>I <i><b>have</b></i> been playing and listening to music at home and at outdoor jam sessions like that one on the street in <a href="http://floydcountrystore.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Floyd</a> and others in <a href="https://www.blacksburg.gov/departments/departments-a-k/community-relations/market-square-jam" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Blacksburg</a> and <a href="https://thecrookedroadva.com/venues/radford-fiddle-banjo-jam/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Radford</a>, Va., after social-distancing rules and vaccination made sharing music possible again. And I have been writing about those things -- but on Facebook and YouTube, not here. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dH_BOVhxt88" width="320" youtube-src-id="dH_BOVhxt88"></iframe></div><br /><div>The <a href="http://floydcountrystore.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Floyd Country Store</a> Sunday afternoon jams eventually moved back indoors, as shown above, but as winter approaches, most of the others still have not found homes. Online through 2020 and 2021, I have attended Floyd Country Store, Floyd <a href="https://www.crowdcast.io/handmademusic" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Handmade Music School</a> and <a href="https://augustaartsandculture.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Augusta Heritage Workshop</a> friends' "Zoom" and YouTube events, and finally -- "armed" with two vaccinations, a booster and flu shot, went to the October <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/AugustaHeritage/videos" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Augusta Heritage Center</a> Old-Time Retreat for music classes, jams, and even some singing and dancing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Alas, the week I returned was the start of a month-long cold that made sleeping through the night difficult, but even that was an excuse for musical discovery: I'd heard of, but had not explored, an oldtime fiddle-and-banjo oriented podcast called "<a href="https://getupinthecool.fireside.fm/" target="_blank">Get Up In the Cool</a>," which turned out to be a wonderful way to spend those sleepless nights. </div><div><br /></div><div>Before I started listening, banjo virtuoso and interviewer Cameron DeWhitt had already accumulated 270 interview-jams with fiddlers and banjo players across the U.S. and Canada, including <a href="https://getupinthecool.fireside.fm/82" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">current friends and teachers of mine</a> from <a href="https://getupinthecool.fireside.fm/250" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ithaca</a> to <a href="http://dittyville.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dittyville</a> -- and even Hank Bradley, <a href="https://getupinthecool.fireside.fm/171" target="_blank">an inspiring guitar, banjo and fiddle player I studied with back around 1978 and have not seen since</a>!
<br /><br />I hope all of these links aren't overwhelming... but at least I feel I'm getting caught up on the latest incarnation of Blogger, including the ability to easily post my YouTube clips and switch between a modern "Compose view" and vintage 20th century "HTML view" of the page I'm writing.<br /><br />
<b><i>Blog history...</i></b> </div><div>In addition to noticing that I have been neglecting this blog for almost two years, I noticed today that <a href="http://boblog.blogspot.com/2001/11/blogger-is-weblog-creation-tool-that.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this blog is now 20 years old</a>! Hosted-for-free blogs are like that... people lose interest, regain interest... sometimes they even die. I knew <a href="http://otrbuffet.blogspot.com/p/my-other-blogs.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">a "serial blogger" called Jimbo</a> -- interested in music and old-time radio -- who died a few years ago, leaving behind probably thousands of pages of his writing on linked-together podcasts and blogs about various 1930s to 1960s radio shows, none of them signed with his real name.</div><div><br />
My "Blogger" site started in a classroom at Emerson College, where I taught a freshmen seminar called "Digital Culture: Mediamorphosis," in which students explored media history while learning to use Web tools and Photoshop. The second time I taught the course, one of the students asked why I was having the class write raw HTML code on a campus server to create what I called "weblogs" when there was a new tool called Blogger designed to do the same thing with less work. </div><div>The point was that I wanted the class to learn about the page-markup language that was "behind the curtain" at all websites. But I was embarrassed. I had used a couple of other "edit this page" online publishing sites, but at that point Blogger (or "Blogspot") was off my radar, so of course I gave it a try. And this site is the result. Over the years I would create other blogs and websites with Radio Userland, Manila, WordPress, Django, Drupal and more. </div><div>But this one -- thanks to Google's ownership -- is the oldest of my "free hosting" sites.
This "Boblog" has evolved over the years from classroom-discussion demo to regular postings, either personal or journalism-class-related (especially 2008-2009 at Radford U, after my <a href="http://stepno.com/oldblog" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Radio Userland host went out of business</a> and while I was in transition to <a href="http://stepno.wordpress.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">WordPress</a>), and finally reborn as an occasional space for writing about music, while my other sites, <a href="http://stepno.com" target="_blank">stepno.com</a>, <a href="http://jheroes.com" target="_blank">jheroes.com</a> and <a href="http://stepno.wordpress.com" target="_blank">stepno.wordpress.com</a> fill other needs. </div>
</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-43838112827191989752019-12-30T18:47:00.001-05:002020-01-07T16:21:30.897-05:00Another vintage mountain ukulele player<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://syncopatedtimes.com/fred-hager-and-the-birth-of-country-music/?fbclid=IwAR0MxtZjyRCAoleqof-W7AUnmx_bUmYGn3ZKy9xsUDSXLZvksBY9Lrv6BFI" target="_blank"><img alt="Iver Edwards on ukulele with G Stoneman, banjo, and E Dunford, fiddle." border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6R5WissYJ4NRm9gC8FDvDtJ2P8Du4YeGJNLqf0y6Z0YakR2rGaK4jBCzX7i4tVYqJok05AuJ4-FvN5Ue_ntCmDjRogOqxL-CKdNseYK3pGfON204oelmHqtbXNBo5kU2kPaw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-01-07+at+4.17.15+PM.png" title="" /></a></div>
Just discovered both "<a href="https://syncopatedtimes.com/fred-hager-and-the-birth-of-country-music/?fbclid=IwAR0MxtZjyRCAoleqof-W7AUnmx_bUmYGn3ZKy9xsUDSXLZvksBY9Lrv6BFI" target="_blank">The Syncopated Times</a>" and -- in passing -- Iver Edwards, ukulele and harmonica player from Galax, Va., in the 1920s, pictured holding what looks like a soprano Martin ukulele in a band photo accompanying this article about vintage recordings:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://syncopatedtimes.com/fred-hager-and-the-birth-of-country-music/?fbclid=IwAR0MxtZjyRCAoleqof-W7AUnmx_bUmYGn3ZKy9xsUDSXLZvksBY9Lrv6BFI">https://syncopatedtimes.com/fred-hager-and-the-birth-of-country-music/?fbclid=IwAR0MxtZjyRCAoleqof-W7AUnmx_bUmYGn3ZKy9xsUDSXLZvksBY9Lrv6BFI</a><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/skSUX7pNmSU/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/skSUX7pNmSU?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/2908919-Iver-Edwards" target="_blank">Discogs</a> says of Edwards, "<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "nimbus sans" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">(1906 - 1960) American old-time musician (harmonica - ukulele). Recorded with </span><a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/938895-Ernest-Stoneman" style="background-color: white; color: #98158b; cursor: pointer; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, "Nimbus Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Ernest Stoneman</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "nimbus sans" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> on the </span><a href="https://www.discogs.com/label/61808-Victor" style="background-color: white; color: #98158b; cursor: pointer; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, "Nimbus Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Victor</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "nimbus sans" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> label </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, "Nimbus Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">c</i><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "nimbus sans" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">.1927-28."</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "nimbus sans" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Now I'm going through Ernest Stoneman records on YouTube listening for telltale ukulele plinking in the background. Easy to loose it in the similar-octave strumming of the autoharp and mandolin, such as that heard on Stoneman's famous Titanic recording...</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "nimbus sans" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "nimbus sans" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">https://youtu.be/skSUX7pNmSU </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "nimbus sans" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Hop Light Ladies may have been one where Iver put down the uke and played the harmonica...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "nimbus sans" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">https://youtu.be/boE8U3wAUC4</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nQzRrLuWOE0/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nQzRrLuWOE0?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "nimbus sans" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "nimbus sans" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br />New River Train might have a ukulele in there, mostly smothered by the banjo...</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "nimbus sans" , "arial" , sans-serif;">https://youtu.be/nQzRrLuWOE0</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "nimbus sans" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "nimbus sans" , "arial" , sans-serif;">I'll keep listening.</span></span>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-44317936984979869032019-11-27T18:12:00.002-05:002019-11-27T18:27:42.404-05:00Tunes to Learn (or at least play along with)<a href="https://handmademusicschool.com/macs-tune-of-the-week/?fbclid=IwAR2bDMzJSAi57UF-WweqH3VVjvIu7SG0_Qk3_gy_wLJ5yheHRIcUcrHFOQA" target="_blank">Mac's Tune of the Week</a><br /><br />I'm making some shortcuts to this local Southwest Virginia tune list, via <a href="http://mactraynham.com/" target="_blank">Mac Traynham</a> and the <a href="http://floydcountrystore.com/" target="_blank">Floyd Country Store</a>'s <a href="https://handmademusicschool.com/" target="_blank">Handmade Music School</a>...<br />
<ol>
<li>downbeat... one?</li>
<li>two?</li>
<li>three?</li>
<li><a href="https://handmademusicschool.com/macs-tune-of-the-week/shootin-creek/" target="_blank">Shootin' Creek</a></li>
<li><a href="https://handmademusicschool.com/macs-tune-of-the-week/flying-indian-by-bill-shelor-and-clarice-shelor/" target="_blank">Flying Indian</a></li>
<li><a href="https://handmademusicschool.com/macs-tune-of-the-week/sweet-grapes-by-sidna-and-fulton-myers/" target="_blank">Sweet Grapes</a></li>
<li><a href="https://handmademusicschool.com/macs-tune-of-the-week/cuffy-by-nh-mills/" target="_blank">Cuffy</a></li>
<li><a href="https://handmademusicschool.com/macs-tune-of-the-week/rachel-by-the-kimble-family/" target="_blank">Rachel</a></li>
<li>coming soon?<br /><br />Bonus:<br /> <a href="https://handmademusicschool.com/news/abigail-washburn-and-bela-fleck-donation-to-handmade-music-school/" target="_blank">A thank-you to Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck for contributing to the support of the music program</a></li>
</ol>
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<br />Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-78292280946447281822019-10-03T12:34:00.001-04:002019-10-03T12:34:51.226-04:00Country vs Folk ... Sigh... <p dir="ltr">Someone posted a question on Facebook asking people more or less my age whether they thought John Denver's hit "Take Me Home Country Roads" was "a country song," the topic apparently being part of the aftermath of the Ken Burns PBS series on country music.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I wrote this off the top of my head in reply, but I may come back here and change it if I decide I said anything I disagree with.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I believe from its 1920s beginning "country" has been a commercial music merchandising term to which people add whatever cultural baggage they want... and the industry was gradually Consolidated in Nashville ... </p>
<p dir="ltr">John Denver wasn't part of that Nashville Centric particular marketing / performance venue / Publications/ radio DJ system, at least in the beginning. </p>
<p dir="ltr">He crept in through the separate short-lived  commercial "folk music" scene exemplified by the Kingston Trio and the early 1960s ABC Hootenanny TV show -- starring, among others, the Chad Mitchell Trio, which dropped Chad's first name when John replaced him. As the British Invasion rockscene took over teen culture, increasingly singer-songwritery "folk" college coffee houses and concerts and festivals kept going... (Bruce "Utah" Phillips had a great rap about my preferred part of the scene, performers like him who, unlike John Denver, did not want to be pop stars on any Billboard Chart and were more interested in "making a living, not a killing.")</p>
<p dir="ltr">That folk music scene and folk pop scene in the 1960s and 1970s had a different network of performance venues (college concerts included), radio programs (college FM), network television programs, PBS specials, and as the folk pop thing branched off what became a singer songwriter soft rock thing, some of the audience  overlapped and  migrated toward "country."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Meanwhile as "country" went through overproduced pop phases, the cleaner acoustic guitar and vocal sound and homespun lyrics of Denver, his collaborators, and a few other folk scene refugees became more acceptable to Nashville industry fans... </p>
<p dir="ltr">It's music. it's marketing. And it's listeners who don't give a crap and tune in what they like, when they can find it. Maybe they sing along. Maybe they play the songs at their local coffee house or open mic. Maybe they don't debate what label to put on something.</p>
Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-43580618920906262222019-09-13T11:17:00.001-04:002019-09-13T11:20:13.300-04:00My first fiddle contest....<p dir="ltr">I didn't play the fiddle then... And I barely do now... And I didn't compete in any contest, but in the 1970s the New England Fiddle Contest in Hartford was one of the major landmarks in each year... And in one or two of them I got to write articles or take pictures that wound up in the Hartford Courant... Including <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20020617150316/http://fiddlefest.org/press/19790529.htm">this 1979 story, which the late Paul Lemay, organizer of the contest, included in the press kit </a>he sent out each year, along with the picture or two that I had taken... I was reminded today that the internet archive had saved parts of his FiddleFest website, launched when he revived the contest around 1998 or 1999.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Alas, someone let the domain registration go after Paul died, so the original site is no longer about fiddling.<br></p>
Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-46744621884721298292018-11-19T12:11:00.001-05:002018-11-19T12:46:20.450-05:001924 mountain ukulele?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br></div>
<div dir="ltr">This <a href="https://youtu.be/SDUQ3c1h7ZI">YouTube clip of a 1924 recording of Ida Red by Fiddlin' Powers and Family</a> is accompanied by a photograph showing a young lady in the band holding a ukulele, so off I went searching for written sources about the group and the ukulele player in particular.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Success! <a href="https://www.birthplaceofcountrymusic.org/fiddlin-cowan-powers-family-string-band-pioneers-early-country-music/">This article by <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000" face="Georgia, serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><b><i>Rene Rodgers </i></b></span></font></span>at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum</a> in Bristol answered my question as fast as I could type it into Google. The youngest sister's name was Ada, and there is another picture of her with her ukulele at the Museum website! Alas, the article mentions that she moved on to the Autoharp, and doesn't say much about her ukulele playing, so maybe she only played ukulele during her early days as a musician. That was true for me too, as I moved on to guitar and banjo and mandolin and didn't get back to the ukulele for about 30 years!</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"> It looks like the young women of the Powers family were progressive in other ways too... those bobbed hairdos look pretty modern. But that's a topic for a different kind of blog.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div>
<div dir="ltr">
See my previous posts, "<a href="http://boblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/in-search-of-mountain-ukulele.html">In search of the mountain ukulele,</a>" and "<a href="https://boblog.blogspot.com/2017/09/alcyone-dr-bate-s-ukulele-playing.html">Dr. Bates ukulele playing daughter</a>."</div>
Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-37229444302158854632018-08-29T14:41:00.001-04:002018-08-30T22:00:43.523-04:00Blacksburg Farmers Market Oldtime Jams<div dir="ltr">
"What tunes do you play at those 'old time music' jam sessions?"<br />
<br />
I can generally rattle off a dozen tune names, not that I really play all of the tunes that well... but there are dozens.<br />
<br />
Inspiration...<br />
<br />
Woody McKenzie, fiddler-host of this week's <a href="http://www.blacksburg.gov/departments/departments-a-k/community-relations/market-square-jam" target="_blank">Wednesday night old-time string band jam session at the Blacksburg Farmers Market</a> had a request for a more complete tune list.... someone running an old-time jam up in New England wanted to be able to link their Facebook page to an authentic tune list from down here and Southwest Virginia.<br />
<br />
So I made this blog page to hold whatever lists I can come up with, then he or anyone else can point newcomers, students, or prospective Jam leaders to this page... without necessarily belonging to any of the proliferating Facebook old time music discussion groups.<br />
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There <b><i>is</i></b> an annual list compiled by one of the local musicians, tracking the popularity of tunes played at the Blacksburg Farmers Market through the year, under a variety of host fiddlers and bands. I hope the gentleman who compiles it can provide it in a format suitable for posting here. An older version from a few years ago was posted to the Crooked Road website, and I'm going to link to that one, if it is still available.</div>
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<div dir="ltr">
Meanwhile, one of the several bands that lead the Wednesday jam, Happy Hollow String Band, has a website with an impressive playlist of its own, sometimes with chord charts or music for the tunes:</div>
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<a href="http://happyhollowstringband.com/">http://happyhollowstringband.com</a></div>
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<div dir="ltr">
A few counties south of us, the Independence Courthouse Jam (<a href="https://historic1908courthouse.org/events/old-time-mountain-music-jam/" target="_blank">https://historic1908courthouse.org/events/old-time-mountain-music-jam/</a>) also has an interesting one, sorted by key:</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="http://216.172.176.132/~courthouse/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/JamTunesUpdated2015-12-23.pdf">http://216.172.176.132/~courthouse/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/JamTunesUpdated2015-12-23.pdf</a><br />
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These are all primarily fiddle-centric old-time stringband dance music jams, where everyone plays together, rather than bluegrass jams where participants take turns showing their stuff on lead breaks.<br />
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The Independence web page describes its round-robin jam format, where participants take turns either leading or requesting a tune, or sometimes the song. In Floyd and Blacksburg, old-time jams are a little different, in that the lead fiddler or host band choose all or most of the tunes, maybe with a little group discussion or a newcomer's occasional suggestion.<br />
<br />
No matter who leads, I tend to have fun anywhere that I can find a few of the tunes on my mandolin, or strum some rhythm chords on it or a banjo ukulele -- when that seems acceptable to the leaders of the group... especially if I'm pretty sure I'm going to be drowned out by other banjos and fiddles.<br />
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Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-35922849250476132292018-04-28T11:06:00.001-04:002021-10-08T19:06:23.562-04:00A Leon Redbone story and picture<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4_gGrAcoZZ4gyBTr2CzqhS2PlE5A7UpRb_cbi8GFJF1GGggsHmRxsrjaszpAt79kYTLARF6hrdOYKeWnF4py-7bS9Me9kH_f33w-nrXk5ps3q_nBiLF4Apa0Mzd4G-ofqNQk/s1600/20180428_101440.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4_gGrAcoZZ4gyBTr2CzqhS2PlE5A7UpRb_cbi8GFJF1GGggsHmRxsrjaszpAt79kYTLARF6hrdOYKeWnF4py-7bS9Me9kH_f33w-nrXk5ps3q_nBiLF4Apa0Mzd4G-ofqNQk/s320/20180428_101440.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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A musician friend -- singer, guitarist, radio host, and scholar of pre-WorldWar II music -- posted on Facebook that he would like very much to meet Leon Redbone... so I told him my story.<br />
<br />
In the 1970s, another friend of mine, Jim Rigby, freelanced music articles for a hip alt-weekly, the Hartford Advocate, and called me up to say he'd gotten an interview with Leon Redbone. I had been at the daily Hartford Courant for years and also knew a little about blues/ragtime guitar, so Jim asked me to come along and help with the interview... backstage at the legendary The Shaboo Inn near Willimantic, Conn.<br />
<br />
Two memorable things about the meeting:<br />
<br />
1. A musical revelation (to me, anyway): Among his influences, Leon mentioned singer and guitarist Lee Morse, which was the first time I'd heard of her. (Thanks to YouTube, she's much easier to find today.)<br />
<br />
2. Style:<br />
From his "Ah yes, the gentlemen of the press..." Leon remained in character, which sounded like he was channeling W.C. Fields and Groucho Marx simultaneously, with a touch of Chaplin. As he said those ".. gentlemen of the press" words, he began rummaging through his pockets -- pants, suitcoat, vest, shirt -- muttering about how he had too many pockets, "... counted them once..." -- finally producing a business card and giving it to Jim, who glanced at it and put it in his pocket. And off we went with the interview.<br />
<br />
At the end, I said (approximately), "Leon, when you were up in Lenox, Mass., last year with John Prine, I took some pictures of you on stage and I really like the way one of them came out. I'd like to send it to you. Could I have one of your cards?"<br />
<br />
He went through the whole pocket-searching shtick again, finally producing the card, which I pocketed, and said goodnight.<br />
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Here's the picture I was telling him about, and the card. I never sent him a copy of the photo, for lack of an address...<br />
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The front of the card says "How do you do."<br />
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The other side is blank.<br />
<br />Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-78802904282846075152018-02-11T12:04:00.000-05:002018-02-27T14:02:11.531-05:00Remembering Josh White<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdi1c3cTzF1oj1TwtRpGnu9sfq0BGFl67coeYFSmAVm3_w8Vl2nZ2yME-U6JMz8d13cjrnsL4ti0vM8PuRYmt-dK8lT2mdDh_J-G3KIU0XP2joun2gLinuL33bRgS6Xm9QwQc/s1600/20180211_115331.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdi1c3cTzF1oj1TwtRpGnu9sfq0BGFl67coeYFSmAVm3_w8Vl2nZ2yME-U6JMz8d13cjrnsL4ti0vM8PuRYmt-dK8lT2mdDh_J-G3KIU0XP2joun2gLinuL33bRgS6Xm9QwQc/s320/20180211_115331.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Happy birthday to Josh White! <br />
(February 11, 1914 β September 5, 1969)<br />
I saw him on the old ABC Hootenanny TV show, and soon scraped together the price of a couple of his LPs. (Ones whose album covers weren't too risque to bring into the house; it was years before I got "Empty bed blues," and I don't think I ever let my mother see it.) <br />
I also bought a 191-page Josh White Song Book to show my guitar teacher, who had started me on classical lessons because my first guitar had nylon strings. (Nylon was recommended by the Oscar Brand book I had started teaching myself out of a year earlier. I got a new guitar, with steel strings that Christmas after convincing my parents I was going to stick with it more than I had with the accordion a few years earlier. It was a long time before I could afford a Martin OO 21 like the one Josh played on his albums, but I got it eventually.) <br />
Unfortunately, Josh's book wasn't a guitar instruction book. The $2.95 volume (pricey in 1963; my first Dylan songbook was $1.95) featured piano transcriptions of the songs, not his original guitar arrangements. <br />
I did learn something about music watching my teacher try to work things back to the guitar at my novice level. And I learned other things from the text by Robert Shelton, folk music critic at the New York Times (yes, that was a job then!), who provided song commentaries and a biography of Josh. <br />
It wasn't as thorough as Elijah Wald's "Josh White, Society Blues" several decades later, but it made me feel like a folk blues insider... and, come to think of it, those song book introductory chapters were probably the only biography of a black person that I read in high school, two years before Alex Haley published "The Autobiography of Malcolm X."</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings shared a link to a Spotify playlist with a birthday post today, inspiring my reminiscence..</div>
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https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157545963179815&id=10367554814</div>
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Rather than using Facebook to share a Spotify playlist, why doesn't Smithsonian Folkways just share a link to its own web page that sells a classic Josh White album, and lets you download its 14-page LP size booklet as a free PDF? I hope it's because Folkways makes some money from Spotify. Curiously, when I tried to post that question to the Smithsonian account on Facebook, Facebook marked my comment as spam! That reminded me to put my thoughts out here on the more open web, not just in Facebook's controlled space.</div>
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<a href="https://folkways.si.edu/josh-white/free-and-equal-blues/american-folk/music/album/smithsonian">https://folkways.si.edu/josh-white/free-and-equal-blues/american-folk/music/album/smithsonian</a></div>
Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-38516632511453824672017-12-18T23:26:00.000-05:002017-12-18T23:30:00.563-05:00Heavyweight Tiple<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZTA4RmyF6XCJfU9Br-iHxSvfmV4syI0Zu8iXkPpE_j4v0ASn82VmCvNzit93gmuhyvGxA2scVllAxPTaFZXrlQeSAZn_fQDSc72WFh24LTcFi7QrBODjT7t5CmKyzi_VaQ3o/s1600/Screenshot_20171218-131719.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZTA4RmyF6XCJfU9Br-iHxSvfmV4syI0Zu8iXkPpE_j4v0ASn82VmCvNzit93gmuhyvGxA2scVllAxPTaFZXrlQeSAZn_fQDSc72WFh24LTcFi7QrBODjT7t5CmKyzi_VaQ3o/s320/Screenshot_20171218-131719.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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A few years after starting to play <a href="http://boblog.blogspot.com/2015/04/its-tiple.html" target="_blank">the tiple, an unusual 10-string ukulele-tuned instrument</a>, I am still curious to learn who played tiples during the 50 or so years that the Martin Guitar Company made them. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
I have found recordings by jive bands in the 1930s and '40s and an old-time string band from Virginia in the late 1920s.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
Today, I stumbled on the biggest surprise yet: this YouTube clip of boxing champ Jack Sharkey singing and playing tiple -- and saxophone -- with Abe Lyman's Orchestra at a 1932 training camp. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
Was the instrument his or something regularly used by one of the band members? </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
Now I guess I'll be listening to other Lyman recordings to see whether I can hear that distinctive jangly sound in the band when the boxer isn't around. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
The movie clip:<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/nJHa7pA-5cQ">https://youtu.be/nJHa7pA-5cQ</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-63303052363777891512017-11-29T12:53:00.001-05:002017-11-29T15:09:18.199-05:00Fishing Blues <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyVibgJkcg4hIhvkfLbUy0WcAeLakUdlzxhPL9eEQ7IF1RrqFcrNt0yB32PWni4ji8Bh4qmEwDc0pCBt2mNLMLWAVQ-NXAelxCTKeG9V-kOm6FFlcbJzHdlNuVehS8kbCbsM0/s1600/20171129_130107.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1551" data-original-width="1071" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyVibgJkcg4hIhvkfLbUy0WcAeLakUdlzxhPL9eEQ7IF1RrqFcrNt0yB32PWni4ji8Bh4qmEwDc0pCBt2mNLMLWAVQ-NXAelxCTKeG9V-kOm6FFlcbJzHdlNuVehS8kbCbsM0/s320/20171129_130107.png" width="220" /></a>
<br />
<div dir="ltr">
My friend Richard loves to sing this song, and I noticed a while ago that I could pick it out on my Firefly banjo uke in his key... so at least a couple of times a month we inflict <u>it</u> on folks at one or another of the local jam sessions.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Last night someone asked where the song came from, but my voice doesn't carry well enough to give the 1911, 1929 and 1952 answers in a noisy restaurant... </div>
<div dir="ltr">
So my department of compulsive research spent the morning aggregating some bookmarks about the song to post here and reference on Facebook. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
(Most of the links below are to YouTube copies of the recordings by the folks named.)</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg643h_aR64PYhdFtaMNsHT9S4mF6M1YbYIhIEWN3iTmxDd9bCmmFN8O9V4vu4HICS1kk1Gkq63kNF4S01f0Z6Ck2TqZHkjDHAZI7j_Iw-xe27HqoXATmhWY2HK3LzOmMuKdQM/s1600/v1249b4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg643h_aR64PYhdFtaMNsHT9S4mF6M1YbYIhIEWN3iTmxDd9bCmmFN8O9V4vu4HICS1kk1Gkq63kNF4S01f0Z6Ck2TqZHkjDHAZI7j_Iw-xe27HqoXATmhWY2HK3LzOmMuKdQM/s200/v1249b4.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
The "root" source for most of us seems to be Henry Thomas's 1929 78rpm Vocalion record -- reissued decades later as part of the still available Harry Smith "<a href="https://folkways.si.edu/news-and-press/anthology-of-american-folk-music-selected-for-grammy-hall-of-fame">Anthology of American Folk Music</a>" collection on LPs (and later CDs) by Folkways records <u>starting</u> in 1952.
<br />
<div dir="ltr">
(<a href="http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/fishin-blues-and-four-other-pre.html">More about Henry Thomas</a> and <a href="https://www.wirz.de/music/thomhfrm.htm">his discography</a>.)</div>
<div dir="ltr">
From the Smith album, which I remember taking out of the library when I was in high school, Thomas's version of "Fishing Blues" was learned by the sixties' generation of jug bands and folk singers, including Mike Seeger, the Jim Kweskin band (who inspired me to figure it out on the guitar), the Lovin Spoonful, <a href="https://youtu.be/iQC2_NJj2iA">Taj Mahal</a> (who added more verses and seems to have spread it the farthest), <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Doc-Watson-Elementary-Doctor-Watson/release/3055479">Doc Watson</a> (who also had new lyrics), and many more.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://youtu.be/aRBhmYcGpw8">Mike Seeger</a> and Dom Flemons, 21st century <a href="http://theamericansongster.com/">American songster</a>, are the only folks I have met who learned to play it like Thomas did, with a rack of pan pipes called "quills."</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="http://www.elijahwald.com/songblog/fishing-blues/">Elijah Wald, music historian and performer, explains the 1911 Chris Smith song</a> that preceded Thomas's version, and had a somewhat different message, a "feminist ragtime cheating song." Sam Chatmon went back to that 1911 original in the 1970s. <br />
I've also read many discussions of the song over the years at mudcat.org, the Web's venerable "Digital Tradition" folk music forum and lyric archive:<br />
<a href="https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=18206">https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=18206</a><br />
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://youtu.be/zo-VUL6V4EQ">Henry Thomas, Vocalion 1249</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://youtu.be/eVdpXdpzvYY">Henry Thomas via Harry Smith</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://youtu.be/UaxMCOhzE24">Kweskin</a><a href="https://youtu.be/UaxMCOhzE24"> Jug Band</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://youtu.be/E4h8xpz-BR0">Lovin' Spoonful</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://youtu.be/LROpdK7BKSE">Taj Mahal & Nitty Gritty Dirt Band</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://youtu.be/KgkrVBFn4hI">Sam Chatmon</a><br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/W22JQDuLgR8">Doc Watson</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://youtu.be/R6YB9qTD1wQ">Mike Seeger</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://youtu.be/3nYFhWMm2A0">Dom Flemons</a></div>
Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-630181118417318442017-10-02T16:11:00.001-04:002017-10-02T16:14:57.928-04:00Pipeline's greatest hits<p dir="ltr">Songwriters have added their voices to the campaign against natural-gas pipeline construction in the mountains of West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Since they have put copies of their songs on YouTube I've started this page to bookmark them...</p>
<p dir="ltr">This first draft was made with my phone. When I get to a real computer I'll add more text and links.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://youtu.be/Qx2wFZS5YWM">Carol Denney</a> </p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://youtu.be/ezBUJoL0J4s">https://youtu.be/ezBUJoL0J4s</a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://youtu.be/Qx2wFZS5YWM">https://youtu.be/Qx2wFZS5YWM</a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://youtu.be/De-sT8gT0qQ">Leslie Brooks</a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://youtu.be/De-sT8gT0qQ">https://youtu.be/De-sT8gT0qQ</a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://youtu.be/IWdcQML6xyA">Michael Kovick</a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://youtu.be/IWdcQML6xyA">https://youtu.be/IWdcQML6xyA</a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://youtu.be/AtPxTA2zqRM">Douglas Hendren</a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://youtu.be/AtPxTA2zqRM">https://youtu.be/AtPxTA2zqRM</a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b><i>Non-musical pipeline videos</i></b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://youtu.be/yk6VLexz4-U">Appalachian Trail Conservatory</a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://youtu.be/yk6VLexz4-U">https://youtu.be/yk6VLexz4-U</a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://youtu.be/9xf8_dFICHs">Dominion Energy</a> (maps and "view simulation")</p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://youtu.be/9xf8_dFICHs">https://youtu.be/9xf8_dFICHs</a></p>
Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-74149847753429370992017-09-30T17:49:00.001-04:002018-11-19T12:41:05.959-05:00Alcyone, Dr. Bate' s ukulele-playing daughter<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://youtu.be/SKBG1DaN3Fg">How </a><a href="https://youtu.be/SKBG1DaN3Fg">many</a><a href="https://youtu.be/SKBG1DaN3Fg"> biscuits </a><a href="https://youtu.be/SKBG1DaN3Fg">can</a><a href="https://youtu.be/SKBG1DaN3Fg"> </a><a href="https://youtu.be/SKBG1DaN3Fg">you</a><a href="https://youtu.be/SKBG1DaN3Fg"> </a><a href="https://youtu.be/SKBG1DaN3Fg">eat</a><a href="https://youtu.be/SKBG1DaN3Fg"> </a><a href="https://youtu.be/SKBG1DaN3Fg">this </a><a href="https://youtu.be/SKBG1DaN3Fg">morning?</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SKBG1DaN3Fg/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SKBG1DaN3Fg?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Terrific breakfast music... making me wonder whether the steel resonator I recently saw on a picture of an old banjo ukulele could be used as a biscuit tin... or vice-versa.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Meanwhile, I have just been reading up on Dr. Humphrey Bate's daughter, Alcyone Bate Beasley, who played the ukulele (and piano) with Dr. Humphrey Bate & The Possum Hunters. I'm going back through YouTube videos made from their old records, trying to find some where I can actually hear her ukulele.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
I don't hear one on this recording, but I'm playing along on my own banjo-uke here at the breakfast table, so maybe I'm drowning her out. For anyone else who wants to play along, the tune is in C, a great key for the uke in clawhammer banjo style! </div>
<div dir="ltr">
(This blog post is actually copied from a series of Facebook posts I made this morning, gradually becoming aware that I'm spending a lot of time writing things that get lost in the great Facebook Empire instead of being out here on the open web supported by applications and hosting services like Blogger and WordPress.)</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Anyone have any suggestions of records where you can actually hear Alcyone's four-string?</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Here's what All music says about Ms. Bate, who was part of the show at the age of 13.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dr-humphrey-bate-mn0000805386">http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dr-humphrey-bate-mn0000805386</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
"Bateβs daughter, Alcyone (b. 1912, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, d. 14 October 1982, Nashville, Tennessee, USA), first sang with his band as a four-year-old and by 1926, at the age of 13, she was the regular pianist who could also play ukulele. She is reckoned to be the first woman both to appear on and sing on the Grand Ole Opry."</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Maybe my ukulele playing friends Marcy A. Marxer or Terri McMurray or Lightnin Wells will see this on Facebook and know the answer! </div>
<div dir="ltr">
Speaking of Dr. Humphrey Bate & The Possum Hunters, I have two questions about <a href="https://youtu.be/SRmxKiC07SY">this YouTube posting.</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
First, I think I actually might hear a ukulele in the background, but it's hard to separate out from the banjo.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Second, the picture accompanying this clip includes a gentleman in a cowboy hat holding what looks to be a tiple, my favorite 10 string member of the ukulele family, or perhaps a taropatch, the eight string version.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
It's too nice outside to stay online searching for a higher quality copy of the photo and some written histories of the band, but maybe I will get back to this. <a href="https://youtu.be/SRmxKiC07SY">https://youtu.be/SRmxKiC07SY</a></div>
Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-59919197451818456082017-05-19T12:56:00.001-04:002017-09-29T19:18:42.729-04:00How many times did you leave heaven?<div dir="ltr">
A friend has been singing the song "When Did You Leave Heaven?" at a local jam session off and on for a year or so, and while he is on vacation another friend gave it a try last week, so I decided to let Google and YouTube show me who has recorded it over the years. Amazing.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
One of the YouTube comment threads claims it was the first song ever broadcast on television, from a 1937 recording by Lilly Fryer, which I did not find on YouTube. From various web posts, it looks like the song was introduced by Tony Martin in the movie "Sing Baby Sing" in 1936.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
I composed this blog post on my phone with the latest version of the Blogger app, a rather clumsy editing process that I belatedly discovered did not make links automatically. I finally came back with a computer to make YouTube addresses actual links. (I did make a few of significant names direct links until I started going cross-eyed from doing it on the phone.) Stauffer & Toffel's 1936 German-accented version on Telefunken is culturally and historically fascinating. The song certainly has a way of jumping back and forth across cultural lines.<br />
<br />
The dates are according to whoever posted the item at YouTube, or from a Discogs.com search, but may not be the first -- or last -- time the person recorded the song. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://youtu.be/gdptKMMHplc">Tony Martin</a> -- 1936</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://youtu.be/gdptKMMHplc">https://youtu.be/gdptKMMHplc</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://youtu.be/Etc-YzgIxI8">https://youtu.be/Etc-YzgIxI8</a><br />
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Guy (& Carmen, <u>vocal</u>) Lombardo -- 1936<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/SiOQjPpmQLI">https://youtu.be/SiOQjPpmQLI</a><br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/JiJsd0QVd9E">https://youtu.be/JiJsd0QVd9E</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Red Allen -- 1936<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/JH6lx6E9Ut4">https://youtu.be/JH6lx6E9Ut4</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Frances Langford -- 1936<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/wUf9QqPM3RQ">https://youtu.be/wUf9QqPM3RQ</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/AozkMu5DHHY">Teddy Stauffer</a> (Billy Toffel, vocal) -- 1936<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/AozkMu5DHHY">https://youtu.be/AozkMu5DHHY</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Mel Powell orch. (w. Benny Goodman) -- 1942<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/l3M7ojzaoxI">https://youtu.be/l3M7ojzaoxI</a><br />
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://youtu.be/TuM_wimHj6c">Big Bill Broonzy</a> -- 1956<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/TuM_wimHj6c">https://youtu.be/TuM_wimHj6c</a><br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/JxnCQSI8k08">https://youtu.be/JxnCQSI8k08</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
Jimmy Scott -- 1955<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/57OQK-zJhoA">https://youtu.be/57OQK-zJhoA</a><br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/SRYJbaxwJ20">https://youtu.be/SRYJbaxwJ20</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
Louis Armstrong -- 1957<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/Gz1msJyXY5A">https://youtu.be/Gz1msJyXY5A</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
Johnny Guitar Watson -- 1963</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="https://youtu.be/q73xfc_Zvf0">https://youtu.be/q73xfc_Zvf0</a></div>
</div>
<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/JcClSnMiOp0">Nancy Wilson</a> -- 1966<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/JcClSnMiOp0">https://youtu.be/JcClSnMiOp0</a><br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/sQ6dQRgwSso">https://youtu.be/sQ6dQRgwSso</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/5dr7aSKM2V0">Jim Reeves</a> -- 1966<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/5dr7aSKM2V0">https://youtu.be/5dr7aSKM2V0</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
Hank Crawford -- <span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">1967</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="https://youtu.be/uNsQccm-0wk">https://youtu.be/uNsQccm-0wk</a></div>
</div>
<br />
Eric Clapton -- 1978<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/qDrMKfYdF-A">https://youtu.be/qDrMKfYdF-A</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Bob Dylan -- <span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">1985</span><br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/9s4Tqfuj_Wo">https://youtu.be/9s4Tqfuj_Wo</a><br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/0E4fYKmhhmM">https://youtu.be/0E4fYKmhhmM</a><br />
<br />
Carla Valenti -- <span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">2004</span><br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/cp_Rx0UZ4YM">https://youtu.be/cp_Rx0UZ4YM</a><br />
<br />
Renee Fleming -- <span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(17 , 17 , 17 , 0.6); font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">2008</span><br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/HvSmTc9H-o0">https://youtu.be/HvSmTc9H-o0</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
Pokey LaFarge -- <span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">2015</span><br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/YlRPF_JFbUo">https://youtu.be/YlRPF_JFbUo</a><br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/WxgpnDv0Q_s">https://youtu.be/WxgpnDv0Q_s</a></div>
Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-76892747602705316702017-05-09T00:16:00.001-04:002018-11-04T15:34:18.099-05:00Four Virginians with a Tiple <div dir="ltr">
Recordings from the days of 78 rpm phonographs continue to find their way to YouTube, where my latest discovery touches three issues that interest me: </div>
<div dir="ltr">
Old time string band music from Virginia (where I've lived for the past decade);</div>
<div dir="ltr">
The "Martin tiple," a 10-string instrument I have been playing for a few years, related to the ukulele and South American instruments, made in America for half a century and used for a variety of musical styles; </div>
<div dir="ltr">
And the often racist minstrel-show roots of some of the old-time string band music repertoire. In this case, the latter is only present in the form of a fiddle tune title, without the original 1880s lyrics, which mocked a well-to-do gambler and ladies' man.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
The "<a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-four-virginians-mn0001387068/biography">All Music</a>" (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-four-virginians-mn0001387068/biography) and "<a href="http://martintiple.blogspot.com/2011/12/four-virginians.html">Martin Tiple</a>" (http://martintiple.blogspot.com/2011/12/four-virginians.html) history blogs both have pages about the band in question, The Four Virginians, from the Danville area. They were active from 1925 to 1935 and reportedly recorded only six tunes, all for the <u>Okeh</u> record label.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Accompanied by a picture of the band, with the tiple used as a rhythm instrument, YouTube has five of the recordings: three square dance tunes with dance calls (one of them with a nineteenth-century minstrel show "coon song" title), and two sentimental songs. </div>
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You can hear the jangling treble sound of the tiple (not as high or clean as a bluegrass mandolin "chop") on most of the recordings. It plays full chords while the fiddle plays the melody and the two guitars play rhythm and bass runs. Unlike many old time string bands, the four Virginians did not include a mandolin, banjo or bass. </div>
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"<a href="https://youtu.be/RInuYDVVIlU">Two little lads</a>"<br />
https://youtu.be/RInuYDVVIlU</div>
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"<a href="https://youtu.be/yypYMo6Zm80">One is my mother</a>"<br />
https://youtu.be/yypYMo6Zm80</div>
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"<a href="https://youtu.be/VOxIZ9FMOxE">Promenade all</a>"<br />
https://youtu.be/VOxIZ9FMOxE</div>
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"<a href="https://youtu.be/j0P82u-R42E">Swing your partner</a>"<br />
https://youtu.be/j0P82u-R42E</div>
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"<a href="https://youtu.be/w0d7XNl8KoY">New coon in town</a>"<br />
https://youtu.be/w0d7XNl8KoY</div>
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<br /></div>
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Jennings Leonard is identified as the tiple player by numerous websites, including a <a href="http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/99938/Jennings_Leonard_instrumentalist_tiple">discography of historical records at the University of California at Santa Barbara</a>.</div>
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http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/99938/Jennings_Leonard_instrumentalist_tiple</div>
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<br /></div>
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The other published sources identify the remaining band members as:<br />
Fiddle β Richard Bigger<br />
Guitar β Fred Richards<br />
Vocals and Guitar β Elvin Bigger</div>
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<br /></div>
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Google search reveals several books that mention the band, including these:</div>
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<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=JNAeBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=the+four+virginians+tiple&source=bl&ots=IlNx6XOQ3x&sig=K92k17r-SzJberlHh7N_7wcuZGw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqpKi38uHTAhVBbiYKHT06DG8Q6AEIHzAB">Title one </a>: <i>Virginia's Blues, Country, and Gospel Records, 1902-1943: An Annotated Discography</i>, by Kip Lornell</div>
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<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=5EBWZHSNTccC&pg=PA284&lpg=PA284&dq=the+four+virginians+tiple&source=bl&ots=KIR2evsaiQ&sig=B8lBjXSkrwfzfm2khKAqG5CvFiA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqpKi38uHTAhVBbiYKHT06DG8Q6AEIIjAC">Title</a><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=5EBWZHSNTccC&pg=PA284&lpg=PA284&dq=the+four+virginians+tiple&source=bl&ots=KIR2evsaiQ&sig=B8lBjXSkrwfzfm2khKAqG5CvFiA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqpKi38uHTAhVBbiYKHT06DG8Q6AEIIjAC"> two</a> : <i>Linthead stomp: the creation of country music in the Piedmont South, </i>by Patrick Huber</div>
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(The first draft of this post was made with an Android smartphone and its Blogger app. I should eventually get back to edit it and make the web links more attractive and functional.)</div>
Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-47722140282523399652017-02-26T12:54:00.003-05:002021-12-22T00:45:14.419-05:00Oldtime Songs as Oldtime Radio Drama<div dir="ltr">
Ever wish one of your favorite old songs could go on for a half hour? Or want to know the story-behind-the-story of a ballad?<br />
<br />
While I've been using this blog for intermittent posts about folk, blues and old-time stringband music, in my other incarnation over at <a href="http://jheroes.com/">http://jheroes.com</a> ("<a href="http://jheroes.com/">Newspaper Heroes on the Air</a>") I write about the portrayal of journalists in the radio dramatic series of the thirty-some years before television killed radio drama as a major element in American popular culture.</div>
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<br />
Here's a crossover: One of the radio dramatic programs that sometimes had journalist characters in its plots also had a "folk song revival" theme in a group of 1950s episodes based on traditional ballads and blues. Posting a journalism-related episode of "Suspense" to jheroes reminded me that a few of its tales of death and disaster came from old songs.<br />
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"Suspense" was a highly rated and expertly produced series for 20 years, specializing in tension, adventure and murder, from "Othello" to "Frankenstein" and "Leinengen vs. the Ants." As a result, the <a href="https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Suspense_Singles/Forecast_400722_004_The_Lodger_-Suspense_audition-_27766_-128-44-_29m36s.mp3">Old Time Radio Researchers Group has a substantial collection of episodes</a> (more than 900 of them!), which it shares with the public through the Internet Archive (<a href="http://archive.org/">archive.org</a>).</div>
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<br />
Below are direct links to the folk-song episodes I've noticed, produced and directed by Elliott Lewis, with scripts by several writers, according to <a href="http://radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=Suspense" target="_blank">radio historian J. David Goldin's listings</a> ... Click to download the MP3s or open them in your browser. </div><div dir="ltr"><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Suspense_Singles/Suspense%20520317%20465%20The%20Wreck%20of%20the%20Old%2097%20%28132-44%29%2027909%2028m42s.mp3" target="_blank">The Wreck of the Old 97</a> (March 17, 1952)</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Suspense_Singles/Suspense%20520505%20472%20Frankie%20and%20Johnny%20%2864-44%29%2014463%2029m29s.mp3" target="_blank">Frankie and Johnny</a> (May 5, 1952)<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Suspense_Singles/Suspense%20570203%20684%20Frankie%20and%20Johnny%20%28128-44%29%2026948%2028m03s%20AFRS.mp3" target="_blank">Frankie and Johnny</a> (Feb. 3, 1957)<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Suspense_Singles/Suspense%20521020%20483%20The%20Death%20of%20Barbara%20Allen%20%28128-44%29%2028266%2029m48s.mp3" target="_blank">The Death of Barbara Allen</a> (Oct. 20, 1952)<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Suspense_Singles/Suspense%20530223%20501%20St%20James%20Infirmary%20Blues%20%28128-44%29%2027951%2029m28s.mp3" target="_blank">The Saint James Infirmary Blues</a> (Feb. 23, 1953)<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Suspense_Singles/Suspense%20530330%20506%20Tom%20Dooley%20%28128-44%29%2027664%2028m49s.mp3" target="_blank">Tom Dooley</a> (March 30, 1953)<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Suspense_Singles/Suspense%20581207%20780%20Tom%20Dooley%20%28128-44%29%2022047%2023m10s.mp3" target="_blank">Tom Dooley</a> (Dec. 7, 1958)<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>--------------------------</div></div>
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While it's not folksong-based, music fans also might be intrigued by the vaudeville title "<a href="https://ia800500.us.archive.org/26/items/OTRR_Suspense_Singles/Suspense%20540201%20537%20Never%20Follow%20a%20Banjo%20Act%20%28128-44%29%2028116%2029m39s.mp3" target="_blank">Never Follow a Banjo Act</a>," with Ethel Merman.<br />
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I'm particularly fascinated by the fact that "Suspense" put its dramatization of "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Dooley_(song)" target="_blank">Tom Dooley</a>" on the radio long before The Kingston Trio's arrangement of the song became a national hit. A version of the song had been recorded as early as 1929 (by <a href="https://youtu.be/WWd1rNmDAgg" target="_blank">Grayson and Whitter</a>), but re-entered the "folk song revival" consciousness when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Warner_(folklorist)" target="_blank">collected by folklorists Frank & Anne Warner from Frank Proffitt</a> in North Carolina in 1938, then published in John & Alan Lomax's book <i>Folksong U.S.A. </i>in 1947.<i> </i>It was recorded by Warner in 1952 (and eventually <a href="https://folkways.si.edu/frank-proffitt/frank-proffitt-of-reese-north-carolina" target="_blank">by Proffitt on Folk Legacy Records</a> in 1962).<br />
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The Suspense radioplay based on the song was rebroadcast in 1958, using that year's Kingston Trio hit recording. According to <a href="http://radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=Suspense">J. David Goldin's "RadioGoldindex" of "Suspense" episode information</a>, Harry Stanton was the vocalist on the 1952 broadcasts of both "Tom Dooley" and "Old 97."<br />
<br />
Louise Louis was vocalist on "Barbara Allen." Big band singing stars who crossed over to film and television were also part of the casts: Dinah Shore played the lead and sang the song in "Frankie and Johnny" and Rosemary Clooney was listed among the cast for "Saint James Infirmary." Margaret Whiting was Frankie in the 1957 broadcast.<br />
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According to Goldin's logs, Stanton (although not featured) was also among the cast members for a different radio series' musical drama, the Lux Radio production of "<a href="https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Lux_Radio_Theater_Singles/Lux_Radio_Theatre_43-12-20_419_Dixie.mp3">Dixie</a>," an hour-long, thoroughly fictionalized and whitewashed dramatization of the life of minstrel banjo pioneer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Emmett" target="_blank">Dan Emmett</a>. Based on the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035810/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt">movie by the same name</a> and broadcast Dec. 20, 1943, the radioplay has the film's star Bing Crosby in the lead. You can almost smell the blackface burnt cork in one of Hollywood's regrettable acts of nostalgia for the days of on-stage racism and a romanticized 1800s Southland.<br />
<br />Instead of admitting that imitating black musicians was the inspiration for white minstrels' "blacking up," the story has the absurd excuse of Emmett and another performer originally using blackface makeup to cover up black eyes and bruises from a fight. (Crosby vs. Barry Sullivan as "Mr. Bones.") Their act is mostly joke-telling with "Amos and Andy" accents. Minstrel-style music is barely heard amidst the Crosby crooning. And, no, Dan Emmett didn't write the Crosby classic "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday,_Monday,_or_Always" target="_blank">Sunday, Monday or Always</a>" that opens the program. In fact, some researchers believe the title song "Dixie" actually came to Emmett from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowden_Family_Band" target="_blank">the Snowdens, a black family in Ohio</a>.<br />
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Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-22006530609452900092016-08-29T09:58:00.002-04:002016-11-12T17:57:19.505-05:00Oldtime Music Beyond FacebookA friend just posted a request for more old-time and bluegrass music festival posts in a Facebook group... one of many that try to meet that need.<br />
<br />
My reply... (Also an excuse to try updating this blog with a copy of a Facebook post, using only my phone. Until I go through one at a time to turn them into hyperlinks, link addresses may require copying and pasting, not just clicking. Hard to tell on this tiny screen.)<br />
<br />
Feeling your pain... I just don't trust Facebook for reliable calendar-type information. So much duplication, but so much confusion about when and how things appear in groups, notices & on your/my timeline!<br />
<br />
But even the "open web" calendars by non-profits have holes in them. Not sure Hoppin John Convention <a href="http://hoppinjohn.org/">http://hoppinjohn.org</a> (or the 50-band Shakori Hills concert/fest at same venue a month later?) is on any of the NC lists below.... as well as being exempt for the Va and WVa lists!<br />
<br />
Here are a few items from my jumbled venue, event and organization bookmark list. But I don't envy any of the list keepers!<br />
:-(<br />
<br />
<b>Va.</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.myswva.org/tcr">https://www.myswva.org/tcr</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://floydcountrystore.com/">http://FloydCountryStore.com</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.virginia.org/directory/Events/?regionid=8&categories=91&start=8-29-2016&end=9-12-2016">http://www.virginia.org/directory/Events/?regionid=8&categories=91&start=8-29-2016&end=9-12-2016</a><br />
<br />
<b>West Va.</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://mountainmusictrail.com/">Http://mountainmusictrail.com</a><br />
<br />
<b>N.C.</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://hoppinjohn.org/">http://hoppinjohn.org</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blueridgemusicnc.com/find-music/all-events" target="_blank">http://www.blueridgemusicnc.com/find-music/all-events </a><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_603142768"><br /></a>
<a href="https://nationalfolkfestival.com/">https://nationalfolkfestival.com</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.pinecone.org/">https://www.pinecone.org</a><br />
<br />
<b>Tenn.</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.tnvacation.com/vendors/appalachian-cultural-music-association-mountain-music-museum">https://www.tnvacation.com/vendors/appalachian-cultural-music-association-mountain-music-museum</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.etsu.edu/cas/das/bluegrass/">http://www.etsu.edu/cas/das/bluegrass/</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://festivalnet.com/music_festivals.html/Tennessee-music-festivals">http://festivalnet.com/music_festivals.html/Tennessee-music-festivals</a><br />
<br />
That last one is an membership & ad-supported national monster that I just stumbled on...<br />
<br />
But it it doesn't miss <a href="http://louiebluie.org/">http://Louiebluie.org</a> Sept. 24, even if it doesn't have an obvious link to the event's own site!Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-889204.post-8295044158182939072015-08-07T14:15:00.001-04:002015-08-08T02:13:20.071-04:00Oldtime Country Music at archive.orgThe Internet Archive may not be the first place you look for old-time country sounds, but some old-time radio and 78 rpm record collectors have digitized an amazing amount of 20th century American culture.<br />
<br />
I'll come back and edit this, but wanted to put a few links out where new old-time music friends can find them today.<br />
<br />
Sorry if there are spelling errors, and if you have to cut and paste the links into a browser. The first draft of this was done with my left thumb on a smartphone during a singing class at Augusta Heritage Center. (<a href="https://augustaheritagecenter.org/">https://augustaheritagecenter.org</a>)<br />
<br />
Most of these are radio. Some are 1950s TV. The Delmore brothers sell their gospel song book, the Willis Brothers swing "Hillbilly Heaven." All Star Western Theatre combines accordion and guitar western harmonizing with short dramatic productions with cowboy movie stars of the forties. Pat Daniels Hillbilly Boys sold Hillbilly flour with Texas Swing, while Hank Williams sold Mother's Best flour with his country blues. Plenty here to explore.<br />
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<a href="https://archive.org/details/otr_countrymusictime">https://archive.org/details/otr_countrymusictime</a><br />
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<a href="https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Delmore_Brothers_Singles">https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Delmore_Brothers_Singles</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Certified_Delmore_Brothers">https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Certified_Delmore_Brothers</a><br />
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<a href="https://archive.org/details/GrandOldOpry-28april1956">https://archive.org/details/GrandOldOpry-28april1956</a><br />
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<a href="https://archive.org/details/HankPennyHisRadioCowboys-01-10">https://archive.org/details/HankPennyHisRadioCowboys-01-10</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/charlottecountry00holt">https://archive.org/details/charlottecountry00holt</a> Booklet PDF<br />
<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/RanchParty1957">https://archive.org/details/RanchParty1957</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/0029OldTimeRadioReunion">https://archive.org/details/0029OldTimeRadioReunion</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/otr_countrymusictime">https://archive.org/details/otr_countrymusictime</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Mothers_Best_Flour_Singles">https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Mothers_Best_Flour_Singles</a><br />
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<a href="https://archive.org/details/OTRR_The_Hillbilly_Boys_Singles">https://archive.org/details/OTRR_The_Hillbilly_Boys_Singles</a> (Pat O'Daniel & the...), 74 episodes<br />
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<a href="https://archive.org/details/OTRR_All_Star_Western_Theatre_Singles">https://archive.org/details/OTRR_All_Star_Western_Theatre_Singles</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/otr_geneautry">https://archive.org/details/otr_geneautry</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/RoyRogers01-10">https://archive.org/details/RoyRogers01-10</a><br />
<br />Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809378140458267318noreply@blogger.com0