SONG SYLLABUS / WEEK 15

Week 15: Thursday, April 26
Love Songs: Tenderness



"Shenandoah" (J&A Lomax 128/138, Alan Lomax 34/53)
SGS Andrew Rowan Summers ***** (iTunes store)

"Red River Valley" (J&A Lomax 199/220, with additional verses)
SGS John Lomax ****
SGS Kilby Snow ****

Supplements--Hank Williams:

I’m So Lonesome
I Hear That Lonesome Whistle
Tennessee Waltz

Painting by Albert York

SONG SYLLABUS / WEEK 14

Week 14: Thursday, April 19
Sea Shanties: SALT



"Greenland Fisheries" (Alan Lomax 40/61, with original lyrics)
Watersons

"Blow Ye Winds of Morning" (J&A Lomax 130/144)
Almanac Singers (iTunes music store)

Supplements: see SSG for many recordings of the sea shanties. Here are some of my favorites:

A Yankee Ship Came Down the River
Lowlands
Santy Anno
The Blackball Line
Blow the Man Down Boys

Singers associated with the shanties:
Louis Killen
Jeff Warner
Ewan MacColl
The watersons
Sam Larner
Harry H. Corbett
A.L. Lloyd

And some key albums (cds):
Ewan MacColl & A.L.Lloyd Blow Boys Blow
Blow the Man Down (Collection)
Louis Killen: Steady As She Goes / Songs and Chanties from the Days of Commercial Sail
Lou Killen: A Seaman’s Garland (includes “Leave Her Johnny, Leave Her”)
Op de Wilde Vaart. From the Nederlands. Interesting that many are in English

The names themselves are evocative:
Wild Goose Shanty
Jack Tar
Whisky Johnny
Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her
Away Rio
South Australia

The Watersons. A group “…out of the English folk revival, The Watersons employed stark melodic scales along with stunning polyphonic harmonies, and outstanding song selection. Mike, Lal and Norma Waterson hailed from Yorkshire, and were originally joined by their cousin John Harrison, performing as an a capella quartet. The group's career spans from the early 1960s to the present day, where they are joined by fellow traditionalist, Martin Carthy, who married Norma Waterson in 1972.”

SONG SYLLABUS / WEEK 13

Week 13: Thursday, April 12
Cowboy Songs: FRONTIER


"Streets of Laredo" (J&A Lomax 195/206)
Tom Glazier (is this in S&P archive?)

"I Ride an Old Paint" (J&A Lomax 198/214
Carl Sandburg (iTunes store)
SGS Harry Jackson Very slow & compelling version!!!

These songs are classics as well:
The Old Chisolm Trail
Get Along Little Dogies
Home on the Range (hear the Rosalie Sorrells version on SGS)
Buffalo Gals

And the following (along with much other material) are available on the SGS Smithsonian Global Sound Archive:

LISTEN TO THIS ENTIRE ALBUM:
Cowboy Songs on Folkways
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Catalogue Number: SFW40043
Released: 1991

"Fifteen performers sing, boast, tell stories, holler, and recite poetry on 26 tracks that portray the life and times of honest, hard-working cowboys. Features performers from many backgrounds with a wide variety of musical styles. Includes Pete Seeger's Home on the Range, Cisco Houston's Little Joe and the Wrangler, Woody Guthrie's Get Along Little Dogies, several old tales from the range, including Chisholm Tale and Jesse James, and Rosalie Sorrells's version of Gene Autry's 1943 hit There's an Empty Cot in the Bunkhouse." (from the liner notes)

This collection was assembled from Folkways Archives and issued in 1991. Among the songs included—and recommended:
Little Joe the Wrangler / Cisco Houston
Little Joe, the Wrangler's Sister Nell / Harry Jackson
Get Along Little Dogie / Woodie Guthrie & Cisco Houston
The Dyin' Cowboy / Cisco Houston
The Devil Made Texas / Hermes Nye
Put Your Little Foot / John Lomax and the Tex-I-An Boys
Chisolm Trail / John Lomax and the Tex-I-An Boys
Phildelphia Lawyer / Woodie Guthrie
Utah Carl / Harry McClintock
Buffalo Skinners / Woodie Guthrie
Empty Cot In The Bunkhouse Tonight / Rosalie Sorrells



You can also look back to an earlier version of cowboy songs, from Folkways, with John Lomax, Jr. himself-and the Tex-I-An Boys. Recall that it was John Lomax’s book, Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, published in 1910 to critical and popular acclaim that started much of the recorded folksong revival. That’s the volume that Moe Asch found in a Paris bookstall in the early 1920’s. Everything, it seems, is related…

Songs of Texas
John Lomax, Jr. and the Tex-i-an Boys, released in 1961.
Folkways Records
Catalogue Number: FW05328
(you can hear this in SGS--Again, listen to the whole album)

There are numerous entries under the keyword “cowboy” in SGS. Lots more by Cisco Houston, Woody Guthrie, Harry Jackson and many others (Omer Simeon Trio, for example).

* * *

AND various YouTubes (none of these are really about cowboys; some ARE about cows, however—the rottweiler clip is particularly dramatic):

Roy Acuff / Great Speckled Bird
Merle Travis & Johnny Cash / Sing Me Back Home

Harry Carey Sr. The Bronx Cowboy (clips)
The Searchers (trailer) / John Wayne
Ghetto Cowboy (bonethugs-n-harmony)
Willie Nelson / Gay Cowboy Song
Blazing Glory
Longhorn Cattle Drive (parade)
Fort Worth Cattle Drive (parade)
Rottweiler Herding
Nebraska Cow Drive

SONG SYLLABUS / WEEK 12

Week 12: Thursday, April 5
Train Songs: RAIL



"Midnight Special" (J&A Lomax 292/319)
Lead Belly

"Freight Train" (Elizabeth Cotton; Silverman 152)
Elizabeth Cotton

"Wabash Cannonball" (Alan Lomax 410/420)
Doc Watson and Jean Ritchie, in SGS (also in S&P)


Supplements: TRAIN SONGS FROM S&P ARCHIVE:

Pan American Blues, De Ford Bailey (harmonica solo--don't miss!!)
Freight Train, Elizabeth Cotton
The Little Black Train, The Carter Family
Midnight Special Train, Big Joe Turner
Train To Skaville 1966, The Ethiopians
Train That Carried The Girl From Town, Frank Hutchinson
The Log Train, Hank Williams
When The Train Comes Along, Gary/Sonny Davis
Golden Gate Gospel Train, Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet
When The Train Comes Along, Henry Thomas
Au Bord De l'Ytrain, Cossack Voices
Night Train to Memphis, Sleepy LaBeef
Freight Train Bluesl, Merle Travis
Railroad Blues, Sam McGee
Lonesome Whistle (I Heard That), Hank Williams

FROM SGS:
Woody Guthrie, Railroad Blues
New Lost City Ramblers, Railroad Blues
Dock Boggs, Railroad Tramp
Railroad Sounds (just what the title says!)
Rich Amerson, Lining Track (work song)

FROM AAS:
Calling Trains (don't miss this one!)
I'm Going Home on the Morning Train
The Dying Hobo
Travelin' Railroad Man Blues
Freight Train Yodeling Blues, Part 2
Gospel Train



And a variety of YouTubes, some more special than others:

Elizabeth Cotton: Freight Train I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMSYzFdloqY

Elizabeth Cotton: Freight Train II (at 92!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F6sXL4Jb_s

Elizabeth Cotten—Wilson Rag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ukQaIF9_E4&mode=related&search=

Elizabeth Cotton: Mama, Your Papa Loves You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awK3p0S-tuQ


Odetta: Midnight Special
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jGSiaDj_fw

Johnny Cash & June Carter: Midnight Special
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sLsBGNZG68

Creedence Clearwater Revival: Midnight Special
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DksGi7B5BdM


Jerry Reed: Wabash Cannonball
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCE48O6U4Yw

Wabash Cannonball (the classical concert version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnmex-AuCPA

Johnny Cash & the Carter Sisters: Wabash Cannonball
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGmOUbkLBZs

Wabash Cannonball in the Presseli Mountains
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs5FWs9EnPQ


Big Thunder Mountain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjSw-FrSan4

CB&Q Garden Railroad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_0WXzt8xWs

SONG SYLLABUS / WEEKS 9 & 10

Photo: Marion Post Walcott (FSA), just outside Clarksdale, Mississippi, late 1930s. Library of Congress.

Week 9: Thursday, March 15
Blues I: DELTA ROAD, CITY LIGHTS

Week 10: Thursday, March 22
Blues II: Chicago

"SWEET HOME CHICAGO"
Robert Johnson
Compare Kokomo Arnold, “Old Original Kokomo Blues,” in AAS

"CORINNA, CORINNA" (Alan Lomax 577/588)
S&P Muddy Waters
MH Ollie Gilbert #0961

“CARELESS LOVE” (Alan Lomax 574/585, J&A Lomax 39/64)
Lonnie Johnson
We chose the Lonnie Johnson version, but compare Skip James’ version

MH Max Hunter #0686 ***
MH Bill Greer #1424
MH Kris Ann Parker #1521

This is a sea of music—let’s concentrate on the Mississippi Delta Blues first, then work our way up the Mississippi (or more accurately, the Illinois Central, departing from New Orleans, with a stop in Memphis. The fare—in 1940, from Memphis—$11.10). Here we go!

DELTA BLUES (MISSISSIPPI)
Charley Patton (the source)
Son House
Robert Johnson
Skip James
Muddy Waters (his early recordings!)
Mississippi Fred McDowell (Northern Mississippi blues style)

CHICAGO:
Muddy Waters
Johnny Shines
Howlin’ Wolf
Little Walter
Elmore James
plus
Big Joe Turner (Kansas City)
Bobby Blue Bland (Memphis)




And of course, all the rest (just scratching the surface):

KING BISQUIT TIME (Helena, Arkansas Radio)
Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller)
Robert Lockwood Jr.

TEXAS:
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Mance Lipscomb
Lightin’ Hopkins
T-Bone Walker

ALSO:
Leroy Carr (How Long, How Long Blues—one of the first songs everyone learned))
Blind Blake
Blind Willie McTell
Lonnie Johnson (we have him on “Careless Love”)
Kokomo Arnold
Bukka White
Big Joe Williams
Roosevelt Sykes

BLUES WOMEN:
Bessie Smith
Ma Rainey
Ida Cox
Memphis Minnie
Louise Johnson
Victoria Spivey
Big Mamma Thornton
Sister Rosetta Tharpe (gospel singer--in a category of her own!)

SONGSTER TRADITION:
Henry Thomas (takes us back into the 19th century)
Mississippi John Hurt
Rev. Gary Davis
Furry Lewis (Memphis, sonster tradition)
and of course,
Elizabeth Cotton

JUG BANDS:
Mississippi Sheiks
Memphis Jug Band

Examples from most of these artists are available on the African American Song Archive. This list just scratches the surface, of course. The archive does NOT feature better-known (and more commercially popular) artists such as Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson or Howlin’ Wolf. You’ll have to use iTunes or other resources to find them. (A friend just recommended the following site--I haven'tdone more than take a peek, but it looks good: www.prewarblues.org)

This is a sea of music—let’s concentrate on the Mississippi Delta Blues first, then work our way up the Mississippi (or more accurately, the Illinois Central, departing from New Orleans, with a stop in Memphis. The fare—in 1940, from Memphis—$11.10.


Dorothea Lange photo, FSA, Mississippi, 1930s. Library of Congress.

SOME KEY YouTube SELECTIONS:
Son House: Dead Letter Blues
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Furry Lewis: When I Lay My Burden Down
Skip James: I'm So Glad, and Crow Jane
Roosevelt Sykes: Sweet Home Chicago
AND
Sister Rosetta Tharpe: I Hear Music in the Air
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeaBNAXfHfQ

SONG SYLLABUS / WEEK 8

Week 8: Thursday, March 8
Spirituals: HEAVEN & EARTH


"Negro boys and girls humming spiritual at UCPAPWA (United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America) meeting, Bristow, Oklahoma. The union meeting has become a main social gathering in these sections and has taken on some of the spirit of the old time revival. Spirituals vie with the union songs for popularity." Russell Lee, FSA, 1940, Library of Congress

"AMAZING GRACE" (J&A Lomax 328/344)
S&P Doc Watson & Jean Ritchie (also on SGS) +++
SGS Horton Barker +++

AMAZING GRACE, on SGS: Doc Watson & Jean Ritchie, Buell Kazee, Horton Barker, Clarence Ashley (+). Check these individually.

Also on SGS: Paul Robeson’s version of Amazing Grace:
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221316777/

MH Ollie Gilbert #1256
MH Rev. Harold Hunter #0261 (midi file only?)

Old Baptist Church, Mountain Music of Kentucky:
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221315155/
Old Harp Singers:
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221291732 /

"SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT" (in Johnson ANS; AFS 115)
Paul Robeson (from “The Power and the Glory”) +++

Additional versions on AAS:
Sister O.M. Terrell (On AAS). See where Sister Rosetta Tharp comes from…
http://internal.ucberkeley4.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221336789/
Apollo Male Quarter:
http://internal.ucberkeley4.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221334532/

Paul Robeson
SWING LOW SWEET CHARIOT
Amazing Grace (see above)
Balm in Gilead
No More Auction Block for Me
No More Auction Block for Me (DYLAN, for comparison)

Ol’ Man River
Go Down Moses
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho (compare the Southernaires in AAS)
http://internal.ucberkeley4.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221345627/

Marian Anderson
Let Us Break Bread Together ++
Deep River

AND DON'T MISS! The following two recordings are from an old Folkways record--very simply sung, quite beautiful. From southeastern Georgia:

Beverly Green, Black American Religious Music from Southeast Georgia (Folkways/SGS)
There Is a A Balm in Gilead
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221308928/

Mallard, Ruth, Black American Religious Music from Southeast Georgia (Folkways/SGS)
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221308927/

Mississippi John Hurt
Beulah Land
Blessed Be the Name
Farther Along
Praying on the Old Campground

Blind Willie Johnson
Blind Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground
John the Revelator

Thelonious Monk
This Is My Song, This Is My Story


Negro Religious Field recordings (AAS Archive): compare these FIELD RECORDINGS—quite different in character, with any of the above:

I’m Coming Home on the Morning Train
http://internal.ucberkeley4.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221338725/
I’m Gonna Lift Up A Standard for My King
I’m Running for My Life (Rev. McGhee)
I’m A Soldier In The Army Of The Lord
Ain’t No Grave Can Hold My Body Down (Silent Grove Baptist Church with Bozie Sturdivant)

Turner Junior Johnson selections (4 songs). See desciption of Turner Johnson in Alan Lomax: The Land Where The Blues Began. His voice and Harmonica. These available on AAS:
Meet Me In Jerusalem
When I Lay My Burden Down
In New Jerusalem
Steal Away

And a painting by Harlem Renaissance painter William H. Johnson (1901-1970):


YouTube:

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot:
Beyonce
Dolly Parton
Young solo singer

Mahalia Jackson / Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho
In a way, this is where many people started with Spirituals. You can sense that there’s a world underneath these songs—even if they’re arranged for mainstream television. Compare all the early recordings on AAS—as well as Max Hunter (for white Southern song tradition).

You’re Going to Need a Friend. Group harmony, old-style, in a black church. See Alan Lomax writing about this (handout)

Old Man River / The Temptations (1993)
Old Man River / Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
Put A Spell on You / Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
Stranger Than Paradise / Trailer in Japanese (Screamin’ Jay)

Aretha Franklin / Nessun Dorma (Pavarotti becasme ill-asked Aretha Franklin to stand in for him—and this is what followed. Thanks to C.!)

WEEK 7 / SONG SYLLABUS

Week 7: Thursday, March 1
Anglo-American Ballads: SOURCE

"Barbara Allen" (Alan Lomax 170/183)
S&P Jean Ritchie

"Down by the Sally Gardens" (W.B. Yeats; Silverman 144)
S&P Richard Dyer-Bennett

"Comin’ thro’ the Rye" (Scottish, traditional; Silverman 281, Song Session 112)

BALLADS. See Child Ballads. Concentrate on the following songs:

Barbara Allen (Child #84)
Omie Wise
Pretty Polly / Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight Omie Wise (Child #4)
The House Carpenter (Child #243, as Daemon Lover or James Harris)
Gypsy Davey (Child #200) (Supplement)

I'm providing the static urls this week, to see if it makes use of SGS easier for you all.


BARBARA ALLEN (Child # 84, Barbara Allen)

Barbara Allen / Jean Ritchie SGS
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221285367/

Free Little Bird / Clarence Ashley. FOR COMPARISON!
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221310977/

See also: Max Hunter, Child Ballad # 84, Barbara Allen (several versions)

OMIE WISE
Omie Wise / Doug Wallin (CA 1960-62)
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221321961/

Ommie Wise / G.B. Grayson (S&P Archive, AAFM 1952+++)

Omie wise / Roscoe Holcomb
http://ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/2147535547/

See also: Naomia Wise (in Max Hunter as Naomia Wise, #1494)

Refer to Anna Domino story here (handout?) in Wilentz/Marcus

THE HOUSE CARPENTER (Child #243, The House Carpenter)
The House Carpenter / Jean Ritchie
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221309031/

The House Carpenter / Doc Watson, The Watson Family
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221304845/

House Carpenter / Clarence Ashley (S&P Archive, AAFM)
See also: Max Hunter, Child # 243, The House Carpenter (several versions)

House Carpenter / Bob Dylan S&P Archive



PRETTY POLLY (Child # 4, LADY ISABEL & THE ELF KNIGHT)

Pretty Polly / Doug Wallin, Jack Wallin
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221314101/

Pretty Polly / Doc Boggs
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221287352/

See also: Max Hunter, Child Ballad # 47, Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight

See also MH: Loving Henry (#1400)—to the tune of Storms Are on the Ocean. Very dark…but beautifully sung by Fran Majors, Wichita Kansas, 1963

See also: Clarence Ashley, Free Little Bird (on SGS, Original Folways Recordings, 1960-62)
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221310977/


BLACK JACK DAVY (Child Ballad # 200, The Gypsie Laddie) / SUPPLEMENTAL

Black Jack Davy / The Carter Family (S&P Archive)

Gypsie Davy / Jean Ritchie
http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221285358/

Gypsy Davy / Woody Guthrie (SGS) http://internal.ucberkeley2.classical.com/permalink/recording/3221319537/
Black Jack Davy / Bob Dylan (S&P Archive)

See also: Max Hunter, Child Ballad # 200, The Gypsie Laddie


ALSO:

CHARLIE FEATHERS, Pardon Me, Mister. Listen to the words on this one carefully. Does it fit in the ballad tradition? Compare with Barbara Allen—and Pretty Polly/Lady Isabel. Charlie Feathers—a great rock-a-billy singer/songwriter. Available only on S&P Archive, or iTunes


We could also be looking at the ballad tradition in the African-American world, where the form often resembles European ballads, but the words themselves come from more direct, everyday experience (sometimes a mythic past-as in John Henry). Of course, some of these ballads have been shared generally…


The Lowlands of Holland / Paddy Tunney (S&P Archive). For an example—very beautiful—of a traditional British ballad…

MacColl, Ewan and Peggy Seeger. MATCHING SONGS OF THE BRITISH ISLES AND AMERICA. RLP 12-637. Bill Grauer Prod., Inc., 235 W. 46th St., N.Y. 36, N.Y. (In this album the singers match American and British versions of five of the old ballads.)


YouTube & WildCards:

Roscoe Holcomb / John Hardy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zOI9pvq-tU

Barbara Allen (Emily Rossum/from the film Songcatchers)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRgH_0zxqQ

Omie Wise video (a contemporary dramatization):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOeTcgSJ3MA

House Carpenter (Pentangle) (folk-revival at it's most self-serious)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4jXfMEu1YY



SUPPLEMENTAL:

Jean Ritchie / Shady Grove (dulcimner)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8wR4GZGnZE

Jean Ritchie / Blue Diamond Mines (singing over film)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oLGXmwMppE

Doc Watson /Salty Dog / Step Dancing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t6-NhuZc5E

Father & son / Down the Road
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdEoACxw_Gg

Charlie Feathers & Family video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIO4uK91Jck

Charlie Feathers rockabilly (Gotta Get Wicked)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piDedgdYsUg

SONG SYLLABUS / WEEK 6

"This Land Is Your Land"
S&P Woody Guthrie

"Going down the Road" (J&A Lomax 229/242) (aka Lonesome Road)
S&P Woody Guthrie

"Roll on Columbia" (Alan Lomax 430/443)
S&P Woody Guthrie

Woodie Guthrie in SGS (Asche/Folkways Recordings):
Do Re Mi
Hobo’s Lullaby
Vigilante Man
Philadelphia Lawyer
Sinking of the Rueben James
Lost John
Buffalo Gal (with Cisco Huston)
Billy the Kid
Blowing Down That Old Dusty Road
Red River Valley:

Folkways has over 400 recordings of Woody Guthrie—all there on SGS for the listening.

Many Woody Guthrie (for example, the Dust Bowl Ballads) are not in SGS; they were recorded for labels other than Folkways. They ARE available on iTunes, of course. Same for Roll on Columbia and other songs from that collection, also on iTunes.

The Dust Bowl Ballads include:
Talkin’ Dust Bowl Blues
Tom Joad
Dust Bowl Refugee
Dusty Old Dust (So Long It’s Been Good To Know Yuh)
Do Re Mi
and several others. They are considered one of his best collections.



Roll On Columbia, of course, is on our primary cd. Also listen to Grand Coulee Dam—from the same time, but very different in tone.

Also listen, for comparison, to the Bob Dylan version of This Land Is Your Land (soundtrack, No Direction Home)
Song for Woody / Bob Dylan
Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie / Bob Dylan
Plus his recordings of
No More Auction Block for Me
He Was A Friend of Mine

SONG SYLLABUS / WEEK 5

WEEK 5: Thursday, February 15 DRAFT
Lead Belly: THE SOUTH



"Goodnight, Irene" (Alan Lomax 580/593. Good notes about Lead Belly)
S&P Lead Belly (2:32) ****
MH Ollie Gilbert #0952

"Rock Island Line" (Lead Belly Songbook)
S&P Lead Belly

Goodnight Irene & Rock Island Line are primary. Listen to the way Leadbelly sings them in the several versions available on SGS archive AND on AAS (which has the Library of Congress Recordings)

Additional Leadbelly tracks on SGS:
The Midnight Special
Black Girl (In the Pines)
Bring Me A Little Water, Sylvie
Linin’ Track
Cotton Fields
Stewball
Blind Lemon
Bourgeois Blues
Careless Love
Cowboy Song
Pigmeat
Salty Dog
Swing Low Sweet Chariot

Leadbelly on AAS:
Governor Pat Neff
Take A Whiff On Me
Where de Sun Gone Down
Whoa Back, Buck
Roberta
Alberta
Eagle Rock Rag (piano!)

Compare HENRY THOMAS (Songster tradition, for comparison) on AAS:
Fishing Blues
Red River Blues (compare with Leadbelly’s Where de Sun Gone Down)
Run, Mollie, Run

YouTube:
Leadbelly: March of Time Newsreel (with John Lomax)
Leadbelly—1945
Leadbelly—Bale O’ Cotton
Goodnight Irene—The Weavers
Goodnight Irene—Ernest Tubb & Red Foley

Goodnight Irene—Jerry Garcia in Golden Gate Park
Goodnight Irene—Van Morrison & Chieftans

YouTube Wildcards:
Leadbelly/Nirvana
Lonnie Donnegan: Jack o’ Diamonds
Hong Kong rooftop & a cappella in laundry
Irene: Fredrik Lundin Overdrive (Cobenhagen?)

SONG SYLLABUS / WEEK 4

WEEK 4: Thursday, February 8
Appalachia: RIVERS & HILLS



"BANKS OF THE OHIO"
S&P Clarence Ashley, Doc Watson, 1960-62 (Smithsonian CD) **** Listen to this version several times; compare with all the others.

SGS Bascomb Lamar Lunsford *** Also very good / traditional version
MH Ollie Gilbert #1105

YouTube There’s a Doc Watson version (with Ricky skaggs and Allison Krauss) but it’s late—and very “stage performed”—including the diction. What do you think of this? Compare with Clarence Ashley.


"WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN"
S&P Carter Family (Not in SGS—this is on the S&P cd set ****)
S&P Clarence Ashley, Doc Watson, 1960-62 Smithsonian CD

SGS The Movement Singers (‘60s civil rights ear) 3:10
SGS Michael Holmes / mandolin part 0:45

MH Henry Crawford, Jr. #1459 With banjo, string band 1972
MH Sam Osterlow #1511 Melodious 1975

AAS Rev. J.C. Burnett (1927-45) 3:22
Silver Leaf Quartette (1928-31) 3:40 Gospel-quartette style
Alphabetical Four (1938-43) 3:04 Gospel-quartette style

SGS Frank Profitt, “Cindy” (for comparison—southern Mountain voices)
SGS New Lost Ramblers (for comparison—folk revival version, 1960s?)

S&P archive: Carter Family, “Wildwood Flower”
S&P Archive: Kirby Snow, “Wildwood Flower” ****

Supplements:
Additional tracks from Doc Watson/Clarence Ashley THESE RECORDINGS ARE CRUCIAL!!! Ralph Rinzler made them in 1961, with Clarence Ashley, Clint Howard and a young Doc Watson, who showed up at the front-porch session with electric guitar in hand; Rinzler convinced him to use an acoustic, and the rest is history. Doc Watson chapter in In The Country Of Country is particularly good on this story. “The Coo Coo Bird,” and “Looking Toward Heaven” especially.

Carter Family (Wildwood Flower) ALSO CRUCIAL!!! Listen to more Carter Family songs; best ones are the earlier ones—late 1920’s.
Bascomb Lamar Lunsford: Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground, on the
Harry Smith Anthology (Selected tracks—discuss this collection in class!)

Wildcards:
Wildwood Flower: Maybelle Carter and daughters
Wildwood Flower: Chet Atkins
Wildwood Flower, Merle Travis et al.

Will the Circle Be Unbroken, with Iris DeMent
Banks of the Ohio: Doc Watson, Ricky Scaggs, Iris Allison Krauss
Numerous other YouTube versions available

SONG SYLLABUS / WEEK 3

WEEK 3: Thursday, February 1 / DRAFT
Spirituals: OVERCOME



“OH MARY DON'T YOU WEEP”
S&P Swan Silvertones ****

The Southernaires (check this one on line—it’s great!!)*** http://www.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/southernairesmary1257.html

S&P Mississippi John Hurt***
AAS Fisk Jubilee Singers Vol. 3 (1924-1940) 1:42
AAS Frazier Family (Mississippi Blues & Gospel 1934 – 1942) 2:16

SWG Lead Belly (for comparison)
SWG Pete Seeger (for comparison)
iTunes Aaron Neville (sample) For a “modern” interpretation, N.O. style


“SINCE I LAID MY BURDEN DOWN”
S&P Mississippi John Hurt ****

S&P Turner Junior Johnson (Library of Congress Archive) *** (LISTEN TO ADDITIONAL TRACKS--Negro Religious Songs and Services, Rounder CD1514))***

AAS Rev. Edward Clayborn (1929-34)
AAS Bessemer Sunset Four (1928-30)
AAS Turner Junior Johnson (1934-32) (same as above) ***
AAS Under “Laid My Burden Down” Prophet B.W. West ***
SWG Blue Spring Mississippi Baptist Delegation
SWG Cat Iron
SWG Joseph Spence *** (note that Spence is from Andros Island in the Bahamas)

Regarding AAS: Look up songs lead by Prophet W.B. West—listen to all.


“DO LORD” (Library of Congress, Lomax field recordings)
S&P Jimmy Strothers & Joe Lee, Library of Congress Archive ****
(Negro Religious Songs and Services, Rounder CD1514)

AAS Sister Rosetta Winn *** (This is wonderful--listen to more tracks)
AAS Clara Belle Gholston
AAS Heavenly Gospel Singers
AAS Golden Eagle Gospel Singers

Supplements: (all from Library of Congress Archive—Lomax field recordings) on Rounder CDs 1510 & 1514):

Look Down That Long Lonesome Road (Hattie Belle) ***
Ain’t No More Cane On This Brazos ***
Long John
Jumpin Judy
Everything on these field recordings is of interest!

SONG SYLLABUS / WEEK 2

WEEK 2: Thursday, January 25 / DRAFT
Love Songs: LOSS



“DOWN IN THE VALLEY” (J&A Lomax 38/62, Alan Lomax 280/289)
S&P Anonymous—singer unknown (Stinson Records), Songs & Places Archive

SGS Frank Proffitt (Smithsonian Global Sound)
SGS Pete Seeger
SGS Bess Lomax Hawes, Bess

MH Rev. Harold Hunter & Max Hunter (1958) MH #0264 ***
MH Johnny Morris (1960) MH #0489

Wildcards:
YouTube Solomon Burke
YouTube Jasmine Singing Down in the Valley

“YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE” (Jimmy Davis; Digital Tradition online)
S&P Jimmy Davis ****

S&P Mississippi John Hurt
S&P Norman Blake (Oh Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack, for comparison)

SWG The Bergerfolk
SWG Pete seeger

AAS Blind Roosevelt Graves (1929-1936), Happy Sunshine
AAS Laura Henton, Heavenly Sunshine (Gospel Classics, 1927-31)
AAS Blind Connie Rosemond, Heavenly sunshine (Gospel Classics, 1927-35)

Wildcards:
YouTube: Gene Vincent
ITubes: Ricky Nelson (sample is sufficient)