Barking Dog: January 11, 2024
Selah Jubilee Singers - I’ll Fly Away
An American gospel vocal quartet founded in Brooklyn, New York and active between 1927 and 1953
They recorded this in February 1941
This song is a hymn written in 1929 by Albert E Brumley
The Kossoy Sisters - I’ll Fly Away
Identical twin sisters from New York City who began singing together at age 6 after hearing their mother and aunt sing harmonies in their home
As of 2022, the sisters are both divorced and living together in Guatemala
This version is known for its appearance in O Brother Where Art Thou
They recorded it for their 1956 album Bowling Green and Other Folk Songs from the Southern Mountains
Rev. Gary Davis - Mean Old World
He was from South Carolina but moved to Durham, North Carolina in the 20s
Was ordained a Baptist minister in 1933, and began to play gospel music instead of the secular music he was previously known for
In 1935, Davis made his first recordings, for the American Record Company
He moved to New York in the 40s, and he was later active in the 1960s folk revival
He played at Newport Folk Festival and was an important figure in the Greenwich Village scene in New York, teaching and performing with popular artists including Dave Van Ronk
“Mean Old World” is a blues song that’s been widely recorded
This version was recorded in the early 1960s in New York City
Eva Cassidy - Wayfaring Stranger
She was an American musician known for her interpretations of traditional music within Washington, DC, yet largely unknown outside of her hometown
This is an American folk and gospel song likely from the early 19th century
It may have originated from Scottish border song called “The Dowie Dens of Yarrow”
Cara Luft - Someday Soon
From Winnipeg
An Ian & Sylvia song first recorded in 1963
Bob Dylan - Most of the Time
An alternate acoustic version of the song from the recording sessions of his 1989 album Oh Mercy
OJ Abbott - How We Got Back to the Woods Last Year
Abbott was 84 when this song was recorded for the album Lumbering Songs from the Ontario Shanties, compiled by Edith Fowke between 1957 and 1958
The song is from the northern Ontario woods, though it was brought to American camps by migrant shanty boys
Snooks Eaglin - Rock Island Line
An American musician who played a wide range of styles and claimed to know about 2500 songs
“Rock Island Line” is an American folk song possibly about the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
The earliest known version was written in 1929 by Clarence Wilson, who was a member of a singing group formed by employees of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
Woody Guthrie - Pastures of Plenty
Guthrie was an important figure in folk history who’s known for his songs about the Okie migrants who travelled west during the Great Depression in search of work
Woody Guthrie wrote the song in 1941, specifically in response to the trend of Okies travelling west to find jobs as fruit pickers
The tune is based on the ballad “Pretty Polly”
Gillian Welch, David Rawlings - As Long as the Grass Shall Grow
Welch and Rawlings are one of the best-known contemporary American roots duos, and they’ve been nominated for an Oscar and have won a Grammy together
This is from the 2014 compilation album Look Again to the Wind: Johnny Cash’s Bitter Tears Revisited, a tribute to Cash’s 1964 album about the United States’ treatment of Native Americans
The song is by Peter La Farge, a musician and songwriter who was a member of the Greenwich Village folk scene
Fatoumata Diawara - Alama
She’s a Malian musician and actress currently based in France, and she’s been performing since the late 1990s
This is off her 2011 debut album Fatou
Peter & Mary Alice Amidon - Bid You Goodnight
Married duo who have been performing for children and adults alike for over 20 years
Their two sons, Stefan and Sam, join them on that one
It’s a funeral spiritual with a very tangled history
It may have its origins in a traditional English spiritual that’s also found in the United States, or it could be pure coincidence that the two songs have similar lyrics and are both used as lowering-down songs during funerals
Willie Hill - Railroad Bill
From an album of traditional music and song from northern Georgia, released in 1984
Hill was in his late 70s when this was recorded
He learned the song from the local oral tradition
The song is about Morris Slater, a former circus hand and turpentine worker who lived a life of danger and became Railroad Bill, an African American outlaw remembered through folklore and folk song
Turner Foddrell - Railroad Bill
Was a Virginian Piedmont blues and folk musician who was born into a musical family
A local DJ stumbled upon him and his brother, Marvin, playing together in the general store that Foddrell owned in the 1970s, and they began playing at festivals and touring the country and the world, and they recorded a couple of albums together
After Marvin died in 1986, Turner and his son continued to play together
Foddrell also recorded on his own, including this song
Fleming Brown - Railroad Bill
He was a Chicago banjo player and one of the early teachers at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music
He made his living as a graphic artist and didn’t perform much outside of Chicago, though he did perform at the Newport Folk Festival
This recording is from 1962
Old Man Luedecke - Brightest on the Heart
From Chester, NS
Off his 2015 album Domestic Eccentric
He takes a number of lyrics in this song from the traditional song “Storms Are On the Ocean”
Big Joe Williams - She Are My Sunshine
A Delta blues musician from Mississippi, best known for the unique sound of his 9 string guitar
He began his recording career in 1934 and remained a prominent artist into the 50s and 60s, when many of his contemporaries were rediscovered during the folk revival
He became popular amongst folk blues fans and even toured Europe and Japan
Poor Bill - Way Up on the Mountain
“Poor Bill” was possibly a pseudonym for the musician and actor Josh White’s brother, William White
This was recorded in October, 1939 in New York City
It seems to be his own song
Roscoe Holcomb - Single Girl
He was a construction worker, coal miner, and farmer much of his life
Holcomb was an older artist who became popular during the folk revival of the 1960s, and didn’t have a music career at all before then—though he was born in 1912, he was first discovered by John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers playing on his front porch in Daisy, Kentucky in 1958
Cohen wrote that Holcomb always thought he was playing the Carter Family’s “Single Girl” until they listened to the recording one day, and discovered it was a different song
This version was recorded live at the San Diego Folk Festival in 1972
Alan Mills - Tickle Cove Pond
Canadian folk singer, writer, and actor from Lachine, Quebec
He was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1974 for his contributions to Canadian folklore
This song was written by fisherman and songwriter Mark Walker of Tickle Cove, Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland in the late 19th century
The recording is from 1953
Florent Vollant - Son of the Sun
He’s an Innu musician from Quebec who was part of the popular folk duo Kashtin
This song is off his 2015 album Puamuna, and it’s a cover of Willie Dunn’s song
Davie Lee - Meet Me in the Bottoms
This is a field recording of the song made by Harold Courlander in Mississippi in 1950
This song is derived from the Piedmont blues song “Oh Lordy Mama,” first recorded by Buddy Moss in 1934
Bumble Bee Slim is credited with adding the lyrics to the original song that turned it into “Meet Me in the Bottom” for his 1936 recording
Buddy Boy Hawkins - Voice Throwin’ Blues
He was a country blues musician from either Alabama or Mississippi, and although he only recorded 12 songs during his two-year recording career between 1927 and 1929, he was an influential figure in Black country music
Not much is known about him outside of his recording career, but this is a version of “Hesitation Blues” in which he employs two voices, one supposedly a ventriloquist's dummy
The song is a popular blues song that was adapted from a traditional song
The verses tend to vary widely between versions, though the refrain is pretty consistent
Star Thistle - Hesitation Blues
A project from the mind of Winnipeg artist Uncle Sinner
That song is from his debut album, The Best of Star Thistle, released in 2020
Beck - Hollow Log
Contemporary American musician who got his start as a teenager performing folk music on city buses in Los Angeles
This is from the 1994 album One Foot in the Grave
Ferron - Slender Wet Branches
She’s a Canadian musician and poet from BC
This is off her 2013 album Thunder and Lighten-ing
Leonard Cohen - Elegy
From a 1957 album of poems by six Montreal poets
Cohen wrote this in 1955
Kaia Kater - White
Based in Toronto
This is from her 2016 album Nine Pin
This is a Sacred Harp piece from around 1810, more commonly called “Long Time Traveller”
It was apparently one of Abraham Lincoln’s favourite songs
Haruomi Hosono - It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down
He’s a very influential Japanese artist who has recorded in many genres over his 50 year career
He’s also the grandson of Masabumi Hosono, the only Japanese passenger and survivor of the Titanic’s sinking, which might explain why he recorded a version of this song
It’s one of many folk songs about the sinking of the Titanic, and its origins have been traced back to either Alabama or North Carolina
John C Reilly - Fathom the Bowl
You may know him better as an actor and comedian who’s starred in movies like Boogie Nights and Step Brothers, or from his character Dr. Steve Brule on Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job, but he’s also a really skilled musician with an interest in traditional music
He recorded this song for the 2006 album Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys
It’s a drinking song from England, likely from the 19th century
Pete Seeger - What a Friend We Have in Congress
Pete Seeger was a very influential folk singer and activist from New York who advocated for important social causes through his music
This is his own song
It’s a parody of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” a popular traditional gospel song
Marie Hare - The Jam on Gerry’s Rocks
Ballad singer from Strathadam, NB, known for her performances at the Miramichi Folksong Festival
This is one of the best known lumbering songs, and describes one of the dangers of lumbering: the log jam
Log jams occurred when logs got caught as timber was drifted downriver in the spring, and hundreds of logs caught and piled up behind them
River drivers had to go out onto these unsteady masses and try to break up the jam, which would often happen quickly, engulfing the men in a torrent of logs and water, and more often than not, leaving them dead
This song is very likely Canadian, though the origin of the song and the location of the incident in the song is unknown
Hare’s version is off the 1962 album Marie Hare of Strathadam, New Brunswick, Canada
David Francey - Come Rain or Come Shine
Scottish-born Canadian folksinger who started to pursue music as a career at the age of 45 after working as a carpenter and in railyards for 20 years
From his 2003 album Skating Rink
Stan Rogers - Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her
Born and raised in Ontario, but known for his maritime-influenced music that was informed by his time spent visiting family in Nova Scotia during summers
This is from the posthumous album From Coffee House to Concert Hall, released in 1999
This song was usually sung during the last few tasks before leaving the ship after a rough voyage
It seems that this song is a modern form of an older farewell shanty called “Across the Western Ocean,” which originated around 1850 during the peak of Irish immigration to North America
Pharis & Jason Romero - Cold Creek Shout
From Horsefly, BC
Off their 2022 album Tell 'Em You Were Gold, which was recorded live over six days in a 60-year-old barn beside the Little Horsefly River
This tune is an homage to both “Coal Creek March” and “Baptist Shout,” two of the couple’s favourite banjo tunes
