Barking Dog: January 25, 2024
This Week’s Theme: Off-Genre
This week is a little different from our usual programming, and it’s something we’ve been wanting to do for awhile. Instead of focusing only on folk and roots recordings, we look at how folk and roots have informed and been adapted into different genres. So you will hear the traditional songs you always hear on the show, but you’ll also hear jazz, rock, punk, new age, and electronic versions of those songs. I’m excited to play songs and artists from genres we don’t usually hear on Barking Dog.
Lead Belly - Black Betty
Lead Belly was born in Louisiana in late 1880s, and went to prison in Texas in 1918, but was released early after singing a song for the governor of Texas
He was incarcerated again in 1930, and the ethnomusicologists and folklorists John and Alan Lomax met him in prison while they were making field recordings of inmates
Once he was released, he made a number of recordings and became widely known for both his blues and folk recordings
“Black Betty” is a traditional African American work song, and the term “Black Betty” has been used to refer to several objects in different places, including a liquor bottle, a vehicle that carried men to prison, or the whip used on incarcerated labourers
Clifford Jordan - Black Betty
Jordan was a jazz tenor sax player from Chicago
His version of Black Betty is off his 1965 album These Are My Roots: Clifford Jordan Plays Leadbelly
Ram Jam - Black Betty
They were a short-lived rock band from New York City that was active between 1977 and 1978
They’re mostly known for this recording
Solomon Linda’s Original Evening Birds - Mbube
They were a South African vocal group that formed in 1933 and performed until 1944
This song is the origin of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” which was adapted into English by The Tokens in 1961
This recording is from 1939
Kronos Quartet, Sam Amidon, Brian Carpenter, Aoife O’Donovan, Lee Knight - Mbube (Wimoweh)
Kronos Quartet is a string quartet from San Francisco that formed over 50 years ago
The quartet has performed music from many different genres and with many different artists, including Allen Ginsberg, Paul McCartney, and Björk
This is from their 2020 album Long Time Passing: Kronos Quartet and Friends Celebrate Pete Seeger
Seeger’s group, The Weavers, introduced “Mbube” to western audiences through their 1951 recording of the song under the title “Wimoweh”
Horace Helms and the Shady Grove Partners - Amazing Grace
From the second in a set of albums of field recordings from Union County, North Carolina from 1980
“Amazing Grace” is a hymn published in 1779 by John Newton
It became popular again in the 1960s and has since become a folk standard
Sonny Treadway - Amazing Grace
This is off the 1997 Arhoolie Records album Sacred Steel: Traditional Sacred African-American Steel Guitar Music in Florida
The steel guitar was originally created to play Hawaiian music, but in the 1930s it was adopted into the sacred music of the House of God, an African-American Holiness Pentecostal church
Treadway was from Michigan and grew up playing the steel guitar, travelling throughout the United States to play at services
Pete Seeger - Shenandoah
Seeger was a folk singer and activist from New York who advocated for Civil Rights, environmental causes, and other important issues through his music
“Shenandoah” is a traditional American folk song and sea shanty, traced back to the early 19th century
It likely came from American and Canadian voyageurs who travelled down the Missouri River, though it’s unclear whether it originated in French or English
“Shenandoah” refers to Skenendoah, an Oneida chief
Eynhallow - Shenandoah
That’s a new-age recording of the song from the 2022 album Earth Song
Eynhallow means “Holy Island” in ancient Norse, and the project combines traditional Celtic instruments and modern new-age sounds
The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem - Finnegan’s Wake
The Clancy Brothers were a very influential Irish folk group primarily known for their involvement in the American folk revival of the 1960s
Makem was an Irish artist best-known for his work with the Clancy brothers, with whom he performed throughout the 1960s
This is from their 1961 album A Spontaneous Performance Recording
“Finnegan’s Wake” is an Irish-American ballad published in 1864 that was popular in music halls of the time
It later became popular among Irish folk performers during the mid-century folk revival
Pete Seeger plays the banjo on this one
Dropkick Murphys - Finnegan’s Wake
They’re a Celtic punk band from Massachusetts that have been performing since the mid-1990s
Their version of “Finnegan’s Wake” is from their 1998 album Do Or Die
Reverend Robert Wilkins - It Just Suits Me
Wilkins was a country blues artist from Mississippi known for his versatility across such genres as ragtime, gospel, and blues
He performed in Memphis in the 20s and 30s, and capitalised on the jug band craze of the time by starting one of his own
Wilkins recorded for Victor and Brunswick between 1928 and 1936, but quit playing music in 1936 after he witnessed a murder at the place where he was performing
In 1950, he became an ordained minister, and in 1964, at the age of 68, he began to make appearances at folk festivals and started to record again
This is off the 2014 compilation album Prodigal Son, released by Bear Family Records
It’s a traditional African American spiritual, likely from the Georgia Sea Islands
Uncle Sinner - That Suits Me
From Winnipeg
Off his 2020 album Trouble of This World
The Golden Gate Quartet - God’s Gonna Cut ‘Em Down
They are a vocal quartet formed in Virginia by four high school students in 1934
They are still active today, but have undergone several changes in membership
This is a traditional American folk song that’s been recorded in many genres
This version was recorded in 1946
Elvis Presley - Run On
Presley recorded his version of the song in 1966 for his 1967 gospel album How Great Thou Art
Moby - Run On
A remix of the Landfordaires’ 1947 recording of the song off his 1999 album Play
Ethel Minifie - The Poor Little Girls from Ontario
From an album of folk songs of Ontario, collected and compiled by Edith Fowke in 1958
Minifie was from Peterborough
This song began circulating in Ontario in the late 19th century when the young men of Ontario were being lured to Saskatchewan and Alberta (then part of the Northwest Territories) by the offer of free homesteads
Minifie learned this around 1908 in her home in Frankford in eastern Ontario, though Fowke collected versions from all over Ontario, some learned around 1890 by their singers
Daniel Romano - Poor Girls of Ontario
He’s an artist from Welland, Ontario who has already covered a wide range of genres during his relatively short career
From his 2010 album Workin’ for the Music Man
Mississippi John Hurt - Shortnin’ Bread
American country blues singer and guitarist from Avalon, Mississippi
His recordings for OkEh Records were included on the incredibly influential 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music, and in 1963 a copy of his song “Avalon Blues” was discovered, which led the musicologist Dick Spottswood to find Hurt in Avalon
Hurt performed at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival, which brought further attention to his music, and he toured extensively throughout the US and recorded 3 albums
This is an African American folk song dating back to at least the 1890s that likely originated on plantations in the southern states
Boyfriend - Shortenin’ Bread
This is from the 2006 album Karazma Reimagined, a compilation cover album of the 2001 album Karazma by the outsider comedy duo Canned Hamm
The album features artists like Neil Hamburger, Destroyer, and Nardwuar The Human Serviette, though I can’t find any specific information about Boyfriend
Lead Belly - Black Girl (In the Pines)
Another one from Lead Belly
This is an old American folk song found in both Anglo and African American traditions, and it probably came from the Appalachian region of the United States
This version was possibly recorded in the summer of 1947
Nirvana - Where Did You Sleep Last Night
A live version of the song, recorded for MTV in New York in 1993
Kurt Cobain got the song from one of Lead Belly's recordings
Jean Ritchie - The Hangman Song
She learned traditional folksongs in the oral tradition from friends and family during her youth in Kentucky, and in adulthood moved to New York to work as a social worker, where she met folk musicians like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Alan Lomax
In 1952, she received a Fulbright scholarship to study the connections between American and British ballads, and travelled to the UK where she recorded many well-known traditional singers
She continued to perform for the rest of her life, and passed away at her home in Kentucky in 2015, at the age of 92
This song is also known as “The Maid Freed from the Gallows” and “Gallows Pole”
It was first collected by Francis James Child in the 19th century
It’s one of many ballads with the theme of a woman pleading for someone to buy her freedom from the hangman
The song may have originated in continental Europe, as there are many versions from Finland, Sweden, and even Lithuania
In this version, it’s a man, rather than a woman, who’s awaiting execution
Led Zeppelin - Gallows Pole
That's their arrangement of the American folk musician Fred Gerlach's version of the song
They included it on their 1970 album Led Zeppelin III
US Elevator - Beech Haven Ain’t My Home
US Elevator is a band founded by American musician Johnny Irion, the grand nephew of author John Steinbeck and former husband of Sarah Lee Guthrie, daughter of Arlo Guthrie and grandaughter of Woody Guthrie
This is off the 2019 EP I Don't Like the Way This World's A-Treatin' Me, a collection of previously unreleased Woody Guthrie songs
Guthrie wrote this song in 1954, though he never recorded it
It was rediscovered in 2016 when literature professor Will Kaufman unearthed it at the Woody Guthrie Archives
Guthrie wrote the song while living at the Beach Haven apartment complex, which was owned by Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump
Kaufman wrote that Guthrie viewed Trump as someone who "stirs up racial hate and implicitly profits from it,” and Guthrie wrote the song specifically to draw attention to the racist rental policies that Trump implemented
K’NAAN - With God On Our Side
He's a Somali-Canadian rapper perhaps best-known for his song "Wavin' Flag"
This is from the 2012 compilation album The Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International
K'naan adapted the lyrics to reflect his experience growing up in Somalia
Goddard Lieberson - Ring Around the Rosie
This is from the 1971 Columbia Records album Medicine, Mind and Music: A Consideration of Their Links Through the Centuries
It's a traditional play song and nursery rhyme from Europe, and although there's a widespread belief that the song originated with the 1665 bubonic plague epidemic in England, this story is false, having become popular in the mid-20th century
Instead, the song is likely simply a children's play song, and the lyrics, as with many folk songs, have been misinterpreted and transformed over time and space to include phrases that may in retrospect seem linked to historical events
Lord Invader - Ring a Rosy
He was a prominent calypso musician from Trinidad who began his music career in the 1930s
His tailor gave him his stage name when he commented, "You should call yourself Lord Invader so when you go up to the city you’ll be invading the capital”—so he did, and headed to the capital city Port of Spain in 1937, where he performed in many calypso competitions and recorded for RCA’s Bluebird label
He later travelled to NYC to record with Decca and promote calypso music to wider audiences
After a few years he returned to Trinidad where he continued to write music and opened his own calypso club
This is from his 1960 album West Indian Folksongs for Children
While the recording is called “Ring a Rosy,” the lyrics are a medley of children's rhymes including “Jack and Jill” and “Humpty Dumpty”
Mary McCaslin - Don’t Fence Me In
She was a folk musician from California who began playing in the mid-1960s
This is from her 1977 album Old Friends
"Don't Fence Me In" is a popular song written in 1934 by Cole Porter and Robert Fletcher for the unproduced film Adios, Argentina
It was later repurposed for the 1944 film Hollywood Canteen, in which it's sung by Roy Rogers
David Byrne - Don’t Fence Me In
He’s best-known as the lead singer of new wave band Talking Heads
This recording is from the 1990 album Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter
Hobart Smith - Railroad Bill
An old-time musician who was rediscovered in the 60s after performing throughout the first half of the 20th century, often with his sister Texas Gladden
The song is about Morris Slater, a former circus hand and turpentine worker who turned to a life of crime due to the terrible conditions in which turpentine workers lived
Slater became Railroad Bill, an African American outlaw who broke into and stole from railroad cars
He’s now remembered through folklore and folk song
Recorded in 1967
The Gun Club - Railroad Bill
They were a post-punk band from Los Angeles that played between 1979 and 1996
This was recorded live at Club 88 in LA in March of 1981
John Jackson - John Henry
He was a piedmont blues musician from Virginia who had given up playing music in his community by the time folklorist Chuck Perdue found him in 1949
Arhoolie Records released his first recordings in the early 60s, and he toured Europe, played folk festivals, and recorded for a few other record companies during that time
This is one of many tunes about folk hero John Henry, an African American railroad worker on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad who raced a steam drill in the late 1800s and won, but died shortly after
Recorded in October of 1997 in Virginia
Jerry Lee Lewis - John Henry
From his 1970 album Old Tyme Country Music
Laura Veirs - John Henry Lives
She's an American musician based in Oregon who's been playing since the late 1990s
This is from her 2001 album The Triumphs and Travails of Orphan Mae
Alan Mills and the Four Shipmates - Rio Grande
Canadian folk singer, writer, and actor from Lachine, Quebec
Made a member of the Order of Canada in 1974 for his contributions to Canadian folklore
From the 1957 album Songs of the Sea
This is a popular sea shanty that was often sung as the sailors left their homeport, regardless of whether they were headed to the Rio Grande or not
Michael Stipe, Courtney Love, Jackshit - Rio Grande
Michael Stipe is a musician and artist best-known as the lead singer for REM, and Courtney Love is a musician and actress known as the vocalist and guitarist for the band Hole
From the 2013 compilation album Son of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys
Dyad - Henry Lee (Pellucid Remix)
From Victoria, BC
From their album No Pedlars or Preachers from 2006
It’s a remix of their version of the folk ballad “Henry Lee”
