November + December Link Roundup

Happy 2024! November and December were busy with final projects and holiday travel, so I figured I’d wrap the two roundups into one.

This year, I traveled to New Brunswick to celebrate Christmas and while I was there, we drove out to Boiestown to find the grave of Peter Emberley, a young man from Prince Edward Island who died while working in the New Brunswick lumber woods in 1880. He was well-liked despite having only recently arrived in the province, and his friend John Calhoun wrote a song about his untimely death, which passed into the oral tradition and became one of New Brunswick’s best-known folk songs. The song effectively captures the dangers of logging and the humanity of the shanty boys; I think that’s part of the reason it’s remained a popular ballad in the province, as so many families (including my own) have been touched by logging deaths and injuries. We’ve played several recordings of the song on Barking Dog, so it was nice to pay my respects to the man himself.

Below, find some of my favourite videos, albums, and articles from the past two months.