Barking Dog: October 19, 2023
This Week’s Theme: Dogs
This week, we’ve got a themed episode for you in honour of the original barking dog, Lexi, who died last week at the age of at least 15 after living with my family for nearly ten years. She was the best dog I’ve ever known, and we wanted to do something to remember her, so this week we’re bringing you a show of songs about dogs, or at least songs with the word “dog” in the title.
Peggy Seeger - Little Brown Dog
She’s an American folk singer who’s been living in the UK for over 60 years
This is from her 1957 album Animal Folk Songs for Children: Selected from Ruth Crawford Seeger's Animal Folk Songs for Children
Ruth Crawford Seeger was Peggy’s mother, a composer, folk music collector, and the first woman to receive the Guggenheim Fellowship
She collected the song for Birmah H Grisson of Mississippi, who learned it as a child from her mother
Smoky Babe - Ain’t Got No Rabbit Dog
Smoky Babe was an itinerant musician originally from Mississippi who grew up working on farms in his region, then travelled around Alabama and Louisiana working on barges and as a mechanic during the day, and playing at clubs at night
From a 1996 album of recordings that the folklorist Harry Oster made of Smoky Babe in the early 1960s
He takes the tune from the popular song “Uncle Bud”
Johnny Richardson - My Dog Pal
He was a folksinger and mechanic from South Carolina who recorded four albums of children’s music for Folkways Records between the 50s and the 80s and performed around the world
He died in 2014 at the age of 105
That’s his own song from his 1971 album Lady Bug, Lady Bug and More Children’s Songs
Jimmie Strothers - Tennessee Dog
He was a Virginian musician active in the 30s and 40s
He performed in medicine shows and made a living as a musician after being blinded in a mine explosion
In 1936, he made recordings of thirteen of his songs for John and Alan Lomax while he was imprisoned at Richmond State Farm in Virginia for killing his wife
This is one of those recordings, and the song seems to have originated with the minstrel shows of the 19th and early 20th centuries
Hally Wood - Old Man, Will Your Dog Catch a Rabbit?
This is off a 1960 Folkways album called Hootenanny at Carnegie Hall
Wood was a musician and musicologist from Texas who moved to New York City after World War II to work with people like Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger
It’s unclear exactly where this song came from, though Wood probably learned it from Lead Belly, who recorded it at his last sessions in 1948
Cisco Houston - Hound Dog
Folksinger born in Delaware and raised in California who’s known particularly for his collaborations with musicians like Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, and Sonny Terry in the 30s and 40s
In the liner notes for the album this is from, Kenneth Goldstein describes the song as “a farmer complaining about his bad lot” and calling his dog to bay at the moon for him
It’s an old American folk song that’s been adopted and reshaped by many folksingers over the years, and has ultimately passed, in the words of the liner notes, “from the stage of the composed song to the collective ownership of the folk community as a whole”
Bryan Bowers - Dog
He’s an American musician often credited with introducing the autoharp to younger generations of musicians
From a 2007 album of 15 songs recorded at the Western Jubilee Warehouse Theatre in Colorado Springs, a venue owned by the western label Western Jubilee Recording Company
Recorded May of 2000
Michael Hurley - The Animal Song
Member of the 1960s Greenwich Village scene, also a cartoonist and painter
Got mononucleosis before he was able to record his first record, had to wait a few years, but when he had recovered enough, he recorded his first album on the same reel-to-reel that recorded Lead Belly’s Last Sessions
This is from that album from 1961
The album is aptly called First Songs
Chris Coole - Old Dog
He’s a musician from Toronto who’s currently a member of the Lonesome Ace Stringband, though he’s played with the Foggy Hogtown Boys, Sylvia Tyson, and David Francey
That’s from his 2009 album of the same name
Tony Schwartz - Dog’s Life
He was an agoraphobic sound archivist who spent much of his life documenting the sounds of his neighbourhood in New York City, though he also collected recordings from around the world by corresponding with international musicians
This is what you might call our “feature presentation” for today’s show—the entire 20-minute recording of Schwartz’s 1958 album An Actual Story in Sound of a Dog’s Life, which originally aired as part of the CBS Radio Workshop in 1957
We’ll hear the story of how Tony adopted his wire haired fox terrier and learned to take care of her
Actor and radio announcer Ralph Bell provides the narration
Richard Amerson - Dog Caught a Hog
He was a singer and harmonica player from Livingston, Alabama who was recorded by folklorists for the Library of Congress in the 30s and 40s, and later by Harold Courlander for Folkways Records
This one was recorded by the folklorists John and Ruby Lomax in Livingston in 1940
Alan Mills - Little Bingo
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
This is from his 1972 album 14 Numbers, Letters, and Animal Songs, with guitar by Bram Morrison of Sharon, Lois & Bram fame
It’s a very popular traditional English spelling song, the origins of which are unclear
The Song Swappers - Bingo Was His Name
Group of musicians with no formal music training, whose mission was to provide music that was accessible and easy to learn for all listeners, with songs selected to encourage group singing
This is from their 1955 album Camp Songs, on which they’re joined by a group of 6 to 11 year olds, with Pete Seeger and Erik Darling also accompanying
Stan Rogers - The Woodbridge Dog Disaster
This is from the posthumous compilation album From Coffee House to Concert Hall from 1999
The song is by English folk musician Royston Wood
Johnny Cash - Dirty Old Egg-Suckin’ Dog
This is from his 1968 album At Folsom Prison, recorded live at Folsom State Prison in California
The song was written by Jack Clement and originally recorded by Cash for his 1966 album Everybody Loves a Nut
Richard Chase - The Split Dog
This is off the 1957 album American Folk Tales and Songs by Jean Ritchie, Richard Chase, and Paul Clayton
This story is told by Richard Chase, a folklorist from Alabama
It was told throughout the southern mountains of the United States as far back as 1859
Chase heard this version in eastern Kentucky
Vera Hall - Mama’s Goin’ to Buy Him a Little Lap Dog
Hall was a deeply skilled folk singer from Alabama whose singing began to gain national attention in the 1930s
When ethnomusicologist John Lomax recorded her in the 1930s, he wrote that she had the loveliest voice he had ever recorded
She’s best known for her 1937 song “Trouble So Hard”, which was remixed by Moby in 2000
This was recorded in Livingston, Alabama in 1950 by the folklorist Harold Courlander
It’s a traditional African American lullaby
Fred Penner - Poco
He’s a children’s musician and entertainer from Winnipeg who’s been performing professionally since the early 1970s
This is from his 1989 album Collections
Madeleine Peyroux - Martha, My Dear
She’s an American musician who began her career as a street musician in Paris when she was a teenager
This is from her 2011 album Standing on the Rooftop
The song was written by Paul McCartney, whose Old English Sheepdog was named Martha
Othar Turner, The Rising Star Fife & Drum Band - Granny, Will Your Dog Bite
One of the last well-known fife players in the American fife and drums blues tradition
Born in Mississippi in 1907 and lived his life as a farmer in the Mississippi hill country
Scholars from nearby colleges recorded him and his friends in the 60s and 70s, and his band played at many local farm parties
Performed with his bandmates Jessie Mae Hemphill and Abe Young on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in 1982, and the group began to receive wider attention in the 1990s
Turner died at age 95 on February 27, 2003
From the 7th album in a series called Living Country Blues USA, which comprise field recordings made of American blues artists in 1980 by two German blues enthusiasts named Axel Kustner and Siegfried Christmann
This is a popular old-time instrumental tune that’s found under a number of names
Jess Morris - The Unfortunate Dog (Stony Point)
This recording was made by the folklorist John Lomax in Dallas, Texas in May of 1942
It’s a widely known traditional fiddle tune, possibly with British origins
Uncle Tupelo - I Wanna Be Your Dog
They were a band from Illinois that was active between 1987 and 1994
Jeff Tweedy, who later formed Wilco, was one of its members
This is from their 1992 album March 16-20, 1992
The song is by The Stooges, and was released as their first single for their self-titled debut album in 1969
Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers - Ya Gotta Quit Kickin’ My Dog Around
Tanner was an early American country music star from Georgia
He formed the Skillet Lickers in 1926 along with guitarist Riley Puckett, fiddler Clayton McMichen, and banjo player Fate Norris
The origins of this song aren’t completely clear—it could have been written by prolific songwriter and musician James Bland, though it might also be a traditional song from the Ozark Mountains, where a story like the one we’ll hear is said to have occurred
The song was also adopted as a theme song for Missouri Congressman James Beauchamp’s unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1912, the same year the song was first recorded
This recording is from 1926
Buffy Sainte-Marie - They Gotta Quit Kickin’
Folk artist born on the Piapot Plains Cree First Nation Reserve in Saskatchewan
She has been active since the early 1960s
From her 1968 album I’m Gonna Be a Country Girl Again
Bob Dylan, The Band - Kickin’ My Dog Around
Recorded in 1967 at Dylan’s home in Woodstock, New York as part of the Basement Tapes
Unspecified - Dog Barks, Close, Distant
This is off an album of sound effects recorded on-location by Cook Laboratories at the height of a period of excitement surrounding new recording technologies
Unspecified - Laika’s Heart
This is off a 1958 Folkways album called Voices of the Satellites, which chronicles the sounds of the first thirteen American and Soviet satellites launched during that year
That was a recording of the heartbeat of Laika, the first dog to go to space
Frank Fairfield - Call Me a Dog When I’m Gone
He’s a contemporary musician from California who plays old-time folk music
He largely quit performing in 2015, and now focuses on teaching music and studying 17th and 18th century violin repertoire
This song is off his 2009 self-titled album
That’s a traditional song also known as “Black Dog Blues”
Jim Jackson - Old Dog Blue
He was a blues musician from Mississippi, whose late 1920s recordings were popular during their time and influential for later generations of blues musicians
This is his recording of the folk song “Old Blue,” which likely originated from the minstrel shows of the late 19th century
It seems to be the first recording of the song, from 1928
Furry Lewis - Old Blue
American country blues artist from Memphis, Tennessee who began his recording career in 1927
His version is from his 1972 album Shake ‘Em On Down
Pete Seeger - Old Blue
Pete Seeger was a very influential folk singer and activist from New York who advocated for important social causes through his music
From his 1955 album Birds, Beasts, Bugs and Fishes (Little and Big)
The Nashville Quartet - Your Dog Loves My Dog
Off the 1990 album Sing for Freedom: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Its Songs
The Nashville Quartet were four male students from the American Baptist Theological Seminary
Fred Eaglesmith - He’s a Good Dog
He’s an Ontario musician who hopped a freight train going west as a teenager and began writing and performing his music
From his 2002 album Ralph’s Last Show
Howdy Forrester, John Hartford - Stump Tail Dog
Forrester was a bluegrass fiddler from Tennessee, known as a member of Roy Acuff’s Smoky Mountain Boys
Hartford was an American roots artist known for his fiddle and banjo playing, for his songs “Gentle on My Mind” and “This Eve of Parting,” and for his knowledge of Mississippi River lore
This is off Home Made Sugar and a Puncheon Floor, a collection of cassette recordings made by Hartford at Forrester’s home in 1989 and released in 2016
It’s a widespread American fiddle tune
Keith Dyck - Salty Dog
He’s a musician from Winnipeg who’s influenced by a bunch of different genres from around the world
This is off his 1992 debut album Keith Dyck’s Big Idea
Tommy Jarrell - The Joke on the Puppy
