Sam Collins - Graveyard Digger’s Blues
He was an early blues musician from Mississippi who recorded in the 20s and 30s
He made this recording in New York City in October of 1931
Mance Lipscomb - Haunted House Blues
Texan blues artist who worked as a tenant farmer in Texas most of his life, but came to prominence in 1960 during the resurgence of country blues
This led to him recording an album in 1961, called Trouble in Mind, and appearing at the first Monterey Folk Festival in 1963
This one was recorded in Berkeley, California in 1969
It was first recorded by Bessie Smith in 1924
Moes Haven - Worm Eaters
They’re a band formed by Matt Farley and Tom Scalzo while they were studying at Providence College in Rhode Island in the 1990s
In 2006, they completed a project where they recorded one album every day
Farley is also known for cult-classic films including Evil Puddle, Freaky Farley, and Don’t Let the Riverbeast Get You, all of which we at Barking Dog recommend for the Halloween season, and Scalzo often appears as an actor in those films
This one is off their 2006 album (Sh)oc(k)tober
Doc Watson, Gaither Carlton - He’s Coming to Us Dead
Watson was a musician from North Carolina who had a celebrated 60-year career
Carlton was his father-in-law, a North Carolina fiddle and banjo player
This is off the 2020 album Doc Watson and Gaither Carlton, a collection of recordings from 2 of Watson’s earliest concerts, performed in Greenwich Village in 1962
Carlton joined him at these concerts, in some of the only appearances he made outside of his home state
After these concerts, Watson’s career as an esteemed acoustic guitarist really took off, and he went on to receive eight Grammy awards and the National Medal of Arts
They got this song from the recording by Grayson and Whitter, made in October of 1927
The song was written by Black Tin Pan Alley composer Gussie Lord Davis, who was active in the 1890s
Though Watson states that it’s a Civil War song, scholars have noted that there isn’t anything concrete that links it to that conflict
HN Dickens - The Golden Pen
This is off the 1957 album Old-Time Tunes of the South
Dickens was a musician, logger, and carpenter from Carroll County, Virginia who lived in Baltimore, Maryland at the time this was recorded
He composed this song using fragments from other songs and ballads he had heard
Slow Leaves - Matters Now
Stage name of Winnipeg artist Grant Davidson
This is from his latest album The Ruins of Things Unfinished, released in May
Louise Bichan - Mammy Scott
She’s a Maine-based fiddle player and singer originally from the Orkney Islands of Scotland
This is from her new album Binnorie, which is out tomorrow
It’s a collection of music, archival field recordings, and folk tales that Bichan originally presented at her All Hallows’ Eve live show
John Jacob Niles - The Sea Witch
He was an American musician, composer, folklorist, and collector of traditional ballads who was an influential figure during the folk revival of the 1960s
This is off his 1958 album I Wonder As I Wander
It was part of his early repertoire, though he later rewrote the melody to better suit his performing style
Stan Rogers - The Maid on the Shore
Born and raised in Ontario, but known for his maritime-influenced music
From his 1977 album Fogarty’s Cove
The song likely originated in Scotland, and has been found in Ireland and England as well, but it is much more widespread in the US and particularly in Canada
Victoria Spivey - Blood Thirsty Blues
Spivey was an influential blues singer and record company founder from Texas who collaborated with artists like Lonnie Johnson, Louis Armstrong, and Bob Dylan over the course of her 40-year career
This track was released by OKeh Records in 1928
Scrapper Blackwell, Brooks Berry - Cold Blooded Murder
Blackwell was an American blues musician from South Carolina who played piedmont and Chicago blues
He’s best known for the guitar-piano duo he formed with Leroy Carr, though he’s joined by Kentucky blues singer Brooks Berry on this one, who he met while both were living in Indianapolis
This is from their 1963 album My Heart Struck Sorrow, and they recorded it in Indianapolis in 1959
Lonnie Johnson - Blue Ghost Blues
American blues and jazz singer born into a family of Louisiana musicians in 1899
Pioneer of jazz guitar and jazz violin
Recognized as the first to play an amplified violin and as one of the originators of the single-string guitar solos that are so popular in contemporary rock, blues, and jazz
This is his second recording of the song, made in 1938
Uncle Sinner - When Jesus Comes
Winnipeg
From his 2008 album Ballads and Mental Breakdowns
He got this song from Bob Dylan’s 1975 recording, and it’s unclear whether Dylan wrote the song or got it from a traditional source
Mississippi Sheiks - Dead Wagon Blues
They were an American guitar and fiddle group popular in the 1930s
Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon were the core members
They made this recording for Bluebird Records in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1935
Mama’s Broke - Fifolet Waltz
They’re a duo from Nova Scotia who have been playing together for a decade
This is from their album Reunion, which came out in August
Lars Larholm - Man in the Long Black Coat
He’s a Swedish musician and producer, and this is from his 2020 single Rare Moments #2
It’s a song by Bob Dylan, who released it on his 1989 album Oh Mercy
Any Day Now - Love Sick
They’re a Danish band, and this is a recent single
It’s a cover of Bob Dylan’s 1997 song, from his album Time Out of Mind
Roland Olofsson - Forgetful Heart
He’s a Swedish musician, and this is a cover of the song by Bob Dylan, who recorded it for his 2009 album Together Through Life
Cliff Carlisle - When I’m Dead and Gone
Carlisle was a country and blues musician from Kentucky known as a yodeller and as an early adopter of the Hawaiian steel guitar in country music
This recording is from 1936
Jimmie Gordon - Graveyard Blues (Dead and Gone Blues)
He was a blues musician from Chicago who often accompanied other blues musician on piano, though he also made many solo recordings, including this one from 1937, which he recorded for Decca Records
Phil Ochs - The Passing of My Life
Ochs was an American protest singer who grew up all over the United States, but moved to New York City in 1962 to establish himself in the Greenwich Village folk scene
This is from a 1989 collection of recordings made for Broadside Magazine between 1962 and 1964
He wrote this song after a conversation he had with the folk singer Peter La Farge
Kenneth Peacock - Jimmy Whalen
He was an ethnomusicologist from Toronto who was on the staff for what is now the Canadian Museum of Civilization
His projects for the museum covered practically every part of Canada, and he seems to have learned this song while researching the folk music of Newfoundland in the 1950s
He’s remembered for the impact this research had on the folk music revival in Canada in the mid 20th century
This is an Irish song
Gordon Bok - Spirit Song of George’s Bank
Bok is a folklorist and musician from Maine who’s released almost 40 albums since the mid-1960s
This is from his 1992 album Schooners
Bok notes that this ghost story can be found from Maine to Newfoundland: “The story I heard was that the schooner Haskell, out of Gloucester, was anchored near George's when a sudden gale parted her ground tackle and she went charging, bare-poled, down through the fleet. She cut the schooner Johnston almost in two, killing all her men. On every voyage thereafter, a crew would appear on her deck at night and go through the motions of fishing. After a few trips, no crew would even sign on her, and she rotted at the wharf.”
Margaret Christl, Ian Robb, Grit Laskin - Oh, No, Not I
Laskin is an Ontario luthier and musician whose guitars have been exhibited in several art museums
Robb and Christl are British-born artists who immigrated to Canada as young adults and recorded a collection of folk songs found in the eastern provinces of Canada in 1976, called The Barley Grain For Me
They got this song from the folklorist Kenneth Peacock, who collected it from Everett Bennett of St. Paul’s, Newfoundland
Joan Baez - Gacela of the Dark Death
Baez is one of the best known musicians to come out of the 1960s folk revival
She performed for over 60 years and released over 30 albums before her semi-retirement in 2019
This is from her 1968 album Baptism, a collection of poems both spoken and sung
The lyrics are a poem by Federico García Lorca, put to music by Peter Schickele
Bob Wiseman - Who Am I
He’s a founding member of Blue Rodeo, as well as a solo artist, author, and film composer
This comes from his 2006 album Theme and Variations
Dave Gunning - Raven’s Glen
He’s a musician from Pictou County, Nova Scotia who began playing professionally in the 1990s
This is off his album Field Notes, which came out in February
Hazel Bibbings - Old Roger is Dead
This is from the 1981 album An English Folk Music Anthology, recorded between 1974 and 1980 by Sam Richards and Tish Stubbs
Hazel Bibbings was a housewife who they recorded in Plympton, Devon, and this song was popular across Britain by the late 1800s
By the time this version was recorded, the song was no longer organically used in children’s games unless revived by a teacher, though it did remain in tradition as lore remembered by adults
Alan Mills - The Dead Horse
Canadian folk singer, writer, and actor from Lachine, Quebec
Known for popularising Canadian folk music, and for writing the music to “I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly”
Made a member of the Order of Canada in 1974 for his contributions to Canadian folklore
This is from his 1957 album Songs of the Sea
The liner notes state that sailors were often in debt to their boarding house for both their food and clothes, so when they left to sea, they often used their first month’s rent to pay the bill
At the end of their first month, a custom called “burying the dead horse” would be performed, where the sailors made a straw figure that represented their debts called the “dead horse,” which they dragged around the ship while singing this shanty
They brought it to the top of the mast and let it fall into the sea
Raffi - Five Little Pumpkins
He’s an Armenian-Canadian children’s musician who’s been active since the 1970s and is known for songs like “Baby Beluga” and “Bananaphone”
This is from his 1976 album Singable Songs for the Very Young
Andrew Gunsberg - Pumpkins One Two Three
He’s an educator and children’s musician who recorded a series of albums for Folkways Records in the 1980s
This is off his 1981 album Saddle Up Your Pony and Other Movement Songs for Children
The Foggy Hogtown Boys - Pumpkin Patch
They’re a bluegrass band from Toronto that have been playing together for 25 years, and this is from their 2007 album Pigtown Fling
Goldmine Pickers - Riding on a Load of Hay, Carving the Pumpkin
They’re a band that formed in Indiana in 2003 and have played together sporadically since
This is from their 2004 self-titled album
Lotus Wight - Midnight
He’s from the Kawartha Lakes region of Ontario, and he’s known as part of the group Sheesham, Lotus and Son
This is from his 2023 album Ode to the Banjo
Barking Dog: October 29, 2026
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