Barking Dog: October 9, 2025
Reverend Gary Davis - I Will Do My Last Singing In This Land
He was from South Carolina but moved to Durham, North Carolina in the 20s and was ordained a Baptist minister in 1933, after which he began to play gospel music instead of the secular music he was previously known for
He moved to New York in the 40s, and he was later a prominent figure in the 1960s folk revival
This is from a collection of recordings made live at Newport Folk Festival in 1965
Pete Seeger, Brother Kirk, The Sesame Street Kids - Guantanamera
This is from the 1974 album Pete Seeger and Brother Kirk Visit Sesame Street
It’s a patriotic Cuban song, the lyrics of which are a poem by José Martí, with music by Joseíto Fernández
John Angaiak - Anuureluqa
A Yup’ik singer-songwriter born in Nightmute, Alaska in 1941
After serving in Vietnam in the US Armed Forces, he enrolled in the University of Alaska and became active in the school’s indigenous language workshop
This is from his 1971 album I’m Lost in the City
The song is about his grandmother
Dave Van Ronk - The Old Man
A member of the Greenwich Village folk scene in New York City, known as the “Mayor of MacDougal Street”, MacDougal Street being where practically every coffeehouse was located in the 60s
The song is by Bob Dylan, and it’s a reworking of a 19th century song called “John Doe,” which he got from the Almanac Singers
This is off his 1966 album No Dirty Names
Slow Leaves - Nothing Really Changes
From Winnipeg
Off the album In Solitude, For Company, which came out in April and features stripped-down songs from his previous albums
He included an earlier version of the song on his 2023 album Meantime
Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin - Love Farewell
They’re a San Francisco-based duo who started performing together in 1985, and were married in 1987
They’ve retired from touring, but continue playing music together
This comes from their 1989 album A Song That Will Linger
Stecher reconstructed the song from a song fragment he heard on a tape lent to him by John Cohen, folklorist and member of the New Lost City Ramblers
It seems to be a traditional American folk song
The McMillan’s Camp Boys - Hello Central
This is from their EP The McMillan’s Camp Boys Sing Their Gospel Favourites: Live at Steeple Green, which they recorded in February in Musquodoboit Harbour in Nova Scotia
This is a popular song written by Tin Pan Alley composer Charles K Harris in 1901
It was later recorded by the Carter Family in 1934
The Carter Family - The Cyclone of Rye Cove
Very influential American country and folk singing family from Virginia
They recorded this one in Del Rio, Texas for the Mexican radio station XERA around 1938
It’s about a tornado that occurred in Rye Cove Valley, Virginia in 1929, which killed thirteen children gathered in a schoolhouse and had a devastating impact on the tight-knit community
AP Carter, a main member of the group, was arranging a concert in a nearby valley when the tornado occurred, and he rushed to help in the rescue operation
Ella Hanshaw - Think It Over
She was a country and gospel singer from West Virginia who wrote her own songs rather than performing traditional hymns
Her music was never professionally recorded, but her granddaughter recently collaborated with Spinster Records to release her home recordings and church performances on an album called Ella Hanshaw’s Black Book, which came out in June
Charlie Parr - Henry Goes to the Bank
Contemporary country blues musician from Minnesota
This is off his 2013 album Barnswallow
Lotus Wight - Little Hat Jones
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 album Original Works for Voice and Banjo, which came out in May
Little Hat Jones - Bye Bye Baby Blues
He was a Texan blues musician who got his start busking on the streets of San Antonio in the 1920s
He got his nickname from a construction job he worked, where he wore a hat that had a torn brim
This recording was made in June of 1930 in San Antonio, Texas
Precious Bryant - The Truth
She was an American musician described as one of Georgia’s great blueswomen
She was first recorded by George Mitchell in 1967, and by the mid 1980s her fanbase had grown enough for her to perform internationally
This is the title track from her 2004 album
Bill Ballantyne - Tan Te
He’s a Cree elder, musician, and author from Saskatchewan, now based in Manitoba
This is from his second album, Encore, which seems to be from the 1980s
The title translates to “Where”
Automatic Shoes - Born In Time
The solo project of Matthew Joseph Hughes of the band Atari Ferrari
This is from the 2019 album 3D Vision & The California Blues, which is a collection of songs that Hughes say “sparked something inside of me as a kid”
This song is by Bob Dylan, who originally recorded it for his 1989 album Oh Mercy, but ended up releasing it in 1990 on Under the Red Sky
Leon Rosselson - The Third Intifada
Rosselson is a musician and children’s book writer from England who first became widely known in the 1960s by performing his satirical songs on the BBC show That Was the Week That Was
This is from his 2008 album A Proper State
Si Kahn - When the War Is Done
Kahn is a community organiser and musician from Pennsylvania who moved to the south as an activist during the Civil Rights Movement
This is from his 2004 album We’re Still Here
The Western Thistles - Brushy Fork of John’s Creek
They’re a duo from Edmonton that have been playing together for two years
This is from their self-titled debut album, which they released in April
It’s a traditional tune from the southern United States
The Chancey Brothers, Art Rosenbaum, Gene Wiggins - Mole in the Ground
From an album of traditional music from northern Georgia, recorded by the folklorist and artist Art Rosenbaum and released in 1984
The Chancey Brothers were from Boardtown in Gilmer County, Georgia, and they grew up making and selling moonshine and playing mountain music
This one was recorded in October of 1978 in Boardtown
It’s a traditional American folk song that’s been widely commercially recorded
Hedy West - Single Girl
She was a folk singer from Georgia who was heavily influenced by her upbringing in a creative, politically active family, and she’s known particularly for writing the song “500 Miles”
This is a song popularized by the Carter Family
West included it on her 1976 album Love, Hell and Biscuits
Smoky Babe - Going Back Home
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
Tom Paxton, Cathy Fink, Marcy Marxer - Rust on the Rails
Paxton is a folksinger and music educator who was involved in the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene in New York City and has remained a fixture on the international folk scene since
Fink and Marxer are a married duo that have been performing together for over 35 years
Cathy Fink is from Maryland, but began her career in the early 70s, busking and playing folk music in Canadian coffeehouses
She met Marcy Marxer, originally from Michigan, in Toronto in 1980, and they started writing songs together in 1983
Since then, they have released about 35 albums and received 14 Grammy nominations and 2 Grammy awards
This comes from their 2022 album All New, a collection of songs from weekly co-writing sessions Tom and Cathy held on Zoom during the pandemic
Michael Hurley - Ruben’s Train
Hurley was a member of the 1960s Greenwich Village scene, and continued performing until his death, especially in and around his home city of Portland, Oregon
He was also a cartoonist and painter who self-published several magazines and wrote several comic books featuring his werewolf characters Jocko and Boone
This is from the 1998 album Bellemeade Sessions
Sam Amidon - Reuben
Contemporary folk artist from Vermont
Off his 2021 self-titled album
This song is interesting because he calls it “Reuben” and uses the melody of the railroad song “Reuben,” but the lyrics are entirely from “Georgia Buck,” an old-time southern banjo breakdown
Sam Green & Group - I Ain’t Got Long
This is from the 1966 album The Real Bahamas (In Music And Song)
Renowned Bahamian rhyming singer Peter Elliot composed this song while in prison awaiting execution
A warden heard his singing and arranged a stay of execution and Elliot’s release
Richard Inman - Lake Town Blues
From Winnipeg
This song is originally from his 2016 self-titled album, though this is a live version from 2021
Fraser & DeBolt - Geneva
They were a Canadian folk duo that met at a workshop at the 1968 Mariposa Folk Festival
They were signed to Columbia Records at one point but never experienced commercial success, though their music has gained a cult following in recent decades
This is from the 2016 album This Song Was Borne, a compilation of previously unreleased music from the band’s career
Bob Dylan - I’d Hate to Be You on That Dreadful Day
This recording was made in New York City at the Folkways Studios, likely in October of 1962
Mama’s Broke - October’s Lament
They’re a duo from Nova Scotia who have been playing together for a decade
This comes from their 2022 album Narrow Line
Joe Hickerson - Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
He was a folk singer, songleader, and folklorist from Illinois, and served as Librarian and Director of the Archive of Folk Song at the Library of Congress for 35 years
He’s known for his work as a lecturer, researcher, and performer
This is from his 1976 album Drive Dull Care Away, Vol. 2
Cowboy folk song also known as “The Cowboy’s Lament” and “The Dying Cowboy”
Adaptation of a sea song called "The Sailor's Grave” which was written by Edwin Hubbell Chapin, published in 1839
Bruce Upshaw - Wonder Why My Baby Treat Me so Bad
He was a country blues musician from Alabama who was recorded by music historian George Mitchell in Georgia in 1963
Ledward Kaapana - Wai Okeaniani
He’s an influential Grammy-nominated Hawaiian slack-key guitar player who grew up in a musical family and was learned to play the guitar and several other instruments from his parents and uncle
This is off a 1993 album of live performances recorded at the Barns of Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Virginia in 1992
Slack-key style developed in the late 1800s when Portuguese settlers and Mexican cowboys brought the guitar to Hawai’i
The title of this track means “Sparkling Water”
Kenichi Nagira - 汽車が見えたら (If You See a Train)
He’s a Japanese folksinger, actor, storyteller, and essayist, and is also an expert on traditional Japanese pubs
He was inspired by slightly earlier Japanese folk artists like Tomoya Takaishi and Wataru Takada
Since the late 1990s, much of his music has been influenced by bluegrass and country music
This is from his 1974 album Kenichi Nagira's Quirks
It takes the melody of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land”
Cannon’s Jug Stompers - Riley’s Wagon
The band was led by Gustavus “Gus” Cannon, and was known for helping to popularise jug bands
This recording was made for Victor Records in September of 1928
Ryan McNally - Julianne Johnson
McNally is Yukon-based multi-instrumentalist who gravitates towards traditional blues, jazz, and old-time music
“Julianne Johnson” is a traditional fiddle tune that was popularized by Galax, Virginia fiddle player Emmett Lundy in 1941
