Barking Dog: November 14, 2024
Star Thistle - Paper Cage
A brand new one from the Winnipeg artist
James Henry Diggs - Poor Boy Long Way from Home
This is from an album of blues music from southwest Virginia
It was recorded November 22, 1962
Not much is known about the artist himself, aside from the fact that he was born in 1917 and left Roanoke County, Virginia, to go to New York City in the 1960s
This is a traditional blues song of unknown origin also known as “Poor Boy Blues”
Chaim Tannenbaum - Farther Along
He’s a folk musician and philosophy professor from Montreal who’s been performing since the 1960s and has collaborated with artists like Kate & Anna McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III, though he only began recording his own music at the age of 68 after retiring and moving to New York
This is from his self-titled first album from 2016
This is a gospel song from the American south, the oldest printed version of which is from 1911
It’s uncertain who wrote it, but it’s been widely recorded by artists like Hank Williams, Pete Seeger, Johnny Cash, Elvis, and Brad Paisley
Ian & Sylvia - Four Rode By
Ian & Sylvia were a married duo who performed together from 1959 until their divorce in 1975, and each continued their music careers after their divorce
This is from the 2019 album The Lost Tapes, a collection of professional live recordings from the early 70s that Sylvia found in her attic early in 2019 while gathering memorabilia for the National Music Centre in Calgary
This is their own song, and it’s based on the story of the Wild McLean Boys, three brothers who terrorised pioneers in the Kamloops area in the 1870s
Barry Hall - Little Maggie
From a 1964 album called Virtuoso Five-String Banjo
Hall was from Vancouver, BC, and at the time of this recording, he was 20 years old
He got this song from a recording of the banjo player Obray Ramsey, and the song is related to “Country Blues” and “Darlin’ Corey”
It was collected in the Appalachian region in the 1800s
Shirley Collins - Lady Margaret and Sweet William
She’s an English folk singer, and likely one of the best-known names from the English folk revival of the 1960s and 70s
This is off her 1968 album The Power Of The True Love Knot
It’s an English ballad from at least the 17th century, also popular throughout the United States
It seems it remained in the oral tradition in Appalachia and the Ozarks even when it largely died out in England before many traditional recordings could be made of the song
Paul Clayton - Locks and Bolts
This is off the 1957 album American Folk Tales and Songs by Jean Ritchie, Richard Chase, and Paul Clayton
This one is sung by Clayton, an American folksinger and folklorist who specialised in traditional music
This song is British in origin but has been collected throughout the United States
The version Clayton performs comes from Rebecca Jones of North Carolina
Barbara Dane - Don’t Sing Love Songs
Dane died on October 20th at the age of 97
She was a folk, jazz, and blues singer from Detroit who was invited to tour with the jazz guitarist Alvino Rey’s band as a teenager, but turned him down to instead sing at factory gates, in union halls, and at demonstrations for racial equality, and she remained an activist for the rest of her life
This comes from her 1967 album Anthology of American Folk Songs
It’s a version of the ballad commonly titled “Fair and Tender Ladies,” which is considered an Appalachian ballad
Phil Ochs - What Are You Fighting For
He was an American protest singer who grew up all over the United States, but moved to New York City in 1962 to establish himself as a folksinger in the Greenwich Village folk scene
This is from an issue of Broadside magazine that consists entirely of Ochs’ songs, from 1976
John Dee Holeman - I’m Going to Dig Myself a Hole
He was a Piedmont blues artist from North Carolina who was also a skilled buckdancer in his youth
This was recorded live in Paris in 1992
The song is by Arthur Crudup, who recorded it in 1951
The Bronzemen - Let’s Go ‘Round the Wall
Nothing is known about them, but several 1939 radio programs they performed on were preserved, which is where that song comes from
It’s a traditional African American spiritual, likely from the Georgia Sea Islands
Yarmouth Sea Captains - Shenandoah
From the 2003 album Songs of the Sea, produced by the Helen Creighton Folklore Society
Creighton was a prolific folklorist from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, who collected, compiled, and wrote about folklore mainly from the east coast of Canada between 1928 and 1989
This was recorded in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 1943
It’s 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
Malvina Reynolds - The Little Mouse
Malvina Reynolds came to folk music later in her life, when she met Pete Seeger and other folk singers when she was in her 40s
She’s known particularly for writing the song “Little Boxes,” though she wrote and recorded a large catalogue of music during her career
This is from the 2000 compilation album Ear to the Ground
She was inspired to write the song after reading the following notice in the San Francisco Chronicle on July 7, 1976:
A mouse loose in the Central Clearing House nibbled through a computer cable yesterday, causing a short-circuit that paralyzed check clearing operations for Buenos Aires banks and stock exchange
Wataru Takada - Join the Self-Defense Forces
He was a Japanese folk musician who came from a family of artists and activists, and was active in the Kansai folk movement which began in the late 1960s
In 1966, music critic Kazuo Mitsuhashi introduced him to American folk music, and he learned banjo and worked towards becoming a folksinger while still attending high school
This is off his 1969 album, the title of which translates to Five Red Balloons
The song is satirical, parodying the slogans used by the Japanese Self-Defence Forces, which was focused on street solicitation during the time Takada recorded it
He retired the song after the Defence Agency asked to use it as a promotional song and after someone took the lyrics seriously and actually joined the Self-Defence Forces
The song uses the same tune as the next song we’ll hear
Pete Seeger - Andorra
Seeger was a folk singer and an activist from New York who advocated for countless social causes through his music for 75 years
This is from his 1965 live album The Bitter and the Sweet, recorded at the Bitter End Coffee House in Greenwich Village
The words to the song are by Malvina Reynolds with music by Seeger
Bob Gibson - Army of Children
Gibson was an influential American folk singer known particularly for his work during the folk revival of the 50s and 60s
This is off his 1980 album The Perfect High
He performs it with Anne Hills
Victor Jara - El Martillo
He was a Chilean musician, poet, teacher, theatre director, and activist who was tortured and killed in 1973 during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet
His work is widely remembered and celebrated throughout the world for its focus on peace, love, and social justice
This is from his 1969 album Pongo en Tus Manos Abiertas, which translates to “I put in your open hands”
It’s his version of “If I Had a Hammer,” written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays in 1949
John Fizer - Tibetan Bells
This recording was released in 2023 on the album Treasure Man, which was produced by James Johnson
Johnson first became acquainted with Fizer as a local character who lived in his old Volvo, play chess, and filled a “treasure tree” with trinkets and gems which he let children take as they passed
Johnson got to know him, and Fizer showed him a collection of cassettes of his old performances from the 1970s, which Johnson then remastered
He says of Fizer: “All John has ever really wanted in life, beside making a lot of children happy, is for his songs to be released on vinyl”
Fizer is now living in a nursing facility in Northern California, and his recordings are finally available for everyone to hear again
Pharis & Jason Romero - Across the Bridge
From Horsefly, BC
From the 2013 album Long Gone Out West Blues
The New Lost City Ramblers - Railroading and Gambling
They were a group formed by John Cohen, Mike Seeger, Tom Paley in 1958
This is from their first album
The song is by Uncle Dave Macon, who recorded it in 1938
Walter Gavitt Ferguson - Good Day
He died last year at the age of 103
He was a Costa Rican calypso singer born in 1919 who spent almost his whole life in a small fishing village
Ferguson started recording his music on tapes in the 1970s after one of his sons gave him a tape recorder, and he sold his music to travellers from around the world
He did this until the 1990s, when he retired from music
In 2018, to recover some of his lost music—since each tape was unique and he never wrote down his lyrics—one of his sons put out a call for help to find more of his tapes in preparation for his 100th birthday, which resulted in a worldwide effort and several volumes of newly discovered music, and the tape hunt still continues
Clannad - Teidhir Abhaile Riú
They were an Irish band active between 1970 and 2024 and composed of three siblings and their twin uncles
This is from their 1974 album Clannad 2
It’s a traditional Irish folk song, the lyrics of which relate a young woman being told to return home after her match has been made
The next four songs share the same melody
Granville Bowlin - Charlie’s Neat
“Bad Eye” Bowlin, as he was known, was a miner and farmer from Kentucky who folklorist and musician John Cohen recorded in 1959
Originally a Scottish song, though also popular in Ireland and the US, especially Appalachian region--It’s a well-known dance tune in Kentucky
From at least the early 1700s
Gillian Welch, David Rawlings - Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss
Welch and Rawlings are one of the best-known contemporary American roots duos, and they’ve been nominated for an Oscar and have won a Grammy together
This is from their Grammy-winning 2020 album All the Good Times, which is a collection of cover songs and traditional folk songs
Bob Dylan - Blackjack Davey
It’s a traditional Anglo-Scottish border ballad that’s extremely popular throughout Britain, Ireland, and North America
He recorded this version in Mansfield, Massachusetts in 1993
Jerry Garcia, David Grisman - Shady Grove
Garcia was a musician from California, best known as a main member of the Grateful Dead
David Grisman is a mandolinist who combines folk, jazz, and bluegrass in a genre he calls “Dawg music”
This is from their 1996 album of the same name
Traditional Appalachian folk song
There are many variations of this song, with at least 300 stanzas recorded by the early 21st century
Mrs. Stan Marshall - A Maid I Am in Love
This is a field recording from Amherst, Nova Scotia
In her liner notes, Helen Creighton, the collector of this song, explains that she was surprised that the name of the hero of the song was Jutney, when more typical names like Willy, John, and Jimmy often appear in song
In fact, the hero’s name is most often Johnny in other versions of the song
The song is most often called “Short Jacket and White Trousers” or “Maid That’s Deep In Love”
Uncertain where the song comes from, but it’s likely an English sea ballad
Dyad - Wake O Wake You Drowsy Sleeper
From Victoria, BC
Off their 2006 album No Pedlars or Preachers
American folk ballad, likely with origins in Britain
Variants of the song include “Katie Dear,” “Molly Dear,” and “Silver Dagger”
Fiver - Carry on Warm
Stage name of Toronto-based artist Simone Schmidt
This is from a 2017 album of fictional field recordings collected from the files of people who were incarcerated at the Rockwood Asylum for the Criminally Insane in Kingston, Ontario between 1856 and 1881
The album is called Audible Songs from Rockwood
Blind Lemon Jefferson - Wartime Blues
He’s called the Father of Texas Blues, and he was one of the first musicians to record solo voice and blues guitar
He recorded this one in 1927
Ruth Moody - Far and Wide
From Winnipeg, a member of the Wailin’ Jennys
Off a split EP with Old Man Luedecke from 2014
Jean Carignan, Bob Hill, Edgar Morin, Aldor Morin - Danse Carré
This is off the 1956 album Songs and Dances of Quebec
It’s a square dance, with fiddle by Carignan, guitar by Bob Hill, calls and jigs by Edgar Morin, and harmonica by Aldor Morin
Peyton Hopkins - The World’s Unwilling Poor
He was a pastor, musician, and poet from Oklahoma who recorded two albums of union and labour songs in the 1980s
He later ran a furniture ministry in Florida, driving around and giving furniture to those in need
From the 1981 album They’ve Moved My Job to Georgia or Was It Tennessee?
Jimmy Collier, Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick - Everybody’s Got a Right to Live
At the height of his career Collier was on Sesame Street, played at Carnegie Hall, and played for Martin Luther King, Jr.
Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick was a civil rights activist who was an associate of Martin Luther King Jr. in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, where he was the director of folk culture
This is from their joint album of the same name from 1968
Dan Wriggins - This Land is Not Our Land
He’s a musician and poet originally from Maine who’s a member of the band Friendship
This is from a Utah Phillips tribute album that he released in 2021 called Still Is
He states: I was on a lobster boat stuffing dead herring into bait bags when I first heard ‘Enola Gay’ on the Downeast Maine community radio station WERU. My captain Teddy told me ‘that’s the Golden Voice of the Great Southwest.’ I’ve ever since been inspired by Utah Phillips’ clarity and courage.”
This is Phillips’ rewrite of Woody Guthrie’s song “This Land is Your Land”
Lonesome Ace Stringband - Putting on the Ring
From Toronto, ON
They released this single in July
