Barking Dog: November 25, 2021
This Week’s Theme: Songs Performed by Women
June Lazare - Down in Dear Old Greenwich Village
She was a musician and ethnomusicologist from California who specialized in 19th century parlour music, and she taught and performed in the clothing of the period
This is from her 1966 album of folk songs of New York City
The song is from the early 1900s, and it’s about the Greenwich Village neighbourhood in New York City, which was originally used as a country retreat from the city by the British
By the 1900s, it was a low-rent area of the city that was populated by immigrants and artists like the writer Edna St. Vincent Millay and the playwright Eugene O’Neill
Bobby Edwards wrote this song, and would perform it at Polly’s restaurant on MacDougal Street, accompanying himself on a homemade cigar box ukulele
Lazare notes that the song, with a few words changed, could still be the theme song of Greenwich Village in the 1960s
Lottie Kimbrough - Rolling Log Blues
She was a country blues musician from either Arkansas or Missouri who recorded between 1924 and 1929
This is one of her more popular songs, and has been recorded by a number of artists, including Son House, Eric Bibb, and Buffy Sainte-Marie
She recorded it in 1928
Matokie Slaughter - Stillhouse
One of many old-time musicians rediscovered in the 1960s, played at festivals across the US
Also known for her graffiti, which she drew on trains that passed through her town
This is an old-time breakdown popular in the Appalachian region of the US, also known as Cider Mill
Sarah Harmer, Jason Euringer - O Bury Me Not
Both from Ontario
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, and put to music by George N Allen
Became popular on ships and in lumber camps
Rosalie Sorrels - Tying Knots in the Devil’s Tail
Very interesting figure in the folk revival
She was raised by parents who celebrated the written and spoken word
She started out in folk as a folksinger and collector of folk songs, and left her husband in the 1960s to travel across America with her five children, establishing herself as a performer and making connections with other folk musicians, writers, and artists
She died in June 2017 but is remembered for her storytelling abilities
Song written by Gail Gardner, who wrote it as a poem while working as a cowboy in Arizona, was later rediscovered in 1917 and Bill Simon put it to the tune of a song in the public domain
The Kossoy Sisters - Sun’s Gonna Shine
Irene and Ellen, identical twin sisters, began singing together at age 6 after hearing their mother and aunt sing harmonies in their home
This song is from their 2002 album Hop On Pretty Girls
An original song by AP Carter, first recorded in 1934
It’s a rewrite of both “Trouble in Mind” and the traditional song “I Know You Rider,” to which the “sun’s gonna shine” lyrics were added at some point, likely by Blind Lemon Jefferson
It’s become a folk and bluegrass standard in its own right
Precious Bryant - You Don’t Want Me No More
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 off her 2005 album My Name is Precious
It’s a traditional blues song
Ruby Vass - Old Gospel Ship
Singer-guitarist who lived in and around Hillsville, Virginia all her life, and was very well known for her singing and playing in that region
This song is either traditional or by A.P. Carter
Elizabeth Cotten - When I’m Gone
Taught herself to play banjo and guitar
Was left-handed, taught herself to play upside down on right handed guitar
Played melody with her thumb and bass with other fingers
Eventually told to give up playing in favour of family life
When she was in her 50s, she happened to strike up a conversation with the composer Ruth Crawford Seeger in a department store and Seeger gave her a job at the Seeger household
One day they discovered her playing the family’s guitar and Mike Seeger made early recordings which led to her playing at homes of congressmen and senators and eventually at many folk festivals across the US
This song was recorded in 1979, and Cotten wrote it herself
Barbara Dane - I Hate the Capitalist System
Politically active folk, jazz and blues singer from Detroit
Sung at many demonstrations, gained the attention of local music industry members, but turned down the opportunity to sing with Alvino Rey’s band to instead sing in union halls
1973
Fiver - Stable Song
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 between 1856 and 1881
Jean Ritchie - The L and N Don’t Stop Here Anymore
Known as the Mother of Folk
Learned traditional folksongs in the oral tradition from friends and family in her youth
She wrote this song and released it in 1965
It’s about when the local coal mines around her hometown of Viper, Kentucky closed and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad passenger train stopped coming
Amelia Curran - Hands on a Grain of Sand
She’s a musician from St. John’s, NL
This song is from her 2009 Juno Award-winning album Hunter, Hunter, which she recorded in St. John’s
Connie Converse - The Ash Grove
Began writing songs and performing for friends in NYC in the early 1950s but gave up after a decade of failed attempts at a music career and moved to Michigan to work at a university
In 1974 she wrote many letters to friends and family suggesting that she intended to start a new life somewhere else
Shortly after that she packed her things into her car and drove off, and was never seen again
Music rediscovered in 2004 when her friend Gene Deitch, who had recorded a number of her songs, played some of them on a radio show on the public radio station WNYC
2009 an album of 17 home recordings was released, called How Sad, How Lovely
This is off the 2020 EP Sad Lady, which is the second collection of home recordings to be released of Converse’s music
Now we have three more new songs, and two doubletracked versions of songs that were on the full-length album
This is her version of the traditional Welsh folk song “The Ash Grove,” recorded between 1952 and 1954
Wu Fei, Abigail Washburn - Banjo Guzheng Pickin’ Girls
Washburn a well-known contemporary banjo player from Illinois
Wu Fei a composer and musician from Beijing who now lives in the US
They met in 2006 and started playing together in the trio The Wu Force in 2011
They released their first album together last year, which combines American and Chinese folk music
This is a traditional tune best known through Lily May Ledford’s 1938 recording
Wu Fei added the Chinese lyrics, imagining herself as a banjo pickin’ girl in Tennessee
Cathy Fink - What the Lord Done Give You
Cathy Fink is from Maryland, but began her career in the early 70s, busking and playing folk music in Canadian coffeehouses
She’s known for playing as a duo with her wife, Marcy Marxer, who she met in Toronto in 1980
Together, they have released about 35 albums and received 14 Grammy nominations and 2 Grammy awards
From her 2007 album Banjo Talkin’
Samantha Bumgarner - Georgia Blues
She was a renowned North Carolina folk and country musician who travelled to New York City in 1924 to record several songs for Columbia Records
These recordings were the first use of 5-string banjo in a recording, and are considered the first country music recording by a woman
Pete Seeger saw her perform at the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival as a teen in the 1930s, and later stated that she was his inspiration for wanting to learn banjo
This is one of her first recordings, made in April of 1924
It’s a version of “Worried Blues”
Barbara Moncure - Jennie Jenkins
From a 1963 album of folk songs from the Catskills in New York
Moncure was an Ohio singer
She learned this song from Mrs. Edgar Leaycraft, and although it’s often considered a children’s song, Moncure connects it more to weaving and spinning, with the rhythm of the song matching the rhythm of the spinning wheel
Cora Fluker - Dry Bones in the Valley
Fluker an Alabama artist born around 1920
This song references the biblical story of Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones, though it’s since become a popular children’s song, often sung around Halloween, with references to the biblical story removed
Dorothy Melton - The Day is Past
Recorded April 28, 1954 near Plantersville, Autauga County, Alabama
Part of a hymn with words written by John Leland, 1804
Lily Mae Ledford - Johnson Boys
Leader of the Coon Creek Girls, one of the first string bands made up entirely of women to appear on radio
Performed at the White House in 1939 for Franklin D Roosevelt and his guests, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
Rediscovered by Ralph Rinzler in the 60s and became popular again during the revival
Very old Appalachian tune
Joan O’Bryant - The Cuckoo
Kansas folksinger and folklorist who taught folklore and English at the University of Wichita
This album was recorded in 1958, when O’Bryant was only 26 years old
She learned this version of “The Cuckoo” from the singing of Mary Jo Davis of Fayetteville, Arkansas
A traditional English folk song, though it’s also popular in the US, Canada, Scotland, and Ireland
The Wailin’ Jennys - The Parting Glass
Folk group formed in Winnipeg in 2002
Current members are Ruth Moody, Nicky Mehta, and Heather Masse, but Cara Luft of the Small Glories was an original member of the group
From their album 40 Days from 2004
This is a Scottish traditional song that was apparently the most popular parting song in Scotland before Robert Burns wrote “Auld Lang Syne”
Texas Gladden - Rose Connelly
American folk singer born in Virginia in 1894
Known for her recordings with her brother, Hobart Smith
Their performance in 1936 at the White Top Folk Festival impressed Eleanor Roosevelt so much that she invited them to play at the White House, which brought them to the attention of Alan Lomax, an ethnomusicologist and folklorist important to the preservation of North American folk music
Traditional murder ballad
Originated in Ireland around the early 19th century, but became popular in the Appalachian region of the US in the early 20th century and is at this point so rooted in the US that it can be considered a traditional American ballad
What makes it different from other popular murder ballads is its gruesome nature--Rose’s murderer drugs her, stabs her, and throws her into the river
It’s played to the tune of the song “Rosin the Beau”
Maybelle Carter - (Bury Me Under) The Weeping Willow
Also known as “Mother Maybelle” of Carter Family fame
As with many folk songs, this one has unclear origins, but was first recorded by Henry Whitter in 1923
Also like many folk songs, the Carter Family popularized it through their 1936 recording
Bessie Jones - Reg’lar, Reg’lar, Rolling Under
Bessie Jones known for spreading folk music to a wider audience in the 20th century
Alan Lomax: "She was on fire to teach America. In my heart, I call her the Mother Courage of American Black traditions”
She explains the song’s lyrics: “during slavery, white people on the plantation drank out of glass dippers, and they forbade their slaves to drink out of those dippers. The slaves made dippers out of gourds and the water in the gourd dipper was cooler than the water in the glass dipper. 'Gopher snow water' is another way of saying white people's water. 'Reglar reglar rolling under' is a response to a greeting inquiring how you are doing. Someone would come in the house and you'd asked them how they were doing, and they would say, 'Ah -reglar rolling under,' meaning . . . I am being rolled under by the wheel of life. And in this phrase you get the feeling of trouble or challenge of one's daily life just turning you under, and in that turning, in spite of it all, you are still moving.”
Ferron - Never Your Own
She’s a Canadian musician and poet from the same generation as people like Leonard Cohen and Bruce Cockburn, though she’s less widely known even within Canada
From her 2009 album Boulder
Christine Fellows - Un Canadien Errant
She’s a well-known Manitoban musician who’s been performing since 1993, both with groups like Helen, the Mountain Goats, and Old Man Luedecke, and on her own
This is from her 2011 album Femmes de chez nous
Song written in 1842 by Antoine Gérin-Lajoie after the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837–38
Mrs. Ed Gallagher - My Gallant Brigantine
Off a 1962 album of folksongs collected by the folklorist Helen Creighton in the maritime provinces
This song is performed by a woman identified only as Mrs. Edward Gallagher, and her husband was the lightkeeper at Chebucto Head when Creighton first encountered her
Creighton writes that Gallagher “radiated happiness” and that “there was always laughter and good cheer in her house. where her songs and her husband's stories were a never-failing source of enjoyment“
She learned her songs mostly from her mother
Vera Hall - Come Up, Horsey, Hey, Hey
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 Livinston, Alabama in 1939
It’s a traditional African American lullaby
Peggy Seeger - House Carpenter
Peggy Seeger a member of the Seeger family—Mike and Pete Seeger brothers, father Charles Seeger, a folklorist and musicologist, mother a composer and first woman to receive the Guggenheim Fellowship
She’s been living in the UK for over 60 years, where she is a very well-known musician
Scottish ballad also known as “The Daemon Lover”
Nora Brown - The Very Day I’m Gone
She’s a young banjoist and singer who carries on the old-time tradition
She’s found mentors in many folk masters, including the master banjo player Lee Sexton of Kentucky, the female bluegrass pioneer Alice Gerrard, and founder of the New Lost City Ramblers John Cohen
This is from her recent album Sidetrack My Engine
She learned the song from the duo Anna & Elizabeth’s version, though it’s by the ballad singer Addie Graham of Eastern Kentucky
Algia Mae Hinton - Out of Jail
She was a Piedmont blues musician from North Carolina who learned to play the guitar from her mother, an expert in the Piedmont fingerpicking style who often played at local parties and gatherings
She met the folklorist Glenn Hinson in 1978, who arranged for her to perform at the North Carolina Folklife Festival
She gave several concerts outside of North Carolina after that, even travelling to Europe to perform in 1998
This seems to be an African American traditional song from the late 19th century
Grace Carr - Henry, My Son
From an album of Saskatchewan songs collected by Barbara Cass-Beggs released in 1963
It’s a parody of the Anglo-Scottish border ballad “Lord Randall”
The liner notes for the album state that “the tune has a flippant touch which suggests a parody”
Ellen Froese - In Our Time of Dyin’
Contemporary artist who grew up on a dairy farm in Saskatchewan
From her self-titled album from 2017
Etta Baker, Cora Phillips - On the Other Hand Baby
Baker a blues guitarist and singer from North Carolina
Began playing the guitar at age 3
Phillips her sister with whom she recorded this album
This is a Ray Charles song first released in 1961
Kaia Kater - Hangman’s Reel
Grenadian-Canadian musician based in Toronto
From her 2016 album Nine Pin
