Barking Dog: December 15, 2022
AP Carter - No Telephone in Heaven
Born 131 years ago today
He was a musician from Virginia best known as one of the founders of the Carter Family, one of the first commercial country bands
The original group broke up in 1943 after AP and his wife Sara, who was also a member of the band, divorced, and AP opened a general store in Hiltons, Virginia
He and Sara reunited and made several recordings with their children during the 1950s, and AP passed away in 1960 at the age of 68
This is a rare solo performance from AP
He wrote the song, and the Carter Family first recorded it in 1929
This recording is from 1939
Cara Luft - Portland Town
From Winnipeg
Song by Derroll Adams, a folk musician from Portland, Oregon
Kacy & Clayton - The Plains of Mexico
From Wood Mountain, SK
This song is often known as “Santianna”
Sea shanty referring to the Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna
Written around the 1850s
From their 2016 album Strange Country
Taj Mahal - Corinna
Taj Mahal is a Grammy-award-winning blues musician from New York City whose career has spanned over 50 years
This is a country blues song first recorded by Bo Carter and Charlie McCoy in 1928
Off an album celebrating Arhoolie Records’ 50th anniversary
David Rovics - When I’m Gone
He’s a musician and writer based in Oregon who’s been touring internationally since the 1990s
Off the 2015 compilation album Celebrating Phil Ochs: We’re Going to Sing It Now!
Phil Ochs wrote this song and included it on the 1966 live album Phil Ochs in Concert
Bob Gibson, Bob Camp - Chicago Cops
Gibson was an influential American folk singer known particularly for his work during the folk revival of the 50s and 60s
“Bob Camp” was an alias for Hamilton Camp, an English-American musician and actor born in London during WWII and evacuated to the States with mother and sister
This is from their live album Bob Gibson & Bob Camp at the Gate of Horn, from 1961
The Gate of Horn was a folk music club in Chicago, and Bob Gibson often served as its master of ceremonies
Gillian Welch - Honey Baby
She’s one of the best-known contemporary American roots musicians, and has collaborated with artists like Allison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, and The Decemberists, though she’s known particularly for her musical partnership with Dave Rawlings
From a 2020 collection of 48 songs recorded by Welch and Rawlings over a single weekend in 2002
The chorus comes from the traditional song that’s known variously as “Sugar Babe,” “Honey Babe Blues,” and “Red Rocking Chair,” though Welch wrote the verses
Paul Robeson, Lawrence Brown - Poor Wayfaring Stranger
Robeson was a singer, actor, lawyer, activist, and football player from New Jersey who was part of the Harlem Renaissance in New York City during the 1920s
It was there he met Lawrence Brown, who was a well-known pianist and composer, and the two arranged several spirituals to perform together
Through their performances, Victor Records learned of Robeson and he signed a contract with the company in 1925
“Wayfaring Stranger” is an American folk and gospel song likely from the early 19th century
It may have originated from Scottish border song called “The Dowie Dens of Yarrow”
This version appears to be from 1949
Eric Bibb - Wayfaring Stranger
Bibb is a musician from New York who grew up surrounded by traditional music because his father, Leon Bibb, was part of the American folk revival of the 1960s
From his 2010 album Booker’s Guitar
Pete Seeger - Fighting Fascism Starts Right Here
Pete Seeger was a very influential folk singer and activist who advocated for Civil Rights, environmentalism, and other social causes through his music
Off the 2012 album Pete Remembers Woody
It’s a little story about his friend Woody Guthrie, one of the best-known American folk singers of the 20th century
We’ll hear a few Woody-related songs after this
Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston - What Did the Deep Sea Say?
Guthrie an important figure in folk history who’s known for his songs about the Okie migrants who travelled west during the Great Depression in search of work
Houston was a folksinger from California, known particularly for his collaborations with musicians like Guthrie, Lead Belly, and Sonny Terry in the 30s and 40s
Recorded April 1944 for Folkways Records
It’s an American version of the British broadside ballad, “The Sailor Boy,” though Woody also rewrote many of the lyrics
Utah Phillips - I’ve Got to Know
He was an anarchist folksinger, storyteller, and labour organiser from Ohio who also rode the rails throughout the United States and worked as an archivist, a dishwasher, and a warehouse-man at various points in his life
From his 1991 album of the same name
Woody Guthrie wrote this song later in his life, and it’s been widely recorded since
It uses the tune of the hymn “Farther Along”
Phillips added some of his own lyrics to update the song
Elizabeth Mitchell - This Land is Your Land
Musician from New York who began her career as part of the duo Liza and Lisa with Lisa Loeb
From her 2012 album Little Seed, which is an album of children’s songs written by Woody Guthrie
Guthrie wrote the song in 1940 after he heard the patriotic song “God Bless America” during his travels throughout the States and felt that it didn’t speak to the things he had seen and the people he met as he travelled
For better or worse, the song has since become almost a second national anthem for the States
Unfortunately, the song in its simplified version sometimes seems to go against Guthrie’s original intentions
This version includes all the lyrics, including commentary about Great Depression bread lines and a verse against private property (please see the previous link in this section for examples of versions that include new lyrics mentioning Indigenous people and their unarguable claim to the land we now inhabit; this is certainly a blind spot in Guthrie’s version, though it’s clear he meant to communicate a unifying message in a time of national struggle for working-class people. I disagree with the song’s use during the inauguration of Joe Biden, which contained so little Indigenous representation or recognition that the performance comes across as ignorant rather than unifying.)
Marie Hare - Peter Emberly
Ballad singer from Strathadam, NB, known for her performances at the Miramichi Folksong Festival
One of the best-known New Brunswick songs, with lyrics written by Emberley’s friend John Calhoun in 1881, and a traditional Irish tune put to use for it by local singer Abraham Munn
Josh White & His Carolinians - Jerry
Extremely successful musician who started playing music in the late 20s and gained fame as a blues, jazz, and folk musician, as well as a film and Broadway actor
His Carolinians were his brother Billy and his friends Carrington Lewis, Sam Gary, and Bayard Rustin
This song is from 1940
It’s also known as “Timber” or “Jerry the Mule,” and White wrote it with Sam Gary in the 1930s
Malinda Herman - Down in the Willow Garden
She’s a musician from Bangkok, Thailand who became known through her YouTube channel, where she uploads videos of herself playing traditional and popular songs
Several decades ago, she lost movement in the left side of her face after a serious car accident
Her son bought her a guitar and she began playing and singing as a form of physical therapy, and she now estimates that she’s regained about 75% of her facial movements through singing
Traditional murder ballad
Originated in Ireland from a number of sources in the early 19th century but became popular in the Appalachian region of the US in the early 20th century
It’s played to the tune of the song “Rosin the Beau”
Tomoya Takaishi - Only a Hobo
He’s a Japanese folk singer who’s been active since the 1960s
While studying at Rikkyo University, he started singing folk songs that he translated from Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger recordings to earn money for school expenses
Bob Dylan song that’s based on traditional songs like “Only a Miner Killed” and “Poor Miner’s Farewell”
Takaishi translated it and included it on his 1969 album Tomoya Takaishi's Folk Songs Vol. 3
Bob Dylan Imitator Contest Winner #26 - Talkin’ World War III Blues
This is from a 1982 issue of Fast Folk Musical Magazine, a cooperative that was dedicated to reinvigorating the New York folk scene, and released over 100 albums between 1982 and 1997
Recorded live at a Bob Dylan lookalike and soundalike contest at the Speakeasy, a folk club in Greenwich Village, NYC, in July of 1982 (see page 23 of these liner notes for a great article about the event)
Erik Frandsen is the imposter’s real name, and he’s a New Jersey musician and actor who consulted on the Coen Brothers’ 2013 film Inside Llewyn Davis and more recently played a small role in John Wick 2
The song was first released on the 1963 album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
Ambrose Sam - I’m Going Away
From a 1992 album of Zydeco music, a style that comes from French Creole speakers in Louisiana
Sam was one of the founding performers of Zydeco, along with his brother Herbert
The liner notes for the album state that this is a field recording, though it’s unclear who recorded it
Stan Rogers - Make and Break Harbour
Born and raised in Ontario, but his music was influenced by his time spent visiting family in Nova Scotia during his childhood
This song comes from his 1977 album Fogarty’s Cove
Tracy Chapman - For My Lover
Another one from Fast Folk—this one’s from a 1986 issue that focuses on the Boston folk scene
Chapman is a well-known musician from Ohio who’s been writing music since she was around 8 years old
This song was also included on her 1988 self-titled debut album
Bob Guida - Worried Blues
From a 1984 issue of Fast Folk Musical Magazine
Guida was a musician from New York who was known both for his solo performances and his work as a member of the Otis Brothers
Traditional American freeform blues song
Earl Robinson - Wanderin’
He was a folksinger and composer from Seattle who’s known for writing the music for songs like “Ballad for Americans” and “Joe Hill”
This is off the 1963 Folkways album Earl Robinson Sings
He says of this song: “A singer of folk songs must somewhere along the line be a wanderer. He has to keep in touch with the folks. The search and the collecting can never stop. But if he goes back a ways, then the deeper meaning of the song will also have hit him personally. Work at all kinds of jobs, “the army… the farm, and all I got to show’s just the muscle in my arms.” Still, you meet nice songs, nice people, wandering.”
Mats Paulson - Mr. Block
From the 1990 compilation album Don’t Mourn—Organize!: Songs of Labour Songwriter Joe Hill
Paulson was a Swedish musician and artist
The words to this song were written by Joe Hill, who was a Swedish-American labour activist, and it’s put to the tune of the early 20th century song “It Looks to Me Like a Big Time Tonight”
“Mr. Block” was a comic strip character that first appeared in November of 1912 in Industrial Worker, a publication put out by the Industrial Workers of the World
Several months later, that song appeared instead of the strip and recounted recent events from the strip
Paulson learned the song from the American folksinger Joe Glazer
Wade Hemsworth - The Bride’s Lament
A folksinger from Brantford, Ontario
This is a traditional song with Irish origins, likely brought to Canada by Irish settlers in the 19th century
Hemsworth first heard it from a man who sailed boats out of Port Arthur at the head of the Great Lakes
Uncle Sinner - Rocky Island
From Winnipeg
Off his 2020 album Trouble of This World
A popular old Kentucky square dance tune, probably best known through Ralph Stanley’s version
Gabriel Brown - That’s Alright
He was a Piedmont blues musician from Florida who was recorded by folklorists Zora Neale Hurston and Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1935
That same year, he moved to New York City and joined the Federal Arts Theatre under the direction of Orson Welles
Recorded in September of 1944 in NYC
“That’s All Right” is a traditional gospel song that’s likely a simplification of an older spiritual
Dora Alexander - Times Done Changed
From a 1958 album of Mardi Gras and street music from New Orleans
Dora Alexander was a street evangelist who made a living singing her own songs on the streets, accompanied by a tambourine
This recording was made on March 8, 1958
Enoch Kent - The Gallawah Hills
A Scottish-born folksinger now based in Canada, who began playing professionally in the 1950s
This one is from his 2010 album Take a Trip With Me
It’s a traditional Scottish song likely based on “The Braes of Galloway” by William Nicholson, a minstrel who travelled around Scotland in the 19th century, sharing his songs
Scottish ballad singer Jeannie Robertson popularised the song in the 20th century
Bob Desper - Lonely Man
He’s a musician from Portland, Oregon, who started playing in the 1960s
This one is from his only album, New Sounds, from 1974
It was released by a small Christian label which only pressed 500 copies, though it slowly gained a cult following over the years that resulted in the album being rereleased on CD in 2010
The New World Singers - I Can See a New Day
Gil Turner, Happy Traum, and Bob Cohen
The song was written by Les Rice, a farmer from New York State, in 1962
Bookmiller Shannon - The Eighth of January
He was a banjo player from Cow Mountain, Arkansas who folklorist Alan Lomax recorded in October of 1959 during his travels through the southern United States
American fiddle reel
It’s said that the tune was composed to commemorate the War of 1812, though others believe the tune already existed and was simply renamed to commemorate the States’ perceived victory over Britain
Nonnie Presson, the Perry County Music Makers - 8th of January
Riley Baugus, Tim Eriksen - The Company Store
The Selah Jubilee Singers - Done With The Troubles Of This World
Richard Brautigan - Excerpt from In Watermelon Sugar
Gaither Carlton - Apple Blossom
