Barking Dog: February 10, 2022
The Golden Gate Quartet - Rock My Soul
They are a vocal quartet formed in Virginia by four high school students in 1934
They are still active today, but have obviously undergone multiple changes in membership
The song is also known as “Bosom of Abraham” and it’s a traditional African American spiritual
Lead Belly - Careless Love
Born in Louisiana in late 1880s
Went to prison for attempted murder in Texas in 1918
He won early release in 1925 by singing a song for the governor of Texas
Incarcerated again in 1930
Ethnomusicologists and folklorists John and Alan Lomax discovered him in prison while making field recordings
They delivered a petition for his release on the back of a recording of “Goodnight, Irene” to the Louisiana governor, which possibly assisted in getting him released early
Once he was released, he made a number of recordings and became widely known for both his blues and folk music
This is from his last recording sessions made by Frederic Ramsey, Jr. in 1948, a year before Lead Belly’s death
We heard him talk with Ramsey about the song before and after playing
Ella Mae Wilson, Richard Williams - Careless Love
This is from an album of field recordings from Florida made between 1977 and 1980
A traditional American song that’s been recorded by many blues artists
It likely came from the Appalachian region of the US, and the song has floating verses, meaning that the lyrics aren’t set but there are a number of common verses that artists might pick to use in their version
Frank Schildt - Samuel Hall
He was a musician from the Netherlands who learned to play the guitar after high school but began playing professionally after WWII to entertain troops
They paid him in food and cigarettes since money didn’t really have value right after the war
He moved to Paris a few years later and became artistic director of a club, through which he met representatives from the University of Wisconsin who helped him set up a US tour for 1958
He toured across the country then went to NYC, where he played at coffeehouses and met his future wife
Schildt spent the rest of his life in the US
He recorded one album for Folkways in 1960, which is where this song is from
This is a British street ballad from the 18th century
It’s sung from the perspective of a man on the gallows saying his last words
When public executions still took place in the UK, it would happen on a Sunday so everyone could watch
While everyone was in church, the prisoner was given a last meal and a lot of gin, then climbed a scaffold to the gallow and was given a chance to say their last words
Some prayed, some begged for forgiveness, and some got mad and started to insult the audience, as is the the case with the narrator of this song
Johnny Cash - Sam Hall
From his 2002 album American IV: The Man Comes Around
Wade Hemsworth - The Franklin Expedition
A respected Canadian folksinger from Brantford, Ontario
Only wrote about 20 songs during his career, though many of them, such as “The Black Fly Song,” “The Logdriver’s Waltz,” and “The Wild Goose” are so ingrained in Canadian culture that people consider them traditional Canadian folk songs at this point
Song about the ill-fated voyage of Sir John Franklin and his crew, on which they intended to search for the Northwest Passage
Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick - Farewell, Mr. Charlie
FDK was a civil rights activist who was an associate of MLK in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, where he was the director of folk culture
From a 1970 album of songs published in Broadside Magazine, a folk music publication that was in print for over 20 years, starting in 1962
The tune is based on the traditional song “The Wagoner’s Lad”
Bobby Donahue - Only Time Will Tell
From a 1972 album released by Broadside Magazine
Charles Owen - The Welcome Table
From an album of folk music from Nova Scotia, recorded by folklorist Helen Creighton around 1954
This is a gospel song that was also important during the Civil Rights Movement
It was likely brought to Nova Scotia when thousands of enslaved people in the United States migrated there after the war of 1812
The Owens family were descended from these former slaves, and the singer of this song, Charles Owens, was 99 years old when Creighton recorded him for her album
He was still walking to town every day when weather permitted, and made it to at least the age of 101
Ernest Williams with James “Iron Head” Baker - Go Down, Old Hannah
A field recording the ethnomusicologists John and Alan Lomax made at a prison in Sugarland, Texas in 1933
It’s a prison worksong that describes the dreadful conditions in the Brazos River prisons in Texas, and hopes for any kind of release
The name "Hannah" refers to the sun
We’ll hear another version after this
Lightnin’ Hopkins - Go Down, Old Hannah
Was a country blues musician from Texas who gained a broader audience with the folk revival of the 1960s after recording and performing around Texas in the 40s and 50s
His debut performance was at Carnegie Hall in October of 1960, and he shared the bill with Pete Seeger and Joan Baez
He continued to tour and record throughout the 60s and 70s, and was Houston, Texas’s poet in residence for 35 years
Recorded February, 1959 in Houston, Texas
Harrison Kennedy - Hound and Rabbit
Hamilton, ON artist with a career in blues and roots music spanning over 50 years
From his 2011 album Shame the Devil
Fraser Union - Hard Rock Miner
They’re a BC folk group that formed in 1983
This song is from their 2009 album BC Songbook
It was one of the most common mining songs of the BC interior
Gary Green - Oven Fork Mining Disaster 1976
A Tennessee folksinger
It’s about 2 mine explosions that occurred 2 days apart at Scotia Mine in Oven Fork, Kentucky, in March of 1976 that killed 26 miners
Charlie Parr - Miner’s Lament
Contemporary country blues musician from Minnesota
Off his 2004 album King Earl
Victor Jara - Preguntas por Puerto Montt
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
From his fourth album, released in 1969
The title translates to “Questions about Puerto Montt,” and it’s about the Puerto Montt massacre that took place on March 9, 1969
David Francey - Valley’s Edge
Scottish-born Canadian folksinger who started to pursue music as a career at the age of 45 after working as a carpenter and in railyards for 20 years
From his 2003 album Skating Rink
Pete Seeger, Guy Carawan, Garrett Morris - Nkosi Waqcine (God Save the Volunteers)
From a 1960 album called South African Freedom Songs, recorded during a time of mass evictions and resettlements in apartheid South Africa
The performers learned the songs from a tape recording made by leaders of the African National Congress in 1959
It’s about the African National Congress volunteers who made speeches, protested, or went to jail if it was necessary for the cause
Ian & Sylvia - Pride of Petrovar
Ian & Sylvia performed together from 1959 until their divorce in 1975
Irish piece written by William Percy French
Art Samuels & the Montreal Youth Singers - It’s the Same All Over
From a 1956 album by Montreal musician Art Samuels and the Montreal Youth Singers that includes both "songs of peace and protest" and "songs of fun and impudence”
He says of this song: “Here’s a song I can honestly say just about wrote itself. I wanted to say something very specific… I was thinking about the many common qualities and ties, the many common feelings that, willy-nilly, bind all people all over the world. And because the idea was simple and truthful, the first and final draft of the song didn’t take long to follow.”
Octavio Corvalan - El Humahuaqueño (Carnavalito)
From an album of Argentine folk songs from 1953
A dance song from near the Bolivian border
The words aren’t as important since it’s a collective dance, with each couple having a turn to dance in the centre of a circle
Big Dave McLean - Comin’ Home to You
A blues musician from Winnipeg who’s been playing for over 50 years
It’s off McLean’s 2008 album Acoustic Blues: Got ‘Em from the Bottom
Pharis & Jason Romero - My Flowers, My Companions, and Me
Married duo from Horsefly, BC
From their 2011 album A Passing Glimpse
The Wakami Wailers - Log Driver’s Waltz
They’re a band that formed in 1981 when four employees at Wakami Lake Provincial Park, near Chapleau, Ontario, started playing Canadian folk music together
They have continued playing since then, and have released four albums
From their 1993 album Waltz with the Woods
Song by Wade Hemsworth, who we heard earlier
Michael Cohen - Bitter Beginnings
He was a musician and cab driver from New York known for releasing some of the first albums that explicitly dealt with gay themes
This is from his 1973 album What Did You Expect?
Kitty Barber - Pancake Blues
From a 1980 compilation album of live recordings of both gay and straight musicians
Old Man Luedecke - Inchworm
Contemporary artist from Chester, NS
From his 2010 album My Hands Are on Fire and Other Love Songs
The Poplin Family - Old Reuben
A musical family from Sumter, South Carolina that learned from their parents and from singers on the radio but created their own distinct style of stringband music
This song is a member of the family of railroad songs that includes “500 Miles” and “Train 45”
There are several different versions even of this one song, with many floating verses that are added or removed depending on the performer’s preferences
We’ll hear a more recent version of the song after this
Uncle Sinner - Old Reuben
From Winnipeg
Off his 2015 album Let the Devil In
Morris Houlihan - Rolling Home
This is from an album of songs from the outports of the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland, compiled by MacEdward Leach and released in 1966
These outports had been settled by Irish immigrants during the famine
Leach described the record as “a sampling of what one would hear sitting in an out-port kitchen after supper was cleared away. The neighbors would drift in, ease themselves on the benches around the walls, get pipes going, discuss all the events of the day -- the state of the weather, the luck with the fish”
Sea shanty sung by Morris Houlihan of Pouch Cove
It was customary to sing this song when the anchor was weighed in advance of heading back home after a long voyage
Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers - Carrie Belle
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”
A folk music ensemble that’s been around since the early 1900s
A work song found in the Georgia sea islands, though related songs about people promising never to get drunk anymore are found in other genres and places, including the version we’ll hear after this one
Darby & Tarlton - Once I Had a Fortune
Early country music duo who were somewhat popular in the 1920s
This version of the song is found in both the southern US and in Australia
Jake Xerxes Fussell - Carriebelle
From Durham, NC
Off his new album, Good and Green Again
His version is clearly most influenced by the Georgia Sea Island Singers, whose version we heard first, but he also cites Darby & Tarlton’s versions in his album notes, who we heard just before Fussell
Alan Mills and Jean Carignan - Lots o’ Fish in Bonavist’ Harbour
Mills a Canadian folk singer, writer, and actor from Lachine, Quebec who was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1974 for his contributions to Canadian folklore
Carignan born in Levis, Quebec
Made a member of the Order of Canada in 1974 as “the greatest fiddler in North America”
This song is also known as “Feller from Fortune”, and it’s a very popular Newfoundland party song
Lonesome Ace Stringband - Sweetberry Wine
