Barking Dog: February 26, 2026
Sam Amidon, Pekka Kuusisto, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra - Wedding Dress
Amidon is a contemporary folk artist from Vermont, now based in England
Kuusisto is a Finnish violinist who comes from a musical family
This is from the new album Willows, released by Kuusisto and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and featuring Amidon
It seems to be an Appalachian song, sometimes called “My Little Doney Gal”
Marisa Anderson - Taqsim for Guitar
She’s a musician based in Portland, Oregon, known for her compositions inspired by the American primitive guitar style
This is a new single from her upcoming album The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music, which was inspired by the private record collection of Harry Smith, who compiled the highly influential Anthology of American Folk Music in the early 1950s
Anderson’s album focuses on music from places with which the US has had conflicts since 1970
This song is based on the recording “Taqsim for Violin,” made by Indian field recorder Deben Bhattacharya in Damascus, Syria in 1955
Lou Marinoff, Sonny Stone - Rock Island Line
This is from the 2017 album Bytes from the Underground: Vintage tracks from Montreal
Marinoff is a musician, table hockey champion, and Professor of Philosophy and Asian Studies at the City College of New York, though he’s originally from Quebec and made this recording at Dawson College in Montreal in 1973 with Sonny Stone, a multi-instrumentalist who later became creative director for an advertising firm
This is an American folk song about the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
The earliest known version was written in 1929 by Clarence Wilson, who was a member of a singing group formed by employees of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
The Weather Station - Came So Easy
Based in Toronto
This is from the 2011 album All of It Was Mine
Idrissa Soumaoro - Dogoyama
He is a Malian musician who’s relatively unknown internationally, though he’s been part of a number of important musical developments in the country
He began as a member of Les Ambassadeurs, then left to study in Cambridge, Hereford, and Birmingham, earning degrees in English, Braille music, and special education
He’s used his education to teach music to blind students, and was even Inspector General of Music at the National Ministry of Education, overseeing the Malian government’s musical education curriculum
This song is off his 1998 album Köte, named after the style of music he developed, which is influenced by traditional Malian music and African blues music
The title translates to “Lack of Respect”
Tomoya Takaishi - Ramblin’ Boy
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
This song was written by Tom Paxton and included on his 1964 album of the same name
Takaishi translated it and included it on his 1969 album Tomoya Takaishi's Folk Songs Vol. 3
Alistair Hulett - Destitution Road
He was a folksinger from Glasgow, Scotland, known as a member of the folk punk band Roaring Jack
This is off his 1991 album Dance of the Underclass
The song is about the Highland Clearances, a government-led attack on non-English-speaking societies in Scotland that occurred between 1750 and 1860
Stan Rogers - The Flowers of Bermuda
Born and raised in Ontario, but known for his maritime-influenced music
Rogers recorded this for his 1979 album Between the Breaks Live!
He wrote it in the Spring of 1978
Pink Anderson - Meet Me in the Bottom
Pink Anderson was an American blues singer and guitarist born in Laurens, SC
He began performing in medicine shows in 1914 and continued to perform in medicine shows for about four decades
Anderson also recorded an album in the 60s and played a few shows, though he reduced his activity after a stroke in the late 1960s
This song is derived from the Piedmont blues song “Oh Lordy Mama,” first recorded by Buddy Moss in 1934
Bumble Bee Slim is credited with adding the lyrics to the original song that turned it into “Meet Me in the Bottom”
This recording was made by music historian Samuel Charters at Anderson’s home in the summer of 1962
Bryan Sutton, Doc Watson - Working Man Blues
Watson was a Grammy award-winning musician from North Carolina known for his fingerstyle and flatpicking skill on the guitar
He had a 60 year career, and often played with other skilled musicians like Jean Ritchie, Clarence Ashley, and his son, Merle Watson
Sutton is a musician from North Carolina, now based in Nashville, Tennessee, and he grew up playing in a family band
He’s worked with many artists over the course of his career, including Hot Rize, Béla Fleck, the Chicks, and Tony Rice
They made this recording about 20 years ago
It’s a cover of Merle Haggard’s song, first released in 1969 as a single for the album A Portrait of Merle Haggard
Blue Raincoat - Workingman’s Blues #2
They’re a band from Stockholm, Sweden, known for their interpretations of songs by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Leonard Cohen
This is from their 2019 debut album Red Flags and Flying Monkeys
It’s a song by Dylan, from his 2006 album Modern Times, and it references a number of earlier songs including “Working Man Blues” and “Meet Me in the Bottom”
Neil Young - Mellow My Mind
This was recorded live at Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan in March of 1976
It first appeared on his 1975 album Tonight’s the Night
Tumassi Quitsaq - Four Strong Winds
Quitsaq was an Inuit musician and sculptor from Akulivik in Nunavik who began playing guitar in 1976 and later toured Nunavut, Ontario, and Quebec
This is from his 1996 self-titled album
The song is by Ian Tyson of the Canadian folk duo Ian & Sylvia
Big Dave McLean - Needed Time
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
“Needed Time” is a traditional American song, popularised in the 20th century by Lightnin’ Hopkins
It uses the same tune as “Daniel in the Lion’s Den”
Nick Hart - The Two Sisters
He’s a musician, composer, and educator from England, and this is off his 2019 album Nine English Folk Songs
This is a traditional Northumbrian murder ballad also known as “Cruel Sister” and “The Squire’s Daughter,” among other names
The first written version appeared in a 1656 broadside, and at least 21 versions of the ballad exist in English
Dave Van Ronk - River
This is from his 1973 album Songs for Ageing Children, and it’s by his friend Joni Mitchell, who said that Van Ronk’s version of the song was her favourite
Pharis & Jason Romero - Engine 143
From Horsefly BC
There are a number of American train wreck songs from the early days of the steam locomotive
This one is based on the true story of the wreck of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway’s Fast Flying Virginian on October 23, 1890
Their version is off their 2011 album A Passing Glimpse
Malvina Reynolds - Malvina’s Blues
She was a folksinger from California known particularly for writing the song “Little Boxes,” though she wrote and recorded a large catalogue of music during her career
She wrote this song in 1962 and it was first released on the 2008 compilation album Malvina Reynolds Sings the Truth
The Fisk Jubilee Singers - Most Done Traveling
They are an a capella ensemble consisting of students from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, which formed in 1871 as a fundraising effort for the university
A traditional African American spiritual also known as “Rocky Road”
This recording was made in 1919
Uncle Sinner - Rocky Road
Winnipeg
Off his album Everybody Wants to Know How I Die, which came out in December
Ephram Carter and His Fife & Drum Band - Sorrow Come Pass Me Around
This was recorded in Waverly Hall, Georgia in August of 1970 and it’s the title track from a 1975 survey of rural Black religious music in the United States, compiled by David Evans
Jeremy Dormouse - Baby Blue
The stage name for Grammy nominated Toronto artist Cris Cuddy, who later performed as a solo artist under his own name, and in bands including Max Mouse and the Gorillas and The Rejects
This is from his 1968 album Toad and it’s a cover of Bob Dylan’s song from his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home
Pete Seeger - Farewell
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 a Bob Dylan song written in 1963 and only first officially released in 2010, though several recordings were circulated on bootlegs over the years
This is a recording from a concert Seeger gave at Carnegie Hall in New York City in June of 1963
Bob Dylan, The Band - Wildwood Flower
This is from the 11th album in Dylan’s Bootleg Series, which is a compilation of previously unreleased home recordings made in 1967 in Woodstock, New York
It’s a traditional American song, popularised by the Carter Family through their 1928 recording of the song
Old Crow Medicine Show - One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
They’re a well-known contemporary string band based in Nashville, Tennessee that’s been recording since the late 1990s
This is off their 2017 live album 50 Years of Blonde on Blonde, a tribute to Bob Dylan’s 7th studio album, which came out in 1966
Tim O’Brien - The Wicked Messenger
O’Brien is a Grammy-winning musician from West Virginia who’s been playing professionally for almost 50 years, and has performed both as a solo act and with his band Hot Rize
This is from his 1996 album Red on Blonde, a collection of Bob Dylan covers
Dylan released the song on his 1967 album John Wesley Harding
Cora Mae Bryant - No-No Blues
She was a blues musician from Georgia
It’s from her 2001 album Born With The Blues
Jon & Alfie - Gannel Crake / Two Borders
