Barking Dog: April 16, 2026
Ellen Stekert - Careless Love
Stekert is a folklorist, musician, and scholar from New York (now based in Minnesota) who began her career in Greenwich Village in the 1950s
In the last couple of years, she’s been working with the producer Ross Wylde on cleaning up archival recordings, and with writer Christopher Bahn on a website where they share music, writing, and photography from her archives
This is her latest release
It’s 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
Cara Luft - My Heart Will Always Be
From Winnipeg
She cowrote this song with Clayton Parsons, and it’s the title track from her new album, which comes out in May
Dave Gunning - World of Make Believe
He’s a musician from Pictou County, Nova Scotia who began playing professionally in the 1990s
This is off his new album Field Notes, which came out in February
Mick Softley - After the World War is Over (Or How I Learnt to Live With Myself)
He was an English musician known as a member of the British folk scene, who began performing in the early 1960s during the folk revival and worked with artists including Maddy Prior and Donovan
This is off his 1965 debut album Songs for Swingin’ Survivors
H-Burns, Kevin Morby - The Partisan
H-Burns is a French musician who began his career in the 1990s
Moby is a musician from Texas known as a solo musician and as a former member of the bands Woods and The Babies
This is from Burns’ 2021 album of Leonard Cohen songs called Burns on the Wire
The song was composed by Anna Marly in 1943, with lyrics by Emmanuel d’Astier de La Vigerie, and it’s an anti-fascist song about the French Resistance during World War II
Cohen recorded American composer Hy Zaret’s version for his 1969 album Songs from a Room, which revived interest in it and led several other artists to record their own versions
Malvina Reynolds - The World is So Sick
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 the song in 1964
This is a live recording from 1965
The Wakami Wailers - Lost Jimmy Whalen / Julia Delany
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
This is off their 1985 album The Last of the White Pine Loggers
The song is possibly based on the death of James Phalen, a lumberman who drowned trying to break a log jam on the Mississippi River in Ontario around 1878
“Julia Delany” is a traditional Irish reel, named in honour of the wife of uilleann pipe player Bernard Delaney
Tír na nÓg - It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
They’re an Irish folk duo that formed in Dublin in 1969 and were part of the first wave of progressive folk groups
This is off their 1999 album In the Morning, a collection of previously unreleased demos
The song is by Bob Dylan, from his 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited
Joan Armatrading - Baby Blue Eyes
She’s an English musician who’s been performing since the 1960s
This one is from her Grammy-nominated 2007 album Into the Blues
Leon Rosselson, Elizabeth Mansfield - Across the Hills
Rosselson is a musician and children’s book writer from England who first became widely known in the 1960s
Mansfield is an English actor, producer, and musician who’s been working in the performing arts since the 1970s
This is Rosselson’s own song, first published in his songbook Look Here
This version is from his 1992 album Guess What They’re Selling at the Happiness Counter
Chris Foster - Song of the Olive Tree
He’s a musician from England, now based in Iceland, who’s been performing for over 40 years
This one is from his 2008 album Outsiders
It’s a song by Leon Rosselson, who wrote it after visiting Israel and Palestine in 2005, where he was shown a row of ancient olive trees that had been uprooted from Palestinian land and replanted on the main street of an illegal Israeli settlement
Roy Bailey - Collateral Damage
Bailey was an English sociologist and musician, known as a member of the group Three City Four
This song is from his 2009 album Below the Radar
It’s a song by Jim Page
Jim Page - Long Corner Turning
He’s a folksinger and activist based in Seattle, and this is off his 2002 album Collateral Damage
Charles Owens - Gospel Train
The singer of this song, Charles Owens, was a Black Nova Scotian who the folklorist Helen Creighton recorded in 1953, when he was 99 years old
He was still walking to town every day when weather permitted, and made it to at least the age of 101
A traditional African American spiritual that developed out of a tradition of songs about a Gospel Train
Ron Sexsmith - Slow Train Coming
He’s a musician from St. Catharines, Ontario, who’s been recording since 1985
This is a 2016 cover of Bob Dylan’s song from his 1979 album of the same name
Uncle Sinner - Jesus in the Mainline
Winnipeg
It’s an American spiritual that’s been recorded by artists like Ry Cooder and Mavis Staples
Bob Bovee, Gail Heil - Buddies in the Saddles
They were a married duo from the United States who played old-time music together for nearly 35 years and performed throughout the United States and Canada
This is from the 1996 compilation album Old-Time Music on the Air, Volume Two
The song is credited to Maybelle Carter of Carter Family fame
Fraser Union - Snap the Line Tight
They’re a BC folk group that formed in 1983
This song is from their 2009 album BC Songbook
It’s by Vic Bell, who wrote it in the 1960s about log salvaging on the BC coast
Paul Clayton - Johnny’s Gone to Hilo
An American folksinger and folklorist who specialised in traditional music and collaborated with artists like Jean Ritchie and Dave Van Ronk
This is off his 1956 album Whaling and Sailing Songs from the Days of Moby Dick
The song is a shanty also known as “Tommy’s Gone to Hilo,” and many places have been proposed as the location the song refers to, including Hilo, Hawaii, and the Peruvian port of Ilo
Abdallah Oumbadougou - Le Iwitian Ourgueza Gueakelen
He was a Tuareg musician known as one of the founders of the desert blues genre that emerged within nomadic North African groups in the 1980s as a response to increased displacement and exile
This is from the posthumously released 2024 album Amghar: The Godfather of Tuareg Music Vol. 1
The song refers to the divisions that exist in Tuareg communities
Dolina MacLennan - Port a Beul
She’s a Scottish musician, writer, and actress who’s known for her contributions to the preservation of Scottish culture and the Gaelic language
She began performing professionally in Edinburgh in the late 1950s and later appeared in film and on TV in acting and singing roles
This is from the 1965 album Bonny Lass Come O’er the Burn
It was recorded in 1961, and it’s an example of “mouth music,” also known as “diddling” or “chin music,” a technique used to make music for dances when no instrument is available
Will Ackerman - Slow Motion Roast Beef Restaurant Seduction
He’s a guitarist, producer, and carpenter from California who began his recording career in 1976 when he released his first album on his own label, Windham Hill Records, which later released albums by artists including David Cullen and Michael Hedges
This is from his debut album, In Search of the Turtle's Navel, and the liner notes read, “The woman across from you is moonlit and confessing something. Suddenly the flood comes.”
Bob Dylan, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott - Acne
This is a live recording made at Riverside Church in New York City in July of 1961
It’s a cover of Eric Von Schmidt’s song, and the harmonica holder referred to is actually a coat hanger
Blue Ridge Buddies, EC Ball, Orna Ball - Three Nights Drunk
Estil C Ball of Virginia often performed as a duo with his wife, Orna, with whom he owned and ran a general store and service station
He met Alan Lomax in the early 1940s at a fiddler’s convention, who recorded him and his wife several times in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, and opened the door for them to record their own albums for County and Rounder Records in the 60s and 70s
They’re joined on mandolin on this one by Orna’s brother Blair Reedy
This recording was made by Mike Seeger at the Balls’ home near Rugby, Virginia in 1967
The song is also known as “Our Goodman” and “Cabbage Head Blues,” and the earliest printed versions date to the late 18th century, though it was likely an old song even then
Sharon Shannon, Damien Dempsey - Norwegian Wood
Shannon is an accordionist, fiddler, and singer from Ireland who began her career as a member of the Waterboys
Dempsey is an Irish musician who’s been playing since the mid 1990s
This is from Shannon’s 2005 album The Sharon Shannon Collection 1990-2005
It’s a song by the Beatles from their 1965 album Rubber Soul
Sarah Harmer - Left and Leaving
From Ontario
This is a cover of the Weakerthans’ song from their 2000 album of the same name, recorded live in Chicago in 2006 by Aadam Jacobs, who’s recorded over 10,000 concerts since 1989 and recently made them available through the Internet Archive
Neil Young - Human Highway
This was recorded live in London in 1976
The song was originally intended to be released on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s unfinished album of the same name, and Young later released it on his 1978 album Comes a Time
Iron & Wine - Smokestack Lightning
Iron & Wine is the stage name of Sam Beam, a singer-songwriter from South Carolina
This is a version of Howlin’ Wolf’s song, written in the 1930s and first recorded in 1951
It draws on songs like “Stop and Listen Blues” by the Mississippi Sheiks and “Moon Going Down” by Charley Patton
It was recorded in Chicago in July of 2004 by Aadam Jacobs
Phil Ochs, John Lennon - Chords of Fame
Ochs 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 a jam session in a hotel room in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in December of 1971
Tracy Chapman - Why?
Chapman is a well-known musician from Ohio who’s been writing music since she was around 8 years old
This was recorded live in Chicago in 1988
She originally included the song on her self-titled debut album, which came out a month before this recording was made
Yoshida Brothers - Kodō
They’re a Japanese duo of shamisen-playing brothers who began performing together in 1999
This is off their 2004 album Renaissance, and the title translates to “Heartbeat”
Gordon Tanner, Smokey Joe Miller, Uncle John Patterson - Lonesome Hungry Hash House
