Barking Dog: April 17, 2025
This Week’s Theme: Couples
We’ve got a themed episode for you this week, playing songs recorded only by couples.
Charlie Panigoniak, Lorna Tasseor - Squirrels
They were an Inuk duo from Nunavut that performed together for about 40 years, until Panigoniak’s death in 2019
This is from their 1981 album Just for Kids
Norman & Nancy Blake - Starving to Death on the Government Claim
They’re a Grammy-nominated duo who have been married for 50 years and toured and recorded together throughout that time, though they’ve now retired from touring and spend much of their time at home in Georgia
This is from their 1996 album The Hobo’s Last Ride
This song is from just after the American Civil War, when veterans who had not fought against the government took advantage of the homestead act of 1862 that granted citizens 160 acres of land in Kansas, Iowa, or Nebraska for 18 dollars, provided that they built a house with a door and a window and lived in it for five years
People would often dig out the side of a hill and lean a door and window against it, or build a sod house to live in
Kemukserar & Pangatkar - His first hunt
From a 1955 album of Inuit songs from Hudson Bay and Alaska
Kemukserar and Pangatkar were an old couple from Naujaat
Kemukserar was famous in the region for his prowess as a hunter and his wife was known as a skilled sewer
Both of them also knew many stories and songs, including this one, the words of which translate to:
"On his very first hunt / He killed a fine seal / Even in the dark. "
Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin - Hood River Roll On
They’re a San Francisco-based duo who started performing together in 1985, and were married in 1987
They’ve retired from touring, but continue playing music together
This is from their 1997 Grammy-nominated album Heart Songs: The Old Time Country Songs of Utah Phillips
Pharis & Jason Romero - Come On Home
Married duo from Horsefly, BC
From their 2013 album Long Gone Out West Blues
Estil & Orna Ball - Ain’t No Grave Can Hold My Body Down
They owned and ran a general store and service station in Virginia
Estil met Alan Lomax in the early 1940s at a fiddler’s convention, who recorded him and Orna 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
The song is attributed to songwriter and preacher Claude Ely of Virginia
He claimed to have written it when he was twelve while he was sick with tuberculosis
This recording is from 1973
Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe - I Called You This Morning
They were a couple who met in Tennessee and began performing together in 1929
They’re best known for their song “When the Levee Breaks,” which was later recorded without credit by Led Zeppelin
They recorded this one in Chicago in July of 1930 for Vocalion Records
Rugged Little Thing - Jealous Hearted Me
A married duo from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
This comes from their debut self-titled album from 2016
The song was popularized by the Carter Family, who recorded it in 1936
Blind Willie Johnson, Willie B Harris - Jesus Is Coming Soon
Johnson is the better-known of the two, but Harris was his first wife with whom he performed on the street and played at church benefits
They also recorded 17 tracks together
This recording was made in Dallas, Texas in December of 1928
The lyrics are about the 1918 flu pandemic that killed between 50 and 100 million people worldwide
Sam Amidon, Beth Orton - Sundown
They’re both contemporary musicians with their own separate careers, though they’re married and have recorded many songs together for each other’s projects
This is from Amidon’s 2020 self-titled album
He learned the song from the fiddler Bruce Greene, and it’s likely the only recorded version of the song
Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger - The Vandals
A well-known married duo
MacColl was a British folksinger and labour activist, and Seeger is an American folksinger who’s been living and performing in the UK for over 60 years
From their 1980 album Kilroy Was Here
They had been singing together for 24 years already by the time they recorded the album
MacColl wrote this one
Graham Nash, Joni Mitchell - Our House
They were together between 1968 and 1970, and Nash wrote this song about the house they shared in Laurel Canyon, California
Fred Eaglesmith, Tif Ginn - Get Your Prices Up
They met at a music festival in 2009 and were married in 2014
Since then, Ginn and Eaglesmith have been collaborating and released their first album, Alive, in 2020, which won the Canadian Folk Music Award for Best Traditional Album
This is from that album
Nahawa Doumbia, N’Gou Bagayoko - Tou Dibile
They’re both Malian musicians known for their contributions to Wassoulou music and desert blues
This is from Doumbia’s first album, La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol. 1, from 1981, on which Bagayoko plays acoustic guitar
They were later married, and have continued playing together
William & Versey Smith - I Believe I’ll Go Back Home
They were an American blues and gospel married duo who came from either Texas or the Carolinas and recorded 4 tracks for Paramount in 1927
Recorded in Chicago in August of 1927
Rick & Lorraine Lee - The Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train
Were a Massachusetts-based married duo who recorded a diverse album of folk songs in 1975
Written by Uncle Dave Macon in 1930
Tennessee Governor Henry Horton was re-elected after being involved in a scandal after awarding contracts without bids, and soon after, the Bank of Tennessee collapsed, leaving the state $6m in debt
Derroll & Danny Adams - The Valley
They were married in 1970, and lived together in Antwerp, Belgium for 30 years until Derroll’s death in 2000
This is from his 1972 album Feelin’ Fine
Dave & Toni Arthur - Father, Father Build Me a Boat
They were a married duo who met at a coffee bar in London and recorded an album together in 1969 called The Lark in the Morning
The ballad is also known under the titles “Sweet William” and “A Sailor’s Life”, and it’s been collected on both sides of the Atlantic, sometimes adapted to different professions including logging and rafting
They got their version from Mrs. Hollings of Lincolnshire
Christine Fellows, John K Samson - The Swimmer
They’re both musicians from Winnipeg who have been recording together since the early 2000s
This is from Fellows’ 2018 album Roses on the Vine, and she wrote it in honour of Faron Hall, a man from Winnipeg who rescued people from drowning on several different occasions, and ended up drowning in the Red River in August of 2014
George & Gerry Armstrong - Simple Gifts
They were a married duo of musicians and musicologists from Chicago who were instrumental to the creation of the Old Town School of Folk Music, and helped organise the first University of Chicago Folk Festival
This is from the only record they made together, also called Simple Gifts, from 1961
It’s a Shaker hymn written by Elder Joseph Brackett in Alfred, Maine in 1848 and later used by composer Aaron Copland as the theme in the score for Martha Graham’s 1944 ballet Appalachian Spring
Mississippi Fred & Annie Mae McDowell - It’s a Blessing
They were a couple from Como, Mississippi who married in 1940 and made several recordings together, though Fred was the better-known musician outside of their community
This is from the 1994 album Good Morning Little School Girl, recorded at their home in February of 1964
Mr. and Mrs. John Sams - Wagoner’s Lad
Of Combs, Kentucky
Recorded by musician, photographer, field recorder, and filmmaker John Cohen and released on his 1960 album Mountain Music of Kentucky
Peter & Mary Alice Amidon - One Morning in May
Married duo who have been performing for children and adults alike for over 30 years
This is from their 1999 album Hymns & Ballads
It’s a traditional English folk song that’s been collected throughout the UK and North America
Sandy & Caroline Paton - The Lamoille River Song
Caroline and Sandy Paton were the co-founders of Folk Legacy Records, founded in Burlington, Vermont, in 1961
They were also a folk duo who sang together for over 50 years
This is from their 1966 self-titled album
This song is by John Nutting, a congregational minister and songwriter who wrote it while living on the banks of the Lamoille in Hyde Park, Vermont
Ian & Sylvia - Play One More
Ian & Sylvia were a married duo who performed together from 1959 until their divorce in 1975, and each continued their music careers after their divorce
This is off a compilation album of music recorded at Newport Folk Festival in 1965
Ian wrote it
Ginny Hawker, Tracy Schwarz - Katy Dear
They were an American duo that performed traditional music together together from the 1980s until Tracy’s death on March 29
This is from their 2004 album Draw Closer
It’s an American ballad also known as “Silver Dagger”
It’s widespread in North Carolina and Virginia
Sarah Lee Guthrie, Johnny Irion - Folksong
They played together from 2000 until their amicable divorce in 2014
Guthrie is the granddaughter of Woody Guthrie and Irion is the grand-nephew of John Steinbeck, and they were also part of a trio with Pete Seeger’s grandson Tao in the early 2000s
This is the title track from the duo’s 2009 album
Will Shade, Jennie Clayton - State of Tennessee Blues
They were a couple known for their involvement in the highly influential Memphis Jug Band, which performed from the mid-20s to the late 1950s
This is a duet from October of 1927, recorded in Atlanta, Georgia
Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer - Man Gave Names to All the Animals
A married duo that has been performing together for over 35 years
Cathy Fink is from Maryland, but began her career in the early 70s, busking and playing folk music in Canadian coffeehouses, and played the very first Folk Fest in 1974
She met Marcy Marxer, originally from Michigan, in Toronto in 1980, and they started writing songs together in 1983
Since then, they have received 14 Grammy nominations and 2 Grammy awards
This is from their 2017 album Get Up and Do Right, their 45th release as a duo
This is a song by Bob Dylan from his 1979 album Slow Train Coming, and it’s often considered one of his worst songs
Frankly I think it’s pretty good
Mary & Big Joe Williams - Oakland Blues
This was recorded by Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records in October of 1960 in California
Reverend Pearly Brown, Christine Brown - Good By
Pearly was the better-known musician but his wife, Christine, often accompanied him as a singer, including at the Newport Folk Festival and the Monterey Jazz Festival
This was recorded by Chris Strachwitz during a radio broadcast in Berkeley, California in 1974
Mimi & Richard Fariña - House Un-American Blues Activity Dream
They performed as a duo from 1963 until Richard’s death in a motorcycle accident on Mimi’s 21st birthday in 1966
Mimi went on to found Bread and Roses, an organisation that presents free music and entertainment to those in institutional environments
This song comes from their 1965 album Reflections in a Crystal Wind, and Richard wrote it
Patrick & Cathy Sky - Fiddle Solo Jigs: Scully Casey’s / The Yellow Wattle
They were a duo who performed traditional Irish music on the uilleann pipe and the fiddle
This is from their 2009 album Down to Us
Tony Saletan, Irene Kossoy - Sydney Coal Fields
