Barking Dog: July 23, 2026
Jake Xerxes Fussell - Rock Island Line
Fussell is a North Carolina artist who was raised in an artistic family and apprenticed with the blues musician Precious Bryant from a young age
This is the first single from his forthcoming album The Old Beloved Path, which comes out in September
“Rock Island Line” 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
Fussell describes it as “one of the great railroad songs of all time”
He borrowed some verses from the ancient children’s rhyme “Intry Mintry”
Star Thistle - The Tall Grass
Winnipeg
This is a demo of his latest song
Sam Amidon - Big Sky
Amidon is a contemporary folk artist from Vermont, now based in England
This is a cover of Lou Reed’s song from his 2000 album Ecstasy, which Amidon recorded for WFHB in Bloomington, Indiana in June of last year
The Baird Sisters - On and On
They’re a duo formed by sisters Laura and Meg Baird from New Jersey in the early 2000s
They’ve released three albums together, and this one’s from their 2012 album Until You Find Your Green
Jim Ringer - Going Away
He was a musician born in Arkansas and raised in California who spent much of his life as a travelling labourer
This is from his first album, Waitin' for the Hard Times to Go, from 1972
It’s a song by Utah Phillips, who included it on his 1973 album Good Though!
WS Merwin - The River of Bees
He was a Pulitzer prize-winning poet from New York City whose work was influenced by the anti-war movement, Buddhism, and ecology, and he served as the 17th Poet Laureate of the United States
This is from his 1993 book The Second Four Books of Poems
Vera Johnson - Homer Johnson
She was a musician and author from Vancouver who began playing music in 1949, when she was in her late 20s
This is from her 1974 album Bald Eagle
Steve Addiss, Bill Crofut - Wabash Cannonball
From their 1962 album World Tour with Folk Songs
They travelled to China, Southeast Asia, and Africa in the early 1960s as part of the State Department’s Cultural Exchange Program
The album was a result of their journey, and includes both songs from their own repertoire and songs they learned on their trip
This track was recorded in Munich, Germany
It’s an American railroad song written around 1882 by JA Roff, and later rewritten by William Kindt
The Carter Family made one of the first recordings of the song in 1929
Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson - Going to Raleigh
They’re both founding members of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, an old-time string band from North Carolina that performed between 2005 and 2014
This is a traditional tune off their 2025 album What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow: Fiddle and Banjo Music of North Carolina
David West - She Belongs to Me
He’s a musician and producer from California who’s been playing bluegrass since the early 1970s
This is from the 1999 album Pickin’ On Dylan, from the Pickin’ On series that turns music from popular artists from various genres into bluegrass tunes
Dylan included the song on his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home
Harrison Kennedy, Jean-Jacques Milteau, Vincent Segal - Blues Solution
Harrison Kennedy a Hamilton artist with a career in blues and roots music spanning over 50 years
Milteau is a French harmonica player, singer and songwriter, and Vincent Segal is a French cellist and bassist
This is from their 2018 album CrossBorder Blues
Willi Carlisle - Rye Whiskey
He’s a musician from Kansas, now based in Arkansas, who was raised in a musical family, and he’s been performing professionally for nearly a decade
This is from a 2024 instalment of The Magnolia Sessions, a series of recordings made live, outside at night in Nashville, Tennessee and released by Anti-Corp Records
“Rye Whiskey” is also known as “Way Up on Clinch Mountain” and “Jack of Diamonds”
Guy & Candie Carawan - Harry Simms
Guy Carawan was a folk musician and musicologist from California, and Candie is his wife, a singer, author, and activist
They often performed together, and also helped popularize the song “We Shall Overcome” during the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s
This is off their 1968 album Freedom Now: Songs for a New America
Kentucky miner, folksinger, and song collector Jim Garland and his influential folksinger sister Aunt Molly Jackson composed this song around 1953, about the murder of 20-year-old labour leader Harry Simms by a sheriff's deputy in 1932
Magic Tuber Stringband - Undone in Sorrow
They’re a trio from Durham, North Carolina, and this is from the 2023 album STOP MVP: Artists from West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina Against the Mountain Valley Pipeline
This is a song by Ola Belle Reed, also known as “Over Yonder in the Graveyard”
Emily Ellis - I Wish My Baby Was Born
She’s a banjo maker and musician from Alabama, and this is a traditional song that originated in England but has a long history in the Appalachian region of the US
Kronos Quartet - Hard Rain
Kronos Quartet is a string quartet from San Francisco that formed over 50 years ago
The quartet has performed music from many different genres and with many different artists, including Allen Ginsberg, Paul McCartney, and Björk
This is from their 2025 EP, also called Hard Rain, which they recorded for the Red Hot Organization
Bob Dylan wrote the song in 1962 and included it on his 1963 album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
This version features many artists including Ringo Starr, Laurie Anderson, Willie Nelson, and Iggy Pop
The Books - It Never Changes to Stop
They were a duo that formed in New York City in 1999 and often incorporated audio samples into their recordings
This is off their 2005 album Lost and Safe, and the sample in this track is of an anonymous American disciplinarian who the duo thought “sounded like an asteroid headed straight towards the earth”
The Weather Station - Soft Spoken Man
Toronto
Fronted by Tamara Lindeman
This is from their 2014 EP What Am I Going to Do (With Everything I Know)
Marwan Abado - Jammal
He’s a Palestinian musician who has lived in Vienna, Austria for over 30 years
This is off the 2001 album Marakeb, which he recorded with Austrian percussionist Peter Rosmanith
The lyrics are a poem by Palestinian poet and politician Tawfiq Ziad and it’s from the perspective of someone whose heart is broken because the camel driver they’re in love with has left
Iain MacKintosh - Acceptable Risks
He was a folk musician from Scotland known as “The quiet man of Scottish folk,” and this is from his 1991 album Risk and Roses
It’s a song by Massachusetts folk singer and activist Charlie King, who released it on his 1979 album Somebody’s Story
Leon Rosselson - I Didn’t Mean It
Rosselson is a musician and children’s book writer from England who first became widely known in the 1960s
This is the title track from his 1988 album
The Corries - Barrett’s Privateers
They were a Scottish folk group that began during the British folk revival of the 1960s
This is off their 1987 album of the same name
Despite what they say at the beginning of the song, it’s actually by Stan Rogers, who released it on his 1977 album Fogarty’s Cove
Sky Lambourne - Halifax is Heaven
He’s a musician based in Lillooet, BC, and this is off his 2021 album Blue Yodel 666
Iron & Wine - Place To Be
Iron & Wine is the stage name of Sam Beam, a singer-songwriter from South Carolina
This is a demo, and it’s a cover of Nick Drake’s song from his final album, Pink Moon
Cara Luft - Banjo is a Gift
Winnipeg
She cowrote this song with Clayton Parsons and recorded it with Parsons and Rob McClaren at Private Ear Recording studio
Ella Hanshaw - Open Season on the Devil
She was a country and gospel singer from West Virginia who wrote her own songs rather than performing traditional hymns
Her music was never professionally recorded, but her granddaughter recently collaborated with Spinster Records to release her home recordings and church performances on an album called Ella Hanshaw’s Black Book, which came out last year
That’s where this one is from
Ali Farka Touré, Taj Mahal - Roucky
Touré was an internationally known Malian musician who blended traditional Malian music with North American blues
He collaborated with many musicians, including Boubacar Traoré and Ry Cooder
Taj Mahal is a Grammy-winning blues musician from New York City whose career has spanned over 50 years
This is from Touré’s 1992 album The Source
Bosco Takaki - As Time Draws Near
He’s a Japanese folk musician who discovered American folk music as a child and traveled to the United States as a teenager, where he learned fiddle and banjo music from many well-known traditional artists
This is from his 2025 album, simply titled Bosco
This song is commonly known as “The Blackest Crow,” and it was popularized by North Carolina banjo and fiddle player Tommy Jarrell, whom Bosco met on one of his trips to the States
Lonesome Ace Stringband - Blackberry Blossom
Alan Sparhawk, Trampled by Turtles - Get Still
