Barking Dog: September 24, 2026
Ballaké Sissoko - Weltere
Sissoko is a Malian kora player who has collaborated with artists including Toumani Diabaté and Taj Mahal
This is a new single that came out on September 16th
It’s a reflection on his memories of his father, and the title means “Joy” in Halpulaar, the language of the Fula people of Mali
Jake Xerxes Fussell - Early Early in the Spring
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 from his new album The Old Beloved Path, which came out on September 18th
It’s a British folk song from the late 17th century
The McMillan’s Camp Boys - Falcon Ridge
They’re a band originally from British Columbia, now based in Nova Scotia
This is from their new album Runty in the Tallgrass, which came out on September 4th
Bruce Hutton - Country Blues
He’s a multi-instrumentalist from Maryland who’s been performing traditional folk music professionally since 1971
This is off his 1978 album Old Time Music, It’s All Around
It’s a traditional American folk song that’s been recorded by a number of artists including both Dock Boggs and Doc Watson
Ola Belle Reed - Nine Pound Hammer
She was an American musician from Ashe County, North Carolina
She was born to a musical family, and her uncle Dockery Campbell taught her to play the banjo as a child, while her mother and grandmother taught her songs and ballads
Reed formed the band The New River Boys and Girls with her brother Alex, and they went on to open the New River Ranch music park in Maryland, which hosted a number of well-known artists
This is from a 2010 collection of previously unreleased tracks
It’s a version of Merle Travis’s arrangement of the song, which comes from a cluster of Black railroad and mining work songs that were adapted by white mountain banjo pickers
The cluster also includes “Roll on John”, “Roll on Babe”, and several more
Vera Johnson - God’s Not Dead
She was a musician and author from Vancouver who began playing music in 1949, when she was in her late 20s
This is off her 1978 live album That’s What I Believe, recorded at the Green Cove Coffee House in Vancouver, BC with Cathy Fink and Duck Donald
Bram Taylor - Wheel of Fortune
He’s an English musician who’s been performing since the 1970s
This is from his 1986 album Dreams and Songs to Sing
The song is also known as “The False Lover,” and it’s a traditional folk ballad
Ian A Anderson - The Western Wind
He’s an English musician, broadcaster, writer, and editor who began performing in the 1960s in the Bristol country blues scene
This is from his 2010 archival album Time is Ripe, and he originally included it on his 1972 album Singer Sleeps On As Blaze Rages
Jack Treese - The Bankrupt Soul
He was a musician from Minnesota who grew up playing music on his family’s farm and began performing while at university
In 1968, Treese moved to France, where he found success and remained for the rest of his life
This comes from the posthumously released 1995 compilation album Me and Company
Sam Amidon, Sam Wilkes - Jig
Amidon is a contemporary folk artist from Vermont, now based in England
Wilkes is a musician and composer from California
This is from their new EP Froggy, which came out on August 21
Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers - Bully of the Town
Tanner was an early American country music star from Georgia
He formed the Skillet Lickers in 1926 along with guitarist Riley Puckett, fiddler Clayton McMichen, and banjo player Fate Norris
This track is from 1926, and it’s a version of “Ella Speed”
Lead Belly - Ella Speed
Lead Belly was a folk and blues musician from Louisiana who was incarcerated in Texas twice in the early 20th century, and met the folksong collectors John and Alan Lomax while they were making field recordings of inmates
Once he was released, he became widely known for both his blues and folk recordings
This one was recorded while he was still incarcerated at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in the early 1930s
It’s a well-known African American ballad based on the murder of Ella Speed by Louis “Bull” Martin in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1894
The song likely began as a ragtime ballad, though it’s been recorded in several genres
Paul Clayton - Floyd Collins
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 1957 album Cumberland Mountain Folksongs, and it’s about the death of Collins, a cave explorer and entrepreneur who became trapped in Sand Cave in Kentucky in 1925 when a boulder pinned his leg
Attempts were made to rescue him, and the situation became a national headline as people flocked to the mouth of the cave to watch the rescue attempts
Rescuers were able to locate Collins, but a cave-in occurred and Collins died before they could reach him through the new shaft they dug
The entire ordeal played out over 17 days
Record executive Polk Brockman commissioned Blind Andrew Jenkins to write the song in 1925 to cash in on Collins’ story
Atlanta fiddler John Carson was the first to record it, though Vernon Dalhart’s subsequent recording sold more copies
The Wailin’ Jennys - By Way of Sorrow
Folk group formed in Winnipeg in 2002
This is a track from their 2011 iTunes Sessions EP
Mama’s Broke - Old-Fashioned Love Song
They’re a duo from Nova Scotia who have been playing together for a decade
This is from their new album Reunion, which came out on August 28
Bob Wiseman - Cop Story / Rock and Tree
He’s a founding member of Blue Rodeo, as well as a solo artist, author, and film composer
These two tracks are from his 2008 album The Legend, recorded live at a Halifax house show
Zeinab Shaath - Shouting for Justice and Freedom
Shaath was only a teenager when she began recording, and her music was some of the first in the English language to bring attention to the Palestinian struggle
This track is from 1982, and the lyrics are a poem by Fawaz Turki
Damien Jurado, Josh Gordon - Percy Faith
He’s a singer-songwriter from Seattle who began his career in the 1990s
Gordon is a multi-instrumentalist who’s collaborated with Jurado for many years
This is a live recording made in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2018
Jurado originally released the song on his album The Horizon Just Laughed, which also came out in 2018
Charlie Panigoniak - From Sanitorium
He was an Inuk songwriter and musician from Nunavut who began recording in the 1970s
This is a recording from 1975, made by the CBC Northern Service
Danú - Uncle Rat
They’re an Irish band that began in 1995, and this is off their 2002 album All Things Considered
This is a version of “Froggie Went a-Courting”, which is a folk song of Scottish origin, the most early musical version of which was published in 1611, though the song existed in the 16th century
Charlie Sangster - Hesitation Blues
Born into a musical family in Brownsville, Tennessee in 1917
Learned to play mandolin and guitar at the age of 12
This is from a collection of recordings the Italian song collector Gianni Marcucci made of Sangster in Brownsville in the late 1970s as part of his Blues at Home album series
The song is a popular blues song that was adapted from a traditional song
The verses tend to vary widely between versions, though the refrain is pretty consistent
Star Thistle - Hesitation Blues
A project from the mind of Winnipeg artist Uncle Sinner
That song is from his debut album, The Best of Star Thistle, released in 2021
It uses a similar refrain to the previous song
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Derroll Adams - Roll On Buddy
Elliott is a folk singer from New York City who was a protege of Woody Guthrie and a major influence for Bob Dylan
Adams was a musician from Portland, Oregon who got his start busking on the West Coast of the US during the 1950s, where he met Elliott and the two began travelling and recording together
This is from a collection of early recordings, released in 1999
The song is part of a large song family that includes other songs like “John Henry,” “Spikedriver Blues,” and “Take This Hammer”
They recorded it in the mid-1960s
Moes Haven - Cain Breaks
They’re a band formed by Matt Farley and Tom Scalzo while they were studying at Providence College in Rhode Island in the 1990s
In 2006, they completed a project where they recorded one album every day
Farley is also known for cult-classic films including Magic Spot, Monsters, Marriage and Murder in Manchvegas, and Don’t Let the Riverbeast Get You!, all of which we at Barking Dog recommend, and Scalzo often appears as an actor in those films
This is from the 2013 compilation album Songs from Deep in the Vault (1996-2010)
Bob Dylan - Girl from the North Country
Dylan originally included the song on his 1963 album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
This recording comes from his 1984 album Real Live, and it was recorded at Slane Castle in Ireland in July of 1984
Chrissie Hynde, James Walbourne - You’re a Big Girl Now
They’re two members of English rock band the Pretenders, and this is from the 2021 album Standing in the Doorway: Chrissie Hyde Sings Bob Dylan
Dylan released the song on his 1975 album Blood on the Tracks
Kevin Coyne, Brendan Croker - Oceans of Love
He was an English musician, writer, and filmmaker who began performing in the late 1960s while working as psychiatric nurse and drug counsellor, an experience that deeply impacted his lyrical composition
Croker was also an English musician, and the two met in a hotel breakfast lounge in Bruges and recorded an album together in 2001 called Life is Almost Wonderful, which is where this one is from
Lonesome Ace Stringband - Reason to Believe
Contemporary stringband based in Toronto
They released this one in August
It’s a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s song, originally from his 1982 album Nebraska
Hunt & Turner - Man of Rings
They were a UK duo that began playing together in the summer of 1970, and this is from their only album, Magic Landscape, from 1972
Cherrie Moraga, Earth Liberation Front, Christian Parenti - A 500 Year History of Invasion / Amazingly Hypocritical / Capitalism Needs Poverty
