Newest Songs
Hell Bound Train
A cautionary tale of damnation and redemption

You know about the train that was "bound for glory". Well, this train was going the other way on the opposite track.
Jolly Roving Tar
A sea song from Newfoundland

I found this jolly sea song from Newfoundland on one of the old 'American Folksay' albums produced on Stinson records by Moses Asch, performed by Frank Warner.
No Peas No Rice
A Bahamian jazz song

A Bahamian song recorded in the 1930s by big band leaders such as Mart Brit and Count Basie and in the Bahamas by Blind Blake Alfonso Higgs.
Thorneymore Woods
A song of the noble poacher, and mean gamekeepers

An English poaching ballad as performed by Louis Killen.
La Bruja
Vampire story from Vera Cruz, Mexico. Boo!

The Devil and Bailiff McGlynn
The devil takes his due

What a fine old Irish tale. But it derives from a history that is not so jolly - the mass evictions and house levelings that took place during the Irish famine of the mid-nineteenth century. No wonder the mother in the story cries "May the devil take that awful Bailiff!".
Spotted Cow
A naughty little English folk song

Here is a traditional English song, at least I think so, I heard it from Steel Eye Span, that parcel of rogues who brought fuzz-tone electric guitar to English folk music.
Italian Carol
A christmas song from Italy

An Italian carol adapted by Pete Seeger from an old tradition in Naples in which shepherds come down from the Calabrian mountains for a festive stay in that city during the Christmas celebration.
Wild Women Don't Have No Blues
A blues for strong women

Mean Old Bedbug Blues
A blues from Bessie Smith

Uncle Joe Gimme Mo
Calypso from Trinidad

Monsieur Banjo
A creole song for kids

This children's song in Louisiana Creole. My version is an adaptation of Pete Seeger's English language version on 'American Favorite Ballads' and a French language version from the Magnolia Sisters on their delightful children's album 'Lapin Lapin'
Featured Songs
Hopalong Peter
An old time banjo song

This was recorded by J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers in the 1930's. I learned it from the NLCR.
Woody Knows Nothin'
One of those lovely old animal songs from the mountains

Sail Away Ladies
A traditional dance song from Uncle Dave Macon

Stawberry Roan
A bronc ridin' story

Lewis Collins
A fine old guitar finger picking piece from Mississippi John Hurt

Little Sadie
A mountain bad man song

Clarence 'Tom' Ashley recorded Little Sadie in 1930 as did a number of other country singers around the same time. The earliest recording I have found was by Roy Hogshed in 1948 but I believe there were earlier renditions.
Jackaro
A song of love, seamanship and cross-dressing

'Jackaro' is a Kentucky mountain variation on an old ballad called 'Jack Munroe.' The song was collected in Kentucky by Loraine Wyman and Howard Brockway and in Arkansas by Max Hunter. Jean Ritchie knew it is part of her own family tradition.
Cruel Mother
A haunting murder ballad

Yo Soy un Pobre Vaquero
A mexican cowboy song

NRA Blues
A song about the New Deal

Back in the days of the depression, the NRA was the 'National Recovery Administration' not the rifle association. NRA was a new deal program founded to bring business, government and labor together. Although it seemed a visionary idea at the time it did not completely please labor or business.
Down in the Valley
A favorite American ballad

Spotted Cow
A naughty little English folk song

Here is a traditional English song, at least I think so, I heard it from Steel Eye Span, that parcel of rogues who brought fuzz-tone electric guitar to English folk music.