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!
La Bruja is a song and traditional dance in the Huapango tradition from the state of Vera Cruz. The dance usually involves a number of women with lighted candles on their heads.
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
This song was recorded by Ida Cox in 1924, Ida was one of great, if lesser known, female blues singers in the era of Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Sippie Wallace.
Mean Old Bedbug Blues
A blues from Bessie Smith
Each of these are classic blues performance in their own right and provide an interesting contrast between country blues and early jazz band styles. I always favored Bessie's rendition. I think her slower tempo with piano and guitar accompaniment captured the true creepiness of bedbugs.
Uncle Joe Gimme Mo
Calypso from Trinidad
This great Trinidadian Calypso song comes from an early recording by Wilmuth Houdini. I love the way these Calypsonians took "uncle joe and his old ban-jo", a common stereotype in minstrel shows, and transformed him into a rock star.
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.
What the old Bachelors Made Out Of
The constituent materials of bachelors, old maids, doctors, and little dudes, are described.
I learned this song from Mike Seeger's epic banjo instruction series Southern Banjo Styles. Anyone who has the slightest interest in the history and playing of banjo show get this. It is priceless.
Goodbye Old Paint
A classic cowboy song. With "Woo-ha!" lessons.
One day, "I Ride an Old Paint" and "The Waggoner's Lad" were grazing in the back pasture and this song is the result of their acquaintance. The the tune and words I sing here are the same as in Tex Ritter’s 1933 recording. Not that this is any different from traditional versions, but it gives me an excuse to mention Tex.
Weevily Wheat
Charlie he's a good old man
This song shares verses with other play party songs from the Southern Appalachians. According to the North Carolina Folklore Society, the song descends to us from the Jacobite rebellion and "Charlie" refers to Bonny Prince Charlie. Sounds like some folklorist getting carried away to me,
Johnson Boys
A civil war song from the North and the South
Depending on which version of this song you hear either the Johnson boys were Civil War heroes (Flatt and Scruggs, NLCR) or complete idiots (Frank Proffit, J.E. Mainer). One theory has it that the heroic version was popular with sourthern troops and the idiot version came from northern soldiers who satirized the song.
Little Birdie
An essential mountain banjo song with its own tuning.
Every country banjo player, oldtime and bluegrass alike, does Little Birdie. I learned this tuning and style from Art Rosenbaum in "The Art of the Mountain Banjo" - Mel Bay. Art credits Pete Steele as the inspiration for his version. I also take some inspiration from Ralph Stanley.
Lady Gay
A sad ballad from Buel Kazee
'Lady Gay' is an American variation of the Scottish ballad "The Wife of Usher's Well" (Child #79). I got the song from Pete Seeger who learned the melody and the banjo tuning from Buell Kazee.
Wild About My Lovin'
A jug-band blues
A song from Jim Jackson of Hernando, Mississippi who performed and recorded in the 1920's and 30's either solo or with such artists as Gus Cannon, Furry Lewis, Will Shade, Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Jim left us a legacy of songs like Grizzly Bear, Hesitation Blues, Kansas City Blues, Old Dog Blue and this one.
Eight Hour Day
A labor anthem
The demand for the eight hour day was one of the earliest and most important achievements of the labor movement in Europe and North America. These verses, as sung by Pete Seeger on 'American Industrial Ballads', come from a song by John Hory of the Knights of Labor written in 1886.
Nottamun Town
A strange nonsense tune from Jean Ritchie
The passing of Jean Ritchie reminded me of this song. Jean said it was a nonsense song from the Mummer's Plays of medieval England. The moody melody lends the song a surreal quality. Bob Dylan liked it and used the tune for Masters of War.
Backwater Blues - 1
Uncle Dave's flood song
This 'Backwater Blues' was recorded for Vocalion Records by Uncle Dave Macon and Sam McGee on May 11, 1929 in New York City. This is just after flooding in the Mississippi River valley covered 27,000 miles to a depth of 30 feet. It affected 630,000 many of whom were forced to live in relief camps for log periods.
Morning Blues
A blues from the country
Like most of us jug band geeks from the 60's I learned this song from a Jim Kweskin album. I should not have been too surprised to learn that it comes from the boundless repertoire of Uncle Dave Macon.