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.
Woody Knows Nothin'
One of those lovely old animal songs from the mountains
This tender little folk song borrows a number of standard verses from other songs but it has a sweetness all its own. I hope you like it. Eric Darling recorded this version on his 'True Religion' album for Vanguard in 1961 and it showed up on thier folk sampler record where I heard it.
La Cárcel de Cananéa
A sad Mexican song of incarceration
A classic Mexican corrido that I leared on one of my trips to Ciudad Juarez with my dad and brothers looking for great mariachi music.
The Golden Willow Tree
An American version of this famous English ballad
Tne 'Golden Willow Tree' or 'Golden Vanity' (Child 286) dates back to a late 17th. century broadside in which Sir Walter Raleigh is pictured as this nasty captain. Practically everyone who sings folksongs has recorded it. Even Johnny Depp sang a bit of it in 'Pirates of the Carribean'.
Lewis Collins
A fine old guitar finger picking piece from Mississippi John Hurt
'The Death of Lewis Colins' was composed and recorded by Mississippi John Hurt in 1928 for Okeh Records and then recorded again in 1963 when he was 'rediscovered' in the folk revival. I heard it first from Tom Paley who learned it from the old recording.
Six Songs for Children
A little collection of kid's songs. I'm especially fond of 'Little Black Bull'
Here are six very short songs selected from Ruth Crawford Seeger's books of children's songs Most of these songlets last just a minute or less. Kids don't mind. You can sing it again. If they like the song you may have to sing it again.. and again... and again.
Beans, Bacon and Gravy
An industrial ballad from Pete Seeger
In honor of Pete Seeger's ninety-fourth birthday I am playing this depression era song just as he did on American Industrial Ballads.
Green, Green Rocky Road
A ring game song from New Orleans
A classic children's song circle from New Orleans. I learned it from the playing of Dave Van Ronk, a signature piece for Dave.
Sourwood Mountain
A traditional banjo song from way back in the holler.
I learned this banjo tuning, eBEBE, from Frank Lee's instructional video 'Old-Time Banjo - Clawhammer Style'. Frank didn't play Sourwood Mountain but, I swear, when I put my banjo in that tuning those strings just started playing Sourwood Mountain all on their own. I guess I better let them have their way.
My Sweet Farm Girl
A naughty banjo blues from Tom Ashley
Tom Ashley recorded this naughty little song for Vocalion in 1932. Later it turns up on an obscure 10 inch Folkways LP called "Earth is Earth", sung by the New Lost City Ramblers under a thinly disguised pseudonym. The album included a few other songs of a similarly questionable nature.
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.
Country Blues
A banjo blues from Dock Boggs
I think my two very favorite old time banjo players are Uncle Dave Macon and Dock Boggs. I love Uncle Dave for his totally unrestrained hilarious joy. But Dock Boggs understood the blues, and this song is a fine example.