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.
Sweet Nora Lee
A sweet old banjo blues
This song comes from J. T. Adams, a blues singer from Indianapolis. I'm grateful to Art Rosenbaum for collecting it and sharing with the rest of us. The tuning is standard open G but tuned down to F. The chimes are my contribution.
Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad
A hard times blues as sung by Etta Baker
I learned this one from my Dad and it was one of the first songs I played on the guitar. I adapted this banjo arrangement from the playing of Etta Baker of North Carolina with her unusual up-picking style. Etta was better known for her skillful and sensitive blues on electric guitar and other instuments.
Round and Round
An old time string band song from Dr. Bate and his Possum Hunters.
From Dr. Humphrey Bate and his Possum Hunters. Dr. Bate was a master harmonica player but apparently not so hot as a lyricist. This song had one verse and one chorus. The verse was borrowed from another song and the chorus doesn't rhyme. So I decided to fill it out with some more borrowed lyrics and some of my own.
The Devil and the Farmer's Cursed Wife
A testiment to strong women
A very old song, this is listed by Child and variants show up in seventeenth century broad sheets. Surely intended as being a song of complaint about women, over the years it has taken on a different meaning. The last verse says it all, they're "better than men, they can go down to hell and come back again."
Buckey Jim
Here is a lullaby from the Southern Appalachians
I couldn't do better than Alan and John Lomax to describe this song:
Leatherwing Bat
Love life of birds and other flying things
Bits of melody and lyrics from "Leatherwing Bat" show up an many old play songs such as "The Jolly Miller" (Same old man livin' at the mill, Mill turns around by its own free will), "The Birds Courting Song", "The Crow Song". These seem to be related to some Irish songs and eighteenth century broadsides.
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.
Dog and Gun
She hunts and captures her prey.
'Dog and Gun' also known as 'The Golden Glove' comes to us via the folk tradition from English broadsides. I learned the ballad from a recording by Bradley Kincaid that was part of Harry Smith's collection.'
Poor Ellen Smith
A North Carolina murder ballad
‘Poor Ellen Smith’ is a classic mountain murder ballad in which the accused killer protests his innocence. The song was recorded by Henry Whitter in 1924 and was sung by many traditional musicians such as Texas Gladden, Frank Proffitt, Hobart Smith, and Pete Steele. The Country Gentlemen made it a bluegrass standard.
Duncan and Brady
Another bad man murder ballad
A "bad man murder ballad" in the mold of Staggolee, Frankie and Johnny, or Ella Speed. The earliest known recording was by a white string band, Wilmer Watts & Lonely Eagles, in 1929 but it has its roots in the African American tradition.
Riley and Spencer
A drinking song of the South
Unlike most of the country songs I sing there are no early recordings of 'Riley and Spencer.' This one comes to us from some more recent traditional singers such as Tommy Jarrell and Betsy Rutherford. Betsy said that she learned "Riley and Spencer" from her relative Fields Ward, who wrote it.