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.
Bill Morgan and his Gal
An old time string band tune from Charlie Poole
Heard the New Lost City Ramblers play this in concert in the tiny auditorium in Lee Park, Dallas in 1961. I was around thirteen and learning songs on my Sears and Roebuck Silvertone banjo from Pete Seeger's 'How to play the Five-String Banjo.' I had never heard anything quite like this and it knocked my socks off.
Swing and Turn, Jubilee
A slightly updated version of a mountain play-party song
An old standard appalachian party song that Jean Ritchie sang on her classic album with Doc Watson. Another nice version was sung by Carolyn Hester on one of her early Columbia records. Carolyn is a great Texas singer who never seemed to get the attention she deserved. The minor key in the chorus is from Carolyn.
Goin' Across the Sea
Appalachian banjo song
Uncle Dave Macon called this song "an old familiar tune from waaaay back yander." I heard it first from Art Rosenbaum on an Elecktra album, "Folk Banjo Styles", an eclectic set of banjo performances by Art, Tom Paley, and Eric Weissberg that ranged from Tom’s ancient sounding fretless tunes to Eric’s high power bluegrass.
A Lusty Young Smith
A brittish ballad for adults only
The words to this very naughty song come from Thomas D'Urfey's "Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy," published in 1717. It was set to music by Ed McCurdy for his Electra series 'When Dalliance was In Flower and Maidens Lost the Heads." Ed was ably accompanied by Eric Darling and Alan Arkin.
Utah Carroll
A very sad and sentimental cowboy story
'Utah Carroll' joins 'Little Joe the Wrangler' and 'When the Works all Done this Fall' in the long tradition of cowboy tear-jerkers. So get your hankies out pardners.
Chewing Gum
A kids song from the Carter Family
The Carter Family sang this sweet little song. I heard it from John Cohen in an improptu concert in the basement auditorium of the old Dallas Art Museum when the New Lost City Ramblers came town, 1962 I think.
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.
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.
Long John
Running away from the chain gang
The story of Long John Green stands next to John Henry as another great African American folk legend. John Lomax tells the story in his liner notes to 'John A. Lomax Jr. Sings American Folksongs':
No Es Culpa Mía
A tejano song of heartbreak
It has been said that the language of love can only be sung. And nobody understood this better than the great Mexican and Tejano singers like Lydia Mendoza.
Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss
a banjo dance number
Pretty Little Miss, aka Pretty Little Pink, is one of the standard country dance songs that's been around as long as anyone can remember. Every old southern banjo player plays and everyone dances. So please dance.