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.
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.
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.
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.
Devilish Mary
An anti-courtship song
I can't find much information about the origins of 'Devilish Mary' but the song has been such a staple of the old-time music repertoire it must have long reaching traditional roots. Several versions have been collected by folklorists such as John Lomax and Max Hunter.
The Old Frog
Complete non-sense
This little delight comes to us from the Ozarks by way of Ruth Crawford Seeger's "Animal Folk Songs for Children".
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.
The Gray Goose
A wild old mountain banjo song
I learned this song from Tom Paley's 10" Electra record 'Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachian Mountains' It is very close to a song called 'Jordan is a Hard Road to Travel' as recorded by Uncle Dave Macon and later revamped by Jimmy Driftwood.
Cindy
A well known play-party song
Cindy is one of our best known and loved America folksongs. There are versions from the southern African-American tradition, the Appalachians and other sources. It's been sung by everyone from Granpa Jones to Elvis Presley and heard on countless movies and TV shows. So it is a song that truly belongs to everyone.
The Man that Wrote the Home Sweet Home
New lyrics to a disreputable old song
Once upon a time, in the late 1920’s and early 30’s, there was a pair of country recording artists named Charlie Parker and Mack Woolbright. Mack was a blind banjo player who pioneered a three-finger style that caught the attention of a young feller named Earl Scruggs.
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'