I want to get deeper into Folk Music

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Johnhenry'shammer
Date: 22 Jun 06 - 03:52 PM

Not nearly as much as Norwhich Terriors!

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Jun 06 - 03:40 PM

Dachshunds buy lots of musical instruments?

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Jun 06 - 11:41 PM

It's like that with dachshunds too, strangely enough.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Jun 06 - 10:03 PM

And you'll no doubt branch out into other instruments. The disease has exponential characteristics. . .

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Tootler
Date: 10 Jun 06 - 06:21 AM

It's known as Instrument Acquisitive Disorder.

It doesn't matter what your instrument is, once you start you can't stop. You always need another one which is better for ... (insert your own reason here).

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Hrothgar
Date: 10 Jun 06 - 05:06 AM

You'll buy a guitar.

And a case.

And a tuner.

Then a few CDs.

Then a better guitar.

Then a better case.

Then a better tuner.

Then a few more CDs.

Then .......

There will be no end to it - just try to enjoy it.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Johnhenry'shammer
Date: 09 Jun 06 - 11:53 PM

Could you explain what you mean by, "$300? You poor misguided fool. It won't end there." That's a very cryptic thing to say.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: CET
Date: 09 Jun 06 - 07:33 PM

You mentioned Odetta. You bet she's worth checking out. She has a beautiful deep voice. She is still performing and if you hear of a concert in your neighbourhood, beg, borrow, steal - just do what you have to do to get a ticket. Her early reputation I believe (I stand to be corrected) was based on traditional folk songs. I think she is concentrating on blues right now. I saw her play a side stage at the Ottawa Blues Festival a few years ago. We stood there with the rain bucketing down and listened to her sing the blues with just one piano player for accompaniment. One of the best concerts I've ever heard.

Like Buck said above, it's a question of following the sign posts. For me, the first sign post was the Clancy Brothers. That led to Scottish and English music thanks to Alistair Brown of the Cuckoo's Nest Folk Club in London, Ontario. I kept finding one group or another (too many to mention) that grabbed my attention. Eventually my interest moved on to include traditional Southern U.S music, so my musical journey has gone more or less clockwise, from Ireland to Scotland to England and back to North America. Along the way I found that I loved country music as well, something I certainly did not when I was younger.

I think the most important factor, if you are really going to be serious about this, is the people you meet who open up music to you in a way that is completely different from the performances you listen to on recordings. I could name several, among them Alistair Brown, who has a couple of very good solo albums as well as the stuff he recorded with Friends of Fiddler's Green, Brian Peters, who really introduced me to the traditional English ballad, Margaret Christl, Brian MacNeill, formerly with the Battlefield Band, and Sean Keane. I sang with and learned from all these folks at the Celtic College in Goderich, Ontario, where Charmion and I have been going for the first week in August for the past six years. Goderich is fair piece from you, but I would really recommend you get involved in some similar activity where you can go away for a week or two and just do music till it's coming out your ears. I would bet the Folklore Centre could give you more information.

As you can probably guess, my musical path has tended (but not exclusively) to lead me to traditional British and American songs. That might end up not being your journey at all, but if you look you will find the signposts and the guides.

Edmund

$300? You poor misguided fool. It won't end there.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Severn
Date: 08 Jun 06 - 10:03 PM

Now that you're at least waist deep, all us big fools say to push on!

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 08 Jun 06 - 09:47 PM

Go to the Folklore Center and talk with Harry Tuft. He's the head honcho there and a warm and wonderful fellow. He can give you all the advice you might need for folk gatherings in the area, including the Swallow Hill programs. Tell him Sandy Paton sends his best wishes.
    Do get a copy of Rounder 1500 from Dick Greenhaus at Camsco. It's gotta be the folk music CD of the decade!
    Sandy

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: GUEST,Tinker
Date: 08 Jun 06 - 03:36 AM

Forget the guitar. Get a b/c box and discover the Celt in you.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: open mike
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 11:38 PM

if you search here i am sure you will find good discussions
about guitars...no need to re-invent the wheel by starting
a new thread here...people will not look here for guitar
info because they will not see that in the title. best
to find an article discussing guitars specifically.

go to the little box that says" lyric and knowledge search..."

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 11:27 PM

If you've never played any kind of guitar before. I'd be inclined to say - spend about a third that much on a decent nylon strung guitar - its easier on the fingers to start with. you will need an electronic tuner and there are some good instructional computer software packages, but really a decent guitar class for beginners will help you with advice of where to go.

Ask around and take someone with you who knows a bit about guitars to help you make a good choice. If you go to a class, perhaps the teacher will advise you. Soft cases make the guitar go out of tune - and keeping it in tune is really difficult to start with.

If you decide to buy privately, its really important to take an experienced guitar player with you. as peoiple tend to pass trouble on to the unsuspecting.

anyway best of luck. its a nice hobby.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Johnhenry'shammer
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 10:54 PM

I'd be willing to spend up to $300 and yes the Folklore Center is still around. I mean to go there one of these days when I can get around to it.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 04:33 PM

Does the Denver Folklore Center not exist any more ? If it does then I suggest you go and talk to the folks there.

Hoot

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 04:32 PM

Is that Steve Adams of Tamworth - Are You there Sigmund Freud? Cannabis Triffidus Fame?

I hope so. Always loved Steve.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Peace
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 03:50 PM

You hvae neglected to say how much you wish to spend.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 11:59 AM

Probaby not the right place for this but apropos the above:

Recently saw the Springsteen latest offering on TV, what a load of crap. It realy did sound like the massed ensemble of British skiffle groups of the fifties only worse and they amplified it too. What a mess. Why do they do that? ok, I know, it's because they can.
And now Steve Adams is taking up the guitar and recording again, is morning about to break again?

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 07 Jun 06 - 11:17 AM

Buy a telecaster. have a long career in rock n roll. Sell millions of albums.

Then get a Martin and sing all the songs that the amateurs used to sing forty years ago.

worked for Springsteen......

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Johnhenry'shammer
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 07:58 PM

That's right Denver. I'm also thinking of buying an accoustic guitar. Any suggestions?

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: open mike
Date: 04 Jun 06 - 11:17 PM

i believe this person said he is in colorado...maybe denver area.

thanks for the info, Hoot.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Susan of DT
Date: 04 Jun 06 - 10:42 AM

Johnhenry - CAMSCO sells new folk CDs. Dick Greenhaus is very knowledgable. Call him at 800 548-FOLK to discuss your interests. He can suggest CDs for you. Where are you? If you are in the Northeast US, you might catch us at a festival where we bring thousands of CDs. Next festival where we have a booth is Old Songs at the end of June in upstate NY.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: GUEST,Hootenanny (Nitpickin')
Date: 04 Jun 06 - 09:17 AM

Re Open Mike above, Tracy Schwarz was NOT a founder member of the NLCR. He was Tom Paley's replacement.

If you want to dip into a collection with a wide range of material, you could do worse than listening to the Harry Smith collection (of other people collections). This was responsible for getting hundreds if not thousands of us into the music since it was first issued in the fifties on 3 double vinyl abums. It is now available on CD.

Hoot

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: BuckMulligan
Date: 03 Jun 06 - 01:41 PM

Johnhenry'shammer - "getting deeper into folk" (or the study of Anglo-Saxon verbs or horticulture, for that matter) is a process of collecting things, then following them to see where they lead. There's nothing wrong with asking a group of people known to be interested in the same stuff "what about this one" and "how about that one" but you'll get mixed results. Following the clues is the best way to figure out what it all means to you. Up above you reel off a bunch of names, investigation of which could easily occupy you for a year or more. Moreoever, each one of those names will lead to others. Write 'em down. Find the info. Find the music. Report back with your thoughts & reactions, and you'll get TONS of worthwhile feedback on YOUR thoughts & feelings. We can all sit here & say "Yup, for sure you should check all these guys out, and don't forget this one or that one" but it's your journey, and it's WAY more fun following your own uniques sequence of signposts. My journey in folk music started in about 1949 or 1950 when I heard the Weavers "Goodnight Irene" on the radio in our kitchen. I had a lot of catching up to do, and I'm not there yet, but there are so many sidetrips along the way, and no two itineraries are alike.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Franz S.
Date: 03 Jun 06 - 01:07 PM

Malvina Reynolds was a highly prolific writer of songs, mostly political. Probably her most famous was "Little Boxes", inspired by the houses built along the hills of Daly City (just south of SF) in the '50s. Her songs are full of good social commentary and they're fun. I used her "Turn Around" as a lullaby for my youngest daughter, who turned around and played it for our dance at her wedding. Check out Rosalie Sorrels' "No Closing Chord" CD, all Malvina Reynolds songs. Rosalie of course is well worth investigating in her own right. Among many other talents she has recorded several albums of songs of the West (Idaho, Utah, etc.)

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: GUEST,Mekon
Date: 03 Jun 06 - 05:58 AM

On the lines Ifor, Swan Arcade, Blue Murder

Also Annie Briggs, Peter Bellamy/Young Tradition

Roy Bailey/Band of Hope......

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Johnhenry'shammer
Date: 03 Jun 06 - 01:22 AM

I've been looking around the CAMSCO catalogue and I like it a lot but I realized that I didn't know if they were selling CD's or vinyl records. Anybody know?

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: open mike
Date: 02 Jun 06 - 10:17 PM

The New Lost City Ramblers was an interesting group.
One of the founders was Tom Paley the others were
Mike Seeger, John Cohen and Tracy Schwarz

and they were very "instrumental" in preserving
and popularizing old timey music. Some (if not all) of them
are still activiely making music..Tom will be touring
the Western u.s. this fall, and Mike recenly put out
a new c.d.

check them out.
http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/pbs_arm_saa_newlostcityramblers.html
http://www.johncohenworks.com/music/ramblers.html
http://mikeseeger.info/
http://tompaley.com/
www.ginnyandtracy.com/


New Lost City Ramblers:
40 Years of Concert Performances

Rounder Records
ROUN0481

The New Lost City Ramblers are known far and wide as the seminal group from the '50s who sparked the folk music revival. They collaborated with many old-time musicians and worked to preserve their music and bring them from obscurity to a wider, appreciative audience. This anthology collects some of their most memorable performances from the past four decades, 16 of them previously unreleased.

John Cohen, vocals, mandolin, guitar, kazoo, banjo
Mike Seeger, vocals, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, autoharp,
             mouth harp, trumpet
Tom Paley, vocals, guitar, banjo, kazoo
Tracy Schwarz, vocals, fiddle, guitar


Tom Paley also has a group called the New Deal String Band
and he and his son Ben have learned and recorded many Swedish
fiddle tunes, too.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Brían
Date: 02 Jun 06 - 06:48 PM

That should be Woody(He posts red-eared).

Brían

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 02 Jun 06 - 04:56 PM

Very true Don.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Don Firth
Date: 02 Jun 06 - 04:45 PM

Studs Terkel (HERE and HERE) isn't a musician, but he's been associated with folk music for decades because of his radio programs and interviews. He's a great observer of Life and the passing parade, has some very incisive things to say, and has written some really great stuff, often based on interviews he's done.

Acquainting oneself with Studs Terkel and his writings is a great mind expander.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Brían
Date: 02 Jun 06 - 04:26 PM

I would recommend Cisco. You may have heard him sing in a lonesome tenor voice with Woodie. Great cowboy songs straight from the heart.

Brían

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 02 Jun 06 - 04:25 PM

Of course!!!!   You can't go wrong.   By the way, Studs Terkel is not a musician.

Check out a wonderful series of reissues from Empire Music Werks. They are reissuing LP's that came out on the Tradition Records label. www.traditionfolk.com

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Johnhenry'shammer
Date: 02 Jun 06 - 03:11 PM

So I've been looking at some of my Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan albums and I have some names I want to run by all of you: Odetta, Malvina Reynolds, The New Lost City Ramblers, Studs Terkel, The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, Richie Havens, Cisco Houston, Dock Boggs, Josh White, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGhee. Can you tell me about these guys and whether I should check them out or not? Thanks

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Scoville
Date: 02 Jun 06 - 02:43 PM

Ditto--what subgenre?

Country: Carter Family, Delmore Brothers, Bascom Lamar Lunsford

Cajun, Zydeco, Cajun Swing: Clifton Chenier, Lost Bayou Ramblers/Les Freres Michot, Hackberry Ramblers, Red Stick Ramblers, Joseph Falcon

Old Time: Original Red Clay Ramblers, Tom Ashley, Tommy Jarrell, Dave Landreth/Allen Street String Band, High Woods String Band, Dock Boggs, Buell Kazee, Olabelle Reed, Dwight Lamb, check out the Missouri Traditional Fiddle & Dance Network for some fun stuff (sorry, old-time is my pet genre).

Appalachian, Bluegrass: Jean Ritchie, Phyllis Boyens, Hazel Dickens

Blues: Robert Johnson, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Son House, Mance Lipscomb, Elizabeth Cotten, Etta Baker

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Don Firth
Date: 02 Jun 06 - 02:24 PM

I concur with the recommendation for investigating the recordings of Gordon Bok, Ann Mayo Muir, and Ed Trickett (HERE and HERE). My singing voice is similar to Gordon Bok's (not saying it's as good as, just similar—I can sing the songs he sings in the same keys) and I like the songs he does, so I've stolen stuff off his records wholesale. Always goes over well with an audience.

A couple of others that I haven't seen mentioned yet who are well worth looking into—essential, really—are Peggy Seeger, Pete's half-sister (HERE) and the late Ewan MacColl (HERE), who worked together for years. Peggy is a virtuoso on 5-string banjo and guitar (Pete has said, "Peggy's the musician in the family.") and her voice is perfect for folk songs and ballads. MacColl wrote a lot of songs, but he has also recorded a huge amount of traditional material, especially Scottish.

I've met both Peggy and Ewan a couple of times, and in addition to being outstanding performers and very knowledgeable, they are about the nicest people you could meet. They definitely belong in the very nucleus of the record collection of anyone seriously interested in folk music (also, it's great stuff to learn and sing!).

Ewan MacColl also did a whole bunch of recordings with A. L. Lloyd (HERE), including "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads," nine LPs altogether, plus a couple of LPs of sea songs, chanteys, and ballads. Great stuff! Worth looking for. I was introduced to these recordings by Dr. David C. Fowler, an English prof who taught a course in ballads when I was at the University of Washington back in the Fifties. He played a lot of theme in class.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Peace
Date: 02 Jun 06 - 02:00 PM

Good basic guitar site here.

www.guitartips.addr.com/

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jun 06 - 11:40 AM

Look at the liner notes of the albums you already own and track down those writer and performer influences AND track down others who have performed those same songs, like was suggested above. Your taste will shift (broaden) as you listen to different renderings of the songs, and if you listen to each performer's other works and look into their other influences, you'll experience an exponential growth in your knowledge of songs and performers.

Once you have a list of folks you want to investigate further, consider visiting your public library to find their CDs or albums available to check out (and don't forget about Interlibrary Loan if they don't have what you're looking for). This way you can explore many but invest in those that really catch your ear.

Good luck!

SRS

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: open mike
Date: 02 Jun 06 - 01:43 AM

the best way to immerse yourself in music is to go to places where it
is all around you and wher eyou are encouraged to join in and learn
more. Perhaps Lyons Folks Festival or Telluride would be such places.

These are the festivals i hear about from Colorado.
also four corners and The 3rd Annual Folk Festival
is a free music concert held at Hideaway Park in
downtown Winter Park Resort July 8-July 9, 2006...

http://www.northforkbluegrass.com/ june 9-11

often there is a lot of jamming and sharing of tunes
at bluegrass events...and it is not always restricted
to traditional bluegrass. Perhaps you can locate a
song circle or jam session that meets regularly or
check music stores and see if they sponsor any gatherings.

i think there are a couple of mud cats in colorado
Rex used to be on here...i think he is up in
evergreen or west of boulder. and Katlaughing is in
western colorado butg night have some ideas for you.

let us know what you find!

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: mrdux
Date: 01 Jun 06 - 11:52 PM

Since yuo asked: Missisppi John Hurt was sort of a songster, and an incredible fingerpicker, who played old songs, blues songs, folk songs, minstrel songs, some ragtime stuff, some gospel – he was a farmer and a sharecropper, recorded a few sides in about 1928, and, except for playing at local front porches, parties and dances around Avalon, Mississppi, where he grew up, pretty much disappeared from the public music scene for the next three-and-a-half decades, spending his life working the land. He was rediscovered in 1963, still in Avalon, and recorded quite a bit before he passed in 1966. He was a gentle and genial man with a warm, honeyed, honest voice, almost grandfatherly – and a dexterity on the guitar pretty much undiminished into his 70's – that can't help but make me smile every time I hear him. Some of my favorite songs of his: "Frankie," "Avalon Blues," "Candy Man Blues," "Stack O' Lee Blues," "Creole Belle," "Make Me a Pallet on the Floor." If I were going to recommend a couple recordings, try Mississippi John Hurt 1928 Sessions (Yazoo 1065, Yazoo Records), and The Best of Mississippi John Hurt (VSD-19/20, Vanguard Records) (recorded live at Oberlin College April 15, 1965). But it's all quite wonderful.

michael

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Johnhenry'shammer
Date: 01 Jun 06 - 08:29 PM

WOW!!!! Thank you so much for all of this. It truly does help and now I have a lot of "work" to do with getting into to all of this. Just to answer some of your questions: I live in the Denver, Colorado area, I sing,and am interested in learning the guitar. And also, if you reccomend (or have reccommended) an artist or group, can you tell me a little bit about them and what's good about them? Thanks a lot everybody.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Kaleea
Date: 01 Jun 06 - 03:50 PM

Go to the live Music! Yes, listen to recordings & radio shows, but search out every kind of Folk Music you can find in your area (you don't mention where you are, otherwise, the 'Catters would be listing venues by the dozens) and go there. Find concerts, find jams--they'll certainly let you listen. Find festivals!    If you play an instrument, ask the people at the jams & festivals & concerts if they'll let you play along/teach you tunes/tell you where more opportunities are. Be openminded to any Folk Music you have not heard--how else will you know what you "like?" Go, listen, play, enjoy, ask questions. You'll find what you're looking for.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: GUEST,ifor
Date: 01 Jun 06 - 01:02 PM

Try some Dubliners, Dick Gaughan , Alistair Hulett , Jean Richie and Coope Boyce and Simpson.
Ifor

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Brían
Date: 01 Jun 06 - 12:40 PM

Johnhenry'shammer,

Although you are a registered member to Mudcat, I only see one posting in your history. I believe that a lot of good suggestions have been offered here. Does any of this help?

Brían

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Brían
Date: 01 Jun 06 - 11:44 AM

I second that. There is a succinct, rich simplicity in John Hurts singing, lyrics and playing.

Brían

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: mrdux
Date: 01 Jun 06 - 01:37 AM

. . . and by all means give a listen to Mississippi John Hurt.

Enjoy yopur explorations.

michael

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Peace
Date: 31 May 06 - 11:13 PM

Louie Roy.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Peace
Date: 31 May 06 - 11:10 PM

You'd do well to have a listen to Art Thieme, Jerry Rasmussen, Rick Fielding--to name a few. They show different sides of 'folk' as the mixed bag has come to be called. And you could speak with Art and Jerry via the Mudcat site. Open Mike is a singer herself, and she's interviewed a gang of people from the music scene. As someone said 'upthread', you're standin' in it.

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Brían
Date: 31 May 06 - 10:57 PM

I think you have a good start with Dylan, Guthrie, Seeger, Leadbelly and the Weavers. You might just try looking more closely at the artists you are interested in. I began following threads long before discovered Mudcat. Listening to Dylan, reading Anthony Scaduto's biography of Dylan, I became more aware of Guthrie's legacy to American music. Hank Williams and Jimmy Rodgers laments to train whistles, tuberculosis and the moon suddenly didn't seem square, but very relevant. I dug out my old Clancy Brothers albums since Dylan had borrowed heavily from them(Yeah, he stole quite a bit, but Liam didn't seem to mind). I began playing Irish dance music, eventually getting pretty good on the tin whistle. I began learning Irish Language and became aware of a whole body of work and style of singing that seemed so foreign to me, yet so comfortingly familiar. I became interested in the Carter family and appalacian ballads and saw that the social awareness in a lot of the music of the 60's and 70's did not spring out of a vacuum, but connected with themes that emerged, remained constant and is preserved in countless songs people sang and still do in kitchens, church basements and lotsa places that aren't necessarily on tourist maps or Carnegie Hall, but could be. Those are just some of the roads I have worn the soles of my shoes on this journey.

Brían

Subject: RE: I want to get deeper into Folk Music
From: Wavery
Date: 31 May 06 - 08:01 PM

If you love more contemporary artists, try

- Eric Clapton
- Jack Johnson
- Nora Jones
- Ricky Lee Jones- album "Pop Pop" is great.
- Nick Drake
- Dave Mathew's Band
- Phish

These are just my suggestions. I could get in trouble with many of these as not really fitting into "folk". As has been said, folk music is hard to define.

So as long as we're out there I might as well add Simon and Garfunkel, John Lennon, The Indigo Girls...

-Eddie "Son" House is another ABSOLUTELY AMAZING older artist that just occurred to me.

- Etta James is also another amazing (but not as old) artist (Her version of "I've Been Loving You Too Long" is hauntingly fantastic).

Hmmm. I could go on but oughta stop. Hope this helps without too much controversy.