The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #56457   Message #883135
Posted By: GUEST,Gern
05-Feb-03 - 11:27 AM
Thread Name: Anthology of American Folk Music
Subject: RE: Anthology of American Folk Music
The music I play in public is a schizo mixture: traditional hillbilly stuff on clawhammer banjo at one gig, ragtime and traditional jazz on piano at another (primarily nursing homes these days). In my banjo persona, I do plenty of tunes from some of the names you list. Among theese regulars are Dock Boggs (Railroad Tramp, Sweet Sunny South), Carter Family (Little Darling Pal of Mine, Little Moses, Gold Watch and Chain, Picture on the Wall), Blue Sky Boys (Knoxville Girl),Mainer's Mountaineers (What'll I Do with the Baby-o, Down in that Old Canoe, On a Cold Winter's Night), Clarence Ashley (Crawfish Song, Shout Little Lulu), Roscoe Holcomb (Little Birdie, Motherless Children) scads of Uncle Dave Macon and others that straddle the dotted line between folk and country. As the folks at the Bluegrass Shop in St. Pete will attest (see related thread), I even forcefeed these tunes into the bluegrass jam, so as to counteract the more modern trappings of contemporary bluegrass. I find that most of my listeners have never heard these songs, yet their quality comes shining thru. I also find Mudcat a priceless source of lyrics and background info on this music. I do also attempt a capella singing (Waltz of the Angels, My Pretty Quadroon, Motherless Children), but find this to be the only regular occasion where I confront substantial stage fright.