Old Songs Newly Found

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 19 Sep 25 - 11:16 AM

Your welcome, Beer. It's been my pleasure.

Flipping through the vinyl the other day I came across a long-forgotten LP, a sampler from Greenhays called The Gathering. One of the tracks is Heather on the Moor sung by Paul Brady. According to the liner notes PB played the guitar, whistle and mandolin on the track with Andy Irvine on harmonica (I think he had a broken arm at the time). Heather on the Moor.
Brady and Irvine also collaborated on their monumental Andy Irvine Paul Brady LP (with Kevin Burke and Donal Lunny) and among the many wonderful cuts was Plains of Kildare, which recently showed up in a Mudcat thread regarding Stewball. Plains of Kildare

Another Scottish song, The Rambling Rover came from Andy M. Stewart of Silly Wizard. For some reason I'd always assumed that Stewart resurrected it from the "Ballad Boom" of the '60's but in tracking it down for this post found that he actually wrote it. I recently heard Siobhan Miller cover it and was charmed by her vocal and by the entire arrangement. The Rambling Rover.
She also covers some other older gems like Pound a Week Rise on her Strata CD.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 19 Sep 25 - 11:23 AM

I also wanted to mention that I've got a playlist on Spotify entitled, not surprisingly, Old Songs Newly Found. It doesn't exactly follow the goings on of this thread but it contains most of the songs mentioned here plus some that aren't, yet. I'll try to update it.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 19 Sep 25 - 11:29 AM

It's not your welcome, Beer. You are welcome. Jeeesh!

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: Beer
Date: 21 Sep 25 - 08:20 AM

No problem at all gillymor. B.T.W., absolutely love Paul Brady and the song you posted was a gem.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 22 Sep 25 - 08:37 AM

In case you haven't heard it, Beer, here's Paul Brady performing his arrangement of Arthur McBride https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBGkhPx529g
that was also on the Irvine/Brady LP. I'd also recommend the Missing Liberty Tapes CD which includes live versions of Arthur McBride and other Brady arrangements of traditional songs like The Lakes of Pontchartrain and Mary and the Soldier. He's got a great backing band on it which includes most of the guys who played in Planxty at one time or another. Welcome Here Kind Stranger was also a lovely recording. You might say I'm a bit of a Brady fan.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: Beer
Date: 22 Sep 25 - 04:48 PM

This is a classic for sure. I never get tired of it.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 27 Sep 25 - 07:46 AM

The Parting Songs thread sparked a memory of Won't You Come and Sing For Me?, a song we used to close the proceedings with at a Bluegrass jam (after we burned out on Circle Be Unbroken) I was a part of until about 25 years ago. It was sung by 2 young ladies and everyone joined in on the chorus, even the banjo players. Our voices echoing off the roof of the pavilion would give me chills but we always left with a warm feeling. The chorus went like this:

Sing the hymns that we sang together,
In that plain little church with the benches all worn.
How dear to my heart, how precious the moment
We stood shaking hands and singing the songs.

Won't You Come and Sing for Me?

Hazel Dickens wrote the song and she had this to say about it:

“I’m really not religious, to tell the truth. However, when I was growing up, I was impressed by the love and kindness that was openly shared and displayed among the brothers and sisters of the old Primitive Baptist church. It was that and the singing of the old songs that stayed in my memories down through the years (not the preaching). Particularly at the end of the service after they sang the parting song, they go around and shake hands and greet each other, humbling themselves before each other with smiles and hugs and invitations to go home with them and share a meal. This kind of humility and harmonious spirit of a common people inspired me to write this song as a tribute to that place and time tucked away in the corner of my memory.”

I can relate to her words as a non-believer who regularly attended a local UU church back then. Hazel recorded the song with her musical partner Alice Gerrard on a Folkways album of the same name which was released in 1973. It featured other-worldly singing and the playing of budding mandolin genius David Grisman.

Among the reasons I'm drawn to songs like this and other Bluegrass and Old Time songs is that they don't shy away from uncomfortable topics like dying, death, grief and remembrance. I used to sing a song or two at the Jams and one was Larry Spark's Love of the Mountains, written by Allen Mills, which whenever I hear it makes me think of my folks with a bit of sadness and a lot of gratitude. Larry is flat out one of my favorite singers. Love of the Mountains.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 27 Sep 25 - 08:37 AM

I should have mentioned that the Won't You Come and Sing for Me? LP was recorded in 1965 but wasn't released until '73 for reasons I could not discover.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 02 Oct 25 - 11:14 AM

Back in the '70's I was way into Dave Van Ronk and even got a big J-50R Guild like the one he played. Later on I heard a couple of songs that I'd learned off his recordings featured in contemporary films. Fare Thee Well (Dink's Song) was collected by John Lomax in 1904 (Wikipedia says 1909, corrections welcomed here), Second Hand Songs called it a 'Folk song that tells the story of a woman deserted by her lover when she needs him the most. In 1904, ethnomusicologist John Lomax recorded it with his huge Edison recording machine as sung by an African American woman called 'Dink' in a tent camp of migratory levee-builders in Texas. It was published in 1934 in John and Alan Lomax's "American Ballads and Folk Songs". The Lomax recording is believed to be lost (or worn out at least).'
It was prominently featured in the Coen brother's film Inside Llewyn Davis, which was based on Van Ronk's posthumous memoir, The Mayor of MacDougal Street. Here is the film's star, Oscar Issac singing it with Marcus Mumford and some of the Punch Brothers providing the instrumental backing, Fare Thee Well (Dink's Song)

The other song was He Was a Friend of Mine. Willie Nelson sang it in the film Brokeback Mountain but I'm partial to the way Jerry Jeff Walker performed it on his Scamp CD. He Was a Friend of Mine

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: Beer
Date: 05 Oct 25 - 08:34 AM

Love Jerry Jeff Walker. To many have left us. But we can still listen to them.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 06 Oct 25 - 06:50 AM

Yep, JJW was one of a kind.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Remembered
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 10 Oct 25 - 09:23 AM

Buddy Miller has written some wonderful songs, including Watching Amy Dance (with Julie Miller), but I especially like to hear him sing older songs with that soulful voice of his. That's How I Got to Memphis was written by Tom T. Hall and Miller really wails on it. Here it is off his Love and Other Lies album -That's How I Got to Memphis and a live solo version that's too good not to include here Live . A couple of other favorites are his version of the Bob Wills classic Time Changes Everything, written by Wills' lead singer Tommy Duncan, which he performs here with Asleep at the Wheel- Time Changes Everything . Then we have One of These Days, written by Earl Montgomery, it was a hit for George Jones in 1972 and Emmylou Harris recorded an excellent version on her Elite Hotel LP. Miller performs it live on an Emmylou tribute album- One of These Days.

The aforementioned Tom T. Hall was a prolific song writer who wrote a bunch of Country Music hits but he also performed my favorite version of the Bluegrass standard Fox on the Run (flirting with a theme here), with banjo titan J.D. Crowe on the 5 string. The song was actually written by British songwriter Tony Hazzard and Manfred Mann had a hit with it in the UK in 1968/69 (not to be confused with a song of the same name that Sweet had a hit with), American Banjo player Bill Emerson heard it, rearranged it, recorded it with Cliff Waldron and then The Country Gentlemen (where I first heard it) and the rest is Bluegrass history, Fox on the Run.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: Beer
Date: 11 Oct 25 - 12:09 PM

All good. Time Changes Everything is a song I do very often when I make my rounds at Senior Homes. Even tough far away from the Texas Swing State, here in Quebec it still left a mark. Especially Bob Wills

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 12 Oct 25 - 09:32 AM

Like the song says, Bob Wills is still the king. Brennan Leigh, who will reappear on this thread soon, wrote and recorded a tribute to Tommy Duncan, with Asleep at the Wheel, If Tommy Duncan's Voice was Booze.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: Beer
Date: 12 Oct 25 - 02:52 PM

Wow!! This is the first time I hear this song. I love it. Easy to play as well.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Remembered
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 18 Oct 25 - 10:22 AM

This must be Miller Month because I was sifting through the vinyl yesterday and came across one of my favorite LPs by fingerstyle guitarist John Miller called Safe Sweet Home. Released by Rounder Records in 1977, it mostly contains material from the "Golden Age of Song" but also has a Western Swing number (the only band cut on the album) a Carter Family tune done in a country blues style and a Latin style instrumental. The first selection I've included doesn't fall into any of those categories though, it's Biff Rose's Molly. It has a charming lyric and melody but what grabbed me was John's accompaniment. It evokes a happy, circus atmosphere albeit with a touch of melancholy.   Molly .

Here I'll Stay was composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner for the 1948 Broadway Musical Love Life. Miller's guitar intro and solo are just so fine and so fitting. I suppose John's singing voice is an acquired taste but it suits these lovely little songs to a tee, IMO. Here I'll Stay

For anyone interested in sampling more of John's work he seems to be well represented on online streaming services. His Biding My Time album, a collection of George and Ira Gershwin songs, might also be of some interest if you like these cuts from Safe Sweet Home.

SHOHEI OHTANI, ONE OF ONE1

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: Fred
Date: 18 Oct 25 - 12:44 PM

Easy kinda music there, Gilly. Never heard John Miller before.

Not bad at all mate, thanks for sharing :)

-F

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 19 Oct 25 - 06:54 AM

Sure thing, Fred, remembering these old songs has been a joy.
Maybe you've heard this one D-18 Song (Thank You Mr. Martin)

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: Fred
Date: 19 Oct 25 - 09:27 AM

Yep, heard that one, Gilly. And I've nicked many from this thread to perform at gigs, Shenandoah being an example.

You're bringing back a lot of sometimes forgotten songs and tunes, so well done you :)

-F

Subject: RE: Old Songs Remembered
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 25 Oct 25 - 11:10 AM

I have an affinity for prison songs and Merle Haggard wrote some of the best. He did time in various California correctional institutions before making it as a Country Music star. His Sing Me Back Home was a masterpiece, IMO, and was covered by a lot of folks but I always go for the Flying Burrito Brothers recording from their first album in large part because of Sneaky Pete Kleinow's pedal steel guitar playing on it. Sing Me Back Home
Another Haggard classic is Mama Tried and my favorite version is by the good old Grateful Dead off of their epic live album nicknamed "Skull and Roses" (they wanted to call the LP "Skull Fuck" but Warner Bros. wouldn't go for it).Mama Tried

I was surprised to find out recently that another favorite, 99 Years and One Dark Day, was written by Jesse "Lonecat" Fuller, the one man band who gave us San Francisco Bay Blues, The Monkey and the Engineer, Frisco Bound and others. I've been singing it since I first heard it at a Hot Rize concert long ago. Tim O'Brien, Hot Rize' lead singer and mandolin player, arranged it and sang it on their Hot Rize LP released in 1979. 99 Years and One Dark Day

Subject: RE: Old Songs Remembered
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 29 Oct 25 - 11:59 AM

I like my Blues with a big splash of Soul (and vice versa) and two of my favorite bluesmen, now departed, are James Milton Campbell (aka Little Milton) and Riley B. "BB" King. That's What Love Will Make You Do was a hit for Milton in 1965 and it kicks off with Milton playing a very cool guitar intro and more cool guitar all through it, along with his gritty vocal. Jerry Garcia recorded it on his Garcia LP but some of his live recordings of it with small combos are a better listen, IMO.That's What Love Will Make You Do

Milton had another hit with We're Gonna Make It in 1971, it's covered here by the great BB King along with the magnificent Irma Thomas (of Time is on My Side fame, a hit for the Rolling Stones in 1964). We're Gonna Make It

Finally, Beth Hart just killed the Etta James classic I'd Rather Go Blind at the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors in the company of the late guitar genius Jeff Beck.I'd Rather Go Blind

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 05 Nov 25 - 10:21 AM

From the Not so Old Songs Recently Found Division of OSNFco we have a few by Brennen Leigh. I haven't heard many newer songs that do anything for me of late but I'm starting to think of this woman as a Prairie Cole Porter. Her writing is profound, clever, insightful, funny and fun and covers a variety of styles including Classic Country (the kind of songs whose predominant themes are not about cold beer and hot girls in Daisy Dukes that seem to be the norm these days) Honky Tonk, Old Timey, Bluegrass, Cowboy and Western Swing and she's also a heckuva a singer and flatpicker on guitar and mandolin.

Running out of Hope, Arkansas is from her Ain't Through Honky Tonking Yet album released in 2023 and harkens back to a time when fiddles and steel guitars were familiar features in Country Music. I'm including a live solo and a studio version because they're both brilliant, IMO.
Running Out of Hope Arkansas

Running Out of Hope Arkansas- studio

Nothin'You Can't Fix from her most Don't You Ever Give Up on love album released in October has her sly sense of humor on display in a Honky Tonk setting.Nothin' You Can't Fix

Nothing to say about Little Blue Eyed Dog from Prairie Love Letter (2020) other than that it's just a sweet little song. Including live and studio versions again because I love 'em both-
Little Blue-eyed Dog

Little Blue-eyed Dog- studio

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 05 Nov 25 - 10:27 AM

Got a little sloppy there but think it's decipherable.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: Beer
Date: 10 Nov 25 - 08:52 AM

I do like her music. Thanks Gilly.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 10 Nov 25 - 09:11 AM

Yeah, Beer, I'm grateful for having found Ms. Leigh's music, she is a master of many of my favorite styles. Along similar lines Sierra Ferrell comes to mind, we'll have to feature her at some point.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 15 Nov 25 - 08:51 AM

Just for chuckles-

Ghost Chickens in the Sky by the irrepressibly zany Leroy Troy backed up by Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives (I love these guys, Ghost Chickens was from a 2012 TV show but they're still out there keeping the kinds of Country Music I like alive and with Marty, Kenny Vaughan and now Chris Scruggs they've got 3 of the best Twangifiers imaginable)- Ghost Chickens in the Sky

Joe The Singing Janitor by Junior Brown, the master of the "Git-Steel" and as far as I know the only guy who plays one- Joe the Singing Janitor

"Now for something completely different" (thank you Monty Python) Nic Jone's recording of Barrack Street from his historic Penquin Eggs album with some lovely melodeon accompaniment from Andy Hall- Barrack Street

Patrick Street (the band) called the song Patrick Street, with some amazing instrumental backup, as you'd expect from these guys, and followed by The Carraroe- Patrick Street

Separate note: The U.S. government shutdown is over but it hit the food banks hard (and consequently people and families) and they're in dire need of donations going into winter and the holiday season.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: Beer
Date: 15 Nov 25 - 10:08 PM

You are on a roll Gilly, good for you. very entertaining.
Adrien

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 16 Nov 25 - 05:04 AM

Thanks, Beer. Remembering these songs has been a joy.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 21 Nov 25 - 10:18 AM

There's nothing like the changing of the seasons, last week we experienced a chilly overnight low of 41 F (chilly for South Florida, anyway) and to me that signaled the end of beer-drinking season and advent of sour mash-drinking season so I thought I'd acknowledge this blissful transition with a few songs about corn liquor.
I first heard Dooley way back in the early '60s on the Andy Griffith TV show performed by the Darlings (the Dillards in real life) and just recently found it again on a YouTube video filmed at a Tony Trischka recording session. The album Tony was making, titled Earl Jam, is really exceptional, it was inspired by some home recordings John Hartford made of he (Hartford) and Earl Scruggs jamming and Tony gathered some of the leading lights of today's Bluegrass scene to play on it. Here Molly Tuttle and Bluegrass icon Sam Bush do the singing.Dooley

I guess I first heard Moonshiner performed in Irish pubs around D.C. and by unaccompanied traditional singers but I really love the jaunty Bluegrass version done by 'grassers like Peter Rowan. Here we have Molly Tuttle, again, doing it in a live setting. Molly is one of the great flatpickers around today, unfortunately her solo on this recording is barely audible, to these old ears anyway, but fortunately Cody Kilby chimes in with a lovely bit of guitar playing.-Moonshiner1

Here's a more uptempo version where Molly's flatpicking really comes across.-
Moonshiner2

Someone put words to one of my favorite fiddle tunes, Whiskey Before Breakfast (or Whiskey 'fore Breakfast), and I first heard it sung by Mike Cross on his Alive and Kicking LP with Zan McLeod on mandolin. I've included another live version by Cross, solo on fiddle this time. He introduces it as an Appalachian tune whereas I'd always heard that it was from Canada. It's followed by the lovely Sailor's Bonnet.
Whiskey Before Breakfast from Alive and Kicking


Whiskey Before Breakfast2 - solo fiddle

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: Beer
Date: 26 Nov 25 - 08:24 AM

Molly Tuttle, great voice wonderful musician and I get the impression has a wonderful personality. The musician's accompanying her are not to shabby as well. "wink".

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 27 Nov 25 - 09:49 AM

I agree, Beer, Ms. Tuttle is an absolute gem.
I keep referring to her as a flatpicker having forgotten that she's developed an awesome clawhammer guitar style as well.
These days she seems to be moving in more of a "Pop" direction.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: Beer
Date: 29 Nov 25 - 12:44 PM

Last night I was bouncing around on YouTube and came across this old tune by The Velvet Underground called Pale Blue Eyes which was released back in 1969.
https://youtu.be/KisHhIRihMY?si=6UWZpjjHz__1fmiO

Then I went a little further and came across this fantastic version by Alejandro Escovedo https://youtu.be/niLLdys5mTc?si=Q8rITUFu7IN1hixu

And in my mind it is because of the background musical arrangements. The instrumental part is beautiful. Especially with the violin and maybe cello added. I hope you don't mind me share this with you as I feel it fits well with you're posts.
Adrien

Subject: RE: Old Songs Remembered
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 30 Nov 25 - 05:39 AM

By all means, Beer, post away.
You may have noticed I've broadened the scope of my contributions to this thread to include old songs in general (and some not so old ones), the original premise seemed a bit too confining.
I like that VU song, made me think of some other songs with a dreamy vibe that are bound to show up here.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 02 Dec 25 - 02:22 PM

Now that Thanksgiving day has passed it's time to dust off and relearn some winter songs and Christmas melodies. One of my favorites was recorded by the great man, Arthel "Doc" Watson.- A Rovin' on a Winter's Night

Another of my guitar heroes, Al Pettaway, cut more of a "New Agey" version with his partner Amy White, who adds an exquisite vocal.-A Rovin' on a Winter's Night by Al and Amy

Gordon Lightfoot's Song for a Winter's Night hit home with me on a personal level, fortunately things worked out well. In a previous post I linked to Tony Rice's version with his typical Bluegrass instrumentation that also sleighs (ha ha!). Here with a young Gordon and another guitar hero, Red Shea, playing it live- Song For a Winter's Night

Somebody put Robert Tannehill's poem Gloomy Winter's Noo Awa' to a Scottish fiddle tune and though the lyric celebrates the coming of Spring and young love, Billy Ross' arrangement makes me think of winter at it's deepest and darkest one moment and then Spring as it commences the next, which I guess is the point.- Gloomy Winter

I like songs where the wealthy jackass doesn't get away with it and Cold and Raw is one of them. Sung here by the magnificent June Tabor with Nic Jones on guitar.-Cold and Raw

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GerryM
Date: 02 Dec 25 - 03:33 PM

A'roving on a Winter's Night is one of many fine tracks on the Herdman, Hills, Mangsen album, Voices of Winter, https://annehills.com/product/voices-of-winter/ – there's also Hot Buttered Rum, and Hanerot Halelu, The Frozen Logger/Proper Cup of Coffee, and more.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,Roger
Date: 06 Dec 25 - 09:25 AM

Anything by the unique Ramblig Syd Rumpo!

Subject: RE: Old Songs Newly Found
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 07 Dec 25 - 08:54 AM

You're certainly welcome to link something of his to this thread, Roger, not that you need my permission.