Folk clubs - what is being sung

Subject: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: GUEST,Bert
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 03:27 PM

An offshoot from the "What is a folksong" thread.

Let's start with - What are us folkies actually singing?

So if you run or are a member of a folk club, please take the time to list here what songs were sung at your last meeting.

OR - If you consider yourself to be a folk singer, What songs are you currently singing?

Then we'll at least know what the general consensus is regarding what we consder to be folk songs.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Saro
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 03:44 PM

Among the songs sung last night were
Banks of Sweet Primroses (trad)
Amazing Grace
Pleasant and Delightful (trad)
a French traditional song about military service (trad)
Bay of Fundy (Bok)
The Leaves in the Woodland (Bellamy)
Low Down in the Broom (trad)
a poem by Thomas Hardy
Ae Fond Kiss (Burns)
The Unquiet grave (trad)
Tall Ships (knightley)
Lavender's Blue

plus others the names of which I don't know (or memory fails me!). Still, it is a start...
Saro

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Gene Burton
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 04:27 PM

At my last paid gig (at the Red Lion FC, Birmingham a couple of weeks ago, supporting Ashley Hutchings and co), I played 13 songs in all. 9 of my own, all with guitar. One Trad with guitar (Dink's Song). Two Trad unaccompanied (Black Waterside and Queen of Hearts) and, er, Rock of Ages (with silly fast bluegrass-ish guitar accompaniment). I have been described by some (mostly by my younger listeners, interestingly) as a folksinger.

Last night I went to a young person's open mic night in Brum town centre, did 4 songs...2 of my own, a Dylan (Tangled Up in Blue), and Sally Free and Easy (unaccompanied). Unaccompanied English folk songs generally go down really well at these kind of nights...people really seem to respond to the power of the unadorned human voice, and by the melodic strengths of the songs (though it does peeve me a little that so many people unfamiliar with the tradition tend to assume they're all Irish...but that's probably a whole new thread topic!)

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: GUEST,heather
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 05:11 PM

From Glynneath Acoustic Group on an evening themed 'Song of the Earth/Alexander Cordell' last Friday in the Valley Folk Club Pontardawe Wales.Some of these are old, some newer, some learned and some homemade.

Song of the Earth read extract
Walking to Merthyr Tydfil in the moonlight long ago
Walking Boss
Suo Gan
The Gates of Cardiff Gaol
Bells of Rhymney
Farmer's Boy
Here is Love and 1904 Revival description
Nine Pound Hammer
Song of the earth extract
Tareni Flood
Last train from Poor Valley
Dark as a Dungeon
Keep that wheel a turning
Aberdulais
Extarct from Song of the Earth
Hard Times
Green green Grass of Home
The town of Aberdare
Extract from Story from Sharie's Home
Chattanooga Choo Choo
Cotton Mill Colic
The Ballad of Ben Russ
Roll down the line
Skewen Main
Song of the Deportees
A working man I am
Calon La

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Rapunzel
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 06:47 PM

This week I sang Earl Richard (unaccompanied, traditional); Marco Polo (with guitar, by Jane Siberry); and Why Walk When You Can Fly (unaccompanied, by Mary Chapin Carpenter). A reasonable mix I thought.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Leadfingers
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 07:20 PM

SilverSmith at Maidenhead on Thursday :-
As I Roved Out (Ex Planxty)
A Roving on a Winters Night Ex Doc Watson)
Annie Munro (Jez Lowe)
The House Carpenter (trad American- NO Supernatural)
Bangum (Trad American- NO Supernatural)
Lakes Of Ponchartrain
Arthur McBride (Irish)
La Malaguena (Mexican)
Spanish Ladies Medley (Mostly Swarbrick Carthy)
Little Beggarman (Irish)
Barbara Allen (Trad American)
Jackaroe (American Jacky Munroe !)
Come All Ye fair and Tender Maidens
Devils Nine Questions
Devil and the Farmers Wife
Black Jack Davey
Coshieville(Scottish)
The Parting Glass
Roseville fair (Bill Staines)

And the prevalence of American (Particularly Virginian orientated) is because my Vocalist partner is from Richmond VA !

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 05:32 AM

I'm a bit suspicious of the motives behind this thread. Or, to put it another way, I don't subscribe to the theory (notion?) that 'truth' can be uncovered via a popularity contest.

'Guest, Bert' describes this thread as, "An offshoot from the "What is a folksong" thread." This implies that if we can discover what the 'majority' think of as a 'folk song' then we will be closer to a 'true' definition of the term 'folk song'. I submit that this is a false assumption. It is also a meaningless exercise because we already have a workable definition of the term 'folk song' - it's just not a very popular one - mainly because it doesn't conform to many people's wishes and prejudices.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 06:00 AM

Well, yes, Shimrod, I agree, but it would still be interesting to know what is being sung, for: -

1. It might give us insight into what horse definitioners actually want to sing and have thought of as "folk"; and

2. It might (or it might not) give the lie to those who say that traditional songs (by which they mean folksongs, albeit folk songs of all cultures without differentiation, as you and I appreciate) are not sung, are not popular, and are not relevant (which does make me wonder why they want to call what they sing "folk").

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 08:59 AM

Hi Richard,

The thing is, do we need to know the answers to your two questions?

With respect, I think that they are somewhat peripheral to what is really going on here. Thread, after thread, after thread has asked the same question over and over again, ad nauseum, ie. "what is a folk song?" And a perfectly good answer has been provided many, many, many times. It's just that some people don't want this answer - they want another answer. They think that if they keep asking the same question, someone will eventually 'crack' and give them an answer closer to the one that they want to hear. The only reasonable response to such a tactic is to keep giving them a consistent answer - let's see who cracks first!

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: stallion
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 10:54 AM

Or it could be an unsubtle way to gauge how much PRS can charge folk clubs for copy write material content! Isn't this mischievous!
Peter

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 11:12 AM

Never thought of that, Stallion, but I suppose it's a possibility!

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Bert
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 11:56 AM

Well Shimrod, I guess that you didn't read my post on the other thread.

What I suggested was that we let the pedants have their definition,
and that we find our own name for what we are really doing in the folk world. Then the dissent can go away and we can do our thing and they can do theirs.

Having said that, I am finding these song lists very interesting.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Gene Burton
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 12:05 PM

"I am finding these song lists very interesting."

Me too. Let's have more of them, and less bitchin'.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Brendy
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 12:47 PM

This is what I'm taking to the Frozen North next week
3 X 45min sets:

As I roved out (Christy)
The Blacksmith
The Jolly Beggar
Three Drunken Maidens
The Well Below The Valley
Trip to Jerusalem
The Rocky Road To Dublin
Follow me up to Carlow
Sally McLennane (Shane McGowan)
Tippin' it up to Nancy
Johnny Jump-up
The Wild Rover (Nice'n Slow)
Molly Malone
Whiskey in the Jar (Ragtime Version)
Black Velvet Band
Bonny Lass of Fife
The Mermaid
Go Move Shift (Ewan McColl)
Fiddler's Green
Sam Hall
The Lakes of Pontchartrain
I Don't Want To Know About Evil (John Martyn)
Almost ev'ry circumstance (Colm Sands)
Arthur McBride
Carrickfergus
Clare to Here (Ralph McTell)
As I roved out (Andy)
Crusader (Mick Hanly)
Nothing but the same old story (Paul Brady)
Black is the Colour
Then we take Berlin (L. Cohen)
Whiter shade of Pale (Procul Harum)
Light My Fire (Jim Morrisson)
You win again (H. Williams)
Don't think twice (Bob Dylan)
If You could read my mind (Gordon Lightfoot)
May you never (John Martyn)
Ballad of John & Yoko (Lennon/McCartney)
Under The Boardwalk (The Drifters??)
Celebrate (An Emotional Fish)

B.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Brendy
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 12:48 PM

... knew I left out something...:

Down In The City (Scullion)
Eyelids Into Snow (Scullion)

B.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 02:29 PM

Sounds a nice selection Brendy.

Bert- I suggested that a while back. I suggested "New-folk" "nu-folk" and "neofolk" but the horse defintioners were notsatisfied. They insisted that what they dod was "folk" and that what we 1954 definitioners did was "traditional". Why should we vacate the term coined for us? When did white become grey?

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: GUEST,dulcimerjohn
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 02:55 PM

I'm from Va in the states and sometimes play out as 'dulcimerjohn'. I play a mix of Va trad stuff as well as English/euro folk as well as an unexpected thing occasionally..next gig..hmmm
John Browns Dream(Trad)
Movin on (..down the river-Trad)
Old Bangum(Trad-Ritchie)
Fingertips (Strawbs)
Is it today? (Strawbs)
Ground Hog(Trad)
1st of Arkansas(Trad)
Wintergrace(Trad-Ritchie)
Still I'm sad(Yardbirds)
Russian Bear(Sabjilar)
No Quarter(Led Zeppelin)
Birdsong/Darkstar(Grateful Dead)
Matty Groves(Fairport Convention)

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Brendy
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 02:56 PM

Thanks Richard. It mixes well most of the time.

I will add however that I know which of those above songs are Folk and those which are not, so I'm not classifying my set-list as a 'Folk Set'..., even though I could play a folk set from the selection.

3 X 45 mins works out at roughly 11 songs per set; that's 33 songs in a night. There's 42 songs in the list above, so I can heavily weight a gig one way or another depending on which 33 I choose in any given night.

It's always handy to have a few 'musical bananas' to throw at them, just to keep them with the programme...

... what a tangled web we weave...

B.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Giant Folk Eyeball (inactive)
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 02:58 PM

I like some of each, Richard: folk and "folk" do for me, though I often call the folk (rather than the "folk") "traditional", seeing as the quotation marks are silent when said in a Black Country accent.

Cheers

Nigel

PS I'm developing a strangely powerful yearning to see Brendy play live...

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Brendy
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 03:26 PM

Well, I hope I'll not disappoint if you ever do, Nigel...

B.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 03:45 PM

As you can see from this list of this month's concert at Gold Street Music, we book performers, per se, not by genre. So far, in our third season, it's been very successful and we enjoy it a lot. Many of our performers do folk or folkie numbers, maybe that's why we consider ourselves a folk club, but I think it's mostly because we're serving our community and our community is diverse.

These are all local musicians and the caliber of quality is very high.

* Six original novelty songs (i.e. There's a Layer of Ice on the Lake Tonight) by a person, Jeff Brown, with a guitar who generally does political songs and/or children's parties.

* 6 instrumentals by a 4-piece fiddle, bass, guitar and mando group, 'College Bound', none of whom are over 16: . Tunes like Boston Boy, Opus 38, Whiskey Before Breakfast, Cherry Tree, Grumbling and Growling, One song, Go On Home.

* Michael Truax teaser for an upcoming Michael Smith show: I Dig Sex (title?)

* A duo (Cheryl Cook and Kathy Hocker) doing Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen, Cyndy Kallet, Cheryl Wheeler and Joni Mitchell,

* A jazz pianist (Robert Cohen) doing What's This Thing Called Love, The Lord is Listenin' to Ya, Hallelujah, Eastside Blues and a New Orleans piece by 'Long Hair'.

6 songs by a singer/songwriter demonstrating various songs done to a different rhythm, such as Can This Circle be Unbroken done in a minor key and to a reggae beat. The artist, John Palmes, travels a great deal to make music on different continents.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: stallion
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 04:17 PM

Ok this is the stuff we have being doing over the last year

Come write me down
Grey Funnel Line
Over the Hills and Far Away
Prospect Providence
Bring us a barrel
Home Boys Home
Bulgine Run
Alabama
Yangtse River Shanty
Hard on the Beech Oar
Spanish Ladies
My Emma
Three Score and Ten
Stormy Weather
Rose of Allandale
Rose of York
Sailor Lad
Lowlands
The Crawl
Mingulay Boat Song
Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy
Follow me 'ome
Strike the Bell Landlord
When Morning Stands on Tiptoe
Fathom the Bowl
Lincolnshire Poacher
Landlord Fill the Flowing Bowl
Let the Toast Pass
Bang upon the Big Drum
Geordy Thompson
Now that the Fishing has Ended
I'm A Rover
Goodbye Fare Thee Well
Dogger Bank
Leaving Shanty
Parting Glass
Johnny Come Down to Hilo
I Can Hew
Three Foot Seam
Tuppence on the Rope
Gloucester Wassail
Sussex Carole
Holmfirth Anthem
Good Ale
Race of Long Ago
Shanandoah
Old Peculiar
Johnny I hardly knew yer
The Chesepeake and the Shannon
How Stands the Glass Around
Streams of Lovely Nancy
Scarborough Fishermen
One More day
No you wont get me down in your mine
Lyke Wake Dirge
Ellis Island
When All Men Sing
The Leaf Song
I Like to Rise
Over the Hills and Far Away
All Amongst the Barley
Drink Old England Dry
green grows the laurel
Ratcliffe Highway

Peter

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: GUEST,aeola2
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 04:30 PM

Interesting to see the range & diversity of songs being sung in folk clubs. Personally I don't care what songs are sung I just love hearing everyone enjoying themselves. Isn't that what it's all about? Of course there will be the occasional songs highlighting the vagaries of the '' establishment'' or drawing attention to the harsh ''realities of life'' which also have their place and keep our feet on the ground!!

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Gulliver
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 04:54 PM

OK, it's not a folk club per se, but we have at least six "resident" singers and on average about eight floor singers at our Sunday afternoon session in the Liberties. All kinds of stuff gets done, depending on who turns up (last week we had a ton of Italian songs from visiting rugby fans), but the following have been cropping up on a regular basis over the past few months:

Ain't misbehavin' (Fats Waller)
All for me grog
Around the World (?)
As I roved out (Planxty version)
Bella Ciao or another Italian song
Country Roads or another John Denver song
Dublin in the Rare Old Times (Pete St. John)
Dicey Riley or I'll tell me ma
Dublin Ramble (Leo Maguire?)
Easy and slow
Eileen Oge (Percy French)
The finding of Moses (Zozimus)
Grace (Pete St. John)
Hand me down me bible (?)
High Noon (?)
Irish Molly (Cohen?)
Joe Hill (?)
Maggie (O'Casey version)
Maids when you're young
The Moonshiner (Delia Murphy?)
Morningtown Ride (Malvina Reynolds)
Night visiting song
Old Triangle (Brendan Behan)
Only our rivers run free (McConnell?)
Óró 'sé do bheatha abhaile (Pádraig Pearse)
Punch and Judy Man (Connell)
Raglan Road (Patrick Kavanagh)
Schooldays Over (Ewan McColl)
She likes a little bit in the morning
Some/any song about whiskey
Spancil Hill
Spanish Lady
Sullivan's John (Pecker Dunne)
The Galtee Mountain Boys or Girls of Mayo
Town I loved so well (Phil Coulter)
When You're Smiling
Wild Colonial Boy
Will You Go Lassie Go (McPeake family)
You Are My Sunshine or similar old-time

Don

ps, listening to great music on RTE tonight: South Wind, and then Ceilidh Night (senior ceilidh band competition from last year)

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: GUEST,heather
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 05:16 PM

Would you say 'who you are and where you come' from when putting up the list?
I need the context. ta Heather

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 05:40 PM

Guest/Heather, Gold Street Music is in the US, in the capital city of Juneau, Alaska.

I am a co-founder of the club.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: stallion
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 05:42 PM

Ah Heather,
Peter, Ron & Martin
Two Black Sheep & a Stallion

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Brendy
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 05:55 PM

I'm Irish, living and working in Scandinavia (...for the most part)

B.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Big Mick
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 05:57 PM

Living ...for the most part? Or is it working... for the most part? Or is it in Scandinavia..... for the most part?

Mick

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Brendy
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 06:09 PM

Oh now, Mick..., in this game it's all dodging & weaving... ;-)

On a purely existential level however, I could ask where does one really live?
... and what is work... does it begin at 9, does it end at 5?

As far as Scandinavia is concerned, though, a flight from Copenhagen to Oslo takes 45 mins; to Stockholm, an hour. Nowhere is too far away, and air-fares are very cheap: you would spend more going across town in a taxi...

I am blessed, and eternally grateful, however to those venue owners and bar managers who have become my very good friends over the years, and they all are my de facto family over here.

Every time I play in these places it is like going home.

And for an guy who spends quite a lot of his time on the road, home generally is where the heart is.

... and it's in Scandinavia.... ;-)

Fair play to you Mick...

B.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Brendy
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 06:18 PM

... I nip down to Germany every once in a while...

That's the less part of all the parts of which Scandinavia has the most of..., partwise...

B.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Big Mick
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 06:42 PM

LOL...well done, lad! I was wondering how you would come back. Are you doing mostly solo stuff?

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Gulliver
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 06:47 PM

I live in Dublin, Ireland. The Liberties is an old part of the city.

Don

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Brendy
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 06:52 PM

I have been for the past year, but this year myself and Mark Gregory, a fiddle player of the East Clare style, and a gifted Delta Blues head will do a few gigs in Norway & Denmark over the summer here.
He's been getting his own thing together over the past year, and I was run off my feet last year, so there just wasn't time

I'm doing a residency in a small pub here in S. Denmark every night from Easter to late September...., but I'll escape every once in a while (May & July) to play the gigs with Mark, and leave my cardboard cut-out to cover for me for a week or 3.

I'll move back over to Donegal in Sept for the autumn/winter,and come back out her again in Feb.

The year will fly...

B.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: reggie miles
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 10:56 PM

Hmmm, after seeing the selections presented here thus far and after having attended my first folk song weekend sponsored by the Seattle Folklore Society, Rainy Camp, and though I even offer a description of what I play as folk/blues, I'm not altogether certain that what I represent is anywhere near what anyone who is really into folk music might be able to agree is in fact folk music (The traditional and typically anonymous music that is an expression of the life of people in a community. {according to my little online dictionary})

I am about as anonymous as anyone could hope to be in this pursuit given that I've been residing just beyond the event horizon of the known universe here in the foo-thills of the upper left corner of the country. I'm forever having folks tell me where to go. I presume they mean so that I can get known for something or be somebody but I may have that all wrong.

I certainly write songs that express the life of people in my community but don't actively try to seek out past songs that may have been sung by some former players that could have been living here many years ago. I'm thinking that those long ago folks were not going too far out of their way to seek out past songs either but merely singing the songs of their day just as I am doing today.

Some of what I write I believe is closer to what folk enthusiasts might enjoy than the older music I've explored. I play traditional folk instruments and even play them using traditional approaches. I also play my own interpretations of older obscure vaguely folkish and definitely blues material but I'm not a member of a folk club or society and I wonder if they would even have me as a member given that I'm such a fringe element.

Fringe-Folk might be a proper classification. It's difficult to classify what it is that I do as an entertainer clearly into a neat genre that everyone can understand. I guess, perhaps, somewhere down the road, future folks seeking past songs about this area might look at my material and classify me as a folksinger. So maybe I'm a present day folksinger/songwriter/storyteller who uses tradtional musical tools and applies them to contemporary circumstances to create relevant messages. Hmmm, that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue very easily. It's hard to put it into a one or two word soundbite. Contemporary Folk doesn't seem to fit.

I've been referred to as a blues man, but after attending a supposed blues jam the other night, which was comprised of a whole lot of guys noodling electric guitars with amplifiers cranked at volumes that began to disturb my ears, it suddenly began to dawn on me that that the definition of what blues music is could certainly be debated. It actually felt more like what I'd term as a Blues Rock jam. (Sooooo many tangents!)

I've also noticed that when I try to find a genre to pigeon hole my music in, when they've required such at various online sites, it's a real challenge. It's a hoot looking at all of the many genres that have become officially sanctioned and recognized. Trip Hop? Who makes this stuff up? I must be gettin' old.

Here's a couple o' handsful of mine and their songs that I enjoy offering when I'm invited to play. Lately, I've had as much, if not more, fun playing mine but it usually depends upon the need of the moment.

These are my songs:
Sometimes You Get To Bite That Bear
She's Trouble
Homeless Broke and Hungry
Handsful O' Blues
Another Lover
These Old Shoes
War Mongerin' Man
Chasin' The American Dream
The Devil
Katrina Blues
You Can Be A Street Musician
I'll Do Anything To Make A Buck
A Dilly Of A Tale
Wanted Used Car
Grossosity!
Duct and Cover
The Cute Little Girl With The Shimmy In Her Pants
Blues In My Lap
F-R-E-E
Blue Collar Blues
65 Newport Ragtop Blues
You're Always Lookin' T' Upgrade
The Birds and The Bees
I'm Old
It's Not The Size Of Your Slide. It's The Slide Of Your Size.
Stuck In Gridlock Again
Drunk
Naturally Sweet
Only Memories Remain
Shelter From The Rain
Up There
Mourning Blues
Ace In The Hole

These are their songs:
The Man With The Weird Beard (Arthur Godfrey)
The Bearded Lady
Some Little Bug (Bert Williams)
Death Where Is Thy Sting? (Bert Williams)
Hundred Dollar Women (OneMan Johnson)
Every Little Which Away (OneMan Johnson)
Stray Dog Blues (OneMan Johnson)
51 Highway Blues (Big Joe Williams)
What Can You Do?(OneMan Johnson)
Broke Down Engine (Willie McTell)
Dead Presidents (Willie Dixon)
Last Dime Blues (Willie McTell)
Goin' T' Brownsville (Furry Lewis)
Pink Cadillac (Rusty Draper)
Back Door Man (Willie Dixon)
Baby Pleasae Don't Go (Big Joe Williams)
What Got Wrong? (OneMan Johnson)
Motherless Children (Willie McTell)
Evil Devil Woman Blues (Joe McCoy)
No Hands Have Touched It But Mine
The Ballad Of AlFerd Packer (Phil Ochs)
Some Folks (OneMan Johnson)
Flying Saucers
Suppertime (OneMan Johnson)
Kentucky Means Paradise (The Green River Boys)

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 04:12 AM

Well, to pick another pedantry, I'm not a folk singer (close to being what most call a "source" singer) but I am close-ish to being a folksong singer (ie someone learning folksongs from recordings and books)

What I have learned most recently would be

The Nutting Girl (still working on it)
Knight William
Avram Bailey (one of the variants of "the Wild Boar")
The Grey Cock
Sam Hall
The Princess Alice (Rickard)
Gentlemen of High Renown
Admiral Benbow
Famous Flower of Serving Men (I cut it down to 19 verses without losing ALL the story!)
O'er the Hills and Far away
The Miner's lifeguard (changed my mind and stopped doing it)
Love Has no Pride
The Gairdener Child

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Banjiman
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 08:15 AM

Well Wendy did most (but not all) of the singing actually! Set list from The White Hart Folk Club Mickleby 02/02/08 and The Charles Bathurst Inn, Arkengarthdale (a 60th Birthday Party...so Folk "Lite") on 03/02/08

Mickleby FC
Mining for Gold                (Canadian Trad)
Cotton Mill Girls        (Hedy West)
Fish Guttin' Lassie        (I. Sinclair)
Southern Girl's Reply        (Anon, American)
The Blacksmith                (English Trad)
Banjo Medley (Pretty Polly, Cluck Old Hen…American trad)
John Anderson my Jo        (R. Burns)
Skipio                  (W. Arrowsmith)                        
Archie & Daisy               (W. Arrowsmith)        
5th String Jealousy    (P.Arrowsmith)                
Loch Tay Boat Song        (Scottish Trad, Lady Nairn)
Jeely Piece Song        (Adam McNaughton)        
The Leaving                (Dave Gibb)        
The Ribbon               (W.Arrowsmith)
Holy Ground                (Steve Bailey)        
Counting Dolphins        (W. Arrowsmith)
The Visitor               (W. Arrowsmith)
Are We Nearly There Yet?(W. Arrowsmith)

CB Inn
Cotton Mill Girls        (Hedy West)        
Skipio                        (W. Arrowsmith)        
Archie & Daisy                (W. Arrowsmith)
Daddies Real Proud      (P. Arrowsmith)
The Blacksmith                (trad)
Jeely Piece Song        (Adam McNaughton)
Banjo Medley (a few Trad American Tunes)   
Counting Dolphins        (W. Arrowsmith)
Holy Ground                (Steve Bailey)
5th String Jealousy        (P. Arrowsmith)
The Visitor               (W. Arrowsmith)
Whiskey In The Jar      (Irish Trad)

Arrangements vary from unaccompanied to banjo & guitar, banjola & whistle ....and most permutations of these instruments and a bit of mandolin.

....and Wendy will be doing a completely different set of almost exclusively Trad English & Scottish songs next weekend ( inc. Bonnie Light Horseman, The Shearing, Whitby Lad etc) at The Kirkby Fleetham Folk Club Winter Warmer Weekend with stunning guitarist and singer Ian McKone and a similar mix to above with me for her other set.

Paul

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: BB
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 11:02 AM

We're from the South West of England, and have done couple of gigs in the last week in the South East and South. For those who are interested, we performed the following:

The Sound of Singing (Eric Bogle)
Bridgwater Fair (trad.)
Egloshayle Ringers (trad.)
Lowlands of Holland (trad.)
The Keenly Lode (trad.)
Cottage Well-Thatched with Straw (trad.)
Louisa's Journey (Rachelle Jeffs)
Soap, Starch & Candles (trad.)
In Friendship's Name (trad. adapt. Tom Brown)
Lavender Trousers (trad.)
Mortal Unlucky Ol' Chap (trad.)
The Farmer & his Wife (trad.)
The Wives of St. Ives (trad.)
Bampton Fair (Paul Wilson)
The Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime (trad.)
Down in the Diving Bell (trad.)
The Tide of Change (Hilary Bix)
When Mother & Me Joined In (A.J. Coles)
Poison Beer (trad.)
The Little Gipsy Girl (trad.)
Tarry Trousers (trad.)
The Herring (trad.)
Flying Cloud (trad./Mick Slocum)
The Tithe Pig (trad.)
Rusty Ol' Knife (trad.)
Sir Francis Drake (trad.)
The Bold Privateer (trad.)
Cluster of Nuts (trad.)
Barbara Allen (trad.)
Nancy (trad.)
Lamorna (trad.)
Coming-In Song (Barrie Temple)

Had great nights in both clubs, and got people singing which doesn't happen everywhere, but is what we love!

Barbara

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Howard Kaplan
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 11:23 AM

I realize that "what is a folk club?" might be as contentious as "what is a folk song?". Nonetheless, I offer a little evidence from this side of the Atlantic. In Chicago, radio station WFMT's Midnight Special hosts live two-hour folk concerts on many Saturday nights, broadcasting their second hours and posting the playlists. Although some concerts feature singer-songwriters who perform (almost) entirely their own works, here are two recent examples of people who do sing more than a smidgen of traditional or other songwriters' work:

November 17, 2007
STEVE GILLETTE & CINDY MANGSEN
   1. Grapes on the Vine (Steve Gillette/Charles John Quarto)
   2. Sunrise (Cindy Mangsen)
   3. Odd Man Out (Lou & Peter Berryman)
   4. Irish tune medley (trad)
   5. When the First Leaves Fall (Steve Gillette)
   6. Rudy's Big Adventure (Cindy Mangsen)
   7. Hurricane (Steve Gillette)
   8. Corinne (trad)
   9. Homelessness (Lou & Peter Berryman)
10. Rocky Road (Steve Gillette Dennis Dougherty David Kleiner)
11. La Guitarra (Steve Gillette/Frederico Garcia Lorca)
12. Song for Gamble (Steve Gillette/Charles John Quarto)
13. The Old Trail (Steve Gillette/Charles John Quarto)

January 26, 2008
DEBRA COWAN
   1. Cole Younger (trad)
   2. Isabella Gunn (Eileen McGann)
   3. Walloping Window Blind (trad/Charles Carroll Leena Bourne Fish, PD)
   4. Star in the East (Brightest and Best) (trad)
   5. My Boy Jack (Peter Bellamy / Rudyard Kipling) /
      The Widowmaker (John Connolly)
   6. Dreadnaught Mutiny (Jerry Bryant)
   7. Carpal Tunnel (John O'Connor)
   8. Has He Got a Friend for Me (Richard Thompson)
   9. The Rainbow (trad)
10. Medicine Wheel (Kate Wolf)
11. Darkest Hour (Carter Stanley)

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Bert
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 01:04 PM

Borrowing from the sqare dancing world, how about "Folk Plus".

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 01:29 PM

Or Folk Minus? After all, it is without its roots.

"Contemporary folk"? or "Modern folk"?

I still like "neofolk" as the best coinage. It combines the senses of modernity and proximity.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Bert
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 01:34 PM

I was thinking Plus because it would then include folk and traditional.

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 02:33 PM

Have been out of the club scene for some time. This thread has convinced me that I have not missed much.
Jim Crroll

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Gene Burton
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 03:24 PM

An exceptionally illuminating and helpful contribution!

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Banjiman
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 03:41 PM

Jim,

So you've heard all of the songs and artists on this thread have you? Introduce yourself next time you see us won't you........

Paul

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 03:41 PM

For once!


(I'll get me coat...)

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: GUEST,White Rabbit
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 03:49 PM

This thread has convinced me that I have not missed much.

Misery has no manners!

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 03:07 AM

Sorry,
If I go to a folk club I expect a night of folk songs - nothing to do with misery or manners, just stating the obvious - which appears to have been either missed or ignored here.
If I turned up at a chamber concert and was given a selection of songs from the shows, as much as I might enjoy the latter, but I still would not have been ven what I paid for.
I wonder when people will come to terms with the fact that this is why club audiences have shrunk to what they have.
I'll just sit back and wair for the howls of 'folk police' now (an maybe listen to a couple of Jeannie Robertson recordings)
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Banjiman
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 03:22 AM

"I wonder when people will come to terms with the fact that this is why club audiences have shrunk to what they have"

.....errrr. no, this is plainly wrong (with the folk club I am involved with anyway), if I didn't call it a folk club, I could double the attendance. It is the image (being perpetuated by the BBC at the moment) of fingers in ears, woolly jumpers and 97 verse unaccompanied ballads that puts people off). Having said that I believe (some) trad song is worth preserving, but it will have to rub shoulders with songs that people know they want to listen to.

Jim, why not start your own club then putting on just "trad folk", if your theory is correct it should be packed out? I'd gladly visit once in a while and I'd gladly eat my words above.

Paul

Subject: RE: Folk clubs - what is being sung
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 04:52 AM

Come on Jim, Brendy's list had a reasonable number of trads - and although people usually pay me to shut up rather than sing, my list above is quite trad-heavy.

Also interesting to see Gene Burton's experience with unaccompanied song.