New CD by SF's Journey Home - Ain't Got Long

Subject: RE: New CD by SF's Journey Home - Ain't Got Long
From: GUEST,Hilarie orman
Date: 16 Apr 13 - 12:06 AM

The singing is deeply moving. It is plain, stripped to the sinew of sincerity. I felt that I'd never really heard the lyrics before, even for the songs I was familiar with. And I find myself singing "give me just a little more time" throughout the day. What a find!

Subject: RE: New CD by SF's Journey Home - Ain't Got Long
From: GUEST,Marlene McCall
Date: 31 Mar 13 - 10:20 AM

I was thrilled, after all the months waiting for the CD since the recording, when I finally heard it a week ago. The acoustics in the chapel where we recorded were amazing, and Kirston Koths, the recording engineer, has such a great ear and did a wonderful job of positioning us precisely where we needed to be for the best balance of the eight voices. I hope that folks who love traditional music and vocal harmonies will take a listen and be pleased. Marlene.

Subject: RE: New CD by SF's Journey Home - Ain't Got Long
From: GUEST,Patrice Haan
Date: 30 Mar 13 - 10:26 PM

It's worth noting the three principal voices on the album. Riggy Rackin is well-known and deservedly loved for his depth of musical knowledge and wide-ranging musical skills. Mary O'Brien's is a voice not recorded before but notable for her clarity of tone and her utterly reliable intonation. She's a singer of Sacred Harp and Childe ballads too. Caroline, another previously unrecorded singer, represents a wealth of mountainy music, old gospel and Sacred Harp. These voices go to the heart.

Of course I'm biased as can be from being permitted to sing in this remarkable company, but I'm so right; listen and revel. I hope we hear lots more from these singers.

Thanks to Steve Baughman who instigated this project.

Subject: RE: New CD by SF's Journey Home - Ain't Got Long
From: RiGGy
Date: 25 Mar 13 - 09:46 AM

Thanks for the pix plug, Joe !! I didn't have room on the CD jacket to say a special thank you to Jody Stecher for the title cut. In 1965 he and Peter Siegal went to the Bahamas and recorded I Ain't Got Long sung by Sammy Greene and a small group. He told me recently that the song was actually composed by a sponge fisherman/rhymer named Peter Eliot. He died falling out of a 2nd floor window of a bar into the alley below shortly after writing it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyming_spiritual
http://www.bahamasentertainers.com/Artist/JosephSpence/spence_LPs.html

Years later I heard it performed by former Library of Congress Folk Song archivist Joe Hickerson 

Subject: New CD by SF's Journey Home
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Mar 13 - 05:28 PM

From RiGGy:

A nice group of San Francisco Folk Music Club (SFFMC) folks who sing in harmony have JUST released a CD of folk spirituals and gospel songs. Available for sampling, download or purchase at

www.riggy.com.



Featuring twenty tracks: Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down, Will You Miss Me, Blind Barnabus, Give Me Just a Little More Time, Ain’t Got Long, When I Die, Garden Hymn, Oh, Death, Wondrous Love, Saints Delight, Pass Me Not, Weeping Mary, Two Coats, Where Shall I Be, Hark of All, Sons of Levi, As the Songbird, St. Stephen, Long Journey, Waiting For Me

Journey Home is Sylvia Herold, Doug Olsen, Tom Wagner, Patrice Haan, Marlene McCall, Mary O’Brien, Caroline Bonnet, and Riggy Rackin. A vibrant musical niche that few concert-goers or even musicians are aware of thrives across the globe: a dozen or so folks meeting in living rooms, quiet pubs, ship’s holds, or church basements, to sing together in sweet, intuitive harmony. It may be hymns, or drinking songs, or chanteys, but the essential element is the delicious pleasure of a song well-sung by a group of friends. One such group has been meeting for weekend retreats at Bishop’s Ranch near Healdsburg, CA for the last few years. It was an honor to be able to sing our folk spirituals and gospel songs in the ranch’s acoustically-phenomenal chapel, where this recording was made.  We hope you will enjoy Ain’t Got Long, and sing right along with us!

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From Joe:
Many of these people sing on the excellent In Harmony's Way CD, so I guess you could call this the In Harmony's Way of gospel - the West Coast equivalent of the Golden Ring. I think you'll like this CD. Most of these people are friends of mine, and I'm proud to know people who put out a wonderful recording like this.

-Joe-

P.S. Take a look at RiGGy's photos while you're at the Website.