Review: The Broadside Singers

Subject: Review: The Broadside Singers
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Apr 14 - 06:01 AM

I think, as the exact members of this folk "supergroup" is obscure due to various reasons, we'd make sure who the members are.

01 - Ain't That News, written and lead by Tom Paxton
02 - More Good Men Goin' Down, written and sung by David Blue
03 - Times I've Had, written by Mark Spoelstra, lead by Phil Ochs
04 - Paths of Victory, written and lead by Bob Dylan
05 - Christine, written by Matt McGinn, lead by Tom Paxton (?)
06 - Rattlesnake, written and lead by Peter La Farge
07 - Carry It On, written and lead by Gil Turner
08 - Links on the Chain, written and lead by Phil Ochs
09 - Causes, written and lead by Patrick Sky
10 - Immigrante, written by Buffy Sainte-Marie, lead by Patrick Sky (?)
11 - The Faucets Are Dripping, written by Malvina Reynolds, lead by Tom Paxton (?)
12 - Father's Grave, written and lead by Len Chandler
13 - The Scruggs Picker, written and lead by Ernie Marrs
14 - Plains of Nebrasky-o, written and lead by Eric Andersen
15 - Freedom Is a Constant Struggle, all joined

So if I'm not mistaken, the members of this group are:

Tom Paxton
Phil Ochs
Patrick Sky
David Blue (Dave Cohen)
Bob Dylan (Blind Boy Grunt)
Peter La Farge
Gil Turner
Len Chandler
Ernie Marrs
Eric Andersen

As Phil Ochs said in the liner note, this group consists of 9 members. But if I didn't miscount, there are already 10 singers singing lead on various songs. And I haven't counted in the female singer who sings harmony in some songs (Buffy Sainte-Marie?) yet!

Subject: RE: Review: The Broadside Singers
From: GUEST,Rockaday Johnny
Date: 27 Apr 14 - 03:48 PM

Isn't it Pat Sky who leads (reads) "Scruggs Picker"? Ernie may have written it, but I doubt he was part of the "group"

Subject: RE: Review: The Broadside Singers
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Apr 14 - 04:43 PM

Now, as far as I can tell, the only album by this "supergroup" was Broadside Ballads, Vol. 3: The Broadside Singers - a group of nine writers who have contributed to Broadside Magazine.

But there are eleven of Broadside Ballads albums on Folkways, all taken from the pages of Broadside Magazine. To confuse things a bit, Ewan MacColl did two albums of British broadside ballads on the Folkways label.

In 2000, Smithsonian Folkways came out with the Best of Broadside collection of 89 songs - I think most were taken from the Broadside Ballads albums, but there are a few other cuts from other sources.

All issues of Broadside Magazine are now available at the Website of Sing Out! Magazine, http://singout.org/broadside/.


-Joe-

Subject: RE: Review: The Broadside Singers
From: Stringsinger
Date: 28 Apr 14 - 03:32 PM

Broadside Magazine was started by "Sis" Cunningham and her husband Gordon Friesen
and published the first songs of these members. Bob Dylan was conspicuously absent from the above list although his first efforts were also found in Broadside.

Subject: RE: Review: The Broadside Singers
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Apr 14 - 02:05 AM

Stringsinger, I think Dylan did participate in the Broadside recordings, sometimes as "Blind Boy Grunt."

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Review: The Broadside Singers
From: Stringsinger
Date: 29 Apr 14 - 12:13 PM

I don't see how he could not have since he was part of the contingent that knew one another and formed a specific songwriting ethos.

Dylan saw the "writing on the wall" and wrote songs that would appeal to the restless
children of Vietnam. Broadside was an important development in the topical music emanating from the folk revival.

Dylan, however, decided that his road was a different one from his former colleagues and disavowed any interest in contemporary topical issues, unlike Tom Paxton, who over the years has been consistently reminding us of these issues by skilled songwriting.

Tom Paxton, Tom Lehrer and now Tim Minchen who is presenting a different tack
on topical songwriting.