Dave Alvin CD'Public Domain'

Subject: Dave Alvin,'Public Domain'
From: rangeroger
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 11:14 PM

I've spent the last week listening to Dave Alvin's new CD, "Public Domain". All the songs on it are in the public domain, but he does credit the songwriters where known.

The purists probably won't like the music as he employs electric guitar,bass, and drums on a lot of it.Being a Dave Alvin fan myself, I really like it.

I find the liner notes really tell the story.

"Old folk songs are spirits.

They live in the silence of the mountains and deserts,in the thick mud along our rivers,in the dirt beneath endless miles of tract homes and shopping malls,in the darkness beyond the bright lights of interstate highways,truck stops and office towers,in abandoned buildings,closed factories,deserted farms,lost battlefields,forgotten graveyards,empty prairies,in blues bars,honky tonks,railyards,barnyards,backyards,church choirs and bedrooms.
Like ancient redwoods and giant sequoias, our folk songs endure beyond ( and despite of) the whims of current popular taste and the quick gratifications of our disposable culture.

Our folk songs live in the wild land of our heart.They aren't relics from an idealized,sentimental past.Our folk songs are about love,jealousy,anger,longing,revenge,despair,survival and hope for the future.They're hard,sad,rowdy,tender and joyous images of who we were,where we come from,who we've become and who we still are.A lot of what is good,and bad,about us is in these songs.

They are in the public domain.They belong to nobody.They belong to all of us."

Dave Alvin

rr

Subject: RE: Dave Alvin,'Public Domain'
From: Clifton53
Date: 14 Nov 00 - 12:50 AM

Dave Alvin did some fine work with Tom Russell on some live cuts that I have heard. Must investigate this record. Playing songs from the "Public Domain"? I have no doubt it was fun for him.

Rangeroger, can you list a few of the songs?

Clifton

Subject: Dave Alvin,'Public Domain'
From: Clinton Hammond2
Date: 14 Nov 00 - 12:56 AM

hey.. I know of Dave Alvin... my mom gave me a mixed tape of his stuff a few years ago... it's folky-bluesy enough for me... really cool stuff...

{~`

Subject: RE: Dave Alvin,'Public Domain'
From: rangeroger
Date: 14 Nov 00 - 01:29 AM

Song list from "Public Domain"

1- Shenandoah
2- Maggie Campbell
3-A Short Life of Trouble
4-What did the Deep Sea Say
5-Engine 143
6- Delia
7-Dark Eyes
8-Walk Right In
9-Murder Of The Lawson Family
10-Don't Let Your deal Go Down
11-Railroad Bill
12-Texas Rangers
13- Mama,Ain't Long For Day
14-East Virginia Blues
15-Sign of Judgement

The music he did with Tom Russell is outstanding.One song, "California Snow",included on his "Blackjack David"CD is about the area I lived and worked in for 10 years.It really hit home.

rr

Subject: RE: Dave Alvin,'Public Domain'
From: GUEST,hamburski
Date: 07 Feb 01 - 12:38 PM

I've just found this site so my post may show up as 'guest,' but I'm having a hard time determining the public domain status of certain prewar folk and blues material, specifically in a case like Alvin's record. Rangerover observed that "All the songs on it are in the public domain, but he does credit the songwriters where known." I interpreted the song credits to mean that those songs were exceptions to the public domain status of the material - that, for example, Willie McTell (or someone who recorded him) still holds the copyright to "Mama, Ain't Long For Day." Any thoughts on how to arrive at a more definitive answer on matters like this?

david h.

Subject: RE: Dave Alvin,'Public Domain'
From: Metchosin
Date: 07 Feb 01 - 03:20 PM

Clinton, if King of California is not on the tape you have, take the time to check out that cut, I think you would love it.

Subject: RE: Dave Alvin,'Public Domain'
From: MMario
Date: 07 Feb 01 - 03:26 PM

For the US - if it was published before 1923, it is in the public domain - but where the author is known, it is polite to credit them.

Subject: RE: Dave Alvin,'Public Domain'
From: GUEST,jaze
Date: 07 Feb 01 - 06:42 PM

MMario, Is that a fixed date? Or is it after 77 years? How did it become 1923? I've always wondered what made a song in the public domain. I used to think it was if the author was unknown.

Subject: RE: Dave Alvin,'Public Domain'
From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird)
Date: 07 Feb 01 - 07:20 PM

For some rules-of-thumb on public domain status check:

http://www.public.asu.edu/~dkarjala/publicdomain/SearchC-R.html

The 1923 date comes from the duration of copyright in U.S. law. The term of copyright was 56 years (28+28) in the U.S. from 1909 to about 1962. Starting around 1962 Congress began extending the term. Beginning in 1987 it was 75 years for works published before 1978. In late 1998 Congress extended the term of pre-1978 published works yet again, to a whopping 95 years, but this didn't apply to copyrights that had already lapsed. Hence anything that was published in 1922 or earlier was released into the public domain no later than January 1st, 1998 (1922 + 75 = 1997, but all copyrights are allowed to linger over until the first of the following year). Anything published in 1923 would have had its copyright lapes on January 1, 1999, but promotion of these works to the public domain was stifled by the 1998 law.

T.

Subject: RE: Dave Alvin,'Public Domain'
From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird)
Date: 07 Feb 01 - 07:23 PM

Oops. That should be "beginning in 1978 it was 75 years for works published before 1978." Alwais profred.

T.

Subject: RE: Dave Alvin,'Public Domain'
From: MMario
Date: 07 Feb 01 - 08:46 PM

yup we got a long wait for stuff from the '20's and 30's