From deep in the archives.

Subject: From deep in the archives.
From: Mark Clark
Date: 13 Aug 01 - 11:02 PM

While rummaging about in my own version of Fibber McGhee's closet I came across Vol. 13 No. 2 of Sing Out! (April-May 1963). On page 51, I found the following piece.

OP'RY STARS KILLED IN PLANE CRASH

Three of country music's top performing artists, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas, and Patsy Cline, were killed in an airplane crash near Camden, Tennessee, on March 5th. Stars of the famed “Grand Old Opry,” the performers were flying in a private plane piloted by Miss Cline's manager, Randy Hughes. In an extension of the tragedy, Op'ry star Jack Anglin was killed in an auto crash en route to the services.

Ironically, the four were returning to Nashville from a benefit show in Kansas City presented on behalf of a country music disc jockey killed in an automobile accident.

I had forgotten that Jack Anglin was killed on the way to their funeral.

Now for a short quiz:

1. Who was the disc jockey for whom they did the benefit concert?
2. Who's picture is on the cover of that issue?
3. What erstwhile contributor to these threads is pictured on page 14 as the newest member of a famous folk group?

Good luck,

      - Mark

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Aug 01 - 11:29 PM

Is No. 3 Frank Hamilton?

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Mark Clark
Date: 14 Aug 01 - 12:08 AM

Good one, Kat. Yes, the answer to No. 3 is Frank Hamilton identified in the caption as “The newest Weaver” in an article by Irwin Silber called “The Singing Weavers.”

      - Mark

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Nancy King
Date: 14 Aug 01 - 12:24 AM

#2 -- On the cover of that issue is Horton Barker of Beech Creek, North Carolina.

Follow-up question: The "appreciation" of Barker in that issue was written by what Mudcatter?

Cheers, Nancy

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Mark Clark
Date: 14 Aug 01 - 12:29 AM

Well naturally I have the answer to Nancy's question right at hand but I'll hold off to see who else can come up with the issue.

Nancy, you mean I'm not the only one who keeps old issues of Sing Out!?

      - Mark

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Aug 01 - 12:55 AM

I've never even seen an issue of Sing Out, but I'll bet Nancy is talking about Sandy Paton or Art Thieme.:-)

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Nancy King
Date: 14 Aug 01 - 01:08 AM

They're getting pretty tattered by now, aren't they, Mark?

Cheers, Nancy

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 14 Aug 01 - 01:41 AM

Hell, Nancy, I've got damn near a complete set, plus a pile of the old Peoples Songs bulletins. Got the bulletins in payment for a giggle (small gig) I did in Chicago in 1960 for a fellow who couldn't pay me in money. Come up and see 'em sometime! Why not right after we swap some more songs at the Washington Getaway in October?

Sandy

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Nancy King
Date: 14 Aug 01 - 11:01 AM

Sounds good, Sandy -- wish I didn't have to work for a living... Looking forward to seeing you at the Getaway!

Nancy

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Mark Clark
Date: 15 Aug 01 - 12:18 AM

Nancy, You have to work for a living? <g>

Kat, Yes, of course Sandy is the author of the great cover story on Horton Barker. But who was the disc jockey who's death prompted the three great country stars to perform at a benefit for his widow?

      - Mark

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: GUEST,Nancy King at work
Date: 15 Aug 01 - 01:29 PM

Yeah, I do have to work. What a drag. But at least it affords me access to fairly high-speed internet access while I'm waiting for people to ask me questions.

So this morning I did a Google search on Patsy Cline, and after wading through an astonishing amount of adulatory stuff (well-deserved, of course -- I'm a fan myself) on Patsy, I learned that the benefit concert in Kansas City that she and the others had been attending was for the family of disc jockey Cactus Jack Call, who had died in a car crash.

Whew.

Cheers, Nancy

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Aug 01 - 01:37 PM

Thanks, Nancy! I knew I wasn't going to be able to answer that one!

Got another for us, Mark?**BG**

kat

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Art Thieme
Date: 15 Aug 01 - 10:39 PM

...and Sandy recorded the great album of Horton Barker's music that was issued not on Folk Legacy but on FOLKWAYS !!

"At The Foot Of Yonders Mountain" on that LP sure was/is a beautiful song as done by Mr. Barker. "City Four Square" too.

Sometime in '63 it must've (might've) been Horton Barker did a concert at the old LaSalle School in Chicago---on Sedgwick St. just North of the Old Town School of Fake Music. Joan Baez was in town and she came to the concert. Horton asked her up for a few songs and they did "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" together. And it worked beautifully.

Just good memories...

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Mark Clark
Date: 15 Aug 01 - 11:25 PM

Nancy, That's great sleuthing. The country music disc jockey was indeed Cactus Jack Call. I'll have to send you an invisible facsimile for your effort.

Kat, Does this mean I have to go hunting in the archives again?

Art, I remember showing up at the OTSFM around the beginning of 1963 (that's about the time I arrived in Chicago) and that's probably where I acquired the copy of Sing Out! I referenced. I'm sorry to say, I didn't know about Horton Barker concert you mentioned. That would have been a real treat.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 16 Aug 01 - 12:15 AM

The Horton Barker album (scratchy and tattered though it is) is still one of my favourite listens.

Having read EVERY magazine in Sandy's Library bedroom....and having an amazing memory for stuff that interests me (and none for anything else) I can ask some "archival" questions.

#1.What song was on the cover of the first issue of Sing Out?

#2.What was the later "controversy" about it's lyric?

#3.What was one of the co-writers' attempt to smoothe things over?

#3.What instrument was Frank Hamilton playing in the picture accompanying the article about the Old Town School of Folk music?

#4.Who was "Hoot'n Lil"?

#5.Most people know that Seeger's 12 string was made my Stan Francis of Liverpool....but what 12 did he play BEFORE that?

#6.Who wrote and sang a song about GARLIC?

#7.One cover featured someone's hands. Who's?

#8.What did this magnificent singer and player use for a capo?

#9.One of the world's finest luthiers was on the cover of one issue. Who?

#10.What song from my Folk-Legacy Album "Lifeline" was printed in the magazine? (no it's not a shameless plug! I didn't WRITE the song....but the subject of a current Mudcat thread DID!)

All the info needed here can be found in various issues of Sing Out, and I know they're hard....so Sandy, even the experts are welcome to join in. After all I GOT the stuff from reading YOUR copies.

Rick

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 16 Aug 01 - 01:42 PM

Jeezus!! 14 hours? Honestly, I didn't mean to shut this down! Ignore the questions, it was a great thread.

Rick

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: MMario
Date: 16 Aug 01 - 01:49 PM

#6 Ruthie Gorton and Mark Cohen very nicely provided the tune for us (it was a "missing tune" in the DT)

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Art Thieme
Date: 16 Aug 01 - 04:30 PM

Mark,

I have (or had) a photo of you somewhere in Evanston (on the lakefront?) balancing a huge dirigible-shaped Watermelon on your palm with one hand. What could that've been about?

Art

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 16 Aug 01 - 05:57 PM

I'm too lazy (read: busy, please) to dig up all the answers to Rick's questions, but I thought I'd make a small correction to the info above and add one explanation. I recorded Horton Barker in Beech Creek, NC, only because his sister, with whom he lived, wouldn't let us record at his home in Chilhowie, VA. Well, his address was Chilhowie, but he lived in a tiny community just outside of Chilhowie called St. Clair's Bottom (pronounced "Sinkler's"). I drove him down to Smith Harmon's home in Beech Creek, where the Harmons graciously put us up and let us record in their living room. That was in 1961, only a few months BEFORE I started Folk-Legacy. If I'd known Lee Haggerty was going to help me start my own record label just a couple of months later, I would have saved those tapes for us! I gave them to Moe Asch at Folkways in exchange for an "advance on royalties" of $100 for Horton ($.25 per record for 400 records!). That was the only payment he ever received. I later tried to get back the few songs that didn't make it onto the Folkways album (a superb version of "Pretty Sally," for example). but Moe said he couldn't find the original tapes. I'm going to try again, now that Smithsonian/Folkways has all of the stuff Moe left when he died. Maybe they would be able to find them now. I'd love to include the extra material on the next compilation of my field recordings. If I could get ALL of the tapes back, I'd add the missing songs and make a CD from them. Horton Barker was a wonderful singer with many fine songs and ballads.

Sandy

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: harpgirl
Date: 16 Aug 01 - 06:46 PM

..which mudcatter's grandma, who owned a store in Blairsville Georgia, once graced the cover of Sing Out?

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 16 Aug 01 - 07:07 PM

Hedy West's?

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: harpgirl
Date: 16 Aug 01 - 11:05 PM

...correct Sandy. You win an evening of music with me. When would you be able to collect????? *wink*
hg

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 16 Aug 01 - 11:48 PM

Meet you half way! Why'ncha come to the Getaway in October and we can make some beautiful music together? Besides, Caroline could also take advantage of some good autoharp pointers. Y'all come, y'hear?

Sandy

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Nancy King
Date: 17 Aug 01 - 12:27 AM

Quiz-wise, it looks like I'm outclassed here. Unlike Sandy, I don't have a complete run of Sing Out! and unlike Rick I haven't memorized them! (BG)

I have 1963 and '64, plus a few earlier, and another several years' worth from the 1970s. I'd forgotten about the "soundsheet" records bound into the magazine in the '70s! What a deal! The one with the hands on the cover isn't among the ones I can find at this point, but I can see it in memory. Just can't remember who it was...

Kat, you're a great guesser, but I'm surprised you've never seen Sing Out! (the exclamation point is part of the title). It was pretty much THE magazine of the '60s Folk Scare -- perhaps that was before your time! The magazine was already over 10 years old then, and it still continues today. (I think. Right, guys?) I have sometimes seen vendors selling back issues at folk festivals. They're really a goldmine of songs and lore.

As for Rick's questions, for all I know some of the answers are in the issues I have. But I'm with Sandy -- too lazy/busy to search through them. But I'd like to know the answers! and which issues, please...

Cheers, Nancy

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 17 Aug 01 - 12:42 AM

Which issues??!! Lordy Nancy, I'm doin' this from memory. I can't even remember what I had for breakfast today, Ha Ha!

Be happy to give you the answers though. here goes:

1.What song was on the cover of the first issue of Sing Out?........"If I Had a Hammer"

#2.What was the later "controversy" about it's lyric?......Lee was asked to make "all of my brothers more gender inclusive. he came up with "all of my siblings". It didn't wash!

#3.What was one of the co-writers' attempt to smoothe things over?.........he came up with "all of my siblings". It didn't wash!

#3.What instrument was Frank Hamilton playing in the picture accompanying the article about the Old Town School of Folk music?......a washtub (actually looked like an oil drum) bass.

#4.Who was "Hoot'n Lil"?......The Toronto "news corespondant"

#5.Most people know that Seeger's 12 string was made my Stan Francis of Liverpool....but what 12 did he play BEFORE that?.....a Mexican one apparently borrowed from Fred gerlach.

#6.Who wrote and sang a song about GARLIC? .....Suni Paz.

#7.One cover featured someone's hands. Who's?......Sleepy John Estes.

#8.What did this magnificent singer and player use for a capo? .....a pencil with an elastic.

#9.One of the world's finest luthiers was on the cover of one issue. Who?.....Grit Laskin

#10.What song from my Folk-Legacy Album "Lifeline" was printed in the magazine? (no it's not a shameless plug! I didn't WRITE the song....but the subject of a current Mudcat thread DID!)....The Birth of Robin Hood....seriously ammended by Alan Taylor

Rick

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Nancy King
Date: 17 Aug 01 - 12:52 AM

Thanks, Rick! That's great! Guess you're just not interested in breakfast, eh? Maybe Mark can tell us which issues...

Cheers, Nancy

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: katlaughing
Date: 17 Aug 01 - 01:31 AM

Thanks, Nancy, Western Colorado wasn't really "with it," too much and I was just 13 in 1966, so it was a litle ahead of me, yeah. What I've learned of Sing Out and of the questions I guessed on, I learned right here on teh Mudcat from such great people as yourself, Art, Sandy, Rick and a slew of udder Mudders (that's non-gender specific:-)!*bg*

kat

Subject: RE: From deep in the archives.
From: Mark Clark
Date: 17 Aug 01 - 01:31 AM

Sing Out! is still being published as a quarterly magazine. They no longer include the soundsheets but if you subscribe at the member level, you'll be sent a CD with all the music in each issue. If you subscribe at a lower level, you can buy the CD if you want one. I figure everyone ought to subscribe if only to keep Sing Out! going. “You never miss your water till your well runs dry.”

As for Rick's quiz, I'm afraid my archives are too sparse to tackle such seriously arcane—but highly intriguing—questions. Like Nancy, I'd love to see the answers. I think I remember an article about the OTSFM in which Frank Hamilton is shown playing a long-necked five-string banjo but I couldn't tell you which issue contained the article—assuming the article I think I remember was in Sing Out!

Art, you stumped me with the watermelon. I think there may have been some parties I don't exactly remember. <g> We had a place on the lake right at Howard street back in those days and I've lost track of most of what happened there. Is there anyone else in the picture you recognize? For instance, Fred Holstein or Chuck Ray? I also don't remember very much about a great party up in Zion State Park in the early seventies.

      - Mark