Barbara Dane discography online

Subject: Barbara Dane discography online
From: Stefan Wirz
Date: 24 Oct 01 - 03:50 AM

It has been my pleasure building a little Barbara Dane discography as part of my American Music Site - can be viewed at http://www.wirz.de/music/danedsc.htm

Any correction/completion appreciated

Stefan Wirz

Subject: RE: Barbara Dane discography online
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Oct 01 - 09:11 PM

So ... are she and Irwin still an item?

Subject: RE: Barbara Dane discography online
From: 53
Date: 24 Oct 01 - 11:15 PM

not interested.

Subject: RE: Barbara Dane discography online
From: Stewie
Date: 25 Oct 01 - 07:22 AM

53, I doubt that Stefan would care about your lack of interest. He has kindly posted the information for those who may be interested.

Stefan, thanks for your very informative site. I bought the Karen Dalton CD on the strength of your recommendation in this forum and I enjoyed it very much indeed.

Cheers, Stewie.

Subject: RE: Barbara Dane discography online
From: Stefan Wirz
Date: 25 Oct 01 - 01:51 PM

Stewie, thanks for your kindly defending a naive European, who only knows McCarthyism out of history books ;-)
but seriuosly: I *do* 'care' about the possible story behind it - is there anybody to enlighten me as to how to understand those replies ?!?
Yours curiously
Stefan

Subject: RE: Barbara Dane discography online
From: Don Firth
Date: 25 Oct 01 - 02:10 PM

Stefan, thanks for posting the link to your website. I have just begun to investigate it, and so far, I've found much interesting information. Thank you for your good work.

Barbara Dane may not be as famous as some, but she was a major player in the folk music revival, beginning in the Fifties. Although she specialized in blues (and one hell of a blues singer she was!), she had a large repertoire of non-blues folk songs and she sounded great singing anything. I had the privilege of meeting her in the early Sixties (I can't remember right now exactly which year). Bob Newhart did a stand-up comedy "concert" at Seattle's no longer existing Orpheum Theatre, and Barbara Dane was his opening act. She had a couple of other musicians with her, including Dick Rosmini who backed her on guitar and 5-string banjo. I knew Dick Rosmini from a few years before, and he got me in backstage. The ultimate result was that after the concert Barbara Dane, Dick Rosmini, a couple dozen of Seattle's folksingers and folk music enthusiasts wound up at a fraternity house north of the University of Washington (one of my guitar students was a member) for an all-night songfest. Barbara wanted to meet and hear some of the local crew, and because she'd only had a chance to sing five or six songs on the Orpheum stage, she felt like singing, especially in an informal situation. And sing she did! It was a fantastic, unforgettable session. We all got to the frat house at about 11:00 p.m., and at about six or clock in the morning a half dozen of us, including Barbara, went to an all-night restaurant for breakfast. While we were waiting for our orders, she scribbled out the words to a couple of songs she sang that I was interested in. She was a great singer and one terrific lady!

53, I assume from your response that you've never heard her. That's too bad. Do yourself a favor: contrived somehow to hear her and educate yourself.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Barbara Dane discography online
From: GUEST,MAG at work
Date: 25 Oct 01 - 02:35 PM

Once when I heard her in Chicago she told the story of how she lost her gig with Newhart -- In California, where capital punishment was a hot issue at the time, she refused to cut a blues number about mourning your man who is about to be hung. She sure can sing. Her politics got a little doctrinaire; she and I are generally on the same side.

Subject: RE: Barbara Dane discography online
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 15 Mar 11 - 11:57 AM

NPR has a nice interview on: Barbara Dane: A Versatile Voice With A Political Purpose

by Steven Short
March 14, 2011

At Presidio Middle School in San Francisco, singer Barbara Dane is leading a workshop called "The Songs of Peace and War." Her physical stamina isn't what it once was — she sits rather than stand — but you wouldn't know it by the sound of her voice. Singing with a group of students, Dane sounds much as she did in the 1950s, when she recorded her first album, Trouble In Mind.

"My name is Barbara Dane," she says, addressing the group. "I'm a singer, and I've always been a singer. I'm a mom. I'm a producer. Overall, I'm a resister, I guess."

Of Dane's different identities, "Resister" is the one that made the biggest impression on Bonnie Raitt, another singer noted for using her music to speak for the underdog. Raitt clearly remembers when she was a teenager in Los Angeles and first heard Dane.

"Even in this business the way it is now, there really isn't anyone that accomplished as much as she did, in terms of breaking barriers and standing up for what she believed in," says Raitt. "She's always been a role model and a hero of mine, musically and politically."

Dane's activism — political and social — caused her to lose work at the height of her popularity. She also voluntarily dropped some performances. She vividly recalls one booking agent telling her she could not perform in Las Vegas with Creole American bassist Wellman Braud, even though he'd been a mainstay with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

"They wouldn't go for having a white woman fronting a mixed band," Dane recalls. Her response to the agent's objections was frank, to say the least. "I just flat out said, 'F- - - you, Charlie Barnett!' And I turned around and walked right out."

Dane's progressive reputation led to invitations to perform at rallies. In Europe, she was called "the voice of the Other America." And while her beliefs were important to her, it was her musical talents that allowed her to reach a diverse audience.

Bay Area author and music historian Richie Unterberger notes that Dane was successful singing in a handful of different genres, including blues, folk and jazz.

"She never stuck with just one style," says Unterberger. "In that way, she was a role model not just for a woman, but for all sorts of musicians: to do your own thing, to do what you want, without trying to cater to the interest of people who might want to push you in one direction."

Dane has remained a symbol of resistance, someone who isn't afraid to break the rules. There is one rule, however, that she has honored: the Golden Rule.

"You have a feeling in the pit of your stomach when you do things wrong. And you have another feeling when you do things right," says Dane. "And I like that other feeling. I like that feeling that comes over one when you know you've done something that will mean something valuable to somebody else."

(more in the audio, of course)

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Barbara Dane discography online
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 15 Mar 11 - 11:59 AM

By the way, the discography link is still alive (I checked before posting to this thread). Included there was a link to Barbara's own site: www.barbaradane.net.

~ B in T

Subject: RE: Barbara Dane discography online
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 15 Mar 11 - 12:10 PM

The NPR interview was produced by station KALW in San Francisco, and they have a slightly fuller transcript here: Barbara Dane: still singing, still resisting.

In 2002, David Shea came here (Mudcat) while researching a biography of her (thread), but I can't find any mention of a published book online.

Subject: RE: Barbara Dane discography online
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 16 Mar 11 - 01:05 PM

refreshing once