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Great Ballad Recordings
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Subject: Great Ballad Recordings From: sharyn Date: 04 Nov 02 - 12:33 PM For those of you who like traditional ballads, what are the gems of your record collection, the ones you keep going back to? One of mine is Jody Stecher's Oh the Wind and Rain (Appleseed Recordings). Another is Alison McMorland's Belt wi' Colours Three (Tangent Records). Also Dick Gaughan's Kist of Gold (Trailer) and No More Forever (taped for me -- not by me -- don't have citation) What do you guys love? |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: curmudgeon Date: 04 Nov 02 - 12:48 PM The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Washington -- MacColl, Lloyd Classic Scots Ballads -- MacColl The Best of A. L. Lloyd Songs of a Scots Tinkerwoman -- Jeannie Robertson The Bird in the Bush - Lloyd, Briggs, Armstrong , et al. The Iron Muse -- Lloyd, Briggs, Killen, McGinn, Davenport, et al. Essentially anything by MacColl, Lloyd, Robertson, Killen, and other too numerous to list. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: GUEST,Geordie Date: 04 Nov 02 - 01:36 PM Lots of things by Frankie Armstong. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Susanne (skw) Date: 04 Nov 02 - 07:51 PM Most things by Dick Gaughan, particularly Glenlogie [Child #238], most things by Ray Fisher, plus Riddles Wisely Expounded [Child #1], Grey Silkie [Child #113] and Bonnie Susie Clelland [Child #65] by Jean Redpath, The Battle of Otterburn [Child #161] by Alex Campbell, The Battle of Harlaw [Child #163] and Lang Johnnie Muir [Child #251] by the Battlefield Band, The Golden Vanity [Child #286] by Gordon Bok, Johnnie O'Breadislee [Child #114 - old recording!] by Hamish Imlach, Young Watters [Child #94] by Heather Heywood, The Wind and Rain [Child 10 - Cruel Sister] by Iain MacKintosh, Fine Flowers in the Valley [Child #20 - Cruel Mother] by Mick West, Bonnie Earl o' Moray [Child #181] by the Old Blind Dogs. That's about it in the first division - would make a nice CD! |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: toadfrog Date: 04 Nov 02 - 09:35 PM Well, Norman Kennedy. And for sure, there must be some American. But I can't think of one off hand. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Big Tim Date: 05 Nov 02 - 02:29 AM Is Norman Kennedy still around? I had, maybe still have, some stuff by him in the 60s, "Sleepytoun", for example. Distinctive stylist. Susanne: there's more to balladry than Scottish stuff! |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Mudlark Date: 05 Nov 02 - 02:41 AM The late, great Cynthia Gooding and Eva Cassidy, Anne Hill, EmmyLou, Michael Smith, the Chicago duo, Small Potatoes, all memorable balladeers (and all American)...just to name a few. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: GUEST Date: 05 Nov 02 - 01:59 PM Eva Cassisy ? Really, I think of her as a great Pop singer, but not as a ballad singer. Did I miss something ? |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Mudlark Date: 05 Nov 02 - 02:11 PM She may not be singing 18th c. border ballads, but Eva Cassidy's renditions of ballads, by the dict. def. of slow, romantic and/or sentimental, like Through the Fields of Barley, I know You by Heart, etc. are achingly beautiful. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Jeanie Date: 05 Nov 02 - 02:28 PM For me, it has to be Nic Jones, "Ballads & Songs" - Sir Patrick Spens, Outlandish Knight, Little Musgrave, The Noble Lord Hawkins. I was lucky enough to hear him sing these live, many times, when he was a regular at Brentwood Folk Club in the late 60s. When it comes to traditional ballads, for me Nic Jones will always be THE best. - jeanie |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Desert Dancer Date: 05 Nov 02 - 02:32 PM Mudlark, fine singers, all, perhaps, but the original poster was looking for favorite albums of traditional ballads. Big Tim, yes, Norman Kennedy is still around! Just heard him (finally) this summer at the Old Songs Festival outside Albany, NY. For American traditional, there's Margaret MacArthur's Ballads Thrice Twisted (and there are fine ballads on her other albums, too), the recent Folk-Legacy compilation Ballads and Songs of Tradition (not all American), the two cds from the Anne and Frank Warner collection, Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still and Nothing Seems Better to Me (not all ballads, but many fine ones), Rounder's Texas Gladden, Ballad Legacy, and volume 1 of the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music. John Roberts and Tony Barrand's albums have lots of fine renderings of traditional ballads, and although they all sound English ;-) , some of their sources are actually American and Canadian collections. Dark Ships in the Forest is perhaps the most ballad-intensive of their albums. Among English singers, nearly anything by Martin Carthy is just fine, thanks... and I second Carmudgeon's votes, and the ones for Frankie Armstrong, and then there's Sara Grey for stuff from both sides of the pond, and... Awful hard to pin it down to favorites! :-) ~ Becky in Tucson |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Mudlark Date: 05 Nov 02 - 03:00 PM OK...just Cynthia Gooding then. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Bennet Zurofsky Date: 05 Nov 02 - 05:03 PM I am surprised at the relative lack of singers on this list who learned their repertoire from the oral tradition as opposed to from the revival (recordings, books, etc.) Many fine traditional singers of ballads are on the Folk Legacy Label and Sandy Paton's pre-Folk Legacy recordings of Horton Barker, on Folkways, are also excellent. Texas Gladden has been mentioned, and her new Rounder release in the Lomax series is long overdue. Aunt Molly Jackson's Rounder release is great. At the moment I am having trouble remebering the woman from Arkansas who made many excellent recordings, someone will surely come up with her name soon. (Or I will come back soon with it.) Revivalists make many excellent recordings, but there is nothing like the true vine. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Bennet Zurofsky Date: 05 Nov 02 - 05:44 PM Almeda Riddle! The excellent ballad singer from Arkansas whose name I could not remember above is (was) Almeda Riddle. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Susanne (skw) Date: 05 Nov 02 - 06:41 PM Big Tim: Susanne: there's more to balladry than Scottish stuff! Now that's a highly subjective view! Besides, I did include Gordon Bok ... :-) |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Thomas the Rhymer Date: 05 Nov 02 - 07:28 PM I'm into Martyn Carthy these days... Ewen MacColl has always been a favorite... Pint and Dale are fine balladers, as is Gaughan... Jean Redpath is great, Holdstock and Macleod are awesome... Mae McKenna, Lorena McKennit, Maddy Prior will always send me, Karine Polwart (wow!), Andy Irvine, and all those Silly Wizards... just to name a few... Oh! and need I say Clancy or Makem? ttr |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Susan of DT Date: 05 Nov 02 - 09:03 PM There are many newly rereleased old ballad singer CDs: Voice of the People, 20 CD set, Topic Classic Ballads of Britain and Ireland (Lomax), 2 CDs, Rounder and many, many more Some of my older favorites (some vinyl), I agree with many above: Ewan MacColl, Classic Scots Ballads Jean REdpath, many of her records Norman Kennedy Martin Carthy Jeannie Robertson John Roberts and Tonny Barrand, Dark Ships inthe Forrest has many Tony Rose Gordeanna MacCullough Newer recordings: Margaret MacArthur, Thrice Twisted Joe Rae Sheila Kay Adams Moira Craig Maureen Jelks (available from CAMSCO music, if in print. I'll alert Dick to this thread, so he can give a longer list) |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: GUEST Date: 05 Nov 02 - 10:46 PM Joan Baez's early records have a number of great renditions of traditional ballds. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Big Tim Date: 06 Nov 02 - 02:32 AM I met Gordeanna McCulloch recently for the first time since 1967! She's still going strong, very into Burns songs these days (it was at a Burns night I met her). I saw Norman Kennedy also in the 60s, then he seemed to disappear. I heard he emigrated to Canada. Delighted to hear he's still around and musically active. Susanne: your list was of course just a little bit subjective too! You are awful, but I like you!!! (No offence - this is a popular British saying). |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: GUEST,Puffenkinty Date: 06 Nov 02 - 09:25 AM Richard Dyer Bennet made a wonderful series of records in the late fifties and in the sixties that contain some ballad gems. Happily these records have been re-issued on CD. I highly recommend them. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Desert Dancer Date: 06 Nov 02 - 12:53 PM Norman Kennedy lives in Vermont (that's USA, but awful close to Canada!), now. The compilations I mentioned above are all of source singers - Lee Monroe Presnell, Frank Profitt, Roby Monroe Hicks, and Buna Hicks, from Beech Mountain, North Carolina; "Yankee" John Galusha, Lena Bourne Fish, Lawrence Older and others from up north. Also, I was just looking at the cd rack and forgot Folk-Legacy's The Traditional Music of Beech Mountain, N.C., which has more great stuff from there. (It's interesting to compare the earlier recordings from the Warners with the Paton's.) And of course, Harry Smith's assortment... Now what the heck has happened to the one cd I had with Almeda Riddle?? ~ Becky in Tucson |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: sharyn Date: 06 Nov 02 - 02:31 PM Alright, I'm updating this thread: I want the best of the best. I know the difference between traditional singers and revival singers of all stripes: what I'm after are beautifully sung albums of traditional material. I'm partial to Scottish versions of ballads because I tend to like them best, especially stuff from Aberdeenshire, but I like Appalachian material, too. I want albums in the category of "You've Gotta Hear This!" I want traditional material. I want gorgeous singing. I want things that say "You have to learn me now." I know this is heresy in some circles, but I don't care much for Frankie Armstrong -- can't listen to Till the Grass O'ergrew the Corn -- ick! And Martin Carthy can sing brilliantly but sometimes chooses the most pedestrian tunes he can find. These are differences in taste, clearly. Keep suggesting things, the more specific the better! Thanks, Sharyn |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Hrothgar Date: 07 Nov 02 - 12:18 AM Well, you just disqualified Joan Baez. Any time she did a song, it was so good very few people were game to try it again. We migh be getting over this because there are people around now who might not have heard all that much of Baez. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: sharyn Date: 07 Nov 02 - 12:34 AM Actually, I learned a lot of stuff from early Joan Baez recordings because I heard her before I heard a lot of traditional singers or a lot of British revival singers. And I still sing her versions of some things because she often used good tunes -- "Mary Hamilton," for example, and "House Carpenter." I don't have a problem with Baez material. I have heard it, however, and I am looking for things I might not have heard yet: local singers, for instance (wherever your locale might be). The last singer with wonderful ballads I happened upon was Sheila Kay Adams -- and I haven't heard her sing yet -- a friend of mine learned "Matty Groves" from her. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: dick greenhaus Date: 07 Nov 02 - 12:47 AM I hate the word great,but if you're checking out ballad singers, you should listen to Maureen Jelkes and Eileen Mitchell (trad style) and Brian Peters (revival, but with strong trad. roots). My latest discovery is the ballad singing of Jock Duncan, who's better known for his comic bothy songs, but who does a magnificent fob on the big ballads. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: sharyn Date: 07 Nov 02 - 02:20 AM O.K., Dick, Where would I find Maureen Jelkes or Eileen Mitchell? (Of course I could do a Google search) I haven't heard of either of them. Where are they from? How easy is it to find their recordings? I just got a Jock Duncan CD and a Brian Peters one -- liked more of the former than the latter. Thanks for the suggestions. Sharyn |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: sharyn Date: 07 Nov 02 - 02:23 AM P.S. I'm not married to the word "great" -- I just wanted a short name for the thread. I could have said "favorite." Or "really good." |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: GUEST,Russ Date: 07 Nov 02 - 11:49 AM sharyn, My personal preference is for the "real thing" (Ritchie, Riddle, Adams, Gladden, etc.) But check out "Custer LaRue Sings The Dæmon Lover With the Baltimore Consort, Traditional Ballads & Songs of England, Scotland & America", Dorian Recordings (DOR-90174) Custer has the pipes and the pedigree and the arrangements will knock your socks off. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: John Minear Date: 07 Nov 02 - 02:21 PM Sheila Kay Adams, from Sodom Laurel in Madison County, North Carolina, has been mentioned. If you haven't heard her, she is a delight. She is a seventh generation traditional ballad singer, going back to folks that sang for Cecil Sharp and beyond. A couple of her albums are: "Loving Forward, Loving Backward" (cassette) "A Spring in the Burton Cove" (cassette) "My Dearest Dear" (CD) "What Ever Happened to John Parrish's Boy" (with story-telling)CD Each of these has "ballads and love songs" from the Sodom Laurel area, learned from her family and friends, and all are available from Granny Dell Records, P.O. Box 1401, Mars Hill, NC 28754. Sheila has mentioned re-releasing her first two cassette's above on a combined CD. Check out her website Sheila. Also check out Sheila's friend and fellow traditional ballad singer, Bobby McMillon. He has a cassette entitled "A Deeper Feeling", available from Ivy Creek Recordings, 104 Woodland Dr., Mars Hill, NC 28754. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Bill D Date: 07 Nov 02 - 02:39 PM sharyn...We(Ferrara & I) have the Maureen Jelks CD...bought it from Dick, at CAMSCO,,,*grin*...it is a wonderful batch of songs! |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: dick greenhaus Date: 07 Nov 02 - 02:59 PM Just to simplify shoppoing--CAMSCO Music carries |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Susanne (skw) Date: 07 Nov 02 - 04:59 PM Big Tim - no offence taken! Anyone who's met Gordeanna McCulloch is in my good books! BTW, do you have any old Clutha recordings? I've been looking for their recording to The Balaena for years, only heard them do it live at Tonder Festival once and liked it a lot better than Bert Lloyd's version. All I know is, it isn't on 'The Bonnie Mill Dams' and probably not on 'Scotia!' Sharyn, if you're after great singing you should have heard 'Palaver' - Gordeanna McCulloch, Maureen Jelks, Chris Miles and Aileen Carr (another fine singer who's just brought out her first solo CD, I believe). A cappella four-part harmony to die for! However, they broke up before making a CD; there are just a couple of tracks on the CD 'Ceilidh House Sessions' (and I have a bootleg of a concert they took part in). |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Desert Dancer Date: 08 Nov 02 - 01:51 PM Ellen Mitchell (and spouse) are available on Have a Drop Mair, a two-cd set from Musical Traditions, where you can find lots of other source recordings (for American stuff, try Far in the Mountains, which I've not yet gotten my hands on) and lots of great reviews and articles. Ellen's a west-coast Scot, her husband Kevin is Irish. ~ Becky in Tucson |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: GUEST,wlashley Date: 08 Nov 02 - 02:54 PM My 1st post to Dirty Feline, so forgive any newbie inattention to previous sutras or other vines. Loreena McKennitt was mentioned, but specifically, "The Visit" CD, '91 & '94 from Quinlan Road Limited label features a # of quite beautiful trad ballads (as opposed to bad trallads) such as "Lady of Shallott" & "Greensleeves". See also the recordings of John Renbourn, who is a guitarist of renown, but his ballad repetoire is impeccable. I had the good fortune to see him on tour with Robin Williamson (formerly of the Incredible String Band, who I suspect of copping balladry from sources as diverse as Wm. Blake & Lewey Carroll; now performing as a solo storyteller / songsmith / schausspeiler of sorts) a few years back at SUNY New Paltz (in the Hudson Valley) and found them both to be in top form. I would also like to recommend the late great Canadian folksinger Stan Rogers (you may also have heard of younger brother Garnet Rogers) whose '77 release "Fogarty's Cove" has only one "pd" song on it, but any number of songs so good that I'd pony up a wager on these becoming a branch of the "tree-dition". Then, what of John Fahey,Doc Boggs, Hazel Dickins, Suzanne Thomas, The Blue Sky Boys, and all the other blue & grassy field hands? Thanks for the forum. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: GeoffLawes Date: 08 Nov 02 - 08:36 PM Try www.thetraditionbearers.com Sharyn- Ellen Mitchell, Maureen Jelks, and many more wonderful scottish ballad singers feature on this site with photos and descriptions and details of how to get their cds. If you're really smitten with great contemporary voicings of the muckle ballads then come to Whitby Folk Week in August where some of these wonderful singers can be heard in the daily ballad sessions at the Conservative Club. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: GUEST,andymac Date: 18 Jul 04 - 07:40 PM Just came across thread this while looking for info on a particular ballad. One "great" singer not mentioned here is Ian Manuel. Sadly dead now but recorded two extremely hard to find albums on Topic: "The Dales of Caledonia" and "The Frosty Ploughshare". If you see them- grab them. Other favourites; in no particular order: Sheila Stewart, Elizabeth Stewart (niece of Lucy), Dick Gaughan, Alistair Hulett, Paddy Tunney, Dan Milner, Alison McMorland, Geordie McIntyre, Kevin Mitchell, Bob Blair, Louis Killen, Nic Jones. Hopefully that's not too biased towards the Scots, there's even a token American in there... |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Stewie Date: 18 Jul 04 - 08:17 PM Andrew Calhoun's recent sortie into Scots balladry is well worth a listen. Thanks to Art Thieme for introducing me to this man's music. Andrew Calhoun 'Telfer's Cows' Waterbug WBG0054. You will find track listings, lyrics etc on his website (click). --Stewie. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: GUEST,Art Thieme Date: 18 Jul 04 - 08:36 PM Alex Moore's great rendition of "The Sioux Indians"--Library Of Congress Anything sung by Emery DeNoyer--a blind singer of songs of the lumber woods of Wisconsin--Library Of Congress. "Little Brown Bulls" for one. He went from camp to camp and the lumberjacks always appreciated his renditions. Any ballads sung by Canadian O.J.Abbot-- his "By The Hush" and "Plains Of Waterloo" simply stand alone. from OZ, Jim Cargill'a "Radcliffe Highway" Also form OZ, Joe Watson doing "The Kelly Gang" Rebecca Tarwater singing "Barbara Allen"--as collected in Wisconsin by Helene Stratman Thomas Jess Morris simply amazing "Leaving Cheyenne" with just his voice and fiddle.nson singing ""Texas Rangers" sung by the Cartwright Brothers "The Last Wagon" sung bu Slim Critchlow Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd--too many to enumerate some of G.L. Sparky Hudson's cowboy ballads (Kat's father) Lyman King doing "The Bullhead Boat"---a private tape he made for me. Vernon Dalhart's 78 rpm record of "The Hanging Of Charlie Birger" And this is just for starters: This list would take me a week or two to make. Art Thieme |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: biglappy Date: 19 Jul 04 - 02:35 AM Nobody has mentioned Doc Watson who is great at anything he does. He does updates of most of the best Southern Appalachian ballads recorded in the 20's and 30's by Buell Kazee, Grayson and Whitter, Walter Williams, Kelly Harrell, Green Bailey, Charlie Poole and such characters. This material has a very different sound from Scottish ballads but has a charm of its own and Doc Watson is one of God's great gifts to traditional music fans. If you want to dig out the originals or rereleases of these singers you often get to hear earlier versions of songs that Lomax and Warner collected from their "original sources." |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: Maryrrf Date: 19 Jul 04 - 08:38 AM What would you consider to be the best album to get by Doc Watson containing those ballads? I've got some birthday money I want to spend. Oh and by the way I agree about Andrew Calhoun. "Telfer's Cows" is an absolute gem. I've listened to it over and over. There are some very rare ballads on it such as "Jamie Telfer of the Fair Dodhead" (where the title comes from), Kinmont Willy - great stuff! |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: GUEST,Simon Cooper Date: 19 Jul 04 - 09:02 AM I am surprised no one has mentioned June Tabor and how about Hedy West or Jean Ritchie from America? |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: GUEST,Arkie Date: 19 Jul 04 - 04:26 PM In this neck of the Ozarks that was home to Almeda Riddle and Ollie Gilbert as well as Neil and James Morris, who achieved a measure of fame as Jimmy Driftwood we had a very fine ballad singer named Georgia Irvine. Georgia's daughter managed to get many of Georgia's ballads recorded. I would also recommend the recordings of Cooper & Nelson. Phil Cooper has a fine singing voice and knows how to use a guitar to accompany ballads. His partner Margaret Nelson has a voice that was created to sing ballads. Atwater and Donnelly are also memorable ballad singers and musicians. Other recordings worthy of study or listening for pure enjoyment are those by Sara Grey and by Ed McCurdy. Finally Folkways, now Smithsonian, and Rounder have anthologies of authentic ballad singers who have been field recorded. I don't know if Molly Andrews has been recorded but she should have been. |
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Subject: RE: Great Ballad Recordings From: biglappy Date: 20 Jul 04 - 01:11 AM About Doc Watson- His recording with Jean Ritchie is old but part of any folk fans basic stuff. Incidentally, when you are talking about Jimmie Driftwood, Doc's version of Tennessee Stud (a Driftwood song) is also high art. About Molly Andrews- I should have mentioned her before. I was listening to her CD, "Blue Morning Glory" not 20 minutes before my last post on this thread. I'll shut up now. |
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