what should be in my collection?

Subject: what should be in my collection?
From: maire-aine
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 07:51 AM

The thread about "hill and gully rider" got me to thinking about this. I wasn't buying many folk music albums in the fifties and sixties (I was a rock & roll child), so I didn't recognize some of the names in the thread. Others I recognized, but had never heard.

So I wondered, what do you all think of as "must haves" in a well-rounded folk music collection. I'll be heading off to the used record stores next weekend, and I'd like to know what to look for. I might even come across a gem, and I'd like to recognize it if it do.

I expect there have been threads on this before, but I can't imagine what to search on. Maybe someone would be kind enough to post some. Thanks.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: GUEST,IanN
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 08:46 AM

Anything & everything by Fairport Convention. Liege & Leif is usually regarded as the seminal Folk/Rock album.

Martin Carthy is another good starting point. Martin is widely considered to be cheif exponent of falk guitar.

In a similar vein The Albion Band & Steeleye span are worth checking out.

Hope this helps - Ian.

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: artbrooks
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 08:58 AM

Maryanne, that question is about as tough as the one about "what is folk music." In the English language alone, UKers, Canadians, Americans, Australians, etc. (and my apologies to all the etcs out there) will give you different answers. There are also many different genres, and a person who likes Celtic (don't start, people) will have an entirely different opinion than one who's tastes tend more toward Appalachian twang or topical. IMHO, a good place to begin is by getting a copy of the Mudcat CD set. Green Linnet (about whom there have been issues) has some good collections, and you can listen to much of their stuff free at greenlinnet. Hober does some good music on line, and they include album information. Good luck.

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: DMcG
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 09:05 AM

I agree getting the Mudcat CD set is a good idea, but I hope it isn't turning up in the "used record stores" just yet!

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: curmudgeon
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 09:13 AM

You will certainly need to go to the used record shops for this quest. While many of the great folk recordings of that era have been re-issued on CD, some of the best have not. Look for the old Riverside LPs that Ken Goldstein produced, a lot of Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd, but also Jeannie Robertson, Patrick Galvin, Margaret Barry, et. al. Be especially on the lookout for the eight record set of Child ballads by MacColl and Lloyd on Riverside and re-released on Washington.

Happy hunting -- Tom

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 09:13 AM

There have been a number of good threads about what constitute the "must-have" classics. (My computer is not up to finding them but maybe someone else can.)

A good source for affordable, good quality items is CAMSCO (Dick Greenhaus here at Mudcat), and another is Folk Legacy (Sandy Paton at Mudcat).

Online folk radio programs (also see old threads) should be of some help, for things to listen to, as well.

~Susan

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: GUEST,maire-aine, not at home
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 09:15 AM

Okay, let me expand upon my question. What do you consider the most prized possession in your collection? What's your favorite? (Not necessarily the same.) What would you most like to get your hands on?

I bought Liege & Lief on vinyl when it first came out, and it was also my very first CD, even before I had a CD player. I have most of Fairport Convention's albums.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: artbrooks
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 09:16 AM

Good point, DMcG, although I have found Green Linnet and Philo collections there.

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 09:37 AM

A few decades ago I began my folk odyssey by buying "big label" folk: Kingston Trio, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Limeliters, etc. Most of this stuff has reappeared on CD and is easily available. Never listen to it these days.

A turning point came when I discovered "small label" folk, particularly Folkways Records. The Folkways LPs of music from the southern mountains of the US are such a treasure trove that you cannot possibly go wrong. The music is the "real thing" performed by deities of the folk pantheon at the top of their game. Almost everything in the FolkWays catalog is worthy owning, but you might be on the lookout for the New Lost City Ramblers, Roscoe Holcomb, Doc Watson, Jean Ritchie to name a few. A two LP set called "Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley's" is as wonderful and exciting today as it was back then. These albums I still listen to after all these years.

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: Big Mick
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 09:47 AM

I would start at Folk Legacy and move immediately to Camsco. There are some gems in there and the Patons and Dick Greenhaus would be happy to help you with selections based on your tastes.

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: Ely
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 04:26 PM

Golden Ring/New Golden Ring from Folk Legacy. There is also a great 3-CD set put out by (I think it's Smithsonian Folkways) that has a sampling off all kinds of American music including old-time fiddle, various blues types, early country, gospel, Appalachian, etc, and lots of liner notes. I've got an old record called "Folk Music if the Southern Appalachians" that is very good, and was recently rereleased on CD.

Of course, it depends on what interests you. In the US you might look for Jean Ritchie, Hazel Dickens (Appalachian), Etta Baker and Elizabeth Cotten (Piedmont blues), Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family (AP, Sara, Maybelle--early country), Joseph & Cleoma Falcon (Cajun), Hoyt Ming, Fiddlin' John Carson, Woody Guthrie (of course), and Bob and Evelyne Beers.

From the 1960's-1980's revival, the early recordings of the Swallowtail Contradance Band, the Red Clay Ramblers, Jay Ungar (if you can find any early records), and the High Woods String Band are all great. I'm mostly into old-time fiddle music so my "associations" are somewhat limited, but the Red Mountain White Trash, Vulcan's Britches, Freight Hoppers (now defunct, but with two good CD's available), Volo Bogtrotters, Dwight Lamb.

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: Burke
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 05:00 PM

Anthology of American Folk Music
Edited by Harry Smith
Smithsonian Folkways 40090

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: M.Ted
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 05:58 PM

Nother vote here for Anthology of American Folk Music, at least as one of my faves--

Your collection should include things that you like, not what others like--Best way to find what you like is to listen at every opportunity, and if you hear something, ask what it is and get it( I own many great albums that I first heard in restaurants and coffee shops, and, in one case, spent a year and a half looking for something I heard playing in a gas station)--Of course, you should ask around to hear what people like and then listen to it to see if you like it too--You are under no obligation to like say, Martin Carthy or Fairport Convention, but you ought to give them a listen--

Follow these directions and you'll probably end up spending most of your time listening to stuff that most people around you never even hear of, but you'll love it--

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 06:59 PM

I assume you are Stateside.In which case it is unlikely that you will find any Topic Albums in your used record places.They do have some great stuff though,as do Trailer,Dingles and any number of small U.K.
labels.Fellside did a lot for the Northern English scene too.

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: SeanM
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 07:09 PM

For me, the "must haves" aren't the actual recordings, but the printed word. Sandburg. Doerflinger. Hugill. Etc.

Recordings are good - they provide a reference to someone's interpreting of the tradition. So is sheet music, I guess - but for me, it bears less of the stylistic interpreting and more of the "this is what I've heard" in many cases.

Personal preference, I guess.

But as to recordings - any of the Lomax collection is good for American. I'd add the "O Brother, Where Art Thou" soundtrack for a must have of that particular slice of American folk...

Too many to really list coherently, actually.

M

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 08:22 PM

Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music as a nucleus. Then—if you want to go back to the early precursors of the folk music revival in the United States, you should look into the recordings of some of the earlier "interpreters" (prior to the Kingston Trio's 1958 hit single of Tom Dooley).
        Probably, at the time, the best known of the early interpreters was Burl Ives (long before his Little Bitty Tear and Little White Duck aberrations). Simple, straightforward renditions of folk songs. Ives was one of the first singers of folk songs that most of the general public was acquainted with as early as the Forties. Early 10" LPs on Decca.
        A female singer of folk songs reasonable well-known that early was Susan Reed. She accompanied herself with Irish harp and something she couldn't put a name to, but she said it resembled a zither. Sweet voice, good songs. She starred in a movie (1948, I think) about a young girl from the Appalachians brought to New York by an entrepreneur to sing in night clubs. Lots of singing in that movie.   
        Richard Dyer-Bennet, classically trained tenor and classic guitarist, sang folk songs in the ancient minstrel tradition, not making any attempts to sound "folk." He felt that the songs themselves deserved the best that he could give them. Many folkies don't like his classical approach, but no comprehensive collection would be complete without a few samples of his work.
        Two singers who grew up in the folk tradition are Jean Ritchie and John Jacob Niles. Jean Ritchie is about as clean, honest, and straightforward a singer of folk songs as you will ever hear (and she occasionally drops in on Mudcat). Must have. John Jacob Niles is rather controversial. On any given song in his repertoire, he couldn't seem to make up his mind whether he wrote it or collected it. Serious folklorists regard him with extreme suspicion. To say his style of singing is "unique" is an understatement, but he certainly has a way with a song (occasionally his style gets in the way of a song). Highly dramatic. You should at least hear him.
        Frank Warner collected and sang songs. He learned Tom Dooley from Frank Profitt and the Kingston Trio learned it from Frank Warner's record. Cynthia Gooding, multi-lingual, big voice. Good songs well sung. Along the same line is actor Theodore Bikel. He and Cynthia Gooding did an Elektra album together called Young Man and a Maid. If you find it, grab it. Among groups, "The Weavers" is (are?) a must. And recordings of Pete Seeger. Joan Baez goes without saying. Odetta. Josh White. Harry Belafonte's highly accessible "big" arrangements.
        Many won't be too thrilled by my list because, obviously, not all of the ones I mention above are "pure" folk singers. But they are some of the interpreters who brought folk music to the general public and who were largely responsible for sparking the popular folk music revival that, in the U. S., can be said to have started with the KT's 1958 recording. That inspired similar groups and spin-offs such as the Limeliters, the New Christy Minstrels, et al, and the pop-folk thing was off and running.
        Plunge into the Smithsonian-Folkways catalog and swim aroung. And spend your children's inheritance on Folk-Legacy recordings.
        I'm leaving a lot out, but many are listed above by others. I haven't even mentioned singers like Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger. Or A. L. Lloyd. Or Jean Redpath. Or. . . .

Good hunting.

Don Firth



        

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Apr 03 - 08:23 PM

zamphir's greatest hits would do you good....

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: GUEST,Maurice
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 07:05 AM

You have to hear Archie Fisher.

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 11:52 AM

hi- Give me (CAMSCO Music) a ring at 800/548-FOLK (3655) and I can probably provide some guidance (and assist you in spending your hard-earned money)

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: CraigS
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 06:11 PM

My most prized possession in the record line is a double LP of Doc Watson on Vanguard - but it's a nose in front of An Accoustic Confusion by Steve Tilston. I'd recommend either to listen to, but you could spend years of your life learning those guitar parts (I know, because I was that deck of cards).

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: Nathan in Texas
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 10:37 PM

Harvey Reid's "Steel Drivin' Man" and "In Person" CDs are the two I would most highly recommend for American folk music from my collection. He hits lots of genres (is that spelled right?). Many folk recordings appeal only to those particularly interested in a particular genre - celtic, delta blues, appalchian, but Harvey manages to present all of his songs, traditional or original in a very listenable style that appeals to purists and deletente's alike. (No, this is not a paid endorsement!) You can check his website at www.woodpecker.com.

Subject: RE: what should be in my collection?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 13 Apr 03 - 09:50 AM

Hi-
If I had to recommend one recording to start with (for US music), it would be "A Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings", edited by Steve Wade (Rounder 1500). A brilliant sampler of American vocal and instrumental styles, marvelously re-mastered. $12.98+ s&h at CAMSCO.