Who is/was Larry Mohr ??

Subject: Who is/was Larry Mohr ??
From: Art Thieme
Date: 08 Jun 03 - 11:59 PM

The first Odetta album I owned was ODETTA AND LARRY.   "Larry" was Larry Mohr. I've not heard of him after that, and it has been a long time since back then. Over 40 years now.

Does anybody know of him---what he did after that LP----how he is and even "if" he is still with us??

There was a dynamite duet of "Santy Ano" on that record. My copy of that LP is long gone---but I still have that "Santy Ano" on a tape of favorites.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Who is/was Larry Mohr ??
From: GUEST,Frankham
Date: 09 Jun 03 - 10:45 AM

Art, I remember Larry. They recorded together at the Tin Angel in San Francisco in Odetta's earlier days. I don't know what ever happened to him and was always curious.

Frank

Subject: RE: Who is/was Larry Mohr ??
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 09 Jun 03 - 11:14 AM

Yeah, I'd be interested in what he got up to as well. In most of these cases the person saw the error of their ways early and went into more lucrative fields.

Imagine my surprise when I mentioned the name Bernie Krause to a West Coast mudcatter and discovered that she was buddies with him....but DIDN'T know about his stint with the Weavers, only about his scientific work. I learned "Manha de Carnival" from him a million years ago.

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: Who is/was Larry Mohr ?? ---First Odetta album
From: Stefan Wirz
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 07:56 AM

It's widely believed that Odetta's Tradition LPs (1956 TLP-1010 "... sings Ballads and Blues" and 1957 TLP-1025 "... at the Gate of Horn") are her first LPs (Stambler & Landon 1969; Baggelaar & Milton 1977; Stambler & Stambler 2001; seems like Chinese whispers ;-).
Yet her first issued recordings actually are two 1954 Fantasy 7 inch EPs (EP-4017 "the tin angel presents odetta & larry Vol. 1" and EP-4018 "... Vol. 2") with Larry Mohr (some of the tracks as a duo, some tracks by each artist by themselves) brought out the same year (?) as a 10 inch 33 rpm LP: Fantasy 3-15 "the tin angel presents Odetta and Larry"
I've gathered what I could find about those records (and later re-issues on Fantasy and other labels) at http://www.wirz.de/music/rarearly.htm#odetta

Additional information (e.g. track list of Fantasy 3-15) are very much appreciated !!!
Stefan

Subject: RE: Who is/was Larry Mohr ??
From: Stefan Wirz
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 08:22 AM

and BTW: His current whereabouts (at least the professional ones) are summarized here

Subject: RE: Who is/was Larry Mohr ??
From: Marc Bernier
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 11:13 AM

Here I was about to show off how much I knew about Larry Mahr (Meagher) the infamous San Fransico Crimp.

Subject: RE: Who is/was Larry Mohr ??
From: Charley Noble
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 11:25 AM

Marc-

I was with you. I do seem to recall something about Larry's famous, or infamous, 5-gallon jar but it appears unrelated to the focus of this thread, and I would ne'er try to Shanghai a thread!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Who is/was Larry Mohr ??
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 12:08 PM

If Frank Hamilton is still lurking around, a question. I seem to recall you taught Odetta to pick guitar.

Am i remembering correctly??
(Hope you and Mary are well!)

Art

Subject: RE: Who is/was Larry Mohr ??
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 23 Feb 08 - 08:58 AM

In or around 1955 Odetta Felious and Larry Mohr's act (that's the way they billed it then) at the Tin Angel was briefly featured in a specialty film -- one of those giant screen deals, I'm not sure what the process was called. Not Cinerama obviously, but some similar name.

It was played in movie theaters specially adapted for the process, usually one to each major city (as Omni theaters are today).   I saw it at a Philadelphia theater. The screen was huge, on about half Omni scale, unless my memory has enlarged it.

The movie was a sort of miscellaneous travelog around gala entertainment spots in the US, its primary purpose to show off the special big-screen process. Odetta and Larry sang one of the songs off their first fantasy album -- my memory may be wrong, but I think it was "Old Cotton Fields at Home."

Larry was a skinny guy, banjo thrasher and singer in the rousing young-Pete Seeger style of the day.    His was the first version of "I'll Tickle Nancy" I ever heard ... sent me to Uncle Dave Macon to hear the original. Another of those one-shot singers who had a moment of fame and then submerged -- whether by his own wish or not. Wonder what his later life was? Bob

Subject: RE: Who is/was Larry Mohr ??
From: MartinRyan
Date: 23 Feb 08 - 09:28 AM

The Panavision process? I've a vague memory of it around the late 50's.

Regards

Subject: RE: Who is/was Larry Mohr ??
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 23 Feb 08 - 08:29 PM

Bob Coltman,

Look into Stephan Wirz post to this thread --above--! Click on the link he provides and you will be transported to an update on Larry Mohr's doings now and since those old times.

Art

Subject: RE: Who is/was Larry Mohr ??
From: CET
Date: 24 Feb 08 - 08:16 PM

On checking Stephan Wirz' post, I see that his link leads to another link where you can buy a CD of the recording that Art is talking about.

Subject: RE: Who is/was Larry Mohr ??
From: johnross
Date: 25 Feb 08 - 08:39 PM

Here's the track list from "The Tin Angel Presents Odetta and Larry," Fantasy 3-15:

Side 1:
Car Car (Woody Guthrie)
I'll Tickle Nancy (Uncle Dave Macon)
Rock Island Line (Huddie Ledbetter)
John Henry
Old Blue
Old Cotton Fields At Home (Huddie Ledbetter)

Side 2:
Payday At Coal Creek (Pete Steele)
No More Cane Along the Brazos
The Tailor Boy
Water Boy
The Tin Angel Brag

There are some differences between the cover and the label:
Cover says "the tin angel presents..." but the label says "Fantasy Presents..."; Cover says "The Ain't No Cane on the Brazos,: but the label says "No More Cane Along the Brazos; the label puts "The Tin Angel Brag"" in parentheses, but the cover does not.

My copy is red vinyl, rather than the blue listed in Stephan's description. It's quite possible that it was a later pressing.

Subject: RE: Who is/was Larry Mohr ??
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 11:16 AM

johnross, thanks for the add'l info about that Fantasy 3-15 album !!!
What about those tracks "The Tailor Boy" and "The Tin Angel Brag" that didn't make it to the later reissues ? Is it Larry on "Tailor Boy" and both Odetta and Larry on "The Tin Angel Brag" ?
Stefan (with an 'f' ;-)

Subject: RE: Who is/was Larry Mohr ??
From: johnross
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 10:15 PM

Stefan, "The Tin Angel Brag" is an alternate title for the "I was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" track on Fantasy 3252. I've just listened to the song on both discs and they seem to be taken from the same master. It's Odetta singing "I was Born about 10,000 years ago" and Larry singing "The Great Historical Bum." They swap verses and at the end they sing both choruses at the same time.

"The Tailor Boy" is Larry solo.

Subject: RE: Who is/was Larry Mohr ??
From: Greg B
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 10:58 PM

Wait a minute! He's in Michigan? I thought he was from the old
Virginia Lowlands.

How'd he get to Virginia, anyways?