Traditional Songs of New York State - Dave Ruch

Subject: Traditional Songs of New York State
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 25 May 04 - 04:03 PM

Musician and educator Dave Ruch will be giving a special concert this Thursday night, May 27, 2004 for the Clarence Historical Society entitled "Traditional Songs of New York State". The program is free and open to the public, and will be held at The Club House in Clarence Town Park, Clarence NY starting at 7:30pm (dessert and coffee at 6:45pm before the concert).

For this unique concert, Dave presents and tells the stories behind the songs of real-life "Yorkers" from days gone by - - farmers, lumbermen, canallers, mountain dwellers, lake sailors, children and more - - collected through considerable research and interpreted for all ages to enjoy on banjo, guitar, mandolin, dulcimer, jawharp &/or washtub bass!

A professional musician and educator based in Buffalo NY, Dave gives over 325 concerts & workshops each year for schools, libraries, historical societies, museums, festivals and other community events.

For more information, contact the Clarence Historical Society at 716-741-3780 or Dave Ruch at 716-884-6855.

Subject: RE: Traditional Songs of New York State
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 May 04 - 04:31 PM

Sounds interesting, Dave. I can't make it there from California, but I sure wish I could. What songs will you be performing? Do you have recordings available?
I'm going to add your name to the thread title to make it a bit more clear.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Traditional Songs of New York State - Dave Ruch
From: GUEST,Dave Ruch
Date: 25 May 04 - 09:20 PM

Joe,

Thanks for clarifying the posting. I guess what I'll try to do is present a good sampling of songs collected from different regions of the state, and from a variety of occupations and/or lifestyles. A few things I'm particularly fond of right now include a novelty song called "Do Not Be Offended Please" from the repertoire of a southern-tier NYS lumberman named Ezra "Fuzzy" Barhight, an Erie Canal song that I've just recently pieced together which marries a unique NYS melody and fragment of text from Mark Hamilton with a very full text from a Port Colborne ON lake sailor, a medley of fiddle tunes (on mandolin) from Adirondack musician Lawrence Older who was recorded on Folk Legacy records, and "Willie Was As Fine A Sailor", a ballad sung by Adirondack lumberman Ted Ashlaw. There will also be a song or two from Camp Woodland in the Catskills, maybe a traditional Iroquois song, old favorite "The Ballad of Blue Mountain Lake", a Great Lakes version of "Maid of Amsterdam" ("Maid of Buffalo"), etc. Of course, all this might change once I see what the audience looks like! I also have a growing little store of children's songs and lore from NY State including things from the Louis Jones archive at Cooperstown and from my own work with 1,000s of 4th graders in NYS every year.

I dont have anything recorded yet as far as my own versions of this stuff, but it's all out there in some form already. Would be glad to talk more about it if you're interested.

Subject: RE: Traditional Songs of New York State - Dave Ruch
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 May 04 - 09:40 PM

Hi, Dave - we haven't had many New York songs or versions of songs posted. For one, I'd like to see "Maid of Buffalo."
Best of luck with your concert.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Traditional Songs of New York State - Dave Ruch
From: GUEST,Dave Ruch
Date: 26 May 04 - 12:52 PM

Joe,

I'll try to get the Great Lakes version of Maid of Amsterdam posted soon. It's from a recently published collection that you may have seen called "Windjammers - Songs of the Great Lakes Sailors".

Thanks for reviving the Ballad of Blue Mountain Lake thread - I'll be anxious to hear what you find out from George Ward. The version I do is essentially Sara Grey's (traced back to Lily deLorme I believe) with some hopefully-not-too-obtrusive guitar harmonization.

Subject: RE: Traditional Songs of New York State - Dave Ruch
From: GUEST,Dave Ruch
Date: 19 Oct 04 - 04:59 PM

For any interested Mudcatters in the general region around western NY State, I'll be doing this again on Friday, November 12 at the venerable PeopleArt Coffeehouse in the city of Buffalo, 9-11pm. It would be great to see some Mudcatters there!

Subject: RE: Traditional Songs of New York State - Dave Ruch
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 04:56 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Traditional Songs of New York State - Dave Ruch
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 01 Nov 05 - 08:46 PM

Well, here goes again... I'll be doing a concert this coming Nov 11, 2005 at PeopleArt Coffeehouse in Buffalo NY. Mudcatter Don Meixner was spotted at this show last year, and we had a great time trading banjo jokes and singing! Lots of "new" (old) songs to share from oral tradition, from various areas of the state.

Subject: RE: Traditional Songs of New York State - Dave Ruch
From: DonMeixner
Date: 01 Nov 05 - 09:49 PM

I have never told a banjo joke in my life. They are funny enough all by them selves.

Don

Subject: RE: Traditional Songs of New York State - Dave Ruch
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 02 Nov 05 - 02:21 PM

I don't know about that, Don. I do have last year's gig recorded on CD, and I distinctly recall a certain interchange where I said something like "well, let me get this banjo tuned up and we'll do another song", and after a quiet moment or so, a man's voice from the audience said "....you can tune those?"

Subject: RE: Traditional Songs of New York State - Dave Ruch
From: DonMeixner
Date: 02 Nov 05 - 03:18 PM

Oh yeah....I recall a titter or two as you mention it.

Subject: RE: Traditional Songs of New York State - Dave Ruch
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 10 Nov 05 - 03:44 PM

It looks like Lynn Koch, author of the "Folk Songs of Upstate New York" collection, will be in town, and joining me at the concert tomorrow night! I'll be sure to drag him up to do a few of his favorites from the book...

Subject: RE: Traditional Songs of New York State - Dave Ruch
From: Linda Goodman Zebooker
Date: 10 Nov 05 - 10:36 PM

I would like to learn if the songs mentioned are available as collected recordings - such as the CD of Dave Ruch's 2004 concert. In the 80's and 90's I lived in the smallish Western NY city of Jamestown for 15 years. It was a little too far away to visit Buffalo often. Nationally known musicans perform at the arts venue of Chautauqua, near Jamestown, but I never heard any home-grown folk music, except a guy playing a musical saw on a front porch, once. This sounds like a most interesting mixture.

One aspect of life in Jamestown that I think has the makings of a great song, is the newspaper article about the first coming of the railroad to Jamestown in August 1860. Every 4th grader learns about the crowds that gathered that day as the band broke out with "Ain't I Glad to Get out of the Wilderness". Here is the Jamestown Journal article describing the event. --Linda

Subject: RE: Traditional Songs of New York State - Dave Ruch
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 11 Nov 05 - 08:42 AM

Great article Linda, thanks. I've recently gotten my hands (ears?) on some traditional song material from Chautauqua Co, recorded by folklorists Todd & Sonkin in 1941 and deposited at the Library of Congress. These are mostly older residents (born in mid-late 1800s) who were asked if they knew any of "the old songs", and they sang some great ones. I'm looking forward to adding at least a few of these to my repertoire.

As for collections of NYS folk songs that have been recorded, there are many. George Ward has a great CD of Erie Canal songs, Rich Bala from the Hudson Valley has done at least a few, and on my own website, which is daveruch.com, I have written about several others...mostly "source" singers".

Subject: RE: Traditional Songs of New York State - Dave Ruch
From: Barry Finn
Date: 11 Nov 05 - 05:31 PM

On Folkways June Lazare recorded (1966) Folk Songs of NYC

I believe the dates reflect the time of occurences & not the dates the songs were or appeared in print.
Michael Roy 1851. appeared in songster 1856

Hicks the Pirate 1860.

Express Song 1856.

The Two Orphans 12/5/1876 by PJ Downey

The Patriotic Diggers 1813 by Sammuel Woodard

Magistrate's Song 1734

Jolly Old Roger

The Brooklin Strike 1895

The New York 'Prentice Boy

Down in Dear Old Greenwich Village early 1900's

Westfield Disaster 1871 by AW Harmon

Billy Barlow 1840

The Castle by the Sea 1923 by HJ Howard as "A Lementation for JP Donnelly"

The Three Sisters (a version of "Her Age it was Red")
Dead Rabbit Fight with the Bowery Boys 7/4/1857 (I believe that the movie "Gangs of NY" was based on this incedent)

The Knickerbocker Line

The Great Police Fight 6/15/1857

Jim Fisk 1/6/1872

The Shoddy Contractor early 1860's

Mrs Cunningham's Darling Baby 1857


I believe June also relased a 2nd LP in this collection

I think a lot of this is buried in a few old threads.


I probably still have the LP but my turntable has been a has been for quite a while now thought I do recall that sh did being a great job on this recording, well worth digging around for. Good Luck Barry

Subject: RE: Traditional Songs of New York State - Dave Ruch
From: wysiwyg
Date: 11 Nov 05 - 06:02 PM

Dang, Dave, we really tried to make it up there tonight-- sorry we missed you.

~Susan