Little known '60s Folk Singers

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,Thank you
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 08:43 PM

Thank you so much for the clarification. If anyone knew him then or now it would be great to hear and I could pass it on to his children. I don't think too many people know he is gone as it just happened. Maybe people will see the post and let others know who knew Monte. My mother phoned Peter Walker, but we have heard very little from the wider music audience. We miss him terribly. He did not use the internet and he was unaware of all the times he was mentioned in interviews and on CD reissues. He spent a lot of his later years writing (both music and journalism) and playing.
Thank you for your heartfelt response.
jacquie

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: lazeebabee
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 11:18 PM

Just found this thread. So many memories, thanks! Didn't Sean Gagnier move to California with his wife and she passed there when she was around 28?

I first met Tex in the village at the Four Winds where I hung out and even worked in the mid-60s. He and his friend that drove a cab would come by and pick me up and whisk me off to Chinatown. Then he came to Montreal and would whisk me off to Chinatown. I was in a grocery store in Toronto one night and ran into him as he was buying a lemon meringue pie and before long we had added one of Toronto's Chinatowns to make it a truly holy trinity. After a couple of years we moved out of the Annex and fell out of touch with him.

Had heard rumours that Lindsey C. had passed awaya but wasn't sure. Some of you probably know that Gary Eisenkraft is gone also. He's the guy that packed up his guitar and moved from Stanley St. (after moving from Bishop) to Sherbrooke and that 'other' music scene, The New Penelope.

Saw Thom Ghent's name way up the thread ... dead or alive? Anyone know? And what about Jeremy Taylor?

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: balladeer
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 03:45 AM

to guest,jlmosher:

Dear Jacquie:

As I write this I'm very upset. I didn't know Monte was gone. I'm very sorry for your loss and the loss sustained by your mother and sisters, and indeed everyone who knew and loved Monte.

I certainly did not mean to minimize his role on the music scene. He was a very powerful presence in everything he did and a wonderful and popular instrumentalist, but to my knowledge not well-known as a singer in the sixties, which is when I knew him.

Monte and I dated during his time with Ian and Sylvia. We were both very young. I moved to England for a while, and never did meet up with him again.

Thanks for letting us know of his passing. I hope he didn't suffer.

Warm regards,
Joanne

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,jacquie
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 05:50 AM

Joanne,
Thank you so much for writing. I did not take your writing as an insult to Monte at all. He would be honored that you mentioned him. I am trying to gather information to write a story and eulogy for Monte. No one has written anything, which makes me very sad. But he knew I liked to write and I thought the other day that he would probably tell me "well, why don't you write it" because we used to talk about how much fun it was to work with words. I wrote my first op-ed piece on his little word processor which I have with me and 20 yrs of his writing I have been printing for his kids!!! I would like to write it and maybe you could be a part of it and others if they would like. I would love to write it for him.

Monte was a grandfather too! He has 3 grandchildren , one step-grandchild and another grandchild on the way.
My mom told me when they used to go to Canada to meet Ian and Sylvia, that they visited someone else up there that he knew non-musician-- woman-- wish I knew so I could contact her-- had a horse farm, upper Ontario I think), but she could not remember. I wrote an email to Sylvia, but never heard back. Monte did quite a bit back in those days and continued to do much for many and I wish he was more acknowledged for his efforts, but many folks were not. You dated Monte before he met his now ex-wife Karen Kruse? I am sorry this news upset you, but by the same token I am glad Monte was recognized by someone who knew him. His children and myself, I am sure would love to know anyone who knew him in his early days. You and people like you are bridges to him and to time.

His passing is a very big loss, that few, if any of us, are handling very well. His health had deteriorated over the years and he was not well. I am sure he had a lot of spunk when you met him and dated him. He had one of the most brilliant minds I have known and his creatvity was boundless. I found old paintings he did, his writing, his book collection -- library is unimaginable and he read most of everything, and for the record he played every instrument he could-- he was known for that beautiful Guild guitar which we have both ( acoustic /electric acoustic)-- the acoustic he had when he recorded for Ian and Sylvia we just sent to his oldest daughter which even has his old songlist taped to it. He played the banjo beautifully and mandolin and he had saxophones and also a bass, but his love was those guitars. I have a tape of him from a little concert he did in Coe Park here in Ct that I am trying to convert to a CD for family members. You are welcome to one if I can find someone to tape it. Monte's wonderful humor is on it as well. He would be thrilled you connected with me.
One of the local musicians who played on that gig said that Monte played "Misty" a key lower and the horn section and rest of the musicians were struggling to play it and Monte would not let up or change keys.....(Monte was the lead of course!) and in the end he non-chalantly told them he was sorry but he couldn't sing that high so he had to drop it down an octave or two! My late sister used to sing with him on some gigs and he would change on her too and it drove her nuts! I love the stories, the happy and joyful moments especially with regards to music. He did cut one album with Karen on Cyclone Records. I have a CD if you would like one.

I am glad you thought of him-- no insult at all.   I was so happy to see his name mentioned.

Thank you Joanne-- I am glad you knew him. I wish he had continued with Ian and Sylvia. My mom tells me they made an offer for him to do that, but he moved on after 1965 and recorded with Sonny and Cher, toured with Carolyn Hester and Chad Mitchell, was Musical Director for the Mandrell Singers and recorded with Peter, Paul and Mary, and then came 1966.......with Tim Hardin, Tom Rush, Buffy St. Marie, Peter Walker and Kui Lee and that was just that year....

He contributed much.

I am glad you knew him. If you would like to hear him and what he was doing after all his recordings, let me know. And let me know if you would like to be aprt o fthe story I would like to write. Writers around here would not make the effort to stretch into the past which was very important time. Monte was also teaching a lot and he worked as a music therapist as well. He was quite a man and a very talented and giving one.

Kindest,
Jacquie

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: balladeer
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 01:01 PM

Jacquie,

Thank you for responding to my note in such detail. I am very pleased to meet you.

I'm not an important part of Monte's story. We were close for just a little while. He was mostly on the road with Ian and Sylvia, and we saw each other during those times when the troupe landed in Toronto. When he left Toronto in 1965, I was already happily established on the British folk scene. So, though I have a few vivid memories of our times together, I don't have a lot of hard information to contribute to your written history, but I'd be happy to tell you whatever I can.

You mentioned a lady with a horse farm. I don't remember who that was, but I do remember visiting a rural property with Monte, somewhere near Peterborough Ontario, I believe. There were horses there (or at least a horse). This was late at night, so I'm fuzzy on the locale. Mostly the focus was indoors as Ian Tyson and Jack Elliot were swapping songs all night, but there was a point where Monte and I went outside to ride a horse. I remember having trouble with the horse and Ian somehow saving the day. Ian was already my hero, but he REALLY was after that. You might be able to track down Ian in Alberta, where he lives now.

I would be interested in the CD you spoke of, and anything else you'd be willing to share with me.

If you want to quickly learn more about who you're dealing with, the precis of my life is at www.joannecrabtree.com and that site will give you a way to contact me directly.

cdbaby.com/cd/jcrabtree and www.myspace/crabtreemills will give you lots of samples of music.

Thanks for taking the time to explore this tiny connection.

Best of luck with your on-going search.

Joanne

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,Knutson
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 02:50 PM

Pamir House... Now there's a memory. Whatever happened to Mike Atwood?

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: lazeebabee
Date: 15 Jul 07 - 09:19 AM

Is it possible that the lady with the horse connection's name was Norma? Became friends with a woman by that name when we lived in a house on Spadina and Bernard. She had friends who owned a french restaurant who came and picked us up one day and took us out to ride. That would have been near the end of summer 1966. She wasn't a folk singer but a definite folk fan.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: balladeer
Date: 15 Jul 07 - 10:42 AM

Sorry, Sassy, I have no memory beyond the bits I've described.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Don Firth
Date: 15 Jul 07 - 02:20 PM

Mike Atwood. Of the singers who sang at Pamir House, he probably had more longevity there than anyone else. For several months in 1961 in particular, but off and on for a couple of years, I also sang at Pamir House. On Friday and Saturday evenings, usually perched on stools up front (or against the back wall, depending on how you looked at it) and reading from left to right would be me, Mike Atwood, and most evenings, Jerry Murry, and/or Jim Wilhelm. Sometimes either replacing or adding to this mob would be Sue Hall, Judy Flenniken, Nancy Quensé, and occasional others (not all at once, of course). Generally no planned program, we just bounced songs back and forth and played off each other. Kinda like a party/songfest. I'd say that, as far as the entertainment was concerned, people were getting their money's worth! Most people seemed to really enjoy the informality of the whole thing.

After the Seattle World's Fair in 1962, I went on to do most of my coffeehouse singing at The Place Next Door (later, when Stan James bought it, it became The Corroboree), and Mike pretty much stuck with Pamir House. I didn't see him very often during that time. Sometime in 1963 I think, Mike, riding his motorcycle, got hit by a car in an intersection and lost a leg. After that, I understand that he moved in with his mother in Arlington, Washington (some miles north of Seattle). I know he did go to the 1964 Berkeley Folk Festival with three or four other people (Pamir House regulars like Jerry Murry and Jim Wilhelm). I ran into them there and we had an after-concert party one night.

The last time I saw Mike was at a "Pamir House Reunion" concert, held at a club/tavern on Ballard Avenue in Seattle in 1991 (I've got the T-shirt!). All kinds of people showed up, some folks who hadn't seen each other in a couple of decades. Those who were still singing (most of us) each sang a brief set. Lots of fun and gobs of nostalgia. Big party at Paul Gillingham's house afterward that went on to the wee small hours of the morning. I chatted with Mike a bit at the party. As I recall, he said he was still living in Arlington, but wasn't doing much singing (not much opportunity there).

And this I hesitate to mention, because I don't know if it's true or not, but a little while later, someone told me that Mike had passed away.

I'd like to hear some of your memories of Pamir House and the folks there, Knutson. Do I know you?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,Knutson
Date: 15 Jul 07 - 09:45 PM

Don, yes we've met, but didn't really know each other. I, too, played at the Pamir House and most knew me as Doc Knutson. I came in there a little later, '64 or so, and played for several years until my MC'ing duties (replaced Ray Court at KING for the Hootenanys and later working for the Seattle Center as MC of the Seattle Center Folk Concerts & Opera House) got in the way. Had a strong duet going with Anne Billings (that was the best... what a voice she had). I knew Jerry Murray pretty well too. Is he still around... he had everything Van Ronk did down pat and a lot more... Later I partnered with John Hughes in some restaurants in the Seattle area (remember him?). What about Sue Molen (Molin?) Where did she go? Back then, I also played the El Matador (Lake Union), Three Thieves (Everett), a little at the Corroboree as well as Portland and SF. Eventually, career and too much travel got in the way so I drifted away from all of it. Many memories and a lot of really good people and fine music. Sounds like you have stayed very plugged in. By the way, it was John Timmons that owned the Pamir House but no one really saw him. When things were cranking, not only was there music in the front by the stove but also next door (south) and sometimes downstairs too in the passageway to the other side. Atwood still lived on Seaview, across from Ray's Boathouse for a while after he lost his leg with his girlfriend Cele. Still had the '49 Hudson too (still no brakes). It made for an entertaining ride to the Pamir house on the flatest roads possible. Ah... the days...

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Mark Ross
Date: 16 Jul 07 - 01:39 AM

I remember playing alongside Monte and Karen in the 70's in NYC. There was a jam every Thursday at an Italian restaurant on Houston St. They would show up to sit in, along with occassionally, Tony Trischka, Peter Rowan, a 16 year old Bela Fleck, Andy Statman among others. Not much money, but great food and drink and music.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,Guest. David Jones
Date: 16 Jul 07 - 12:12 PM

Just got turned on to Mudcat and this thread. Noted reference to Gloucester Ma. by Frank Hamilton. I do remember Frank being in Gloucester.
I remember a fine singer at the Drinking Gourd in San Francisco named Chick Raines, he did a great job on "The Spoon River Anthology", and he had a song with the line "--you just sorta, stepped right on to my aorta--". Charles O'Hegarty made a big splash at the Berkley FF at that time, I think his big hit was "Body in the Bag". At Gerdes Folk City, the actor Dominic Chianese, best known for playing Uncle Junior in the HBO series "The Sopranos", held forth as a singer and the MC at the monday night Hoots. I remember him introducing a very young David Bromberg, and a quite young Lou Killen. Dominic still sings around New York.
David Jones

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,Erik Frandsen
Date: 19 Jul 07 - 02:36 PM

The "sorta...aorta" was from a song called "You Done Stomped on My Heart (and You Mashed That Sucker Flat)" Years ago (must have been '72 or '73) I got a phone call on New Years Eve: "...Hello, Eriks, it's nobody but-a just Mike Porco. Can you come to the club (Folk City) and play tonight? Dominic just-a got arrested." Seems Dominic Chianese had a vengeful ex who would call the cops whenever he had a gig because he owed back alimony or child support. So I played the gig. Some years later I told that story to George Gerdes, who said, in his way, "You mendacious lying scumbag sonofabitch! That wasn't you, that was me!" Turns out it was both of us. It happened two years in a row.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Duke
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 10:31 AM

Tony Smith: I know most of the people that you mentioned and also the Dupont Restaurant. What about Websters? The only Tony Smith I remember played piano and was a great pool player. Is that you? Doug Stewart I would love to see again. I spent a lot of time with Al Cromwell in the last few years of his life and when it came to his music, he was very special. I love this thread!

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: balladeer
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 11:43 AM

Slight correction to Duke: The actual name of "Webster's" was THE WEBSTER.

There is a song on my first CD, All the Good Times, that features two people who were very much on the Toronto scene at that time. I did not wish to name them because I was very upset when I wrote the song, but I did feel free to name the restaurant where the drama of our lives so often unfolded between two and six AM.

Here's the passage:

We'd sip coffee at the Webster
Every night from two till dawn
Scribbling one-act plays on napkins
Now the playwright thrill is gone
And the wedding we'd been planning
When I left for overseas
Just another bitter memory
Now you're living your disease.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: balladeer
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 11:48 AM

I've asked before, but this thread seems to be attracting people who might know the answer to this (these) question(s).

Do you know where Doug Bush is?
Or if he's alive?
Or where he was last seen?
Do you know anyonw who might know?

Al Cromwell and Doud Bush were a duo back at the time when we were all besotted with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee. So far, Google reveals nothing.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: lazeebabee
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 01:08 PM

Good old Webster's (aka The Webster). I worked at Sammy's Pizza place down the road for awhile. But Webster's was the best place to just hang out 'til dawn for sure.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: C. Ham
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 01:25 PM

Just to return to the Yellow Door hoots for a moment.

I had dinner last night with an old Montreal friend and he remembered both Wayne and Mike hosting Yellow Door hoots in the early 70's.

Not only that, he remembered Wayne's last name: Tuttle. Definitely not Wayne Rose, penny's ex.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Deckman
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 03:47 PM

To: "Doc Knutson and Don Firth" ...

Doc, I don't remember you, but there's a LOT of people of the era I don't remember. (sometimes that's a GOOD thing)?

"Bride Judy" and I and John Weiss went to a local Snohomish coffee house gig, maybe 6 or 7 years ago. Baby Gramps was the performer that night. From the stage, he recognized us and announced that he had just heard that Mike Atwood had died. I forget the circumstances of his death.

Mike certainly had a powerful impact on people ... some of them good. I always remember him singing ... "I'm Going Back, To Where I Come From"! CHEERS, Bob Nelson

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Deckman
Date: 21 Jul 07 - 03:32 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 21 Jul 07 - 04:31 PM

Deckman,

Thanks so much. Good to hear you're on a "tear"---I appreciate it!Got your message forwarded to me in Manitowoc, Wisconsin by Kat. Carol and I were there with family and hanging with Fritz and Mary Schuler at their great Golden Ring Music Store And Folklore Center all this last week. First vacation in many years.

Onward and upward,

Art T.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Deckman
Date: 21 Jul 07 - 07:27 PM

Ain't olde friends great! Bob

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,comins
Date: 26 Jul 07 - 09:12 AM

My mom Sallie Comins tells me that Leonda Hardison had a pet ocelot she kept in her appartment, so the story must have some truth to it. This gorgeous girl with a panther...

Agona, Leondas daugther, was born at the Turks Head Coffe House in Wellfleet, on Cape Cod. My dad performed the delivery there - they couldn't make it to the hospital.

jonathan

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,Bob Ryszkiewicz
Date: 26 Jul 07 - 07:20 PM

C.Ham: Just saw your post re: Wayne Tuttle/The Yellow Door and the memory just snapped back to his face. Always had a smile and a laugh. With the beard and smoking the pipe if memory serves correctly. Was well read and articulate too. As Bob Hope used to say, "Thanks for the memories..."
bob

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,Bostonboy
Date: 26 Jul 07 - 09:31 PM

And the great Rob Ambrosino.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,David Asia
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 07:53 PM

Well, I was sitting on my riding mower on a beautiful Methow Valley day, and I begin thinking about the Pamir House, about sipping Chocolate Ongeats, and, every now and then playing a set - a few Kingston Trio songs, some special Israeli music, other folky things. So I googled, and, low and behold.
I spent many hours listening, playing music, enjoying the atmosphere which made me feel like I was on the inside of something warm and special. What a great place to hang out, feel good about being young (or old) and alive. Part of my life which will forever remain special.
So it is good to know that those days live on in the minds and hearts of others.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 08:42 PM

Anyone remember Barry Skinner of Coventry. he did an album called Abroad as I was Working

Nice version of the Martin Graebe song Honiton Lace, and he was a banjo player too.

Also the husky voiced Pete Shakespeare - who came from sort of Cannock area, I think.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Beer
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 08:52 PM

Some of you folkies out there were also rockers. Anyone remember "Natural Gas" that played in Montreal for a bit? And of course there was some Irish folk music as well. A great band in the late 60's was "Cutty Sark". Then in the country scene was "Pete and The Country Gentlemen". My brother and I were on our way to the place where they played (The Wagon Wheel)on Union Street when a few trunks being refused entry set the place on fire. I believe 37 or 38 lives were loss.
Adrien (beer)

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Beer
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 08:54 PM

trunks "mean drunks".

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,Knutson
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 11:24 AM

To David Asia - Incredibly well put. My sentiments exactly.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: balladeer
Date: 05 Aug 07 - 05:39 AM

To weelittledrummer, could that be Paul Shakespeare you're thinking of?
He lives in Toronto and writes funny songs ...

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 05 Aug 07 - 06:16 AM

could be!

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,Jo Mapes
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 12:03 AM

So great to read Frank Hamiltons post. Like Frank's, mine is more about the fifties.
I lived in San Francisco when I did my first concert, with Rolf Kahn.Iturned my old Junior high friend Odetta,on to folk music when she came to San Francisco.Frank Robinson(Banjo)backed her up then.
Guy Carawan told me that folks were hearing about me, in L.A. Said they reffered to me as "That new Peoples singer" I said "The what?"
Moved to L.A. and met Herb Cohen who introduced me to Frank. We took him out for his first chili dog. Herb introduced me to Butch and Bess Hawes, and their home hoots on Goat Gulch.
The novice folk singers would be sitting on the floor,at the feet Pete Seeger,who usually took a chair.
The floor sitters were Jack Elliot, Frank Hamilton, Marcia Berman, Fred Gerlach,Guy Carawan,Dave Zeitlin,and me.(That I can recall)Dave Zeitland had a gorgeous voice,and taught me "The ballad Of The South Coast".
The best times then, were Butch and Bess's place on Goat Gulch.
Daryll Adams, Jack Elliot and I hung out one night in a parking lot, leaning against James Deans car, waiting for hm to show, while Daryll entertained passers by, laying his banjo. He taught me a little banjo work, and his song, "Portland Town, which was a well known anti war song.He played a really nice double thumb strum.

Frank's banjo was amazing work was extrodinary.I also enjoyed his singing,and would ask him if he would,but he was uncomforatable about his voice.I liked it a lot.
Ed McCurdy and I did a "Camera Three"(T.V."Culcha"),
Bob Gibson,Frank and I appeared as a trio on Hugh Hefners"Penthouse" T.V show.
One more nameI must mention: Mike Settle. I didn't hear him until later, when we were doing the "Hootnanny" T.V show. Mike had the most straight ahead,clear voice I've ever heard. It went out straight and pure as an arrow, with no strain at all. When we did a duet, they had to turn his mike way down, and mine, way up.
If I go into the sixties, I'm going to be pre-viewing my book about all of us over the years, and so....I'll stop.
It's fun being here at Mudcat, I remember Frank Hamilton fondly, among other memories of those days.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: balladeer
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 12:46 AM

Wow, Jo Mapes right here on this thread. I'm thrilled and honoured to be sharing a tiny corner of the universe with you on the Mudcat. I would certainly never think of you as "little known" at that time, and neither was Frank Hamilton. I was a little-known folksinger in Toronto and London, Eng., working under the name Joanne Hindley-Smith. Now I'm plain Joanne Crabtree. I was delighted to run into Hedy West here some years ago, and if Len Chandler checks in, I'll freak out totally!!!

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,Gary LeDrew
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 08:02 AM

I hung out in folk scene in Toronto in the early sixties.
I knew Al Cromwell he hung out at my bar in the seventies http://garysbar.blogspot.com/ I remember Websters and the cellar, John Smith, Joanne Hindley Smith, Dirty Shames, the Fernwood trio, The Cellar, etc. etc. I worked at the second Mariposa Festival (note I am not a musician)

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Don Firth
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 05:43 PM

Jo Mapes.

Outrageous!

Do you remember the record that you did with Rolf Cahn on Bay Concerts label? It had a picture of a steep San Francisco street on the cover and photos of you, Rolf Cahn, and Fred Gerlach (I think he was backing Rolf on some songs) on the back, with notes by Rolf. I encountered a copy in the late 1950s and learned a bunch of songs from it, including the duet you and Rolf do:   a beautiful rendition of "Delia's Gone." I stole that one wholesale, including as much of the guitar part as I could.

I had a chance to be in the Bay Area in 1959, where I met Rolf Cahn. At a party, I sang "Delia's Gone," and Rolf sat there grinning. He knew right off where I'd learned it. When I finished, he came over, knelt beside my chair, and said quietly, "You missed a chord." Then he showed me how to wind it off with a Dm rather than a D, and take it back to the A. The perfect touch! Actually, in just a couple of days, I learned an immense amount from Rolf. Not just chords and such, but a whole attitude and approach.

And from your sensitivity and perceptive touch with the songs, I learned a great deal by just listening to you on that record.

From what I started hearing on recordings in the early Sixties, I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who learned a lot of songs from that Bay Concerts record!!

Thank you, Jo, for your music.

And keep us posted as to how the book is coming along. I'm already pawing the ground waiting to read it!

Don Firth

P. S. By the way, I still have the record. It's a prized possession.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,Mitch Gawlik
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 03:22 PM

I hope you don't mind a newcomer sticking his nose in, but I've
been fascinated by the post. And it's great to see that folks like
Frank Hamilton & Jo Mapes are among you.

As a teen in the '60's my only avenue into the world of folk music
was Chicago's WFMT and its' program "The Midnight Special". Of
course I got to hear Gibson & Camp, Paxton, Ochs, Eric Andersen,
Frank Hamilton, Ramblin' Jack and so many more established artists.
But there were the others that some of you have touched on that I
only heard once or twice and then never found recordings of like:

Joe Klee ("Old Town")
Sam Hinton ("The Bent County Bachelor" and "Coyote")
Terry Callier ("Blues For Marcus")
Andy Stewart ("Donald, Where's Your Trousers")
Aliotta-Haynes minus John Jeremiah ("Rockefeller's Blues")
Fleming Brown ("The Ford Machine")
Biff Rose ("Evolution")
Stu Ramsey ("Rumble On Rush Street")
George McAlvey ("The Ultimate Rambling Song")
Grant Brader ("Boil That Cabbage Down")
Kevin Henry ("Penny Whistle")

They were and, basically still are little known, by me, 60's artists.
Again, my only contact with them was thru WFMT. Which brings to mind
a recording I've tried to find for years, I believe it was called
"Train On The Island/Brazilian Train" by Frank Hamilton & Volucha.
Fortunately, I still have it on a 7" reel from the late '60's.

I finally got to see live folk music by going to The Earl Of Old Town
and Somebody Else's Troubles in Chicago and seeing Fred Holstein,
Jim Post, John Prine, Ed Holstein, who's great "Jazzman" was recorded
by Bonnie Koloc. These are my little known folk artists along with
Ginnie Clemmons, Stuart & Jerome, and someone who seems to have
fallen off the face of the earth, a fellow named Steve Unger (Ungar?). WFMT had three songs by him that they played;

"Play In The Sun", "Division Street" and "I'll Be Moving On"

One other thing I'd like to touch on, Frank Hamilton mentioned that
Michael Bloomfield became mildly famous and someone took exception
to that statement. He stated Mike was a founding member of the
Butterfield band. Not so, I'm afraid. Elvin Bishop was in the original line-up and Bloomfield was playing around Chicago with
Charlie Musselwhite and others. I believe Bloomfield joined up at
the request of producer Paul Rothchild, but initially refused.

By the way, if anyone knows more about Steve Unger, I'd sure like to
know about it.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Gurney
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 11:03 PM

WeeLittleDrummer, you beat me to it, mentioning Barry Skinner.
The very first folk club I ever went to, (modern jazz was my thing, right?) Barry did a spot. He snarled out 'Fanny Blair', the most powerful performance that I'd ever heard, then, or since.

Never been game to sing it myself. It might affect some impressionable young person like it did me.

Barry was one of the founders of the folk revival in Coventry.
Unknown? Then, people like The Furey Brothers, Sean Cannon....

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 02:47 PM

I did a floorspot at one of those 'can't run a piss up in a brewery' attempts to start a folk club at Tamworth Arts centre - must be about 1977. Barry Skinner was the main guest. i remember he was quite clued up. he could frail his banjo. he was playing DADGAD on his short arm Gibson guitar, in that sort of rumpedy bumpedy style that Carthy was playing at the time. In fact he did Arthur McBride in that style - so very different in feel from the slow reflective way Paul Brady or Andy Irvine had just aboout started playing it in G tuning. Rosie Hardman was going round at the time playing a song about Irvine who was very much her cup of tea - called The Man who sang Arthur McBride - although she wasn't there that night.

Julie and Chris Lloyd (traddy Tamworth couple - very accomplished) did the support slot.

I bought the album - Barry said he was running a restaurant and getting about one gig a month, which he felt was about enough. Don't think I saw him again.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 02:47 AM

Mike Bloomfield was known throughout England as he had a track on a sampler album which was cheap in a time (1967) when albums were expensive. The album was called The Rock Machine turns you on. Bloomfield was playing searing lead in an ensemble called The Electric Flag and they did a track called Killing Floor.

After that he came over as the Paul Butterfield Band - they were damn good, but by then the Blues Revival as lead by Mayall, and the Yardbirds, and The Stones, the Animals etc was nearly three years in the past. And English pop audiences DO crave the latest thing.

Also on the album were Moby grape (Can You see me), Tim Rose (Come Away Melinda), Taj Mahal (Statesboro Blues) and Roy Harper (Nobodys Got any money in the Summer).

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Janice in NJ
Date: 13 Aug 07 - 11:01 PM

Ruth Pelham
Judy Gorman-Jacobs

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Don Firth
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 12:56 PM

Has anyone heard, heard of, or know anything about a singer named Joe Hansen?   Or "Hanson", but I think the name was spelled with an "e." All I know about him is that he had a record out sometime in the mid-1950s (a 10" LP). He had a pleasant voice, a sort of reedy tenor or light baritone, and the drawing on the album cover showed him accompanied himself on an autoharp, which he played flat on his lap, not held upright with the left arm the way lots of people play one these days. I have no idea of where he was from or where he may have performed.

Of the maybe ten or so songs on the record were "All Through the Night," a sort of fast rendition of "Greensleeves" (with more verses than one usually cares to hear), "The Drownèd Lover," and the nicest translation (from the Welsh) of "Venture Gwen" that I've ever heard or read. That's the song I'm really looking for, but there were a couple of other good songs on the record that I haven't heard anywhere else.

A friend of mine had the record, but when he passed away some years back, his kids sold his marvelous collection of folk records to some second-hand record store (#@$%&!#! mutter, snarl!!).

Anybody?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Colin Randall
Date: 15 Aug 07 - 11:43 AM

I have come late to this thread, and just rejoined Mudcat after a while away, but would also like to mention Marie Little - a great singer and terrific person, with whom just about very bloke I knew in North Eastern folk clubs was madly in love.

Two bands from then: Therapy, with Sam and Dave from Northern Ireland and a fine English singer called Fiona, instrumentally brilliant though their traditional and covered Dylan/Cohen etc repertoire was much better than their own, slightly pretentious stuff

And the Reivers, a rollicking Geordie/Irish group fronted by Geoff O'Connell. Our folk club, Bishop Auckland, was heaving - and happy - whenever they played. But is memory deceiving me? Both may have been 1970ish

I am also trying to get an old friend from Co Durham, Phil Steele, badly affected these days by MS and no longer able to play, to write on Salut! Live about his own contribution to the circuit (excellent guitarist, decent blues/contemporary folk singer)

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 15 Aug 07 - 03:02 PM

I noticed this in the line up for Fylde Festival this year:-

103 10.45am CHURCH SERVICE   Mount Methodist Church free

12.00pm with Fiona Simpson   Mount Road

Festival goers welcome.



I guess that's Fiona from Therapy and I notice theres a songwriter called Anna Shannon booked. I suppose that might some relation of Dave.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,Warwick Slade
Date: 15 Aug 07 - 03:33 PM

I have not read every entry here but a few names I remember from my club in the Isles of Scilly in 60s:-
Barry Skinner (already mentioned)
Gwen and Gordon (from Wales)
Peter Collins (my cat did whoopsie in his suitcase!)
Contrast
John Steel (mate of Cyril Tawney)(remarried!!)
Jimmy McKinley (great pipe player)(Died)
Jon Rennard (Killed)
Martin Winsor (WE argued all night)
Brenda Wooton & John the Fish (Brenda gone but Fish still around)
Jack & Maggie King (tried to find them but fear nolonger with us)
and a scottish plumber working in Plymouth call DICK GAUGHAN (I wonder what happened to him?)

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: bankley
Date: 15 Aug 07 - 04:51 PM

to Guest Bob Ryszkewicz, glad that you mentioned Fred Torak earlier on. He's one of my very best friends ever. Living in obscurity in an art gallery in Vankleek Hill. Still teaches a few students. You're right he is a musical genius and mastered many stlyes. Used to be in a Montreal band in the early 60's called the Four Frenchman. None of the members were French. Anyhow, their manager would bribe the big concert promoters to book the band as an opening act for the important shows. That's how they opened for the Beatles, Stones, Hermits, Dave Clarke Five etc. They would make the payola bread back fast from the better local gigs after the publicity of the big shows.
He had a folk group early on that played a lot in Boston and the New England area. Howard Roberts stayed at his house when he was still living on Tupper St. Anyhow, Rick Whitelaw introduced me to Fred in '75. A year later he was producing my first(and last) vinyl album.
That one took a year. Did I ever learn a lot. So lucky that he was involved. He could read flyshit at 100 feet, and had hearing beyond the normal range. you might like to know that he wrote the English liner notes on my last CD. "Insurgent Sun" and played a guit. intro
on one of the songs. One of my dreams is to do a guit. duo project with him, while we still can. A remarkable person that shaped many aspiring players perception and direction. Get in touch, I'll pass along his contact info. I expect to see him in a few days.

To Frandsen. we met once or twice. I lent your bass player at the time, Danny Counts, an amp for a gig at the Golem. I think Danny Greenspoon set that one up. It was an old Fender Super Reverb. Not exactly built for bass, but it was a folk gig, so it didn't blow up or anything.I'm glad that you're still around. Also, the mad Micmac, Wille Dunn is a dear friend of mine. We played a lot together over the last 10 yrs. He just turned 66 a few days ago. That story about him and Patrick Sky is a hoot. We got into a lot of funny situations. Spent a week with him in Berlin once..

also Paul Geremiah, use to drop by my house when I was living in Montreal. We'd sit around and play, he'd tell stories. The first time I heard 'Louise' by Siebel, Paul sang it in the kitchen. Man, that's a person who I almost forgot about.... but it's been a long while. Glad this thread triggered my recall !.. so stay well all. Ron

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,Bob Ryszkiewicz
Date: 15 Aug 07 - 10:51 PM

Hi Ron Bankley&Friends: Yes Ron, I just sent you a friend req on myspace...That whole time with Fred Torak, Rick Whitelaw, Howard Roberts(probably when he was in town doing the seminar at the musician's union), Frank Quinn(Bless), Paul Geremia, and various other bandidos, Frandsen, Koenig, Murdoch, Greenspoon, the whole crowd, was like a meteor shower of some very talented people. Everybody floating back and forth. I met Fred through Frank and Rick while I was studying Jazz Guitar. Anybody who can transcribe John McLaughlin's "Birds of Fire" while it is playing has got my vote. Still remember, although I've mentioned this before...Howard Roberts turns his back on the seminar crowd, strums a chord, and Torak goes Em7Flat5. Howard says, "right".
   During this time I was with Josh Onderisin(Guitar-Ian Thomas) in T.O. and we go to George's Spaghetti Joint/House to hear Barney Kessel. Everybody's chompin' on meatballs and there's a free table up front so I pounce on it, which gets Barney's attention, so he asks, "Musician's?" We move our heads up and down like those plastic German Shepherd dogs you used to see in the back of cars, like bobbleheads. What gets me about all these guys was their humility and generosity.
   I found this thread open just after I visited YouTube and was watching Tommy Emmanuel. He's got some great stuff up... See Y'all...
bob

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,Guitaropsimath
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 12:12 AM

What a great thread! These days, strolls down Memory lane are short ones, but I was delighted to see Tom Rush on Youtube with his Remember song. I saw Spider John Koerner at Merlefest in 2005, says he hates Rent Party Rag. But whatever happened to Denny Henderson and Bill Moss, 2 New Yorkers who spent the mid-60s in Texas?

Doug

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: GUEST,rowan kris hill, formerly kris robinson
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 06:14 AM

hi
wow,looking through this section shot me right back to the time i came down from vancouver to play briefly but happily with ph phactor, and met a lot of great people, including mike atwood.   i was sorry to hear of his passing.   i wonder how and where davey coffin is these days, and paul bassett. davey and john hendricks were just superb musicians. i live way up in the orkney islands now but i do know where jerry murry is; he lives in canada,in vancouver. many thanks for the tales of walt robertson, who helped me get through the terrors of my first year playing for other people, at the ark.

Subject: RE: Little known '60s Folk Singers
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 06:21 AM

What ever happened to that squawking 60's knob... Bob something or thing...