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John Reilly, traveller singer.

26 Oct 14 - 03:51 AM (#3672198)
Subject: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: MartinRyan

Spent a great day yesterday at the South Roscommon Singers Festival in Knockcroghery in the Irish midlands. Highlight was a talk on John Reilly, the traveller singer who spent his last years in Boyle, Co. Roscommon, not far away. Gerry O'Daly did the talking with the excellent Helen Grehan (of Grehan Sisters fame) illustrating with some beautiful singing of Jacko's songs.

To check out some recordings of John Reilly (made for Topic Records):
Click here

Regards


26 Oct 14 - 09:45 AM (#3672235)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: GUEST,Mike Yates

I would love to have met John Reilly. An amazing singer with an even more amazing repertoire of songs. How could a man who suffered so much during his lifetime pass on so many treasures to us all?


27 Oct 14 - 03:18 AM (#3672334)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Young Buchan

Someone once said of him, that if he had been born in any part of Europe except the British Isles he would have been made the centre of a National Folk Music Ensemble and been paid handsomely to go around the world representing his country at international festivals of culture.

As it was, he died alone, forgotten and in poverty.


27 Oct 14 - 03:34 AM (#3672337)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: MartinRyan

As it was, he died alone, forgotten and in poverty - in his early forties. Listening to recordings of him speaking a few years before he died, what is striking is how terribly old he sounded. Still sang like a bird...

Regards


27 Oct 14 - 04:26 AM (#3672341)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

Does anybody have any information about the D.K. Wilgus collection at U.C.L.A.?
Tom Munnelly introduced D.K. to John Reilly - it was through meeting him that Tom became a full time collector.
Wilgus returned to the U.S. with his Irish recordings; Tom always believed that there might have been material that he had not managed to get from John, but attempts to find this out always met with no response.
Tom, and other devotees, on realising John's situation, tried to organise a number of bookings for him in order to alleviate hid situation.
They drew a blank with a (nameless) organisation, who refused their request on the grounds that he "was not a sean nós singer"!
It is interesting to speculate on how much song and information has been lost down the years through anti-Traveller prejudice.
The great Gavin Greig (he of the magnificent Aberdeenshire collection) failed to record a near neighbour Traveller living in New Deer, though he was a noted figure locally as a piper.
Years later, he was found to have one of the few Robin Hood ballads got from a field singer.
Jim Carroll


27 Oct 14 - 04:59 AM (#3672348)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: MartinRyan

Jim - talk to me!

Regards


27 Oct 14 - 05:47 AM (#3672354)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

Always a pleasure Martin
Jim Carroll


30 Oct 14 - 07:25 AM (#3672990)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: GUEST,Liberty Boy (sans cookie)

John did actually sing at the Tradition Club in Slattery's sometime around 1968 or so. I took him from Tom and Annette's flat to the gig on the back of my Heinkel 175 motor scooter.


30 Oct 14 - 09:40 PM (#3673178)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Ross Campbell

Don't know if this got listed at the time - a review of a memorial concert in John Reilly's home town, from the Living Tradition magazine.

CHRISTY MOORE & THE GREHAN SISTERS: A TRIBUTE TO JOHN REILLY - St Joseph's Hall, Boyle, Co Roscommon - 26 June 2014

http://www.livingtradition.co.uk/node/1447

Ross


30 Oct 14 - 10:13 PM (#3673181)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Fergie

Myself and Jerry O'Reilly representing An Góilín and the singing tradition got honourable mentions in Jim Bainbridge's article in Livingtradition. It was a great and memorable night and a worthy tribute from Christy and the Grehan Sisters to that great and mighty man of song. It was an honour to be a part of it.
Fergus


31 Oct 14 - 02:38 PM (#3673397)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: GUEST

refresh


06 Nov 18 - 06:01 AM (#3960367)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Tony Rees

Hi folks, I've just been doing a bit of extension to the previous wikipedia page for John Reilly which was a bit bald before, based on available resources. If anyone (such as Jim Carroll) who knows more about this than myself would like to check the information presently there and advise of any errors or omissions, that would be great!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Reilly_(singer)

Cheers - Tony Rees


06 Nov 18 - 07:40 AM (#3960378)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

Will do, and get back to you Tony
If it is of any interest, I can let you have an article on meeting John Reilly by Tom Munnelly

John and Tom got a commendation for their contribution to Traditional song in the recent Irish Folk awards - we were at an extremely enjoyable night at The Goilín Clun in Dublin dedicated to them last Friday week
Jim


06 Nov 18 - 08:11 AM (#3960380)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

Read it Tony - excellent; it seems to cover everything
It's very gratifying to see Traveller acknowledged for their contribution to the music (and life in general) - beats a lot of the abuse they have to put up with here (and elsewhere)
Jim


06 Nov 18 - 08:55 AM (#3960385)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: GUEST

I met the Pecker Dunne many years ago, he was great in his time, especially with Margaret Barry.

Sadly travellers are not what they used to be. Visited our village and left with three Victorian summer seats and two bronze plaques to the dead of the Great War and World War Two.

    If you post without using a name, expect your posts to be scrutinized. I deleted your second post because you crossed more definitively into bigotry.
    -Joe Offer, Mudcat Music Editor-


06 Nov 18 - 09:37 AM (#3960393)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

"Sadly travellers are not what they used to be. "
None of us are
We wouldn't have Trump and Brexuit if we were
You need to spend time with Travellers to find they don't fit the stereotype
Jim Carroll


06 Nov 18 - 05:42 PM (#3960442)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: GUEST,henryp

RTE Radio 1 Folk Awards; Folk legends Tom Munnelly and John Reilly were inducted into the Hall of Fame; the award was presented by Christy Moore to Annette Munnelly, and received by Trish Nolan and Catherine Joyce on behalf of John Reilly.

RTE Folk Awards


06 Nov 18 - 09:07 PM (#3960454)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Tony Rees

Jim Carroll wrote earlier in this thread:

"Does anybody have any information about the D.K. Wilgus collection at U.C.L.A.?"

I have found where this is accessible via the SFC (Southern Folklore Collection) and have put a link at the bottom of the wikipedia article cited above. There are 8 cassettes of each around 1 hour's duration, which have been digitised and can be listened to on the web with a little effort (I had to allow the site to use Adobe Flash as a specific option). Not sure exactly what is on which tape at this time - I did not find a track-by-track contents list, though it may exist.

Regards - Tony


06 Nov 18 - 10:57 PM (#3960471)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Tony Rees

Sorry, for Southern Folklore Collection read Southern Folklife Collection in the above post. It is hosted at the University of North Carolina (UNC) (?at Chapel Hill). I am not sure how the Wilgus Collection ended up there, others may know...

Interstingly, if I search the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive, https://archive.org/details/uclaethnomusicologyarchive , where the present Wikipedia article on Wilgus says his collection resides, I could not find anything...

Anyway if anyone cares to delve into what is on the tapes at UNC, perhaps they may like to report back!

Regards - Tony


07 Nov 18 - 06:34 AM (#3960501)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: GUEST,Liberty Boy (sans cookie)

The collection may have ended up in Chapel Hill because DK's last wife Dr. Eleanor Long finished living there and may have passed his collection on the the University of North Carolina.


07 Nov 18 - 06:49 AM (#3960503)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

The link tony gives works perfectly J
I haven't had a chance yet, but there are 14 cassettes on display marked John Reilly, (one with Josie McDermott)
All listenable, as far as I can see, though I'm nott able to at present
Jim


07 Nov 18 - 07:02 AM (#3960505)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Vic Smith

Sadly travellers are not what they used to be. Visited our village and left with three Victorian summer seats and two bronze plaques to the dead of the Great War and World War Two.

1] Posted by unnamed guest so the identity of the person making these claims cannot be verified.
2]"our village" - unnamed so we do not even know the country that where the supposed theft took place so that some check on local media sources might help to check the claims
3] Even if the location and theft could be verified, what is the basis for the claim that this theft was down to the traveller community? The fact that local theives use the opportunity of itinerants in their vacinity to cover their own misdeeds is a factor well known to police.
4] The fact that Joe Offer felt the need to delete another post by this unwelcome "GUEST" because he had "crossed more definitively into bigotry." indicates how little reliance we can put on his posts in this thread.

I hope this can draw a line under this thread drift so that attention can return to the man who I would consider one of the outstanding traditional singers of these islands. There probably are not many copies of The Bonny Green Tree, John Reilly. (Topic TSDL 359, 1978) around and probably even fewer of The Rosin Box: John Reilly - sings Irish Tinker Ballads (Folktrax cassette FTX-175 but, believe me, both are really worth seeking out.

I would also suggest that you read the Wikipedia entry on John at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Reilly_(singer) and read about the life of this important mistreated figure.


07 Nov 18 - 08:17 AM (#3960512)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: The Sandman

interesting article in todays irish times about the problems travellers face


07 Nov 18 - 08:20 AM (#3960513)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Big Al Whittle

I've got to admit - I was conned by a couple of traveller brothers who were going round targetting mugs. They were caught a couple of week after, so I know it was them.

However - this is a thread about the traveler contribution to traditional song. Why do we have to have stuff that's nothing to do with music above the line?


07 Nov 18 - 10:19 AM (#3960529)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

Oh calamity
Stumbled across the John Reilly recordings this morning when I was too busy to so anything about them (14 sound-files ready for listening)
Just returned to the site but am ***** if I can find them - anybody had any better luck ?

"I was conned by a couple of traveller brothers "
I know what you mean Al - I don't trust any Yorkshire people because of something similar   !!!
Jim Carroll


07 Nov 18 - 01:27 PM (#3960553)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Tony Rees

Jim Carroll wrote:

"Stumbled across the John Reilly recordings this morning when I was too busy to so anything about them (14 sound-files ready for listening)
Just returned to the site but am ***** if I can find them - anybody had any better luck ?"

If you go to the link I posted on the wikipedia page

(it is https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/20003/#d1e19219)

then do a "find" for the words "john reilly" you will find 9 instances. Click on links marked "audio" a couple of times and you will eventually find a link marked e.g. "20003_FS0661_0001.mp3" which is the audio file for "SFC Audio Cassette 661: John Reilly: tape 1 of 8: Side 1". If you have flash enabled you should also see a little player for the sound file just above the description.

I think it takes a little while for the file to load in the player but I got it to work for me - the first song on that tape/side is "The Bonny Green Tree", and around 10 mins in you get "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies" and so on.

I looked for a way to save the file locally as an mp3 without success, but there may be a way - there are a few links offered but I could not get anything saved which actually contained the audio - but others may have better luck...

Regards - Tony


07 Nov 18 - 02:08 PM (#3960559)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

Thanks Tony - I'll follow that up tomorrow

"I looked for a way to save the file locally as an mp3 without success,"
I have a system.... if I can find the files
Will be in touch
Jim


07 Nov 18 - 04:34 PM (#3960577)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Tony Rees

I did find a couple (only) of Reilly items in the web-accessible holdings of UCD (University College Dublin). You can see them as items 3 and 4 that come up in the following search:

https://digital.ucd.ie/?q=%22John+Reilly%22&rows=48&start=1

They are "False Lankum, sung by John Reilly, a Traveller, who was camped at Cloongrehan, Cootehall, County Roscommon" (TM0015 Side A)
and
"Reel - The Sallygardens, lilted by John Reilly, a Traveller, who was camped at Cloongrehan, Cootehall, County Roscommon" (TM0015 Side B).

I would imagine that there should be a lot more of the Munnelly recordings of John Reilly there, but maybe they are not digitised as yet.

Regards - Tony


07 Nov 18 - 07:45 PM (#3960608)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Tony Rees

Further to the above post... false alarm, these two are by a different John Reilly (which explains the otherwise erroneous-looking quoted recording date of 1971). I have just been looking at a Tom Munnelly article from 1975 ("The Singing Tradition of Irish Travellers") where "False Lankum" is transcribed with the source "Sung by John Reilly, 24, a distant relation to the previous John Reilly, Coothall, Co. Roscommon (M.15/A/1), 26.10.71." So there we go.

Regards - Tony


07 Nov 18 - 10:56 PM (#3960634)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: GUEST,Wm

I've often wondered about John Reilly the "distant relation," whose rendition of FALSE LANKUM (issued on Songs of the Irish Travellers, available from ITMA) is perhaps my favorite recorded ballad performance. He was young enough in 1974 that he might still be alive today—does anyone know what became of him, or if there are other recordings of his singing preserved somewhere?


08 Nov 18 - 03:10 AM (#3960666)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

"Distant relative" is always a difficult one with Traveller - the singer Mary Delaney (nee Reilly) said she thought she was a 'distant relative' of John's, though she never met him - that's the way it is/was with Travelling families
I have always found it a problem with Tom's collection - what I know about his singers is what he told me (often late at night over a pint in Mary Fahy's) - Tom was one of the most generous and forthcoming people I ever met - I still miss his company and friendship deeply
His magnificent collection lays largely unused (I understand there are plans to put it on line, but I have no idea when)
Not long before Tom died, he was given the go-ahead to put together a national collection of Irish Songs based on his recordings and the index he had meticulously put together (an Irish version of Roud)
Sadly, he fell ill and was never able to start either.

Unlike England, Scotland and the U.S., Ireland has no major serious National song collection - several excellent regional collections, but none that systematically covers Ireland
A screaming omission that needs to be righted
Jim Carroll


08 Nov 18 - 03:55 AM (#3960667)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Tony Rees

If anyone can point me to (or supply via PM) a digitised copy of "Munnelly, Tom. "The Man and His Music: John Reilly." Ceol 4(1, Jan)1972:2-8", I would certainly appreciate it...


08 Nov 18 - 04:19 AM (#3960670)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

I'll send you one today if you PM me your email address Tony - I have digitised it
Don't worry about looking up Tom' recordings of John either (Tom was very generous with what he had)
I also have the prirated Kennedy tape which was made up of Tom's recordings and published without permission - Tom donated the proceedings of all John's recordings to a school fro Traveller children, but, despite his pleas, the Travellers saw nothing of that
Jim Carroll


08 Nov 18 - 07:02 AM (#3960692)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: GUEST,Peter Laban

I can provide a scan of that as well, if needed.


09 Nov 18 - 10:28 AM (#3960906)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Richard Mellish

Tony Rees 07 Nov 18 - 01:27 PM pointed to 'a link marked e.g. "20003_FS0661_0001.mp3" '. If you do "save link as" you get a file with that name which however is not an mp3 file at all but a page of HTML.

Playing the audio does work, so you could capture it as it plays.

However the page on which the link appears does say "Patrons must secure permission from donor before personal copies can be made. Copyright is retained by the authors of these recordings, or their descendants, as stipulated by the United States copyright law." Dunno how you find who to ask for D.K. Wilgus Papers.


09 Nov 18 - 11:06 AM (#3960914)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

"This is a major problem and in many ways it betrays the people wo gave us their songs
We went to the singers and told them that we wanted to record their songs because, if they were not recorded they would die, now, as far as I can see, we are in the same position as the collectors die off
We have always been happy to pass on what we have recorded on the understanding that no commercial use should be made of it - aprt of our agreement with the singers was thay they should get any money from the recordings
I was appalled to learn that an "arrangement" of John Reilly's 'Well Below the Valley" had been bought and copyrighted by a somewhat well-heeled musician who contact with traditional music is..... marginal
The finanial side of traditional music is raising more and more problems, especially as (ca and pigeons springs to mind) songs written for the commercial market are now being included by some as "folk songs"
A this happens, the less likely we are to gain access to many of the collections
This last few weeks has been a real eye-opener for me as to how many collections still remain closely guarded -
Walter Pardon put it in a nutshell for me when he related how an elderly local singer admonished him for "giving his songs away"
Walter told him, "they're not my songs, they're everybody's"
Jim Carroll


09 Nov 18 - 08:12 PM (#3961004)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: GUEST,Nick Dow

Trish Nolan is John Reilly's niece. We met up at Whitby. She paid me a huge compliment in respect of my singing.The Gypsy Folk seem to trust me, and I have been very lucky to have been given over seventy songs from Gypsy Folk over the years. Some of them were also in John Reilly's repertoire. Len Graham has been helping me with them. Funnily enough I've recently started singing a song called John Reilly from the Gorman family. All my collected songs will be coming out in a book in 2020 I hope. Trish is a songwriter as well as having her uncles songs. It's worth listening to her song about being stolen from her parents and put in care, because she was a Traveller. It's heart breaking. Not a song I could sing, but forward some female singers please! I lent out my copy of 'Bonny Green Tree' do I need to say more?


10 Nov 18 - 02:58 AM (#3961021)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

Wonder if anybody can help (not unrelated to Nick's request for women singers)
I have been trying to access recordings I stumbled across yesterday of one of the great women Traveller singers, Lucy Stewart, much unrepresented on disc.
Kenneth Goldstein issued a disc of her Child Ballads on Folkways, with a promise of a second on on non-ballads, which never appeared.
Yesterday I found what was obviously the intended album on an American site (can't remember which one, will try later), but could not get the links to play
Is anybody familiar with Kenny's work - he was a pioneer album producer in the early days
I'll go on trying and pass on anything I find

Mary Delaney was one of the 'biggest singers' we ever recorded - a superb singer with a large repertoire and a very definite veiw of what was a folk song and what was not
I've just stumbled across this - I had no idea of its existence until now - rather pleased about it
RECORDINGS of IRISH TRAVELLERS
Mary can be heard singing one of her better known songs, 'What Will We Do' here
Jim Carroll


10 Nov 18 - 05:37 AM (#3961039)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

This is the link to the KENNETH GOLDSTEIN COLLECTION
Search 'Stewarts' and you discover a goldmine of Scots Traveller singing
I can't find our if they are listanable to - are they?
Jim Carroll


10 Nov 18 - 07:55 AM (#3961056)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Vic Smith

This is the link to the KENNETH GOLDSTEIN COLLECTION
Search 'Stewarts' and you discover a goldmine of Scots Traveller singing
I can't find our if they are listanable to - are they?
Jim Carroll


As you can probably imagine, I was on to this site like a shot to find out what was there and there they were - quite a few of the singers that we had met in Fetterangus in 1971 - Lucy Stewart, Elizabeth Stewart, Jane & Cameron Turiff, Christina 'Teeny' Stewart (Jane's mother) All of whom lived in the same street, Gaval Street, Fetterangus. There are quite a number of tapes Goldstein that ad just labelled 'Stewart Family' without mentioning whether they were made in Fetterangus or Blairgowrie though I suspect the latter because they were recorded in 1972 and 1973, the two years that I met Goldstein at the TMSA Festival in Blairgowrie.
There is masses here that will take a long time to investigate but my first move was to see what he had recorded from Jane & Cameron. There may be other stuff on the tapes which contain numbers of singers but there was a 7" reel of tape recordings made on 30 March 1960 at the same time Goldstein was staying in Fetterangus and made the recordings that ended up on the Lucy Stewart/Child Ballads/Folkways recordings that Jim mentions. Lucy and The Turriffs lived four doors from one another.
The contents of side 1 of this tape are given as:-
Track 1         "The Laird o' Esslemont" -Cameron Turriff
Track 2         "The Lowland's [indecipherable]" -Cameron Turriff
Track 3         "A Mother's Love is a Blessing" -Cameron Turriff
Track 4         "The Ram o' Derby" -Jane Turriff
Track 5         "House on Monday" -Cameron Turriff
Track 6         "Win Graham It was My Name" -Cameron Turriff
Track 7         "Molly and her Collier Boy" -Cameron Turriff
Track 8         "The Ram o' derby" -Jane Turriff
Track 9         "The Cobbler" -Jane Turriff
Track 10         "I'm a Rover' -Cameron Turriff
Track 11         "The Old Pals are Always the Best" -Jane and Cameron Turriff
Track 12         "The Faithful Sailors" -Cameron Turriff

To me this is absolutely priceless stuff. Strangely to me there are no big ballads here, because that is what Jane wanted to sing to us in 1971. No listings are given for side 2 but the ballas may be there. I have checked these recordings against the Roud Index and none of them are listed there, which is quite something on its own.
Now the biq question:-
I can't find our if they are listanable to - are they?
Well there are clickable links there so they should be but they don't open for me. Then I notice a Log In tab at the top but clicking on that asks for your email address and password with anything that I can find about how to register. I have emailed the archive department at the University of Mississippi asking for permission to access them. Rather ominously, at the bottom of the track listing that I have given above, it says:-
Rights         
This media file is made available solely on J.D. Williams Library computers for research. This file may not be reproduced, re-posted, captured, or saved.

I am forwarding my email to Mississippi to Jim. If he does not receive it then my address book is out of date and he should contact me.


10 Nov 18 - 08:07 AM (#3961057)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

Thanks Vic - I'll check
Jim


10 Nov 18 - 08:18 AM (#3961059)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

Got it Vic - thanks - I'd be interested to compare notes later as to how you get on
You probably noticed that there is a guide for anybody having trouble logging on to the sound facility - haven't had time to follow that through yet
For anybody interested, Goldstein did a fair amount of work in Australia and some of his field recordings can be found on their National Library site
Jim


10 Nov 18 - 08:46 AM (#3961065)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: GUEST,Nick Dow

I worked with Kenny Goldstein for three days at the University of Pennsylvania. He let me loose in his library, I think I got three hours sleep over those few days, and that was in his armchair. That was back in the 1980's. We all went out to a restaurant that served Ethiopian food, and Kenny paid. 'This is food boy EAT!!' I loved him and his family. I understood most of his work was in Newfoundland. I was very interested in the West Country connection. I played Girvan festival this year and was introduced to Margaret Bennett who worked with him out in Newfoundland. Her book Jerome (Downey) contains a CD that includes some of Kenny's recordings. He was a dynamic field worker.


12 Nov 18 - 05:52 PM (#3961426)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Richard Mellish

If you follow a few links you can get to a page with details of a particular recording and a further link to an mp4 file (not mp3).
However the mp4 file is in the domain pluto.lib.olemiss.edu
PINGing that domain gets the IP address 130.74.92.148 but no response.
Leaving off the pluto and PINGing lib.olemiss.edu gets the IP address 130.74.92.2 but again no response.
Leaving off the lib and PINGing olemiss.edu gets the IP address 130.74.92.3 but still no response.

I hope Vic gets somewhere with the University of Mississippi.


13 Nov 18 - 02:33 AM (#3961455)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

Can I also draw attention to the School of Scottish Studies aptly named 'Kist o' Riches' site, which has a goldmine of Scots field recordings and an excellent listening facility
Search 'Travellers' there and you will find all the singers that are featured on the Tennessee site plus many more, though I haven't had time to check if all Ken's recordings are there
One thing that is indisputable is that, without the Travellers our access to our song tradition would be very much poorer than they are - the same goes for the work put in by Goldstein, Henderson and Lomax....
Jim Carroll


15 Nov 18 - 05:39 PM (#3961863)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Vic Smith

A five day wait for a response to my email to Mississippi. I was beginning to give up hope when this appeared in my inbox:-
Dear Vic Smith,


Thank you for contacting us. Currently the Goldstein Collection is limited to local access, while we try to determine rights issues/permissions. I went ahead and uploaded a couple of files to a Box account for you to access: and here he gives the URL of the .mp3 of the 12 songs that I listed here at 10 Nov 18 - 07:55 AM
Enjoy.
Best,
Greg

Greg Johnson
Blues Curator and Associate Professor
Archives and Special Collections


I am listening to them for the first time and they are just delightful. There is a fair overlap with what we recorded from them in 1972, but listening to them, it is clear they are better for having being recorded when they were 12 years younger. This is particularly true of Cameron's singing. I am going to write an enthusiastic and thankful reply and attach a photo from 1972 and ask if they would like a biography and perhaps offer to provide alternative and more recognisable titles for some of the songs. I need to build a relationship with these people in the hope that this can develop to more access to this remarkable archive.
This has moved away from John Reilly. perhaps I should start a different thread for K. Goldstein archives


16 Nov 18 - 03:30 AM (#3961884)
Subject: RE: John Reilly, traveller singer.
From: Jim Carroll

"perhaps I should start a different thread for K. Goldstein archives"
Not a bad idea Vic
Personally, I would like to see an ongoing thread on the contribution made by Travellers to Traditional song and folk culture in general
I have had a similar response from the Mississippi library, but, as I only managed to post my request yesterday, so far I have only their prompt promise of cooperation
I have yet to examine it in detail but I think some of Ken's recordings are on the School of Scottish Studies site
Jim