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19 Feb 00 - 11:36 AM (#181224) Subject: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Susan of DT This is from dick greenhaus (who is too impatient to change cookies at the moment) As I type this, I'm listening to Ballads and Songs of Tradition, Folk-Legacy CD125. Pure bliss! Consider: Jeannie Robertson, Frank Proffitt, Lawrence Older, Lizzie Higgins, Lee Monroe Presnell, Dave Thompson, James Brown, Vern Smelser, Marie Hare, William Harrison Burnett, Joe Estey, Mrs. Miner Griffin, and Grant Rogers--all in original field recordings that are clear, scratch-free and purely wonderful. No echo chambers, electronic or electric instruments (actually, most of the cuts are unaccompanied singing), no orchestration, no tricky arrangements. Just folk music. And it comes with a fat booklet with both notes and all the lyrics. If you've never heard any folk song prior to Peter Paul and Mary, buy it! If you're an afficionado of "pure" folk song, buy it! If you're neither, buy it anyway! It's a towering achievement! Congratulations, Sandy and Caroline.
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19 Feb 00 - 11:47 AM (#181230) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Rick Fielding Congratulations Sandy and Caroline. Sounds like a wonderful collection. Rick |
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19 Feb 00 - 11:48 AM (#181232) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: katlaughing Susan, thanks. That sounds really lovely. I will add it to my list. kat |
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19 Feb 00 - 11:55 AM (#181233) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Art Thieme It's Saturday morning----and mine just arrived. I'm truly looking forward to hearing it. Being part of Folk Legacy has always been a real honor for me personally---but previous hearings of some of these people makes me certain that this CD will be a wonderful companion for the Warner collection, the Libr. Of Congress compilation CD and the Lomax issues. Sandy and Caroline---what a fine booklet too. Congratulations. And the photo of Caroline with young David is priceless. What a glorious lady Ms. Swenson was/IS ! That photo alone is worth the price of admission. Love to you both and to Lee, Art |
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19 Feb 00 - 05:37 PM (#181322) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Joe Offer My copy just arrived, too, the first CD I have with a Y2k copyright. Thanks a lot, Sandy. You sure do good work. The recordings are wonderful, and the CD booklet tells the fascinating story of each song. I understand that the release of this CD was delayed until Sandy could find a CD box big enough to hold the fat booklet. As is always the case with Sandy's work, the booklet alone is worth the price of the CD. When you order Ballads and Songs of Tradition as you surely should, be sure to get a copy of Sandy's other collection of field recordings, Brave Boys: New England Traditions in Folk Music. Both are available at Folk-Legacy Records (click), 1-800-836-0901. -Joe Offer- |
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19 Feb 00 - 05:50 PM (#181326) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Sandy Paton Thanks, Susan, Rick, Art and Kat. And thanks to Dick, too, who posted a note about the new release to the BALLAD-L listserv, which I was reluctant to do myself. I want to tell you all this, though: I probably would never have gambled the money for this release out of Folk-Legacy's limited store. I had some significant financial help in the actual cost of the disc and booklet from the Higgins Foundation, a family fund established by Lisa Null's family, and made available to me by that dear friend (of ours, personally, and of traditional music generally). Right now, I'm working on a couple of other traditional music releases, also made possible by a contribution from a friend. More about them when the time comes. I do wish productions like these could pay for themselves, but I learned a long time ago that they can't, or don't, anyway. Simple fact of life. Thank God for good friends! Sandy |
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19 Feb 00 - 05:59 PM (#181332) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Sandy Paton Joe: Your post slipped in ahead of mine, so let me add a note of thanks to you, as well. It seems appropriate that these recent posts brought this thread up right next to Sourdough's question about the future of traditional music. If some of you learn songs from this new CD, they'll live on for another generation to enjoy. That, friends, is what it's all about. Charlie Baum, for instance, singing on his back porch with friends and neighbors (see his reponse to "looking places to perform folk music in New England," if this seems cryptic to you). Keep it keeping on, Charlie! Sandy |
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19 Feb 00 - 10:24 PM (#181448) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Nancy-Jean Sandy and Caroline, I just received my copy today. An excellent, clear reproduction of recordings made years ago. What a joy to hear those voices! An excellent choice for Vol. 1 from your field archives. It is important to keep these CDs rolling out. I was delighted that you chose to give us different versions of several of the ballads. It is rare that we get a demonstration of the folk process within one recording. This CD was a long time a-coming, but was put together with great care and intelligence. Sandy, the investment in the listener's desire to learn-- with a 56 page booklet of notes-- is unheard of. Thank you for thinking it mattered. love, Nancy-Jean |
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20 Feb 00 - 01:31 AM (#181529) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Charlie Baum Our copy arrived Friday, and Lisa Null and I spent Friday evening listening to it. You should have seen the look of bliss on Lisa's face as she sat in rapt attention listening to it. And the informative booklet--Sandy, you've outdone yourself. The John C. and Clara Higgins Foundation money was well invested--but such a good album deserves to be a best-seller! Coincidentally, my copy of the Warner collection, ordered from Redhouse Records (distributors for Appleseed) also arrived on Friday. How many wonderful albums can I stand in the course of one weekend. I can only thank my lucky stars that it's a long holiday weekend (President's Day, for the non-U.S. Mudcatters who are wondering), which gives me a day off to listen to everything again and again. I can see I'm going to be very busy learning new old songs for the next couple of months. --Charlie Baum |
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20 Feb 00 - 02:38 AM (#181547) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: canoer In Folk Legacy's website -- I can't find the "Ballads & Songs of Tradition" listed -- 'tho I suppose they won't have any trouble with a phone order! -- and the site's a treat to browse. |
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20 Feb 00 - 01:39 PM (#181707) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Sandy Paton I apologize for not flying it to the web site yet. My web guru is a volunteer (the sweetheart) and he has yet to get it on the site. This fellow volunteered to help us create a web presence simply because he really enjoyed some of our recordings (like the Boarding Party) and thought the web might help spread 'em around. He gets copies of our CDs and he does all the rest in exchange. I'm unwilling to give him a push, or even a gentle nudge, since what he does for us is all a labor of love. The CD and its description will be on the site soon. Have faith, folks. Sandy |
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21 Feb 00 - 12:07 PM (#182168) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Dani Please, someone, refresh this thread when the CD is on the website!
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22 Feb 00 - 12:32 AM (#182593) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: GUEST It would seem to me that if one knows the cd is available from Folk Legacy why is it necessary to wait to order it until it is on their website? It's CD-125 - Ballads and Songs of Tradition. Call them or e-mail or just use the order form on the website. GO FOR IT!! It's a must have CD. |
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22 Feb 00 - 01:25 AM (#182603) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Sandy Paton True enough, and thanks, GUEST. And, should any of you decide to take the plunge (it's $14.98 plus $3 for first-class shipping, VISA and Mastercard okay), please remember to include a note telling us that it's a Mudcat order. That way a commission goes to Max to help keep this fine folk family afloat. Sandy |
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22 Feb 00 - 08:22 AM (#182681) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Dani One might want to check it out to see if one could afford it... THIS one assumed from the glowing posts above that it was a huge (56 pages of notes!) and expensive collection that would have to be saved and scrimped for. As it is, I'm ordering today, but we should be careful about making assumptions. Thank YOU for posting more info, Sandy. My order's in today! Dani |
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22 Feb 00 - 02:22 PM (#182848) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Sandy Paton Actually, Dani, I'm reluctant to be so crassly commercial in any post to this Forum. I feel it's inappropriate. To all of you who have been offended by my response to the above posts, please forgive me. I was goaded into it by well-meaning friends. (emoticon implied) Sandy (the huckster) |
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22 Feb 00 - 02:25 PM (#182849) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Dani Huck away, I say, if it's all in the cause. Didn't we talk about this before (re: camsco maybe?) and I seem to recall that a brief thread announcing a release was not considered untoward... I, for one, welcome info on music with which mudcatters are involved, $$ or no. Dani |
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22 Feb 00 - 09:28 PM (#183082) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Art Thieme Sandy, What a fine CD. I never realized you taped Vern Smelzer. His version of "The Morning Of 1845" that was included on Fine Times At Our House that Pat Dunford recorded for Folkways is one of my favorite trad. songs. How much stuff do you have by Mr. Smelzer??? Would it be possible to purchase a custom cassette of that session? "Hind Horn" is probably the most complete version of a broken token I've ever heard. Well, maybe other than "That's The Ticket" ;-) Joe Estey was/is a fine singer. Art |
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23 Feb 00 - 03:24 AM (#183234) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Sandy Paton I wasn't there for the Smelser session, Art. That was the year of my first "heart episode" and I was groundeed. Lee went out to Indiana with Henry Felt, a student on a work project from Goddard College, and Dunford took them to meet and record Vern Smelser. They didn't get a lot of songs, but there are a few more in the "archive." Isn't he a dandy singer? And you are so right about old Joe Estey. Unfortunately, it's he "was" a fine singer. Those tapes were made some thirty-seven years ago! Wait until you hear some of the great songs I got from William Harrison Burnett in Fayetteville, Arkansas! That will have to wait for volume two, I fear, but I'm assembling some of the material in my head right now. If the response is decent to this first volume, I'll get to work on the second as soon as I can wrap up several projects that simply have to come first. Got to balance these labors of love with a few that actually sell! Speaking of "Broken Token" ballads, did you see Paul Stamlers comment when he played "That's the Ticket" on his radio show last week? He said he was waiting for the version in which the fellow returns, saying "Rejoice! Here's your long lost love!" And she says "Let's see now, were you the bracelet or the ring?" Irene (Kossoy) Saletan always introduced the ballads in which the wayfaring fellow disguises himself to test the gal's loyalty after all the years he's been away by saying "This isn't a murder ballad, but it ought to be!" Sandy |
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25 Feb 00 - 09:17 AM (#184616) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Art Thieme Sandy, You said, "...that was the year of my first heart episode." Funny, I'd thought you were and already married to Caroline by then!?!? There must've been at least one or two dalliances before then!? ;-) Art |
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25 Feb 00 - 09:31 AM (#184620) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: catspaw49 I'm anxiously awaiting my new replacement credit cards to order this......Some really nice reviews here Sandy that you might want to include on the site!?!?! Spaw |
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25 Feb 00 - 12:57 PM (#184745) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Sandy Paton Any "heart episode" this guy ever had after 1957, aside from the continuing one, was medical, not romantical. I'm kinda old-fashioned. As the feller said, "When you find the Platonic ideal, why deviate?" Sandy |
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25 Feb 00 - 10:41 PM (#185079) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Liam's Brother I bought this yesterday and got it into the CD player as fast as I could. It is a treasure. I particularly like James Brown's "Jolly Tinker" which is a very interesting version of "Whiskey in the Jar" and Lee Monroe Presnell's Child ballad, "The House Carpenter." Caroline Paton kindly sang "Hind Horn" for me a couple of times last year when we were at festival workshops together. I enjoy her singing of it very much and it was an additional treat now to hear it from her source, Joe Esty of New Brunswick. Hearing Art Thieme's recording of the Irish-American aisling "Lost Jimmy Whalen" caused me to learn it too (although a slightly different version); I was delighted to hear Marie Hare's interesting New Brunswick rendition. Although I have her Folk-Legacy LP, it's been many years since I've played it. This experience makes me want to spin it again this weekend. Last but not least, I nearly died when I heard Lee Monroe Presnell's (Beech Mountain, NC) "The Old Arm Chair" which I know as an English music hall song. If you've never heard real (traditional) folk singers or have always thought they have to sound terrible, listen to this CD. Highly recommended!
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26 Feb 00 - 03:02 AM (#185189) Subject: RE: Help: Folk-Legacy's Newest CD From: Sandy Paton Okay, gang. I've taken down all of your kind words and will forward them, as good ol' Spaw suggested, to my web guru. They sure would look good up there on our site. If I get him to quote the source, do you suppose we might entice a few more folk fogies into the ranks of "curmudgeons on the 'Cat?" Sandy |
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31 Mar 00 - 03:29 PM (#204699) Subject: Folk-Legacy Review From: dick greenhaus Subject: A Review of Folk-Legacy's CD "Ballads and Songs of Tradition" written by Ed Cray Ballads and Songs of Tradition Various Artists Folk-Legacy CD-125 Folk-Legacy CD-125 Folk-Legacy Records, Inc Box 1148 Sharon, CT 06069 http://www.folklegacy.com A review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange by Ed Cray (cray@mizar.usc.edu) Since he first met the Beech Mountain, North Carolina-native Frank Proffitt at the 1961 Chicago Folk Festival, Sandy Paton, his wife Caroline, and Lee Baker Haggerty have sought out traditional singers to record their songs and ballads. Paton, Paton, and Haggerty have spent the better part of a lifetime scraping and scrimping to fund the next trip to the Appalachians, Ozarks, or upper New York state, making time to edit the tapes, writing and printing the unusually thoughtful notes that marked their records and tapes, and selling the successive releases that made Folk-Legacy a recorded resource of Anglo-American traditional songs and singers second to none. Proffitt and his banjo were the first because, Paton explained, "there was no reason why we should not be able to hear Frank Proffitt himself sing his ballads and songs, rather than hear them filtered through Frank Warner's interpretations." (Collector-singer Warner and his wife Anne had encountered Proffitt in 1938, and learned some of his songs, including the American murder ballad "Tom Dooley," later lifted and popularized by the Kingston Trio's version.) In the years to come, Paton, Paton and Haggerty recorded literally dozens of singers, and dozens of songs from the likes of Proffitt, Horton Barker, Abe Trivett, Lawrence Older, and Edna Ritchie. They found Sara Cleveland in Brant Lake, New York, who knew a staggering 900 songs, 400 of them from oral tradition. They recorded in the Ozarks -- guided by the authoritative Vance Randolph, his wife Mary Celestia Parler, and the recently deceased Max Hunter. In New Brunswick, Edward "Sandy" Ives (the two Sandy's are often confused) introduced them to even more traditional singers, and once again they mined gold. Collectively, the Patons and Haggerty may be the most prodigious collectors of Anglo-American folksongs and balladry since Alan Lomax put his Ampex on the shelf. In all, they have produced more than 100 long-playing records, tapes and compact discs since that first release 39 years ago. It has not been easy, or very profitable. (I imagine that Haggerty, whom Sandy Paton describes as "the guy who had a small inheritance that supplied the capital that enabled us to get going," might dilate on this.) Traditional singers, as you may have gathered, are not exactly big box office. Still, they persevered. A new release might generate enough money to fund the next. If it did not, they waited until catalogue sales and Haggerty's inheritance paid off printer and record presser. Still, one by one, the Folk-Legacy catalogue grew, a tribute to the two Patons and Haggerty, their dear friend and financial angel. (As this is written, bachelor Haggerty is hospitalized, and the concerned Patons are shuttling between home and hospital in Connecticut.) In all of the releases, there have been some choice recoveries of the muckle ballads thought long-since dead: Sandy Paton lists among them Sara Cleveland's "Queen Jane," a version of "The King's Daughter Lady Jean" (Child 52) never previously recorded in the United States; Frank Proffitt's "Bonny James Campbell" (Child 210); Jeannie Robertson's superb "Twa Brothers" (Child 49); and Joe Estey's "Hind Horn" (Child 17), of which there have been but seven other versions reported in the New World. If nothing else, the Patons and Haggerty have proven these great song-stories are not dead at all---an oral tradition survives. In fact, Sandy Paton notes, the songs of the parents are preserved by the singing of the children. Frank Proffitt, Jr., sings his father's repertoire; Colleen Cleveland sings her grandmother's. As it was, so it is; time without end. Which brings us to "Ballads and Songs of Tradition," the first of a planned series of anthologies of traditional songs and ballads Folk-Legacy is to release. Here are 21 ballads by 13 singers recorded in North Carolina living rooms and Scots croft kitchens. They have been culled from the Paton archives. Many of them are previously unreleased---all of them are choice. The Patons being comparative folklorists at heart cannot resist a touch of gentle scholarship in their choices. They provide contrasting versions of three ballads: "Gypsy Davy" (Child 200), "The House Carpenter" (Child 243), and a British 19th-Century broadside (?), which IS new to me, "The Old Arm Chair." Of the 21 tracks, it is difficult to select favorites, but Scots housewife Lizzie Higgins' "My Bonnie Boy" is a marvel of delicately ornamented phrases. (Ms. Higgins comes by it naturally; she is the daughter of Jeannie Robertson and Donald Higgins, a master of the Highland pipes.) Her mother's "Twa Brothers" (Child 49) is truly gripping: six and one-half minutes of blood-drenched drama. Similarly, Marie Hare of Strathadam, New Brunswick, retells the grim fate of "Lost Jimmie Whalen" (Laws B 1); her sheer artistry compels attention, no matter how familiar or inevitable the story. All of which, I think, is the point of this anthology. Paton, Paton and Haggerty are intent on demonstrating that folk singers do possess an aesthetic sense. It is surely different from that of the classically trained or popular singer, but nonetheless it is real -- and underappreciated. Voice, instrument, even self are subordinated to the words, to the narrative. That is the anything but simple artistry of the 13 traditional singers presented in this excellent first collection of a promised series of anthologies drawn from the Folk-Legacy archives. Edited by: David Schultz Copyright 2000, Peterborough Folk Music Society. This review may be reprinted with prior permission and attribution. ===================== David N. Pyles acousticmusic.com P. O. Box 459 Brattleboro, VT 05302-0459 (802) 257-0336 Mon-Thur |
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31 Mar 00 - 03:34 PM (#204702) Subject: RE: Folk-Legacy From: MMario Quite a tribute! How nice to see Sandy and Caroline are appreciated. |
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31 Mar 00 - 03:49 PM (#204717) Subject: RE: Folk-Legacy From: KathWestra For those of you who haven't seen the sad news posted in another thread, "angel" (now an angel indeed)Lee Haggerty, whose inheritance bankrolled Folk Legacy in its early years, died at 6:30 this morning (3/31/2000). He did so much to bring us incredible music. He will be greatly missed. |
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31 Mar 00 - 04:07 PM (#204732) Subject: RE: Folk-Legacy From: katlaughing Thank you, Dick and Kath. Wonderful tributes, in this thread and the other. |
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31 Mar 00 - 05:09 PM (#204761) Subject: RE: Folk-Legacy From: kendall Lee was a genuinely nice guy. My most sincere condolences to the Patons. |
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01 Apr 00 - 01:47 AM (#204957) Subject: RE: Folk-Legacy From: rainbow this is such a fabulous cd,,, FULL of gems! ... lorraine |
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01 Apr 00 - 02:12 AM (#204965) Subject: RE: Folk-Legacy From: fox4zero I am so sorry to hear about Haggerty. I treasured all of my early Folk Legacy LP's. It's "funny" that I ended up living 20 minutes West of Sharon CT and never got to meet him or the Patons. Larry Parish |