Newest Songs
Hell Bound Train
A cautionary tale of damnation and redemption
You know about the train that was "bound for glory". Well, this train was going the other way on the opposite track.
Jolly Roving Tar
A sea song from Newfoundland
I found this jolly sea song from Newfoundland on one of the old 'American Folksay' albums produced on Stinson records by Moses Asch, performed by Frank Warner.
No Peas No Rice
A Bahamian jazz song
A Bahamian song recorded in the 1930s by big band leaders such as Mart Brit and Count Basie and in the Bahamas by Blind Blake Alfonso Higgs.
Thorneymore Woods
A song of the noble poacher, and mean gamekeepers
An English poaching ballad as performed by Louis Killen.
La Bruja
Vampire story from Vera Cruz, Mexico. Boo!
La Bruja is a song and traditional dance in the Huapango tradition from the state of Vera Cruz. The dance usually involves a number of women with lighted candles on their heads.
The Devil and Bailiff McGlynn
The devil takes his due
What a fine old Irish tale. But it derives from a history that is not so jolly - the mass evictions and house levelings that took place during the Irish famine of the mid-nineteenth century. No wonder the mother in the story cries "May the devil take that awful Bailiff!".
Spotted Cow
A naughty little English folk song
Here is a traditional English song, at least I think so, I heard it from Steel Eye Span, that parcel of rogues who brought fuzz-tone electric guitar to English folk music.
Italian Carol
A christmas song from Italy
An Italian carol adapted by Pete Seeger from an old tradition in Naples in which shepherds come down from the Calabrian mountains for a festive stay in that city during the Christmas celebration.
Wild Women Don't Have No Blues
A blues for strong women
This song was recorded by Ida Cox in 1924, Ida was one of great, if lesser known, female blues singers in the era of Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Sippie Wallace.
Mean Old Bedbug Blues
A blues from Bessie Smith
Each of these are classic blues performance in their own right and provide an interesting contrast between country blues and early jazz band styles. I always favored Bessie's rendition. I think her slower tempo with piano and guitar accompaniment captured the true creepiness of bedbugs.
Uncle Joe Gimme Mo
Calypso from Trinidad
This great Trinidadian Calypso song comes from an early recording by Wilmuth Houdini. I love the way these Calypsonians took "uncle joe and his old ban-jo", a common stereotype in minstrel shows, and transformed him into a rock star.
Monsieur Banjo
A creole song for kids
This children's song in Louisiana Creole. My version is an adaptation of Pete Seeger's English language version on 'American Favorite Ballads' and a French language version from the Magnolia Sisters on their delightful children's album 'Lapin Lapin'
Featured Songs
Hopalong Peter
An old time banjo song
This was recorded by J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers in the 1930's. I learned it from the NLCR.
Bill Morgan and his Gal
An old time string band tune from Charlie Poole
Heard the New Lost City Ramblers play this in concert in the tiny auditorium in Lee Park, Dallas in 1961. I was around thirteen and learning songs on my Sears and Roebuck Silvertone banjo from Pete Seeger's 'How to play the Five-String Banjo.' I had never heard anything quite like this and it knocked my socks off.
Johnny Booker
A mule song
Songs about mules are almost a genre all their own like railroad songs or cowboy songs. This is an old song. Some versions came to us by way of minstrel shows but older variants can be found in England.
Blackjack Davy
A famous ballad aka Gypsy Davy
This is the oldest song I know. Wait, I already said that about 'Froggy' and 'Farmers Curst Wife'. Well, who knows, but this is known far and wide as Blackjack Davy, Gypsy Davy, Blackjack Daisy, and most creatively in Frank Proffit's version, 'The Gips of David'.
Widdicombe Fair
A bad end comes to those who mistreat poor old horses
Here is a famously celebrated English ballad. I think it qualifies as a murder ballad, though the victim be equine, as well as a ghost story.
Stawberry Roan
A bronc ridin' story
This cowboy song is not traditional, strictly speaking. It was written by cowboy poet Curley Fletcher and published in his "Songs of the Sage" in 1936. But it is about as authentic as you can get and has long been a favorite among working cowboys.
Since I Laid my Burden Down
A spiritual
This old African-American spiritual is well known especially in the Mississippi delta country. I have taken bits of lyric, tune and inspiration from the performances of Mississippi John Hurt, Furry Lewis, Mississippi Fred McDowel, Roy Acuff, and Odetta.
Lost Gander
A quiet banjo instrumental
This is a rarity for me, a purely instrumental piece. It has no lyrics and so I guess it doesn't qualify as a song. It sings to me though.
Swannanoa Tunnel
A mountain railroad song
The Swannanoa Tunnel was constructed in Western North Carolina by more than 1800 workers. Some 500 of them were convict laborers, mostly African-Americans, who were transported from the eastern part of the state. The work started in 1855 and took 24 years to finish. In this time countless workers lost their lives.
Choucoune
A song from Haiti
This Haitian song started as a poem written by Oswald Durand in 1883. He wrote the poem while jailed for criticizing political leaders in Cap-Haitien. Inspired by a lovely bird that lit on his cell window he was reminded of a girl whom he had met and admired. You may recognize the melody as 'Yellow Bird'
Nottamun Town
A strange nonsense tune from Jean Ritchie
The passing of Jean Ritchie reminded me of this song. Jean said it was a nonsense song from the Mummer's Plays of medieval England. The moody melody lends the song a surreal quality. Bob Dylan liked it and used the tune for Masters of War.
Backwater Blues - 1
Uncle Dave's flood song
This 'Backwater Blues' was recorded for Vocalion Records by Uncle Dave Macon and Sam McGee on May 11, 1929 in New York City. This is just after flooding in the Mississippi River valley covered 27,000 miles to a depth of 30 feet. It affected 630,000 many of whom were forced to live in relief camps for log periods.