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.
The Horse with a Union Label
Even the broncos support the union
Here's a cowboy song by Mike Stratton and Saul Aarons from the People's Songbook.
Round and Round
An old time string band song from Dr. Bate and his Possum Hunters.
From Dr. Humphrey Bate and his Possum Hunters. Dr. Bate was a master harmonica player but apparently not so hot as a lyricist. This song had one verse and one chorus. The verse was borrowed from another song and the chorus doesn't rhyme. So I decided to fill it out with some more borrowed lyrics and some of my own.
Goodbye Old Paint
A classic cowboy song. With "Woo-ha!" lessons.
One day, "I Ride an Old Paint" and "The Waggoner's Lad" were grazing in the back pasture and this song is the result of their acquaintance. The the tune and words I sing here are the same as in Tex Ritter’s 1933 recording. Not that this is any different from traditional versions, but it gives me an excuse to mention Tex.
Rivers of Texas
A Texas love song and geography lesson.
A favorite with Texas songsters, the song's history is a little murky. It is always attributed as "traditional" although to my ear it doesn't sound like a real traditional ballad. It is not strictly a ballad, not much narrative story, and it does not borrow any verses from other songs.
Shoutin' in Jerusalem
An old spiritual
This is one of those great spirituals from the slave times. It is often speculated that the songs were encoded messages. Were they really singing about the after-life or about liberation in this life? "Keep your lamps trimmed and burnin'" we're going to "Steal Away" then we'll "shout in Jerusalem - just like John."
Chewing Gum
A kids song from the Carter Family
The Carter Family sang this sweet little song. I heard it from John Cohen in an improptu concert in the basement auditorium of the old Dallas Art Museum when the New Lost City Ramblers came town, 1962 I think.
Jay Gould's Daughter
A railroad song.
Here's one version of a classic railroad song. I got it from Pete Seeger. It has been around in many other variations such as Charlie Poole's "Milwaukee Blues" recorded in the twenties.
The Keeper of the Eddystone Light
A seafaring song from the English music hall
This song was popularized in the 1950's by Burl Ives and became a folk revival standard. It originates from an English music hall song published in the mid nineteenth century. Various sheet music publications from this time make conflicting claims of authorship.
Trouble In Mind
A slow eight bar blues that everyone knows.
Here's a classic blues standard. 'Trouble in Mind' was written by Richard M. Jones and first recorded in 1924. Since then, anyone who sings blues has sung it. It is an irresistibly playable slow blues that invites you to noodle around to your heart's content and, if you are good enough, you audience's delight.
Handsome Molly
An old banjo and fiddle tune.
Handsome Molly is a traditional banjo and fiddle tune known to practically all old time country players. Molly was recorded by Grayson and Whitter in 1929 on Victor records but probably was already quite an old tune even then. . Mike Seeger popularized it again in his first solo album for Folkways in 1962.
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'