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.
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.
Chisholm Trail
A classic cowboy song with whoop-a-lah by Tex Ritter
Still another cowboy song. Well, I bought a hat and have to justify the purchase you see. I got some choice verses from Mike Seeger. The tune and the "whoop-a-la" come from, who else, Tex Ritter.
Sail Away Ladies
A traditional dance song from Uncle Dave Macon
This is, of course, a big favorite. The best known version comes from Uncle Dave Macon. I'm fond of Mike Seeger's rendition on autoharp and pan pipe. You can hear this on his wonderful 'True Vine' album.
Goin' Across the Sea
Appalachian banjo song
Uncle Dave Macon called this song "an old familiar tune from waaaay back yander." I heard it first from Art Rosenbaum on an Elecktra album, "Folk Banjo Styles", an eclectic set of banjo performances by Art, Tom Paley, and Eric Weissberg that ranged from Tom’s ancient sounding fretless tunes to Eric’s high power bluegrass.
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."
Luis Pulido
A cowboy shoot-out in old Mexico
Nobody plays Mexican songs on the Banjo! Well except Pete Seeger (Cielito Lindo). But he played everything from Bach (Ode do Joy) to Flamenco (Quince Brigada) on the banjo.
Lady Gay
A sad ballad from Buel Kazee
'Lady Gay' is an American variation of the Scottish ballad "The Wife of Usher's Well" (Child #79). I got the song from Pete Seeger who learned the melody and the banjo tuning from Buell Kazee.
Cruel Mother
A haunting murder ballad
The Cruel Mother (Child 20) is sung throughout the English speaking world in countless variations. It is full of the haunting images and symbols that show up in other songs: the while marble stone (see Young Collins), the oak and thorn, the un-cleanable blood stain (think of Lady Macbeth), the unquiet grave.
Wild About My Lovin'
A jug-band blues
A song from Jim Jackson of Hernando, Mississippi who performed and recorded in the 1920's and 30's either solo or with such artists as Gus Cannon, Furry Lewis, Will Shade, Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Jim left us a legacy of songs like Grizzly Bear, Hesitation Blues, Kansas City Blues, Old Dog Blue and this one.
The Knot in the Devil's Tail
A cowboy song of Satan
This favorite cowboy song was recorded by rodeo star and cowboy singer “Powder River” Jack Lee and his wife "Pretty Kitty" Lee for Victor Records in 1930. The original lyrics came from a poem by Gail Gardner.
Backwater Blues - 2
A flood song
Bessie Smith recorded 'Backwater Blues' for Columbia on February 17, 1927. You can read more background about flood songs in my comments on Uncle Dave Macon's song of the same title: Backwater Blues.