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Up to the minute notes on the current state of free thinking and free living: Kentucky moonshine - original analysis and reporting from MoreThings, and all round pop culture museum of sight and sound - photo galleries, mp3 and video downloads.
Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
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July 13, 2004
Lady Liberty's Folk Mix CD
One of my greatest pleasures in life is turning people on to cool music, especially impressionable youngsters. I go through spindle after spindle of blank CDs throwing stuff at the wall to see what will stick.
My favorite target for such affection or infection at this point is my 15 year old niece, born on the 4th of July. Young Lady Liberty has just the combination of openess and an inkling of musical knowledge to make it really rewarding to show her stuff.
Having enjoyed "Lemon Tree," I sat about hooking her up with a "folk" mix CD. The preferred thing is to preview likely tracks with her off the hard drive, and let her select. The process can be a bit brutal, often getting about one verse and chorus to get a thumbs up or down.
The selection process makes some of our best quality time though, drifting off into a lot of side conversations about the artists or what constitutes "folk" music. A couple of hours sifting through a hundred odd tracks came up with this little beauty, approximately 78:20 minutes.
*"Lemon Tree" - Peter, Paul and Mary
I hadn't paid much attention to PPM, but "Lemon Tree" does have an exceptionally nice vocal harmony arrangement.
*"Puff, the Magic Dragon" - Peter, Paul and Mary
This was an obvious pop folk choice, though I sometimes find it hard to listen to. The abandonment theme works on my delicate soul, I suppose.
*"The Times They Are a-Changing" - Bob Dylan
This was the only song on the disc that I picked out. After she'd gone off to bed, I found I had about enough room left for one more song. Seemed like we should have some Dylan, and this went with the Tom Lehrer coming up.
*"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" - Kingston Trio
This is a really good song - an outstanding composition. It's also a very nice arrangement. It works, though it sometimes causes me to emit an Al Gore sigh. OK, war is bad. Got it.
*"Folk Song Army" - Tom Lehrer
I was pleased that she went for this classic satire of the 60s folk movement. It nicely lets the air out of some of the nonsense.
"We are the folk song army
Every single one of us cares
We all hate poverty, war and injustice
Unlike the rest of you squares"
*"The Triplett Tragedy" - Doc Watson Family
If the PPM runs rather to the doctrinally suspect pop side, this selection goes a long way towards making up for it. Lady Liberty was skeptical of this Smithsonian field recording of one craggly voiced old woman singing acapella until I started explaining the story. It's really a piece of journalism. Three brothers have a night of drinking that turns into murder and recriminations and three dead brothers. The singer was one of the widows. This is the hardcore stuff, bone deep realness. You NEED the whole Watson family album very badly.
*"Can the Circle Be Unbroken" - Carter Family
It seemed right to program this with the triplet song, as the widow above ended with speculation about the brothers being reconciled in heaven.
*"Paradise" - John Prine
You'd almost think this song dated from maybe 1940, rather than 1971. It's timeless.
*"Big Bad John" - Jimmy Dean
Classic folk music mythology.
*"City of New Orleans" - Steve Goodman
Where did the public and collective nature of classic folk music become modern singer-songwriter stuff? It was somewhere before Dylan, and certainly well before this.
*"Doodle Bug" - Doc Watson
Can't get enough of this really old, scratchy little fiddle tune.
*"Don't Take Your Guns to Town" - Johnny Cash
You kids listen to your Ma, now.
*"El Paso" - Marty Robbins
You really got to have cowboys and Western stuff in here somewhere.
*"Greenback Dollar" - Kingston Trio
Sometime I'm going to mix this with some Little Richard "Rip It Up" and "Ready Teddy" - what with the basic "I don't give a damn about a greenback dollar, spend it fast as I can" sentiment.
*"Children Go Where I Send Thee" - Nina Simone
This may be the most questionable recording for this batch. It's a perfectly good "folk song," but Nina Simone just was not a "folk singer." She's accompanied by piano, for starters, and has a real high-brow air reflective of her conservatory training- though I don't know how much that seeps through to the niece.
*"John Brown's Body" - Pete Seeger
Needed Seeger's voice in here somewhere, and this probably constitutes the oldest song in the pack. Plus, John Brown is something of an alternative Civil War hero to me.
*"Mr Bojangles" - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
This was just a great sad song, and a great character sketch. I realized this when I saw no less than Tom T Hall - The Storyteller himself - performing this on an old tv show.
*"The Ballad of Jed Clampett" - Flatt & Scruggs
You know, this was just a great song. I defy you to forget it.
*"The Cuckoo Bird" - Doc Watson
I happened to grab this one up for the previews first, but it was the Ramblin' Jack Elliott version that brought my attention to the song a few months ago. I then discovered that I had several different versions of this song lying around, including this near equally good one.
*"The Great Atomic Power" - The Louvin Brothers
This little known song has become a big favorite over the last couple of years. It's a really well written, catchy song, with strong pickin' and classic Louvin Brothers vocal harmonies. The basic lyrical sentiment that Christians can count on Jesus to snatch them up when the bombs start falling seems like the obvious way for them to react to the nuclear age- and a good reason to be suspect of their judgment. This makes a perfect case study in the danger of believing in not-true religious stuff.
*"This Little Light of Mine" - Odetta
Might could have come up with better Odetta choices, but this is a fine selection - and heck, we needed more gospel.
*"Tom Dooley" - Kingston Trio
The preppy Kingston Trio would probably be one of the classic targets for the Folksmen's "Never Did No Wanderin'" song, and it's unfortunate that we didn't get around to even trying out any Ramblin' Jack Elliott for this set. Nonetheless, it's hard to argue against this record. Those vocal harmonies are just killer.
*"Wildwood Flower" - Carter Family
Interestingly, I couldn't get the niece interested in June Carter's more modern last album. Neither "Losin' You" nor "Tiffany Anastasia Lowe" got her attention, not even with being Johnny Cash's wife. Yet I had no trouble getting her involved with Mother Maybelle. [TERRIFIC CARTER FAMILY CD BARGAIN]
*"Matty Groves" - Fairport Convention
We end with eight minutes of most righteous English folk jamming. This album came out shortly after Richard Thompson's 20th birthday, and he was already just that good. The fiddle goes reeling, and Thompson's really putting down the extended stately airs in this hgih class tale of cheating and murderous recriminations. Labels: country_music
posted by Al at 7/13/2004 04:25:00 AM
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