Where Dead Voices Gather: The Anthology of American Folk Music Project

Review - "To What Strange Place" (Tompkins Square)

2011-12-10T17:13:00.006-05:00

It's been months and months since I promised to post a review of To What Strange Place: The Music of the Ottoman-American Diapora (1916-1929), and even more months since I first picked up this excellent set. I have delayed posting a review for a number of reasons, some of them personal. Mainly, however, I wanted to take the time to really absorb the music. The set consists of three discs: The first two feature music recorded in the United States (primarily in New York City) by immigrants from the disintegrating Ottoman Empire. The third disc is largely made up of music recorded in the Old Country and imported to the United States.

Having a carnivorous musical curiosity, I am quite literally willing to listen to anything that comes my way. This blog is a testament to that fact. Raised primarily on Classic Rock and the Singer-Songwriters of the mid- to late-1970s (James Taylor, Carol King, Billy Joel), I was exposed to jazz and classical music through my paternal grandfather, the ineffable Harry Stern. His love of music and his passionate lust for life is the common thread that runs through the dozens of musical styles and genres I have explored over the years.

I mention this to say that I purchased To What Strange Place not out of a pre-existing familiarity with the music of this particular place and time, but out of that driving need to seek out beautiful music wherever it can be found. I freely admit that I know next to nothing about the Ottoman Empire other than the fact that it existed. I think it had something to do with the Crimean War, but I only know of that because of the Russian history I studied as an undergraduate. I know that the Ottoman Empire rose up after the collapse of the Eastern Roman Empire, and I know that Vlad Tepes (the man who inspired the fictional Dracula) spent some time resisting the Ottomans. I know that the Ottoman Turks persecuted and exterminated some two million people in what has become known as the Armenian Genocide (although other ethnic groups, including Greeks and Turkish Christians, where targets as well), now considered to be the first modern act of "Ethnic Cleansing" and a dry run for the Nazi Holocaust of the 1940s (Hitler famously defended his Final Solution by rhetorically asking, "Who remembers the Armenians?"). In other words, I came into this set knowing very little about this part of the world and almost nothing of its music.

So when I first placed the CD into my player, I was immediately transported by the strange and haunting sounds that emanated from within. Strings, strummed, plucked and bowed; reed instruments that modulate into a plaintive cry; exotic rhythms beat on weathered skins; a melting pot of music from the East transported to the melting pot of the West; a monologue of exile; a dialogue of emigrants. It is impossible to distill the experience of listening to these tracks into a few words. It helps, certainly, to read curator Ian Nagoski's notes which identify artists and provide translation for some of the lyrical content. Helpful too are Nagoski's spoken notes at the end of the third disc which help to put these sounds into historical context. Nagoski's spoken words are poetic as well as educational and bear repeated listening. Nevertheless, all the context and detail is only window dressing. The listener need not concern him or herself with understanding. The sob in Marika Papagika's voice is all the context or translation that anyone really needs. This is "Soul Music" is the truest sense of the word. From out of a dusty, forgotten past, Nagoski has resurrected a voice that calls us all - Jew, Gentile, Muslim, Atheist, Believer, Westerner, Easterner - home. A voice that goes straight to the heart of what it is to be one human being among the faceless millions; to be young and looking ahead, and to be old and looking back. We are all strangers in a strange land. Once upon a time, Africans were brought to the Americas in chains. Irish, English, Scottish, French, Danish, Dutch and German boys and girls looked eastward across a vast water that separated both space and time. All of them could open their mouths and utter this same cry. In time, we Americans gave this cry a name: We called it "the Blues." What Nagoski has brought us is a Blues Record for the ages. We all hate to see that evening sun go down.

To What Strange Place is available from Tompkins Square Music and from fine on-line music retailers everywhere.

Here's the video preview for To What Strange Place.

Download and listen to Marika Papagika performing "Smyrneiko Minore."

Rev. J.M. Gates and Garfunkle

2011-04-13T22:31:00.005-04:00

If you've picked up Paul Simon's excellent new release So Beautiful or So What, you might have noticed a familiar voice on the lead track, "Getting Ready For Christmas Day."

What you're hearing are the dulcet tones of none other than Rev. J.M. Gates, who has received his highest profile reference in a popular song since Mott the Hoople named a song "Death May Be Your Santa Claus."

The original sermon, "Gettin' Ready For Christmas Day," was recorded in the Kimball Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia on October 2, 1941, a little over two months before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. In addition to the jailer and the undertaker, Rev. Gates had no idea that Emperor Hirohito was also getting ready...

Ahh... I want to give you a talk (yeah) this morning (Alright.) from this subject – getting ready for Christmas day.
The 25th day of December. You getting ready now.

Some have had their garments (That’s true.) laid away, paying some (Yes, they is.) this week, some the next week, getting ready for Christmas day.

Some have taken their last nickel, paid it on an automobile, getting ready for Christmas day. But let me tell you something. Somebody is getting ready for you. And let me tell you, namely, the undertaker, he’s getting ready for your body. Not only that, the jailer he’s getting ready for you, Christmas day. Hmm?

And not only the jailer, but the lawyer, the police force, now getting ready for Christmas day. And let me tell you, they’re getting ready for you now, and I want you to bear it in mind that they’re getting ready.

You want to be ready. I wants to be ready, getting ready for Christmas day. Done made it up in your mind that I’m going, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago. I am going on a trip, getting ready for Christmas day.

But when Christmas comes, nobody knows where you’ll be. You might ask me. I may be layin’ in some lonesome grave, (That’s true.) getting ready for Christmas day. You may live, 24 days, hmm, and then live till the midnight hour, not be able to see the morning sun rise, getting ready for Christmas day. Getting ready, done put in for your pass, "I’m going and see my relatives in a distant land."

Getting ready, getting ready for Christmas day. Greasin’ up your gun, getting your dirk in order, getting your ice picks ready, getting ready for Christmas day.

Oh, I want to say to you, not only get ready, but be ready, get your heart ready, get your heart fixed. Go down to the Holy Ghost station, stay there till you get your hearts fixed, getting ready for Christmas day.

There's more references to African American religious music on Simon's new album. In addition to "Getting Ready For Christmas Day," the penultimate track on So Beautiful Or So What, "Love & Blessings," features a sample of a 1938 recording of "Golden Gate Gospel Train" by the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet (later known simply as the Golden Gate Quartet). This album is positively dripping with wonderful old music!

"Gettin' Ready For Christmas Day" is available on the superb Dust-to-Digital box set, Goodbye Babylon. Well worth checking out in full...

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's the official music video for Paul Simon's "Getting Ready For Christmas Day," featuring J.M. Gates!

Download and listen to Rev. J.M. Gates - "Gettin' Ready For Christmas Day"

Charlie Louvin - (July 7, 1927 – January 26, 2011)

2011-01-27T20:45:00.005-05:00

R.I.P. Charlie Louvin.

Born on July 7, 1927 in Henagar, Alabama, Charles Elzer Loudermilk was one half of one of the greatest brother acts of all time. Professionally known as Charlie Louvin, Charlie and his brother Ira (April 21, 1924–June 20, 1965) began performing in 1940 and continued to work together as performing and recording artists until they disbanded in 1963. Although recording several secular songs (such as "Cash On The Barrelhead"), the Louvins were best known for their gospel recordings, particularly their 1960 album Satan Is Real, with its iconic cover. "The Christian Life" from that album was famously covered by the Byrds (featuring a young Gram Parsons) on their Sweetheart of the Rodeo album.

Following Ira's tragic death in a car accident, Charlie carried on as a solo performer, recording fourteen albums under his own name between 1965 and 1982. In 2007, Charlie began releasing new albums on the Tompkins Square label. Although his voice had deteriorated, he remained one of the masters of the country-gospel genre. Among his finestlate-period albums is Sings Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs, an album released as a companion to Tompkins Square's People Take Warning: Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs, 1913-1938.

Below is a link to "I'll Never Go Back," a song cut during a 1952 radio session by the Louvin Brothers.

I once was bound by the chains of sin.
There was no light to shine within.
Down on my knees I knelt and prayed,
And He took my burdens all away.

I'll never go back to the ways of sin.
Where the Lord found me and took me in.
He came to me in a world so black.
To the ways of sin I'll never go back.

As I travel on this narrow way,
I'll help the lost to find their way.
I'll shine my light so the world can see
What a saving grace has done for me.

I'll never go back to the ways of sin.
Where the Lord found me and took me in.
He came to me in a world so black.
To the ways of sin I'll never go back.

At the set of sun I'll be going home,
To rest my soul around the throne.
I'll bid farewell in a little while,
And change my tears for a lasting smile.

I'll never go back to the ways of sin.
Where the Lord found me and took me in.
He came to me in a world so black.
To the ways of sin I'll never go back.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's a clip of Charlie performing "Will You Visit Me On Sundays" in 1970.

Download and listen to The Louvin Brothers - "I'll Never Go Back"

Merry Christmas To All!

2010-12-25T23:34:00.005-05:00

In honor of the day, here's a recording of Bessie Smith performing "At The Christmas Ball."

Hey Bessie, it's Christmas here!
Yes, yes! Hurray for Christmas!

Christmas comes but once a year, and to me it brings good cheer,
and to everyone who likes wine and beer.

Happy New Year is after that. Happy I'll be, that is a fact.
That is why I like to hear, folks I say that Christmas is here.

Christmas bells will ring real soon, even in the afternoon.
There'll be no chimes shall ring at the Christmas Ball.

Everyone must watch their step, or they will lose their rep.
Everybody's full of pep at the Christmas Ball.

Grab your partner one an' all, keep on dancing 'round the hall.
And there's no one to fall, don't you dare to stall.

If your partner don't act fair, don't worry there's some more over there.
Seekin' a chance everywhere at the Christmas Ball.

A rollicking celebration of the earthy side of the Christmas season, "At the Christmas Ball" was recorded on November 18, 1925. Joining Bessie on this recording are Joe Smith (cornet), Charlie Green (trombone) and Fletcher Henderson (piano).

This recording is available on the excellent Dust-to-Digital collection Where Will You Be Christmas Day, a disc that comes highly recommended.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's a 1929 soundie featuring Bessie Smith performing "St. Louis Blues."

Download and listen to Bessie Smith - "At The Christmas Ball"

Two New Discs From Dust-to-Digital

2010-12-20T22:41:00.007-05:00

I received an early Christmas/Birthday gift in the mail today from my good friend Henry, who will be spending the holiday in Virginia with his wife and daughter.

The gift consisted of two new releases from Dust-to-Digital, my favorite record label.

The first of the two releases is Baby, How Can It Be?, a three CD collection of old time music with a romantic theme.

The second item is called The Hurricane That Hit Atlanta which features Rev. Johnny L. Jones.

Both are superb. The Jones is his second release for D2D (the first is the LP-only Jesus Christ From A to Z). It contains songs and sermons, all recorded live at his Atlanta church. Whether you believe or not, listening to this collection is as close to truly "feeling the spirit" as anyone is likely to get.

Baby, How Can It Be? is an absolute delight. Each disc contains a theme (Love, Lust, and Contempt) which is amply expanded upon through the superb musical selection. Speaking personally, it's a fun set to listen to when you're going to through a divorce. Also contains liner notes by none other than Where Dead Voices Gather
(no relation) author Nick Toches, and an odd little graphic by 78 hound R. Crumb. Both are exceptional and well worth seeking out...

And In The End...

2010-12-14T21:43:00.003-05:00

So, here we are. The final entry in this project. It's been an extraordinary journey that has taken me through hundreds of years of history and thousands of miles, all without leaving the chair in front of my speakers. I have listened closely to music I have heard thousands of times before, and in so doing I have heard that music afresh. I have listened to the music of the Anthology of American Folk Music one track at a time, the way it was heard by its original audience in the 1920s and 30s...and the way a young Harry Smith would have heard it, too. And after more than a year of listening to two sides a week, over and over again, until every pop and hiss was as familiar to me as the sound of my own heartbeat, what have I learned?

The first thing I did after writing the last entry was to listen to the entire Anthology straight through, in order to experience it once again as a whole. In so doing, I have drawn a few conclusions, which I will set down here:

1) The Anthology was compiled at the dawn of the LP era, which is a fact that should not be overlooked. Until the advent of the LP, there was only one way to listen to recorded music: One song at a time, one side at a time. A record was a short-lived pleasure. After a little more than three minutes, a side was finished. At that point, you had only a few options. You could play the side again, turn the record over and listen to the flip side, or you could put on another record. That was it. The LP changed the way people heard music. Suddenly, a side's worth of music wasn't a little over three minutes, but twenty minutes. Freed from the time constraint of the 78, artists could stretch in ways that hadn't been possible just a few years earlier. And it took a long time for the potential of the LP to be realized. But Harry Smith saw that the LP allowed music from the 78 era (which was already in danger of obsolescence) not only to be preserved, but to be reformed into something that commented on the music, its era, and on the present as well. One might argue that by compiling the Anthology, Harry Smith invented the mixtape, the bootleg, and the historical reissue as we know them. The historical reissue part speaks for itself. The Anthology was a mixtape in that Smith took the music created by others to make a unique personal statement. It was a bootleg in that almost all of the music included was under copyright to various extant record labels at the time. It is important to remember that prior to this moment in history, none of these things had been possible. Harry Smith was looking backwards in terms of the music he preserved, but he was looking forward in the way he preserved it. It's strange to think that Smith was on the cutting edge of technology as he was making available music that represented a lost part of America's cultural history. In that sense, a song like "Peg and Awl," a song about the industrial revolution, stands as an emblematic selection. "They've invented a new machine," the Carolina Tar Heels sing, "Prettiest thing you've ever seen." Indeed, they had invented a new machine. It spun at 33 1/3 RPM.

2) As I've noted before, much has been made of the sequencing on the Anthology and how Smith did not place the songs in a chronological sequence according to recording date. But as we've seen throughout this project, Smith did not sequence the songs randomly. Beginning with the "Ballads" volume and continuing at least through the two discs of the "Social Music" volume, the tracks are sequenced chronologically by the age of the song in question. On the "Songs" volume and the "Lost" volume, the songs are usually sequenced thematically. In many cases, Smith placed songs on similar subjects in sequence. In some cases, Smith chose songs that echoed one another lyrically or musically. This was, once again, something that could not have been done during the 78 era. The very idea of arranging songs on a recording in any kind of sequence was something unheard of, impossible, just a few years before.

3) I've tried to resist the temptation to romanticize the world described in the music heard on this collection. That it sounds so alien is one of the reasons it is tempting to imagine that this music represents a "simpler" time. I submit that when taken together, the world represented on the sixteen sides of Anthology is nearly baffling in its complexity. There's nothing simple about a world that demands a song like Rev. Sister Mary Nelson's "Judgment" or Bascomb Lamar Lunsford's "I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground." Not because the pressures that led people in the 20s and 30s to wish for a just God's vengeance or for a sense of home were so alien to us today. Quite the opposite. These songs show that people then were just as lost in the world as we are today. We love and hate and die just as they did. We all know that the Titanic sank in 1912. We forget that it also sank in 1941. And in 1968. And it 2001. Because man never stops building "unsinkable" ships, and fate never fails to sink them.

What's left is the music, and in the end, that's all we need.

Thank you for following this blog and for your moral support of the last year. Enjoy the music, because the music is all that remains.

"Aces' Breakdown" - The Four Aces

2010-11-30T15:56:00.013-05:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc Two; Track Fourteen: "Aces' Breakdown" performed by The Four Aces. Recorded in New Orleans on April 2, 1938. Original issue Bluebird 2045.

The Four Aces were a Cajun group that began, in 1934, as a backing band for fiddler and Cajun music pioneer, Leo Soileau. The group originally consisted of Floyd Shreve and Dewey Landry on guitars and Tony Gonzales on bass and drums. Gonzales became the first drummer to appear on a Cajun recording when he performed on the Aces' debut session for Bluebird. The group moved to Decca the following year. After Soileau's departure in the late '30s, Floyd Shreve, who also recorded and performed with the Hackberry Ramblers, took over the group. Replacing Soileau on fiddle was Boyce Jones.

Unfortunately, as of this writing, no biographical information (including birth and death dates) was available on Shreve, Landry, Gonzales, or Jones. If anybody has any such information, please e-mail me at wheredeadvoicesgather1@gmail.com or leave a comment.

"Aces' Breakdown" is the second of only two instrumental pieces on this volume of the Anthology. It was recorded in a makeshift studio at the St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans on April 2, 1938. A little over six months later, Floyd Shreve would return to the St. Charles Hotel, this time with the Hackberry Ramblers, to record "Dans Le Grand Bois." Like the previous selection, "Aces' Breakdown" is a hybrid of Cajun music and traditional country and string band music. It demonstrates the cross-pollination of styles that occurred between Louisiana and Texas.

The recording is spirited and would fit comfortably on the "Social Music" volume of the Anthology. Members of the Four Aces can be heard whooping and shouting throughout the record. The song itself is a medley of fiddle tunes, including the polka "Flop Eared Mule." The group is joined by a pianist on this recording, believed to be Robert Thibodeaux, who made his own recordings at the same session.

"Aces' Breakdown" is the second recording on the Anthology to include a drum. It is difficult to know whether this was intentional on Smith's part, but it seems fitting that he closes the Anthology with the appearance of an instrument that would come to define American music during the post-war era. Virtually all genres of American music today, including country, feature drums.

With this selection, we complete not only the "Lost" Volume of the Anthology, but the Anthology itself. In our next and final entry, we will look back at the Anthology and try to examine what we have learned.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's a clip from the film The Big Easy (1987) that features Cajun dancing...

Download and listen to The Four Aces - "Aces' Breakdown"

"Dans Le Grand Bois (In The Forest)" - Hackberry Ramblers

2010-11-27T15:37:00.010-05:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc Two; Track Thirteen: "Dans Le Grand Bois (In The Forest)" performed by Hackberry Ramblers. Recorded in New Orleans on October 22, 1938. Original issue Bluebird 2059.

The Hackberry Ramblers are an influential Cajun group based in Hackberry, Louisiana, a small town in the southwestern portion of the state. The group was founded by fiddler Luderin Darbone (January 14, 1913 - November 21, 2008) and accordionist Edwin Duhon (June 11, 1910 - February 26, 2006) in 1933. While the group is famous for their interpretations of traditional Cajun music, they also perform western swing, blues, and rockabilly. Despite numerous changes in personnel over the years, the Hackberry Ramblers continue to perform to this day, surviving the passing of founding members Darbone and Duhon in 2008 and 2006, respectively.

"Dans Le Grand Bois" is a Cajun song that borrows the melody of "La Jolie Blonde," a song first recorded by Les Breaux Freres as "Ma Blonde Est Partie." The personnel of the Hackberry Ramblers on this recording is Luderin Darbone on fiddle, Floyd and Danny Shreve on guitars, and Pete Duhon on string bass and vocal. Whether Pete Duhon was a relative of Edwin Duhon or another name Edwin Duhon went by is not clear as of this writing. It is known that Edwin Duhon played guitar, bass, piano, and harmonica in addition to the accordion, so it is possible that Pete and Edwin Duhon are one and the same.

Moi, j'connais,
Ma 'tite fille.
T'es la bas dans l'grand bois tout seule.
Moi, j'm'en vas dans l'grand bois.
Moi, j'm'en vas dans l'grand bois.
Avec ma fille.

Moi, j'connais,
Ma 'tite fille.
T'es la bas dans l'grand bois tout seule.
Moi, j'm'en vas dans l'grand bois.
Moi, j'm'en vas dans l'grand bois.
Avec ma fille.

Many thanks to Neal Pomea for providing this transcription.

Unlike many of the Cajun selections on the original Anthology, which are primitive in the extreme, "Dans Le Grand Bois" reflects the influence of non-Cajun music, particularly country and western swing.

Pete/Edwin Duhon's lead vocal includes the distinctive vocal yelp towards the end of each line, so often associated with Cajun music.

According to Henry Wright, a fellow old time music enthusiast who also happens to be fluent in French (although admittedly not Cajun French),

The...lyrics seem to evoke a visit or a date in the woods. The parts I can make out, other than the title, which he repeats many times, are "la-bas" (over there), "ma petite fille" (my little girl) and "touts seuls" (all alone). To me this suggest the singer is telling us about a date or rendez-vous with a woman in a secluded spot, perhaps in or near the bayou, taking into account that it is a Cajun song.

Not having studied the language since high school, my French is extremely rusty. However, I do remember enough to recognize j'connais, which, as I recall, means I know; connais being the first person singular form of connaître, meaning to know or to be familiar with. The expression to know in English can have a sexual connotation (albeit in a fairly archaic manner). It seems to me, then, that if j'connais has a similar sexual connotation in French, that Dans Le Grand Bois is nothing less than a song about having sexual relations in the woods.

If "Dans Le Grand Bois" had appeared on the original Anthology, it would have appeared on the "Songs" volume. It would certainly not be the first or only salacious song included in Smith's collection.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's some film footage of the Hackberry Ramblers performing and talking about their history in the 1991 documentary, Marc and Ann, a film about Marc and Ann Savoy.

Download and listen to Hackberry Ramblers - "Dans Le Grand Bois (In The Forest)"

"Barbecue Bust" - Mississippi Jook Band

2010-11-24T02:16:00.003-05:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc Two; Track Twelve: "Barbecue Bust" performed by Mississippi Jook Band. Recorded in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on July 20, 1936.

The Mississippi Jook Band was a one-off studio band consisting of Roosevelt Graves (guitar and kazoo), Uaroy Graves (tambourine) and Cooney Vaughn (piano). They recorded a handful of sides during this July, 1936 session, including this recording of "Barbecue Bust," recorded only thirteen days after "I'll Be Rested When The Roll Is Called" heard earlier on this disc.

For biographical information on Roosevelt and Uaroy Graves, see the entry for "I'll Be Rested When The Roll Is Called."

No biographical information is available on Cooney Vaughn. In his notes, Dick Spottswood quotes blues historian Gayle Dean Wardlow, who notes that Vaughn is "remembered as a pop performer, not a blues entertainer."

The group's name is a reference to "jook joints" or "juke joints," informal establishments where ordinary people (usually African Americans in the Deep South) congregated to drink, dance, gamble, and otherwise socialize. The term "juke" is believed to derive from the Gullah word "joog," which means "rowdy" or "disorderly." Such establishments first appeared on plantations in the Antebellum South as a place where slaves could socialize and unwind after a long week of work. The practice carried over into the post-Civil War era, often appearing in labor camps, and continued into Prohibition. It has been argued that juke joints represented the first "private space" accorded to blacks in the United States.

Juke joints demanded music, of course. Solo musicians and small groups would provide music for all night dancing (musicians such as Son House and Charlie Patton were veterans of the juke joints). When mechanization and recorded music proved a cheaper way to provide music, the juke joints lent their name to the automatic record playing machines installed in bars and other such establishments, which came to be known as "juke boxes."

"Barbecue Bust" is an almost entirely instrumental piece and is one of the only instrumental performances on the fourth volume of the Anthology. Had it appeared on the original three-volume Anthology, "Barbecue Bust" would have undoubtedly been featured on the first disc of the "Social Music" volume, along with other examples of dance music.

"Barbecue Bust" is an uptempo number, with strong ties to jazz and boogie woogie. The music is occasionally punctuated with cries and exhortations (at a couple of points, Cooney Vaughn is called upon by name). During the last verse, Roosevelt Graves engages in some scat singing. By 1936, scat singing could hardly be called "new," but it serves to solidly place this recording during the jazz age. In addition, Roosevelt Graves plays the kazoo during the first few verses, clearly emulating a jazz cornet. Cooney Vaughn's barrel-house piano ploughs a path through the song, despite being under-miked. Uaroy Graves, while not as prominent in this recording as he had been in "I'll Be Rested When The Roll Is Called", nevertheless lays down a driving rhythm that keeps this recording rolling straight through to the final bar.

"Barbecue Bust" gives us a glimpse of something close to the contemporary black music of the rural south during the late '30s. It is raucous and strident and anything but polite. It is also thoroughly of its time, which further serves to distinguish this volume from the rest of the Anthology.

"Barbecue Bust," like the previous entry, was recorded in Mississippi.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Speaking of boogie woogie piano, here's one of the grand masters, Meade Lux Lewis, in a "soundie" likely made during the 1940s...

Download and listen to Mississippi Jook Band - "Barbecue Bust"

"The Cockeyed World" - Minnie Wallace

2010-11-20T19:24:00.005-05:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc Two; Track Eleven: "The Cockeyed World" performed by Minnie Wallace. Recorded in Jackson, Mississippi on October 12, 1935.

No biographical information on Minnie Wallace was available as of this writing. If anyone has any information to share, please leave a comment or e-mail me at wheredeadvoicesgather1@gmail.com.

Minnie Wallace was a known associate of the Memphis Jug Band, so it may be presumed that she lived and worked in Memphis, Tennessee for at least part of her career.

"The Cockeyed World" is a blues that makes reference to the Italian invasion of the Ethiopian Empire on October 3, 1935, just nine days before this recording was made.

Italian Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini wanted to establish an Italian Empire to rival that of the Romans. He also sought to avenge the defeat the Italians suffered at the Battle of Adowa, which had ended the first Italo-Abyssinian War in 1896. In 1935, Ethiopia was one of only two independent nations in Africa. Subduing Ethiopia would strengthen Italy's imperialist presence on the continent.

The Italian invasion was brutal. The Ethiopian army, while larger than the invading Italian force, was armed with antique rifles (capable of firing only one shot), swords, knives, and spears. Many Ethiopian soldiers fought barefoot. The Italian forces consisted of approximately 595 planes and 795 tanks. The Ethiopian army, by contrast, had approximately three planes and as many tanks. Most controversially, on December 26, 1935, the Italian generals in charge of the invasion received permission to use mustard gas and other chemical warfare agents. The war was one-sided and extremely short. By the time Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I had fled to British Palestine on May 4, 1936, approximately 275,000 Ethiopians were dead and more than 500,000 wounded.

On June 30th, Selassie addressed the League of Nations, asking for them to condemn the Italian invasion and support a resistance movement. He concluded by warning, "It is us today. It will be you tomorrow." The speech was a memorable one, and was viewed around the world via newsreel. But it failed to motivate the League of Nations to action. The League recognized Italy's sovereignty over Ethiopia, as did Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, Great Britain and France. Only the United States, the Soviet Union, the Republic of China, Mexico, and New Zealand refused to recognize the legitimacy of Italy's invasion.

Italy occupied Ethiopia until 1941, when British forces retook Addis Ababa. Ethiopia was formally recognized as an independent nation in 1947 with the signing of the Treaty of Peace with Italy, and Emperor Selassie was restored as its ruler.

In the Americas, the Italian invasion of Ethiopia had a profound affect on people of African descent. As mentioned above, Ethiopia was one of only two independent nations in Africa. The invasion inspired strong feelings among black Americans as well as West Indians. Many black Americans volunteered to fight for Ethiopia, although few made it over there. In addition, it was during this period that the Rastafarian movement was born in Jamaica.

I woke up this morning feeling mighty bad.
I woke up this morning feeling mighty bad.
'Twas the worst old feeling that I ever had.

It's war on Ethiopia and mama's feeling blue.
It's war on Ethiopia, mama's feeling blue.
I tell the cockeyed world, I don't know what to do.

They say that Ethiopia is a long ways from here.
They say that Ethiopia's a long ways from here.
They're trying to steal my man and carry him over there.

I love my man, tell the cockeyed world I do.
I love my man, tell the cockeyed world I do.
It's coming up tight but he sure loves me too.

This old cockeyed world will make a good man treat you mean.
This old [cock]eyed world will make a good man treat you mean.
He will treat you just like a poor girl he's never seen.

It's war on Ethiopia and the man overhead.
It's war on Ethiopia and the man overhead.
I tell the cockeyed world the things my baby said.

It's war on Ethiopia. Baby, please, please behave.
It's war on Ethiopia. Please, please behave.
I'll tell the cockeyed world, I'll follow you to your grave.

That's right.

"The Cockeyed World" is likely the most topical song on this already fairly topical volume of the Anthology, commenting as it does on world events that were transpiring even as the music was being committed to wax. It also points ahead to an event that was to come: The Second World War, an event that, along with the Great Depression, would effectively end the world of the Anthology. The United States would emerge from the crucible of war and economic turmoil an entirely different nation; a nation that would dominate the world as one of only two Super Powers; a nation that possessed the power to destroy all life on earth; a nation that would wield unprecedented political and economic influence over the globe, an influence that only today is beginning to recede.

The recording itself is ebullient, in stark contrast with the heavy lyrical content. Minnie Wallace's vocal is strong and rough, and is definitely of a piece with that of Memphis Minnie. Joining Wallace on this recording are Will Shade on harmonica, Ernest Lawlers on guitar, Robert "Tim" Wilkins on second guitar, Kid Stormy Weather on piano and "Spoons" on the spoons.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's a short video that describes the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and the galvanizing affect it had on American and West Indian blacks.

Download and listen to Minnie Wallace - "The Cockeyed World"

"He's In The Ring (Doing The Same Old Thing)" - Memphis Minnie

2010-11-15T20:28:00.006-05:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc Two; Track Ten: "He's In The Ring (Doing The Same Old Thing)" performed by Memphis Minnie. Recorded in Chicago on August 22, 1935.

Memphis Minnie was born Lizzie Douglas in Algiers, Louisiana on June 3, 1897. She was the oldest of thirteen children born to Abe and Gertrude Douglas, both of whom earned a living as sharecroppers. In 1904, Douglas's family relocated to Walls, Mississippi. Around the same time, she received her first guitar as a gift and she began playing around the neighborhood. She would also sneak into nearby Memphis, Tennessee where she would play on the street and in public parks.

Around 1910, Douglas joined the Ringling Brothers Circus as a musician. She traveled all over the south with the circus before moving to the Bedford Plantation in Mississippi where she played with Willie Brown, a colleague and occasional performing partner of Charlie Patton's. During this period, Douglas began to establish a reputation as a first class blues performer, one of the few female blues musicians considered to be equal to (or even better than) the best male performers.

Before too long, however, Douglas returned to Memphis and began performing in the notorious Beale Street district. She had already proven herself a masterful blues musician, but living and working on Beale Street proved her toughness. She developed a reputation for hard drinking and gambling, and supplemented her income by working as a prostitute (charging the relatively exorbitant fee of $12 for her services, reportedly). Douglas also performed with the Memphis Jug Band during this period.

In 1929, Douglas made her first recordings for Columbia Records. Her first recording, "Bumble Bee" became a hit. It was on her first records that she was first credited as "Memphis Minnie," a name she continued to use for the rest of her career. She later recorded for other labels, including Decca and Bluebird, under the supervision of Lester Melrose. Among her other major contributions to the blues cannon, Minnie wrote "When The Levee Breaks" which was later recorded by Led Zeppelin.

Minnie was among the first generation of blues musicians to embrace the electric guitar, forming one of the first "classic" electric blues bands (consisting of electric guitar, bass, and drums). The sound Minnie helped pioneer lead the way for the Chicago blues musicians of the later '40s, including Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Willie Dixon, and Jimmy Rogers.

By the end of the 1950s, however, Minnie's music was considered unfashionable. Despite her use of electric instruments in performance, the more conservative record companies insisted that she record in her earlier style. She returned to Memphis in 1957. During this period, her health began to fail and she retired from performing. She spent the remainder of her life in a nursing home where she died from a stroke in 1973. She was buried in the New Hope Baptist Church Cemetery in Walls. Mississippi. A headstone was erected for her in 1996, largely paid for by guitarist Bonnie Raitt.

"He's In The Ring (Doing The Same Old Thing)" is an ode to the boxer Joe Louis (born Joseph Louis Barrow, 1914-1981). Joe Louis is widely considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. Louis held the heavyweight title from 1937 to 1949, a total of 140 consecutive months. Recorded in 1935, "He's In The Ring" stems from relatively early in Louis's career, two years before he would win the heavyweight championship. Louis was a hero to African-Americans in the 1930s and 40s. While Louis defended his title numerous times during his long reign (more than any other champion since the bare-knuckle era), no fight of Louis's was as emblematic as his two bouts against the German fighter Max Schmeling. Louis and Schmeling fought on June 19, 1936 and again on June 22, 1938. Schmeling was held up as proof of Aryan superiority by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. When Louis's first fight against Schmeling ended with Louis knocked out in the twelfth round. This was Louis only defeat by knockout during his prime. Poet Langston Hughes described the mood in Harlem following Louis's defeat:

I walked down Seventh Avenue and saw grown men weeping like children, and women sitting in the curbs with their head in their hands. All across the country that night when the news came that Joe was knocked out, people cried.

Louis met Schmeling a second time in 1938, after Louis had won the heavyweight championship. This time, Louis defeated Schmeling by a knockout in the first round. It was a major triumph for American blacks as well as a major setback for the Nazi image (the second such setback since Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games). Louis's victory helped to gradually defeat the myth of black inferiority.

Hey, you people going out tonight.
Let's go to see Joe Louis fight.
And if you ain't got no money,
Buddy (?), go tomorrow night.
'Cause he's in the ring doing the same old thing.

Well, he even carries a mean left.
You know he do!
And he carries a mean right.
And if he hit you with either one,
Sends the charge from a dynamite.
He's in the ring, boys, doing the same old thing.

I'm a-tell all of you prize fighters
Don't play Joe for no fool.
After he hits you with that left duke,
Same as a kick from a Texas mule.
He's in the ring, boys, doing the same old thing.

Joe Louis is a two-fist fighter.
And he stands six feet tall.
And the bigger they come,
He says, the harder they fall.
He's in the ring, oh! Doing the same old thing.

I'd chance my money with 'im!

For if I only had ten hundred dollars
And I laid up on my shelf.
I bet everybody passed my house
In one round Joe would knock 'em out.
He's in the ring, mmmmmmmmmmm! Doing the same old thing.

I wouldn't even pay my house rent.
I wouldn't buy me nothing to eat.
Joe Louis says, "Take a chance with me,
I'm gonna put (unintelligible) on your feet."
In the ring. He's still fightin'! Doing the same old thing!

"He's In The Ring (Doing The Same Old Thing)" is a blues masterpiece. Ably accompanied by Black Bob on piano and Bill Settles on bass, Memphis Minnie turns in a performance as powerful as one of Joe Louis's punches. Her voice is powerful, yet sensual, caressing the lyrics and lagging behind the beat. She makes frequent use of asides and exclamations, which add to the spontaneous feel of the recording. It is a highlight of the fourth volume in particular and of the Anthology as a whole.

This is also a performance that could not have appeared on the original three-volume Anthology. Like many of the ballads on volume one, "He's In The Ring" immortalizes a heroic figure in song. But unlike such figures as John Henry, Cole Younger, or Stackalee, Joe Louis is a figure set firmly in the present tense. All of the legendary figures on the original Anthology were dead and gone, but Joe Louis was somebody that a listener to this record could go see that very night. Blacks, as well as boxing fans of all colors, thrilled to Louis's exploits through newspaper reports and newsreels. Not only was Louis not dead, but his greatest deeds were yet to come.

Memphis Minnie was also far too contemporary a performer for the original Anthology. Her style was not only rooted in the classic country blues of the '20s, but it pointed towards the urban blues of the coming decade and rock and roll beyond.

"He's In The Ring (Doing The Same Old Thing)" is the first of two songs in a row that comment on current events that have nothing to do with the Depression and the first of two songs by a singer named "Minnie."

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Unable to find a recent video of "He's In The Ring (Doing The Same Old Thing)" (always a risk with topical songs), we present a performance of a different Memphis Minnie tune. This is "Me and My Chauffeur Blues" performed by the East River String Band.

Download and listen to Memphis Minnie - "He's In The Ring (Doing The Same Old Thing)"

"I'll Be Rested (When The Roll Is Called)" - Roosevelt Graves and Brother

2010-11-11T21:26:00.008-05:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc Two; Track Nine: "I'll Be Rested (When The Roll Is Called)" performed by Roosevelt Graves and Brother. Recorded in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on July 7, 1936.

Roosevelt Graves was born in Meridian, Mississippi on December 9, 1909. Other than the fact that he was blind, nothing is known of his life before he began recording. Graves played guitar and usually performed with his brother, Uaroy, who played tambourine and is widely considered to be one of the greatest tambourine players of all time. If little is known of Roosevelt Graves, absolutely nothing is known of his brother. There is no recorded birth or death date for Uaroy Graves. Until recently, even Uaroy's name was in dispute. He has often been miscredited as either "Aaron" or "Leroy" (in fact, he is credited as "Aaron" in Dick Spottswood's notes) on the assumption that "Uaroy" must have been a transcription error or a typo. In 2004, some Paramount Records documents were scanned and posted on the internet (sadly, I cannot find an active link) which clearly showed that Graves' brother was, indeed, named "Uaroy." Uaroy was partially sighted and served as a guide for his blind brother.

The Graves brothers made their first recordings for Paramount Records in 1929. A second session was recorded in July of 1936 through the agency of H.C. Speir. Some histories have this session taking place in a train station, although Speir reported to blues researcher Gayle Dean Wardlow that the session, in fact, took place in the Hotel Hattiesburg. Although only Graves and his brother appear on this recording, several other recordings were made during this session under the name The Mississippi Jook Band which included pianist Cooney Vaughn.

The Graves brothers did not record again. Roosevelt Graves died in Summerland, Mississippi on December 30, 1962. Uaroy's death date is unknown.

"I'll Be Rested (When The Roll Is Called)" is a spiritual that celebrates the life to come. It is the second of two religious songs in a row.

I'll be rested when the roll is called.
I'll be rested when the roll is called.
I'll be rested in the Kingdom of Heaven,
I'll be rested when the roll is called.

No more shoutin' when the roll is called.
No more shoutin' when the roll is called.
I'll be rested in the Kingdom of Heaven,
I'll be rested when the roll is called.

No more sorrows when the roll is called.
No more sorrows when the roll is called.
I'll be rested in the Kingdom of Heaven,
I'll be rested when the roll is called.

Meet my mother when the roll is called.
Meet my mother when the roll is called.
I'll be rested in the Kingdom of Heaven,
I'll be rested when the roll is called.

I'll be rested when the roll is called.
I'll be rested when the roll is called.
I'll be rested in the Kingdom of Heaven,
I'll be rested when the roll is called.

Meet my elders when the roll is called.
Meet my elders when the roll is called.
Meet my elders in the Kingdom of Heaven,
Meet my elders when the roll is called.

A simple, repetitive song, "I'll Be Rested" is as spirited and uplifting as "No Depression In Heaven" is downbeat. Graves and his brother perform the song with vigor, particularly Uaroy, whose tambourine sets an irresistible rhythm. Both brothers sing, with Uaroy's bass vocal employing a technique that sounds similar to the Kargyraa style of Tuvan throat singing. The brothers alternate unison and harmony vocals, with Uaroy occasionally interjecting asides such as "My lord" or "yes sir."

Some observers have noted how the heavily rhythmic nature of this recording seems to point forward towards rock and roll, with some hyperbolicly declaring "I'll Be Rested" to be the first rock and roll record. While it may not really be the first rock and roll record, it certainly does seem to point forward stylistically, which is in keeping with the tone of this set.

It is impossible for words to do justice to the simple brilliance of this recording. You have to hear it to believe it.

"I'll Be Rested (When The Roll Is Called)" is probably the most popular recording by Roosevelt and Uaroy Graves. It has been anthologized numerous times and can be heard on Dust-to-Digital's excellent Goodbye Babylon set. The song also appears on Revanant Records collection American Primitive, Vol I. The song has also been covered several times by such artists as Mavis Staples and the Nashville Bluegrass Band.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's a bluegrass version of "I'll Be Rested (When The Roll Is Called)" performed by bluegrassgod. Not sure if that's the name of the group or if one member posts in YouTube under that name.

Here's a lovely solo guitar version performed by jessewva.

Download and listen to Roosevelt Graves and Brother - "I'll Be Rested (When The Roll Is Called)"

"No Depression In Heaven" - The Carter Family

2010-11-09T22:52:00.010-05:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc Two; Track Eight: "No Depression In Heaven" performed by The Carter Family. Recorded in New York on June 9, 1936. Original issue Decca 5242.

For biographical information on the Carter Family, see the entry for "John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man."

"No Depression In Heaven" was written by gospel songwriter and publisher James D. Vaughan, who was born in Giles County, Tennessee on December 14, 1864. This is one of those coincidences/connections that would have delighted Smith, since Giles County is the place that Jim Jackson intends to "go back" to in "Old Dog Blue."

In addition to his contributions as a songwriter, Vaughan also founded WOAN, one of the first radio stations in Tennessee. He also started Vaughan Phonographic Records, the first record company based in the South. He was a great influence on A.P. Carter, who recorded several of Vaughan's compositions. James D. Vaughan died on February 9, 1941. He would be inducted into the Southern Gospel Hall of Fame in 1997.

"No Depression In Heaven" has been covered numerous times by artists ranging from the New Lost City Ramblers to Sheryl Crow. The song was perhaps most famously recorded as the title track to alternative country pioneers Uncle Tupelo's debut album, No Depression. It became so identified by the alternative country music that it inspired the title of No Depression,
the most prominent alt country magazine. The alternative country music is sometimes called the "No Depression" movement.

For fear the hearts of men are failing,
For these are latter days we know.
The Great Depression now is spreading,
God's word declared it would be so.

I'm going where there's no Depression,
To the lovely land that's free from care.
I'll leave this world of toil and trouble,
My home's in Heaven, I'm going there.

In that bright land, there'll be no hunger.
No orphan children cryin' for bread.
No weeping widows, toil or struggle.
No shrouds, no coffins, and no death.

I'm going where there's no Depression,
To the lovely land that's free from care.
I'll leave this world of toil and trouble,
My home's in Heaven, I'm going there.

This dark hour of midnight nearing,
Tribulation time will come.
The storms will hurl in midnight fear
And sweep lost millions to their doom.

I'm going where there's no Depression,
To the lovely land that's free from care.
I'll leave this world of toil and trouble,
My home's in Heaven, I'm going there.

Despite the speculation in Spottswood's notes that this song should have traded places with "Milk Cow Blues" in order to be part of the sequence of topical songs that began with "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?", "No Depression In Heaven" isn't really a "topical song." The song does make reference to then-current events, but unlike "How Can A Poor Man..." or either of Uncle Dave Macon's songs on this volume, "No Depression In Heaven" isn't so much about the events of the 1930s as it is about transcending those events. "No Depression In Heaven" is a song about how ultimately unimportant the circumstances of this world are, when compared with the life to come.

Had it appeared on the original Anthology, there is no doubt that "No Depression In Heaven" would have appeared on the religious disc of the "Social Music" volume. This is a song that promises eternal salvation and liberation from the travails of the material world. The Great Depression is simply the latest of a growing litany of miseries that will be eventually relieved in death.

Vaughan's lyric also makes reference of the end of the world. The speaker in the song refers to 1930s as the "latter days" and speaks, in the last verse, of the "tribulation time" that will come. This refers to the events foretold in the revelation of St. John the Divine. Of course, the world did not end in Vaughan's lifetime, nor in the lifetime of any members of the original Carter Family. People have been predicting the end of the world, based on the prophesies of the New Testament, since the words of St. John were written down (indeed, these events were supposedly going to happen within the lifetime of the Apostles). Despite their perfect record of being wrong, Christians continue to predict that we are living in the last days. Most recently, this type of thinking has made the fortune of author and huckster Tim LaHaye, whose bestselling Left Behind books purport to give an "authentic" and "scholarly" glimpse of the tribulation to come, all dressed up in paranoia and superstition. Get ready for the rapture, but be sure to give Mr. LaHaye your money in the meanwhile.

The Carter Family's reading of this allegedly uplifting song is fascinating. Featuring dual guitars played by Sara and Maybelle Carter, along with the supporting vocal of A.P. Carter (who hasn't been heard on the Anthology in some time), "No Depression In Heaven" has become one of the definitive Carter Family records. The odd thing is that for all comfort Sara is supposedly bringing through the lyric, Sara herself doesn't sound very happy about the whole thing. Her somber, deadpan reading cuts against the triumphant tone of the lyric. Perhaps there is no Depression in Heaven, but Sara doesn't make heaven sound very inviting.

"No Depression In Heaven" is the last of four songs in a row by artists who appeared on the original Anthology. It is also the last song on the Anthology by the Carter Family, who contribute a whopping seven tracks to the set. Not only are there more songs by the Carter Family than any other artist, but the Carters are the only artist to appear on all four volumes. As was mentioned in the entry for "John Hardy Was A Desperate Little Man," it is only fitting that Smith gave over so much space to the Carter Family, as it can easily be argued that they are among the most important musicians in American history.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's Uncle Tupelo (the band that would later give the world Wilco and Son Volt) performing "No Depression In Heaven" during a 1992 appearance in Chicago.

This a version of "No Depression" performed by Sheryl Crow. The video makes explicit tribute to the Carter Family, and to American Folk Music in general.

Here's a version performed by Jeff Crane, Terry Dignon & Anthony Tino live at the Rosendale Cafe, April 28, 2009.

Download and listen to The Carter Family - "No Depression In Heaven"

"Milk Cow Blues" - John Estes

2010-11-04T20:39:00.008-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc Two; Track Seven: "Milk Cow Blues" performed by John Estes. Recorded in Memphis on May 13, 1930. Original issue Victor 59918-2.

For biographical information on "Sleepy" John Estes and Yank Rachel, see the entry for "Expressman Blues."

John Estes and Yank Rachel return with this ribald song of adultery, drunkenness and disease.

Now, asks sweet mama,
Lemme be her kid.
She says, "I might get boogied
Like to keep it hid."

Well, she looked at me,
She begin to smile.
Says, "I thought I would use you
For my man a while."

"That you just don't let my husband
Catch you there.
Now, just - just don't let my
Husband catch you there."

Now, went upstairs
To pack my leavin' trunk.
I never saw no whiskey.
The blues done made me sloppy drunk.

Say, I never saw no whiskey.
Blues done made me sloppy drunk.
Now, I never saw no whiskey,
But the blues done made me sloppy drunk.

Now some said, disease
Some said it was [unintelligible]
But it's the slow consumption
Killin' you by degrees.

Lord, it's the slow consumption
Killin' you by degrees.
Now, it's a slow consumption
And it's killin' you by degrees.

"Milk Cow Blues" was recorded four days before the version of "Expressman Blues" that appears on volume three of the Anthology and features the same instrumental line-up (Estes on guitar, Rachel on mandolin and vocal, and Jab Jones on piano). The song has nothing whatever to do with its title, instead it concerns a man having an affair with a married woman (becoming her "kid" or "kid man"). The speaker declares that, not having imbibed any whiskey, it is "the blues" that have made him "sloppy drunk" (a dubious claim, to say the least). In the last verse, the speaker addresses someone whose identity is unclear (it could be the woman from the first verse, although in that verse the woman is addressed as "she." In this verse, the speaker addresses a "you"). The speaker declares that a "slow consumption" is killing the addressee "by degrees." Consumption, of course, was another name for tuberculosis, an infectious disease that often affects the lungs, although it can affect other body parts including the spine. Notable victims of tuberculosis include Franz Kafka, George Orwell, Vivian Leigh, Charles Bukowski, Dashiell Hammett, Maxim Gorkey, Albert Camus, and - of course - Jimmie Rodgers.

This song is unrelated to the Kokomo Arnold song by the same title. It was the Arnold song that Elvis Presley famously covered during his Sun Sessions.

"Milk Cow Blues" has been covered by Taj Mahal as well as the Derek Trucks Band.

This is the third track in a row of four that feature artists who appeared on the original three-volume Anthology.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

This is a clip of the Kinks performing a song called "Milk Cow Blues" that has nothing to do with Estes and Rachel's song OR the Kokomo Arnold song. Nevertheless, it rocks and its worth seeing. This performance features Dave Davies on lead vocal.

Download and listen to John Estes - "Milk Cow Blues"

"Governor Al Smith" - Uncle Dave Macon

2010-11-01T16:24:00.006-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc Two; Track Six: "Governor Al Smith" performed by Uncle Dave Macon. Recorded in Chicago on July 26, 1928.

For biographical information on Uncle Dave Macon, see the entry on "Way Down The Old Plank Road."

Alfred Emmanuel Smith (December 30, 1873-October 4, 1944) was the four-time Governor of the State of New York who ran unsuccessfully for President of the United States in 1928. His opponent was Herbert Hoover, who had served as Secretary of Commerce in the Calvin Coolidge administration. In 1928, the United States was experiencing an unprecedented economic boom, for which the administrations of Coolidge and Harding had taken credit. This unprecedented boom was to end with the Stock Market Crash of 1929, which would lead to an equally unprecedented economic crisis. The nation's prosperity in 1928, coupled with anti-Catholic sentiments aimed at Smith, ensured that Hoover would defeat Smith in the general election. One of the planks in Smith's platform was the repeal of prohibition. Smith was succeeded as Governor of New York by future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

"Governor Al Smith" is a direct endorsement of Smith by Uncle Dave Macon, a remarkable thing considering that Smith was both a northerner and a Catholic.

Gettin' right now.

Al Smith nominated for president, darlin'.
Al Smith nominated for president, darlin'.
Al Smith nominated for president,
My vote to him I'm a-gonna present, darlin'.

Al Smith is a mighty fine man, darlin'.
Al Smith is a mighty fine man, darlin'.
Al Smith is a mighty fine man,
He wants to be president of our land, darlin'.

Hot dog! In Chicago, just from Tennessee, and here's what the people say:

Al Smith is a-gettin' on a boom, darlin'.
Al Smith is a-gettin' on a boom, darlin'.
Al Smith is a-gettin' on a boom, darlin.'
Al Smith is a-gettin' on a boom.
He don't favor the open saloon, darlin'.

Smith wants everything to be just right, darlin'.
Smith wants everything to be just right, darlin'.
Smith wants everything to be just right.
The law's gonna get you if you get tight, darlin'.

I'm gonna buy my little camphor gum, darlin'.
I'm gonna buy my little camphor gum, darlin'.
I'm gonna buy my little camphor gum,
For then I think I can buy a little rum, darlin'.

Moonshine's been here long enough, darlin'.
Moonshine's been here long enough, darlin'.
Moonshine's been here long enough,
Let's all vote right and get a-rid of this stuff, darlin'.

Many a good man's been poisoned to death, darlin'.
Many a good man's been poisoned to death, darlin.'
Many a good man's been poisoned to death,
And a-with real drink was never blessed, darlin'.

There's a-four dollar bills and a bottle of beer, darlin'.
Four dollar bills and a bottle of beer, darlin'.
Four dollar bills and a bottle of beer,
Wish to the lord my honey was here, darlin'.

Macon's performance of "Governor Al Smith," which likely recycles the melody of an old folk tune, is more subdued than the other tracks of his that have appeared on the Anthology. Even his characteristic opening remark seems relatively understated. As for Macon's endorsement of Smith, he seems primarily interested in Smith's desire to overturn prohibition. Six of the eight verses deal with alcohol. It is clear that, more than anything else, Macon wants a drink.

Is it too much to suppose that Harry Smith chose to include this track, in part, because it concerns a namesake of his?

"Governor Al Smith," which once again features the guitar of Sam McGee, is the type of song that Harry Smith would never have used on the original three-volume Anthology. While many of the songs on the original three volumes could be described as "topical," none of them describe a current event. Although things like the sinking of the Titanic or the assassination of William McKinley were relatively recent history to the artists on the Anthology - many of these events happening within the artist's lifetime - the two Uncle Dave Macon tracks presented on "Volume Four" represent something completely different. The previous selection, "The Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train," commented on a current event. But "Governor Al Smith" goes that track one further: It actually attempts to influence the outcome of a future event. That it was unsuccessful is unimportant. What is important is that the difference of these tracks further underlines the distinction of "Volume Four" from the first three volumes of the set. Once again, the music of "Volume Four" concerns itself with the present and future rather than the past.

Macon would refer to Al Smith's defeat in a later song titled "Nashville."

"Governor Al Smith" is the third of three topical songs in a row and the second of two songs by Uncle Dave Macon (as on the third volume, Uncle Dave's songs are sequenced back to back). It is also the second of four songs in a row that feature artists from the original three-volume Anthology.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

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Here's some footage of Al Smith commenting on the repeal of the 18th Amendment in 1933.

Download and listen to Uncle Dave Macon - "Governor Al Smith"

"Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train" - Uncle Dave Macon

2010-10-26T23:30:00.004-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc Two; Track Five: "Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train?" performed by Uncle Dave Macon. Recorded in Jackson, Mississippi on December 17, 1930. Original issue Okeh 45507.

For biographical information on Uncle Dave Macon, see the entry on "Way Down The Old Plank Road."

"Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train" is a topical song referring to a banking and financial scandal that embroiled the state of Tennessee during the early years of the Depression. Dick Spottswood (who wrote the notes to Volume Four) summarizes the situation thus:

Charles Wolfe told me that when Tennessee governor Austin Peay died in office in 1927, his replacement was Henry Horton who, with good intentions, sold bonds to complete school & road projects. He trusted one Henry Lea, who instituted a corrupt patronage system, putting state money in banks & trusts controlled by Rogers Caldwell in Nashville. One of his enterprises was Kyrock Construction Co. It received road contracts without bidding for them and this became an issue in the 1930 gubernatorial election. Horton won, but the stock market crashed shortly thereafter, taking down the Bank of Tennessee, with $3.5 million in state funds raised from bonds. Tennessee ultimately was $6 million in debt. Horton was impeached, but the House supported him 58-41, leavng him in office. (As related to Rick Lee)

Macon is joined on this track by his usual accompanist, Sam McGee, who plays the banjo-guitar. The banjo-guitar is a six string banjo with the neck of a guitar. It is also sometimes known as the guitar banjo, guitjo, banjitar or ganjo. I have not been able to find any specific history of the banjo-guitar, but it was popular in the 1920s, suggesting that it probably evolved during the previous decade or so. The guitar-banjo was the instrument of Johnny St. Cyr, and has also been played by such musicians as Django Reinhardt, Papa Charley Jackson, the Reverend Gary Davis, Doc Watson, Taj Mahal, Rod Stewart, David Hidalgo, Joe Satriani, and Keith Urban.

The people of Tennessee want to know who wrecked our gravy train.
The one we thought was run so well and now who can we blame?
They want to know who greased the track and start them down the road?
This same ol' train contained our money to build our highway roads.

But now we're up against it and no use to raise a row.
But of all the times I've ever seen, we're sure up against it now.
The only thing that we can do is to do the best we can.
Follow me, good people, I'm bound for the promised land.

Now, I could be a banker without the least excuse.
But look at the treasurer of Tennessee and tell me what's the use?
We lately bonded Tennessee for just five million bucks.
The bonds were issued and the money tied up and now we're in tough luck.

But now we're up against it and no use to raise a row.
But of all the times I've ever seen, we're sure up against it now.
The only thing that we can do is to do the best we can.
Follow me, good people, I'm bound for the promised land.

Some lay it all on parties, some lay it on others you see.
But now that you can plainly see what happened to Tennessee.
For the engineer pulled the throttle, conductor rang the bell,
The brakeman hollered 'all aboard' and the banks all went to hell.

But now we're up against it and no use to raise a row.
But of all the times I've ever seen, we're sure up against it now.
The only thing that we can do is to do the best we can.
Follow me, good people, I'm bound for the promised land.

Another spirited social commentary by Uncle Dave, who keeps the mood light despite the grim subject matter. Uncle Dave ends the chorus with the promise of better things to come (he is "bound for the promised land"). Nevertheless, Uncle Dave uncharacteristically utters the word "hell" instead of substituting another word (such as "hallelujah," as he does in "Buddy Won't You Roll Down The Line"), indicating just how serious this situation is.

"Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train" is the second of three topical songs in a row and the first of two songs by Uncle Dave Macon (as on the third volume, Uncle Dave's songs are sequenced back to back).

As with the previous song, "Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train" seems to eerily mirror current events, although it merely goes to show that there is truly nothing new under the sun...

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

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Here's broonkind performing a version of "Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train."

Download and listen to Uncle Dave Macon - "Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train"

"How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?" - Blind Alfred Reed

2010-10-22T23:17:00.008-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc Two; Track Four: "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?" performed by Blind Alfred Reed. Recorded in New York on December 4, 1929. Original issue Victor V-40236.

Alfred Reed was born in Floyd, Virgina on June 15, 1880. Other than the fact that he was born blind, little is known of Reed's early life. He reportedly began playing violin at an early age. He played locally, performing at fairs, church functions, political rallies, and on street corners. He was discovered in 1927 by Ralph Peer while performing at a fiddle convention. Peer invited Reed to record at the historic Bristol Sessions where Reed recorded four titles. He recorded a further five titles at a session in December, 1927. His last recordings were made in New York City in on December 3rd and 4th, 1929, less than two months after the Stock Market Crash. He recorded twelve titles over the course of two days, including "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?"

Following his 1929 recording session, Reed never recorded again. He lived the rest of his life in Mercer County, West Virginia. He continued to perform locally until a 1937 statute banned blind street musicians in his community. Reed also served as a lay Methodist minister. Reed died, allegedly of starvation, on January 17, 1956.

"How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?" is a song protesting high prices, high taxes, government mandated education, trigger happy policemen, greedy preachers, and the high cost of medical care. Heard in 2010, the song sounds curiously like an anthem for the Tea Party, proving (if proof were needed)that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

There was once a time when everything was cheap,
But now prices almost puts a man to sleep.
When we pay our grocery bill,
We just feel like makin' our will.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?

I remember when dry goods were cheap as dirt.
We could take two bits and buy a dandy shirt.
Now we pay three bucks or more,
Maybe get a shirt that another man's wore.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?

Well, I used to trade with a man by the name of Gray.
Flour was fifty cents for a twenty-four pound bag.
Now it's a dollar and a half beside,
Just like skinning a flea for the hide.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?

Oh, the schools we have today ain't worth a cent.
But they see to it that every child is sent.
If we don't send everyday,
We have a heavy fine to pay.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?

Prohibition's good if 'tis conducted right.
There's no sense in shootin' a man 'til he shows flight.
Officers kill without a cause,
Then complain about funny laws.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?

Most all preachers preach for dough and not the soul.
That's what keeps a poor man always in a hole.
We can hardly get our breath,
Taxed and schooled and preached to death.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?

Oh, it's time for every man to be awake.
We pay fifty cents a pound when we ask for steak.
When we get our package home,
Got a little wad of paper with gristle and a bone.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?

Well, the doctor comes around with a face so bright.
And he says in a little while you'll be all right.
All he gives is a humbug pill,
A dose of dope and a great big bill.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?

"How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?" is the first of three topical songs in a row, and the first of six such songs to appear on this disc.

Reed's song laments the hard times that were only just beginning in 1929. In addition to singing, Reed plays the violin on this track and is accompanied by his son, Arville Reed, on guitar. The musical performances on this track are crude and Reed's vocal style is flat and emotionless. Nevertheless, the song strikes chord in the listener. We can identify with Reed's bewilderment as the world changes rapidly, and not always for the better. Because he recorded a few topical songs, Reed is sometimes viewed as an early protest singer. Mostly, however, Reed recorded religious songs and ballads. "How Can A Poor Man..." has had considerable influence over the years, however. The song was recorded by Ry Cooder in 1970, and was famously rewritten by Bruce Springsteen in 2006. Springsteen's version only uses the last verse of Reed's song, the rest being a protest of the Bush Administration's mishandling of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.

Well the doctor comes 'round here with his face all bright.
And he says "in a little while you'll be alright."
All he gives is a humbug pill, a dose of dope and a great big bill.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?

"Me and my old school pals had some mighty high times down here.
And what happened to you poor black folks, well it just ain't fair."
He took a look around, gave a little pep talk,
Said "I'm with you" then he took a little walk.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?

There's bodies floatin' on Canal and the levees gone to Hell.
Martha, get me my sixteen gauge and some dry shells.
Them who's got got out of town and them who ain't got left to drown.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?

Got family scattered from Texas all the way to Baltimore.
Yeah and I ain't got no home in this world no more.
Gonna be a judgment that's a fact, a righteous train rollin' down this track.
Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's Ry Cooder performing a version of "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?" from a 1987 performance.

This is Bruce Springsteen performing his version of "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?"

Download and listen to Blind Alfred Reed - "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?"

"West Virgina Gals" - Al Hopkins and his Buckle Busters

2010-10-18T22:12:00.008-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc Two; Track Three: "West Virginia Gals" performed by Al Hopkins and his Buckle Busters. Recorded in New York on December 20, 1928.

Born in Watauga County, North Carolina in 1889, Albert Green Hopkins was one of the first true country musicians and one of the originators of "hillbilly" music. Hopkins was born to John Benjamin Hopkins, a state legislator, and Celia Isabel Green Hopkins. Both parents were musical. Hopkins' father repaired organs as a hobby and played fiddle, piano and organ. His mother sang ballads and church music. Hopkins primarily played piano.

The Hopkins family relocated to Washington D.C. in 1904 when Hopkins was fifteen. In 1910, he and his brothers Joe, Elmer, and John formed the Old Mohawk Quartet, a group that played around D.C., frequently appearing at the Majestic Theater. In the early 1920s, Hopkins moved to Galax, Virgina where he worked for his older brother, Jacob, was a doctor with an established practice. He also entertained his brother's patients. In 1924, Hopkins and his brother Joe formed a band with fiddler Alonzo Elvis "Tony" Alderman and banjo player John Rector. After an aborted recording session in 1924, the group recorded six selections for Ralph Peer in New York City on January 15, 1925. At that session, Peer asked the still-unnamed band what they were called. Hopkins modestly replied that they were "just a bunch of hillbillies." Peer named their group "The Hill Billies," much to the musicians' consternation (none of the members of the group conformed to the "hillbilly" stereotype). Alderman would later say that to them the word "hillbilly" was a "fighting word." Nevertheless, Hopkins and his group were associated with the word hillbilly and they tried for a time to control the word's use, at least as far as it was applied to music. Eventually, they were forced to accept that hillbilly had become a genre of music.

Recording alternately as the Hill Billies and as the Buckle Busters, Hopkins and his band (which went through varying line-ups) were the first country band to perform in New York City, the first to perform for an American President (Calvin Coolidge), and the first to appear in a film. Hopkins recorded the song "West Virginia Gals" in New York City during a 1928 session. While the group was credited as the Buckle Busters, none of Hopkins regular musicians appear on the recording, nor does Hopkins play piano.

Hopkins was killed in a car accident in Winchester, Virginia on October 21, 1932. His group disbanded upon his death.

"West Virginia Gals" is a variation of a minstrel song published under the title "Free Nigger" in 1841. "Free Nigger" was published without a composer credit. The tune is similar to that of "A Lazy Farmer Boy" and is likely related to that song.

Come all you West Virginia gals and listen to my noise.
Don't you court these West Virginia boys.
If you do, your fortune will be
Corn bread and bacon you will see.
Corn bread and bacon you will see.

When you go a courtin' they will set you a chair.
The first thing they say is, "My daddy killed a deer!"
The next thing they say when you set down,
"Mammy, ain't you bakin' your Johnny Cakes brown!
Mammy, ain't you bakin' your Johnny Cakes brown!"

When they go to meetin' I'll tell you what to wear:
Scissor tail coat all ready to tear,
Old leather boots with the top turned down,
Pair of cotton socks that they wear year round.
Pair of cotton socks that they wear year round.

When they go to store, they take a turn of corn,
Pat of salty butter right fresh from the churn.
Store keeper says, "You haven't got enough
For a plug of tobaccer and a bail of snuff.
For a plug of tobaccer and a bail of snuff."

When they bottle 'lasses I'll tell you what to do.
Build a rock furnace without any flue.
Grind their cane around and around.
Stop the 'lasses boiler and they set it on the ground.
Stop the 'lasses boiler and they set in on the ground.

They build their houses with log walls.
Don't have winders, none at all.
Clapboard roof and old slab door.
Sandstone chimbley and a puncheon floor.
Sandstone chimbley and a puncheon floor.

Take you away to the blackjack hills.
There to live and make your will.
There you stay and starve in space.
That is the way of the West Virginia race.
That is the way of the West Virginia race.

Given Hopkins relatively middle class background, it is likely that the extremely primitive style of "West Virginia Gals," a song that pokes fun at the poor rural folk of that state, is satirical.

The song, of course, warns West Virginia girls not to court the boys of that state ("Free Nigger," the song "West Virginia Gals" derives from, warns Virginia girls not to marry Carolina boys). The song indulges in the most extreme stereotypes of "hillbillies" or "white trash" (this is ironic given the offense that Hopkins and the members of his group took at being called hillbillies themselves). Extremely politically incorrect by today's standards as this song is, it is worth remembering that racial, ethnic, and regional humor were commonplace and acceptable forms of entertainment during the 1920s. And as much as "West Virginia Gals" might offend our sensibilities today, it is still possible to enjoy the song based purely on its musical merits.

While the primitiveness of the performance is likely a pose, it nevertheless gives the song a raw excitement. Hopkins sings the song with an exaggerated yelp at the end of most of the lines. The song also parodies the rural pronunciation of such words as "tobacco," "chimney," and "molasses." If the song is not authentically rural, it is (at the very least) authentically weird, which makes it a candidate for inclusion in Smith's survey.

The other musicians featured on this recording are Ed Belcher on fiddle and Walter Hughes on guitar.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

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I can't seem to find a version of the "West Virginia Gals" performed here by Hopkins. Most of the videos I've seen are an instrumental banjo tune, which is quite lovely. Here's one of the best versions I've seen, performed by Bfeito.

Download and listen to Al Hopkins and his Buckle Busters - "West Virginia Gals"

"Stand By Me" - Sister Clara Hudmon

2010-10-14T23:57:00.003-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc Two; Track Two: "Stand By Me" performed by Sister Clara Hudmon. Recorded in Atlanta on December 12, 1930.

There is little biographical information on Sister Clara Hudmon, at least pertaining to her early life. She was born in 1903 had been a member of J.M. Gates' Atlanta congregation. She made her first recordings for Okeh in 1930, including this version of "Stand By Me."

While still a teenager, Hudmon married Rev. T.T. Gholston shortly after the death of his first wife. The marriage caused a scandal and the couple relocated to New York City where Hudmon recorded a celebrated version of "When The Saints Go Marching In" in 1932. After divorcing Gholston, Hudmon left the Baptist church for a Pentecostal sect. Hudmon received a major break in her career when she headlined at Radio City Music Hall during a program of gospel music. She was nicknamed The Georgia Peach, a name under which she recorded during the 1940s and after. She became one of the foremost gospel singers of her generation, along with such figures as Mahalia Jackson and Sallie Martin. Hudmon died in 1966.

"Stand By Me" is a hymn written by the Rev. Charles Albert Tindley. Tindley was a Methodist minister and an influential composer of sacred songs in the early 20th century. Among his compositions are "What Are They Doing In Heaven Today," "We'll Understand It Better By and By" and "Take Your Burden to The Lord and Leave It There," all of which were recorded numerous times during the 1920s and '30s. Tindley also wrote "I'll Overcome Someday," which was later adapted into the Civil Rights anthem, "We Shall Overcome." Tindley influenced a generation of Gospel songwriters, including Thomas A. Dorsey.

When the storm of life's a ragin',
Stand by me.
When the storm of life's a ragin',
Stand by me.
When the world is tossing me
Like a ship out on the sea,
Thou who rulest winds and waters
Stand by me.

In the midst of tribulation,
Stand by me.
In the midst of tribulation,
Stand by me.
When the hosts of hell assail
And my strength begins to fail,
Thou who never lost a battle
Stand by me.

[Hummed verse]

In the midst of persecution,
Stand by me.
In the midst of persecution,
Stand by me.
When my foes in battle array
Undertake to stop my way,
Thou who saved Paul and Silas
Stand by me.

When I'm growing old and feeble,
Stand by me.
When I'm growing old and feeble,
Stand by me.
When my life becomes a burden
And I'm nearing to the Jordan,
Oh the Lily of the Valley
Stand by me.

"Stand By Me" is the first real gospel song to appear on volume four of the Anthology ("Mean Old World," while recorded by a gospel quartet, makes no mention of God or Jesus and offers no comfort). It is a rollicking, uptempo number that would fit right in with the material found on the second disc of "Social Music." Hudmon is accompanied by a chorus consisting of Sisters Norman and Jordan and Deacon Leon Davis (who likely sings the wordless bass part here) and a piano played by an unknown hand. More than joining Hudmon in the singing, Norman and Jordan contribute spoken asides and shouts of encouragement, likely intended to recreate the church atmosphere.

I have read rumors to the effect that "Stand By Me" was performed by Bessie Smith under a pseudonym. Frankly, I've seen no evidence to support this theory. Hudmon doesn't sound a bit like Smith to my ears (their vocal styles are completely different). It was a common practice for black musicians of the 1920s and '30s to record both sacred and secular material, and such musicians did sometimes record religious material under an assumed name (on the theory that religious listeners would not approve of blues musicians, who played "the devil's music"). Both Charlie Patton and Blind Lemon Jefferson participated in this practice. However, when Jefferson and Patton performed religious songs, they still sounded enough like themselves to make their true identities obvious. This theory sounds more like wishful thinking more than anything else...

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's dwCrooner performing a version of "Stand By Me" in the style of Elvis Presley. He does a pretty good Elvis, too!

I've always resisted posting videos that don't include an actual live performance of a song, but I'll make an exception here. This is a version of "Stand By Me" performed by Elvis Presley himself. This recording was assembled by YouTube user navelstreng from unreleased takes and remixed. This is a gorgeous performance that deserves to be heard...

Download and listen to Sister Clara Hudmon - "Stand By Me"

"Hello, Stranger" - The Carter Family

2010-10-11T22:33:00.009-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc Two; Track One: "Hello, Stranger" performed by The Carter Family. Recorded in New York on June 17, 1937.

For biographical information on the Carter Family, see the entry for "John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man."

"Hello, Stranger" is a basic 12-bar blues performed as a duet between Sara and Maybelle Carter, the two vocalists alternating overlapping lines.

Hello stranger, put your loving hand in mine.
Hello stranger, put your loving hand in mine.
You are a stranger, and you're a pal of mine.

Get up rounder, let a working man lay down.
Get up rounder, let a working man lay down.
You are a rounder, but you're all out and down.

Every time I ride Six and Fourth street car.
Oh, every time I ride Six and Fourth street car.
I can see my baby peeping through the bars.

She bowed her head, she waved both hands at me.
She bowed her head, she waved both hands at me.
I'm prison bound, I'm longing to be free.

Oh, I'll see you, when your troubles are like mine.
Oh, I'll see you, when your troubles are like mine.
Oh, I'll see you, when you haven't got a dime.

Weeping like a willow and mourning like a dove.
Weeping like a willow and mourning like a dove.
There's a girl up the country that I really love.

Hello stranger, put your loving hand in mine.
Hello stranger, put your loving hand in mine.
You are a stranger, and you're a pal of mine.

"Hello, Stranger" marks the second appearance by the Carter Family on volume four and their sixth appearance overall on the Anthology. The Carter Family will turn up one last time on this disc.

"Hello, Stranger" tells the story of a man on his way to prison. The speaker never says what he's going to jail for, but we know that he's leaving his girl behind. The speaker appears to be addressing most of the song to a fellow convict.

A.P. Carter was a close friend and associate of African-American songster Leslie Riddle (1905-1980). Riddle frequently accompanied Carter on his "song collecting" trips and is frequently cited, along with Jimmie Rodgers, as a primary influence on the Carters when it came to recording blues songs.

"Hello, Stranger" went on to become one of the Carter Family's signature songs and is today regarded as a Country Music standard.

This track kicks off the last disc of the Anthology.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's a very dapper singer/guitarist who calls himself "The Rooster" performing a soulful version of "Hello, Stranger."

This is the Dry Bones Band performing a version of "Hello, Stranger" with two guitars and percussion.

Download and listen to The Carter Family - "Hello, Stranger"

"Mean Old World" - Heavenly Gospel Singers

2010-10-07T22:33:00.006-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track Fourteen: "Mean Old World" performed by Heavenly Gospel Singers. Recorded in Atlanta on August 7, 1935.

The Heavenly Gospel Singers originally hailed from Spartanburg, South Carolina, but they first came together in Detroit, Michigan during the 1920s when tenor Fred Whitmore first organized a group of friends into a singing group called the Masonic Glee Club. They gradually grew in popularity, securing gigs as far away as Chicago. At some point, the group changed their name to the Heavenly Gospel Singers. By 1930, however, most of the original group was gone, leaving only Whitmore. In addition, the group consisted of lead singer Roosevelt Fenroy, baritone Henderson Massey, and bass Jimmy Bryant. The group was signed to Bluebird and, on August 7, 1935, made their first recordings. They recorded ten sides at their first session in Atlanta, Georgia, including this recording of "Mean Old World." They recorded a further ten songs at a second session in 1936.

By this point, the group was a successful recording and performing unit. The unexpected death of founder Fred Whitmore, however, put their future in jeopardy. Deciding to carry on with Arthur Lee "Bob" Beatty in Whitmore's place, the group made their most significant recording in February, 1937 when they became the first gospel quartet to record Thomas Dorsey's "Take My Hand Precious Lord."

In 1938, the group began to fragment. Dissent within the group caused bass singer Jimmy Bryant (arguably one of the most influential bass vocalists in the history of American music) to quit. He was replaced by William Bobo, who was also to become a legendary vocalist in his own right. Both Bryant and Bobo were to become, at different times, members of the seminal gospel group, the Dixie Hummingbirds.

Eventually, the Heavenly Gospel Singers were reduced to Henderson Massey and shifting group of sidemen. They made their last recordings for Bluebird in 1941. By the end of World War II, the group had drifted into obscurity. A postwar group recorded under the name the Heavenly Gospel Singers, but this group was from Alabama and contained no members of the original group whatsoever.

The Heavenly Gospel Singers, with the prominent bass of Jimmy Bryant, were highly influential. Their style would inspire the Golden Gate Quartet and other groups, eventually influencing the first generation of Doo-Wop groups that emerged during the 1950s.

Biographical information, especially birth and death dates, for the individual members of the group appears to be unavailable at this time.

"Mean Old World" is a simple song that repeatedly points out the troubles of this mortal coil.

This is a mean,
This is a mean old world,
You try to live in,
You try to stay in,
Until you die.

Without a mother,
Without a father,
Without a sister,
Lord, you ain't got no brother.

This is a mean old world
You try to live in
Until you die.

You got to walk,
You got to walk sometimes.
You try to live in,
You try to stay in,
Until you die.

Without a mother,
Without a father,
Without a sister,
Lord, you ain't got no brother.

This is a mean old world
You try to live in
Until you die.

You got to pray,
You got to pray sometimes.
You try to live in,
You try to stay in,
Until you die.

Without a mother,
Without a father,
Without a sister,
Lord, you ain't got no brother.

This is a mean old world
You try to live in
Until you die.

You got to pray,
You got to pray sometimes.
You try to live in,
You try to stay in,
Until you die.

Without a mother,
Without a father,
Without a sister,
Lord, you ain't got no brother.

This is a mean old world
You try to live in
Until you die.

This is a mean,
This is a mean old world,
You try to live in,
You try to stay in,
Until you die.

Ain't got no mother,
Ain't got no father,
Ain't got no sister,
Lord, don't pray no brother.

This is a mean old world
You try to live in
Until you die.

It is tempting to imagine that Smith chose "Mean Old World" because of its fatalistic message. While the song repeatedly states that "this is a mean old world...you try to live in...until you die," the song does not offer any comfort. While prayer is mentioned, there is no mention of God or of a personal savior. There is no promise of eternal salvation, nor even the threat of damnation. The song simply drums home the fact that life sucks and then you die. A cheerful note on which to end the first disc of this volume.

It has long been a theme of Christianity that the material world is one of hardship and suffering, but there is usually the promise of something better after death. The salvation not explicitly mentioned in this song may have been assumed on the part of the song's writer, and so it was not deemed necessary to state outright that death brings relief from the sufferings of earthly existence. The song might have been intended as a momento mori, a simple reminder that we are all mortal and must eventually pass from the earth.

"Mean Old World" follows five blues recordings in a row, and may have been intended to augment the theme of hard times that often accompany blues recordings, or to offer a different take on "the blues."

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

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This is a video of gospel singer Marion Williams performing a song called "Mean Old World" which probably has nothing to do with the song sung by the Heavenly Gospel Singers. However, it's interesting to compare this example of post-war gospel singing with the rawer pre-war spirituals...

Download and listen to the Heavenly Gospel Singers - "Mean Old World"

"Parchman Farm Blues" - Bukka White

2010-10-04T19:56:00.006-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track Thirteen: "Parchman Farm Blues" performed by Bukka White. Recorded in Chicago on March 7, 1940. Original issue OKeh 05683.

Booker T. Washington White was born between Aberdeen and Houston, Mississippi on November 12, 1906. His first instrument was the fiddle, which he played at local dances. Later, White took up the piano and the guitar, which White played with a slide and became his primary instrument. White later claimed to have met Charlie Patton early in his career, although this claim has since been disputed. In any case, Patton was a major influence on White.

White made his first recordings for Victor in 1930, which included several gospel numbers performed in the style of Blind Willie Johnson. In 1937, White was arrested for assault and was sentenced to the Mississippi State Penitentiary a.k.a. Parchman Farm. While in prison, White met and was recorded by John Lomax, who had already made a recording sensation of a Lead Belly, another former convict. Lomax recorded several of White's songs for the Library of Congress. White also recorded commercially while still in prison. One of his most famous songs, "Shake 'em On Down," was recorded during this period. It was during this period that White was given his notoriously condescending nickname. Vocalion, the record label that released the recordings White recorded while incarcerated, phonetically rendered White's given name as "Bukka" (one assumes this was because that is the way White himself pronounced the name "Booker"). White himself hated the nickname and insisted that his name be spelled correctly, but it stuck and was appended to all of his subsequent recordings.

Following his release in 1940, White traveled to Chicago where he recorded for Lester Melrose. Among the sides made for Melrose is this recording of "Parchman Farm Blues."

During the 1950s, White was musically inactive. He worked as a laborer for Newberry Equipment in Memphis, Tennessee. He was rediscovered in 1963 by guitarist John Fahey and Ed Dawson. That same year, White appeared at a Folk Festival at UC Berkley. White toured Europe and even performed at the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968. White also rerecorded many of his classic sides.

In the mid-1970s, White's health began to decline. He died on February 26, 1977.

White's music has been covered by such artists as Bob Dylan (who included White's "Fixin' To Die" on his first LP) to Led Zeppelin (who recorded White's "Shake 'em On Down"). White's first cousin is B.B. King, who got his first guitar from White and counts White as an early mentor.

Parchman Farm is another name for the Mississippi State Penitentiary, the oldest Federal prison in the state of Mississippi. The facility was built in 1901 and occupies roughly 18,000 acres. It holds 4,840 inmates at the minimum, medium, and maximum security levels. It holds only male offenders. Inmates work on the prison farm and in manufacturing workshops. Notable inmates include Vernon Presley (the father of Elvis Presley), Son House, and Stokely Carmichael.

Judge give me life this mornin'
Down on Parchman farm.
Judge give me life this mornin'
Down on Parchman farm.
I wouldn't hate it so bad
But I left my wife in mourn.

Oh, goodbye wife.
All you have done gone.
Oh, goodbye wife.
All you have done gone.
But I hope some day,
You will hear my lonesome song.

Oh, listen you men,
I don't mean no harm.
Oh, listen you men,
I don't mean no harm.
If you wanna do good,
You better stay off old Parchman farm.

We got to work in the mornin'
Just at dawn of day.
We got to work in the mornin'
Just at dawn of day.
Just at the settin' of the sun
That's when the work is done.

I'm down on ol' Parchman farm.
I sho' wanna go back home.
I'm down on ol' Parchman farm.
But I sho' wanna go back home.
But I hope some day
I will overcome.

"Parchman Farm Blues" features White's exquisite slide guitar as well has his deeply expressive vocals (note how White twists and elongates his vowel sounds at the beginning of each line). The recording also features Robert Brown, a.k.a. Washboard Sam on washboard, providing the track's driving rhythm.

"Parchman Farm Blues" is the last of four blues recordings in a row.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's Scott Ainslie performing "Parchman Farm Blues" on the diddley bow, a single string instrument with roots in sub-Saharan Africa. The song is preceded by an interesting discussion of the instrument and how it is played.

Download and listen to Bukka White - "Parchman Farm Blues"

"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" - Robert Johnson

2010-09-30T20:43:00.006-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track Twelve: "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" performed by Robert Johnson. Recorded in San Antonio, Texas on November 27, 1936. Original issue Vocalion 03445.

Robert Johnson was born Robert Dodds in Hazelhurst, Mississippi on May 8, 1911 or 1912. He was born to Julia Major Dodds, who was married at the time to Charles Dodds, although Dodds is not believed to be Johnson's father. Robert's father was a plantation worker named Noah Johnson.

When Robert was two years old, a dispute with white land-owners forced Dodds to flee Hazelhurst. Julia fled separately with Robert, eventually sending young Robert to live with Dodds, who was now living in Memphis under the name "Charles Spencer." Renamed Robert Spencer, Johnson lived with Dodds for two years before rejoining his mother near Tunica, Mississippi. By this point, Julia was remarried to a much younger man named Dusty Willis. For much of his childhood, Johnson was known as "Little Robert Dusty." After being Robert Dodds, Robert Spencer, and Robert Dusty, Robert finally adopted his natural father's surname and was signing his name "Robert Johnson" when he married sixteen-year-old Virginia Travis in 1929. Robert was widowed shortly after his marriage when Virgina died in childbirth.

It was around this time, while living in Robinsonville, Mississippi, that Johnson met Son House and Willie Brown. According to House, Johnson was playing guitar, but was not very good. He would occasionally attempt to sit in with House and Brown, who would ridicule Johnson's faltering attempts at the guitar. Discouraged, Johnson left Robinsonville.

What happened next is entirely conjecture. House claims that Johnson returned mere months later displaying an astonishing bass-heavy technique that stunned all who had known him before. House reportedly made a comment to the effect that Johnson must have "sold his soul to the Devil" in order to get so good so quickly (although there is no record of House making such a statement). This, together with the story told by the similarly named (but unrelated) Tommy Johnson about selling his soul to the Devil at a lonely crossroad in order to learn how to play guitar, is likely the source of the well-known myth that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil. The facts are far more mundane. Researchers have conjectured that House's memory was faulty, and rather than staying away for a few months, Johnson had likely returned to Robinsonville one-and-a-half to two years later, a much more reasonable time-line for Johnson's astonishing improvement.

For the next several years, Johnson lived as an itinerant musician, occasionally traveling with musician Johnny Shines. Johnson reportedly ranged as far north as Toronto. He was also known for his ability to learn a song after a single hearing. Although he would later record nothing but blues material, Shines reports that Johnson had a wide ranging repertoire, which included jazz and pop songs learned from the radio.

In 1936, Johnson approached H.C. Speir in Jackson, Mississippi about recording. Speir hooked Johnson up with producer Ernie Oertle, who offered to record Johnson at a session in San Antonio, Texas. The three-day session took place in November, 1936 in room 414 at the Gunter Hotel. During the session, Johnson made sixteen recordings, including this recording of "Last Fair Deal Gone Down."

Johnson's recording sessions have become the stuff of legend. Reportedly, Johnson faced the wall while performing, which has fed the rumor that Johnson was shy and unaccustomed to performing publicly. This does not jibe with Johnny Shines' reports that he and Johnson were making their living as musicians for several years at this point. More likely, Johnson was facing the wall for acoustic reasons (the recordings would have a less "cavernous" sound than they would if played into an open room with no sound baffling) or because he was afraid that other musicians would glimpse his finger-style and swipe his technique.

Johnson made one more recording session in Dallas, Texas in 1937. Johnson recorded another eleven titles during that session. During Johnson's lifetime, only eleven of the twenty-seven recordings he made were commercially released. As was common practice in those days of direct to disc recording, a second "safety" take was made of most of Johnson's recordings. Unlike most other recording artists of the period, however, most of Johnson's alternate takes have survived, allowing listeners an opportunity to glimpse Johnson's creative process.

Johnson died on August 16, 1938 under mysterious circumstances. There are various theories surrounding the circumstances of Johnson's death, but the most prevalent is that Johnson was poisoned by the jealous boyfriend of a woman Johnson was courting. Around the time of Johnson's death, producer John Hammond was hoping to have Johnson perform at his "From Spirituals to Swing" concert in December of that year. By the time Hammond managed to track Johnson down, Johnson was dead. Hammond booked Big Bill Broonzy instead, launching Broonzy's career as a nationally known blues musician. Hammond did have two of Johnson's recordings played on stage, however.

Johnson might have been forgotten had it not been for the 1961 release of the album King of the Delta Blues Singers. The album's liner notes played up the mystery of Johnson's life (at the time, no photographs of Johnson had been found) and also emphasized occult references in some of Johnson's songs (such as "Hellhound on My Trail" and "Me and the Devil Blues"). During the sixties, Johnson was championed by notable rock musicians like the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards and Cream's Eric Clapton, who recorded a version of Johnson's "Cross Road Blues" as "Crossroads." The Rolling Stones covered Johnson's "Love In Vain" on 1969's Let It Bleed and "Stop Breaking Down" on 1972's Exile On Main Street. A second collection of Johnson's recordings, King of the Delta Blues Singers Vol. II, was released in 1970.

1990 saw the release of Robert Johnson, The Complete Recordings. So great was Johnson's legend by then, the collection reached number 80 on Billboard's Hot 200 chart (an unprecedented feat for a collection of prewar blues recordings) and won a Grammy for Best Historical Album.

Johnson is arguably the most famous prewar blues musician. His name is known by people who never listen to blues music, much less blues recorded during the 78 era. His songs have been covered countless times. In 2004, Eric Clapton released a full length tribute album titled Me and Mr. Johnson.

A final note on Johnson's recordings: In recent years, a frankly ridiculous rumor has circulated that Johnson's recordings were (either accidentally or purposefully) released at the wrong speed. According to some, the recordings are as much as 20% too fast and that if one plays the recordings back at 80% of their present speed, you will hear what Johnson really sounded like. Like the "Paul Is Dead" hoax, the "80% Solution" is easy to shoot down. Speed problems (such as one that surfaced on the second side of Miles Davis's Kind of Blue) are usually the result of the tape recording at the wrong speed. If the tape was recording more slowly, the resulting recording will play back at a higher speed when played on a normal tape player. Johnson's recordings, however, were recorded direct to disc, and while it is possible that a disc cutter could have been incorrectly calibrated, it is highly unlikely that the exact same problem would endure over the entire course of a three day recording session, much less that the same problem would come up AGAIN a year later at a completely separate session. Moreover, none of the other artists recorded at the same sessions as Johnson seem to have been recorded at the wrong speed.

I have played Johnson's recordings back at 80% of their normal speed, just to hear what it sounds like. While the recordings are definitely slower and closer to what we think of as sounding "bluesy" (meaning that the sound a bit more like Muddy Waters records), the recordings also sound draggy, as though they are (surprise) being played at the wrong speed! I think we can dismiss this claim and continue listening to Johnson at the present speed with a clear conscience.

"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" is a work song cataloging the various troubles of a man working on the Gulfport Island Road, a railroad that connected the Gulf of Mexico with the main line.

It's the last fair deal goin' down.
Last fair deal goin' down.
It's the last fair deal goin' down, good Lord,
On that Gulfport Island Road.

Please, Ida Belle, don't cry this time.
Ida Belle, don't cry this time.
If you cry about a nickel, you'll die 'bout a dime.
She wouldn't cry, but the money won't mine.

I love the way you do.
I love the way you do.
I love the way you do, good Lord,
On this Gulfport Island Road.

My captain's so mean on me.
My captain's so mean on me.
My captain's so mean on me, good Lord,
On this Gulfport Island Road.

The captain he can see, captain he can see.
That captain he can see good lord.
Oh that Gulfport Island Road.

Ah, this last fair deal goin' down.
It's the last fair deal goin' down.
This' the last fair deal goin' down, good Lord,
On this Gulfport Island Road.

I'm workin' my way back home.
I'm working my way back home.
I'm workin' my way back home, good Lord,
On this Gulfport Island Road.

And that thing don't keep-a ringin' so soon.
That thing don't keep-a ringin' so soon.
And that thing don't keep-a ringin' so soon,
Good Lord, on that Gulfed-and-Port Island Road.

It is interesting to note that while Johnson was undoubtedly the most famous name on the fourth volume of the Anthology when it was released in 2000, at the time Smith put together the track listing for this volume, Johnson was still relatively unknown.

Johnson's galvanizing performance on "Last Fair Deal Gone Down," while certainly not his best recording, more than justifies his reputation. Johnson's high voice is rough and expressive, while his guitar playing is dynamic and driving. The song has several highlights, from the line where the speaker admonishes his woman, Ida Belle that "if you cry about a nickle you'll die 'bout a dime," to the chiming effect Johnson creates during the last verse. "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" also foreshadows the series of labor and topical songs that appear on the second disc of this volume.

"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" is the third of four blues recordings in a row.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's Beck, along with guitarist Smokey Hormel, performing a version of "Last Fair Gone Down" for the Harry Smith Project.

Download and listen to Robert Johnson - "Last Fair Deal Gone Down"

"Baby Please Don't Go" - Joe Williams' Washboard Blues Singers

2010-09-27T22:21:00.006-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track Eleven: "Baby Please Don't Go" performed by Joe Williams' Washboard Blues Singers. Recorded in Chicago on October 31, 1935. Original issue Bluebird 6200 (BS-96244-1)

Joe Williams was born in Crawford, Mississippi on October 16, 1903. Little is known of his early life. While still young, Williams reportedly began traveling around the United States, playing for change on the streets as well as in work camps, bars, and country stores. He performed with the Rabbit's Foot Minstrels (a well-known revue that helped launch the careers of such notables as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Louis Jordan, Rufus Thomas, and others) during the early '20s and made his recording debut in 1930 as a member of the Birmingham Jug Band.

In 1934, Williams was discovered by producer Lester Melrose in St. Louis, Missouri and was subsequently signed to Bluebird Records. In 1935, Williams made his first records for Bluebird, including this recording of "Baby Please Don't Go." He stayed on the label for ten years, performing with such artists as John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, Peetie Wheatstraw, and Robert Nighthawk.

During the 1950s and '60s, Williams continued to perform and record regularly, recording for such labels as Trumpet, Delmark, Vocalion, and Prestige. He became popular with the folk revival crowd, as did many blues musicians of his generation. It was during this period that Williams adopted the nickname "Big" Joe to distinguish him from Joe Goreed, a.k.a. Joe Williams, the vocalist who recorded "Every Day I Have The Blues" with Count Basie's "New Testament" band.

Williams toured Europe and Japan during the late '60s and '70s. He died on December 17, 1982.

Big Joe Williams was particularly well-known for his virtuosic guitar playing, which featured his ability to play lead and bass lines simultaneously (Williams wore picks on both his index finger and his thumb for this purpose). He played a nine string guitar which featured unison strings for the first, second and fourth strings. Williams had added these strings to his guitar gradually during the '20s and '30s in order to keep other guitarists from being able to play his instrument.

Williams' version of "Baby Please Don't Go" is the first known recording of this song, which is derived from a group of early 20th century work songs which includes "I'm Alabama Bound," "Don't Leave Me Here," "Turn Your Lamp Down Low," and "Another Man Done Gone." Williams' version of the song has been hugely influential, and has been covered by literally dozens of artists over the years, including Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker, Van Morrison (with Them), Aerosmith, AC/DC, and Mose Allison, among others. Although not a cover version, the Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" is clearly a descendant of this song.

Now, baby please don't go.
Now, baby please don't go.
Baby, please don't go
Back to New Orleans,
An' get your cold ice cream.

I believe that a man done gone.
I believe that a man done gone.
I believe that a man done gone
To the county farm
Now, with his long chain on.

Turn your lamp down low.
You turn your lamp down low.
Turn your lamp down low.
I cried all night long.
Now, baby please don't go.

I begged you night before.
I begged you night before.
Begged you night before,
Turn your lamp down low.
Now, baby please don't go.

I believe my baby done lied.
I believe my baby done lied.
I believe my baby she lied,
Says she didn't have a man
Now, while I had my time.

'Fore I'd be your dog,
I swore I'd leave your door.
'Fore I'd be your dog,
I'd pack my trunk this morning, baby,
Go back to Rolling Fork.

I believe I'll leave you here.
I believe I'll leave you here.
I believe I'll leave you here.
'Cause you got me way up here,
And you don't feel my care.

Now baby please don't go.
Oh baby, please don't go.
Now baby please don't go
Back to New Orleans,
Even though I love you so.

I believe you tryin' just leave me here.
Why leave your daddy here?
Why leave your daddy here?
You got me way down here
And you don't feel my care.

"Baby Please Don't Go" has endured in part because it is a primal expression of desperate need. The speaker in the song is literally pleading with his lover to stay with him. The desperate man and the unfeeling woman are enduring tropes in blues lyrics. In that sense, it is fitting that this song has been paired with Lead Belly's "Packin' Trunk." This is another song "about a man and a woman." In the famous color film footage of Son House performing "Death Letter Blues," House explains that the blues is all about "the male and female."

In addition to Williams' vocals and guitar, "Baby Please Don't Go" features the one-string fiddle of Dad Tracy and the washboard of Chasey "Kokomo" Collins. Tracy and Collins give the record a wild, archaic flourish.

"Baby Please Don't Go" is the second of four blues recordings in a row.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's Williams performing "Baby Please Don't Go" in what appears to be a television appearance from the late '50s or early '60s.

Download and listen to Joe Williams' Washboard Blues Singers - "Baby Please Don't Go"

"Packin' Trunk" - Lead Belly

2010-09-16T20:34:00.010-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track Ten: "Packin' Trunk" performed by Lead Belly. Recorded in New York on January 23, 1935. Original issue Banner Ba-33359 16685-1.

Huddie William "Lead Belly" Ledbetter was born on a plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana, likely in 1888. His tombstone lists his birth year as 1889, but two census records (1910 and 1930) both give his birth date as 1888. His birthday is often listed as January 20th, however January 21st and 29th are also cited. His 1942 draft registration lists his birth date as January 23, 1889.

Whenever he was born, Ledbetter born to Wesley and Sallie Ledbetter, who were married shortly after his birth. When Ledbetter was five, his family moved to Leigh, Texas.

By 1903, Ledbetter was a working musician, performing primarily in the red light district of Shreveport, Louisiana. In 1908, he married fifteen year old Aletha "Lethe" Henderson. Around the time of his marriage, Ledbetter was reportedly given his first instrument, an accordion. This is a confusing bit of information. Does this mean that up until this point, Ledbetter had played only borrowed instruments? In 1912, inspired by the sinking of the Titanic, Ledbetter wrote his first song. Ledbetter's "Titanic" was also the first song he played on the 12-string guitar, reportedly picked up in Dallas while performing with Blind Lemon Jefferson.

Ledbetter had occasional trouble with the law and served several terms in prison. He was jailed in 1915 and again in 1918, this time for killing a relative of his named Will Stafford. He was sentenced to seven to thirty-five years at the Imperial Farm in Sugarland, Texas. After serving the minimum seven years, Ledbetter was pardoned and released in 1925. Ledbetter later claimed that he had been released because of a song he had written to Governor Pat Morris Neff pleading for his freedom. Prison records, however, indicate that Ledbetter was released because he had served his minimum sentence and because of his good behavior as an inmate.

By 1930, Ledbetter was back in prison, this time in Louisiana, for attempted homicide. He was serving time in Angola State Prison when, in 1933, he met Folklorist John Lomax and his 18-year-old son and assistant, Alan. Lomax was impressed by Ledbetter's musical ability and made hundreds of recordings of him between 1933 and 1934. In 1934, Ledbetter was released, again claiming that a song he had sent to the Governor (this time Louisiana's Oscar K. Allen), along with John Lomax's personal appeal, had resulted in his freedom. Allen denied that this had been the case, and stated that Ledbetter's early release had been due to good behavior and the fact that he had served his minimum sentence. Nevertheless, the legend that Ledbetter had twice sung his way out of prison quickly took hold on the popular imagination.

Once free, Ledbetter began working as Lomax's chauffeur, driving the song collector all over the South, and assisting him in his search for folk songs. By 1935, the story of the "singing convict" reached the press and Ledbetter became the subject of newspaper articles and newsreels. Soon after, Ledbetter made his first professional recordings, including this recording of "Packin' Trunk." Ledbetter performed exclusively under the nickname "Lead Belly," a name he had likely picked up in prison (although the stories behind the name vary).

Lead Belly began accompanying John Lomax on his lectures, culminating in a famed appearance at Harvard University. Following that lecture, tensions between Lomax and Lead Belly led to the dissolution of their partnership, their friendship, and to Lead Belly's successful lawsuit against Lomax. Following the resolution of his lawsuit, Lead Belly traveled to New York in order to pursue a musical career. However, he failed to excite interest among black audiences. Instead, Lead Belly was adopted by white intellectuals, particularly leftists, who promoted Lead Belly as an authentic voice of the common man.

By 1939, Lead Belly was back in prison for stabbing a man in a fight. He was rescued by Alan Lomax, now 24, who dropped out of graduate school to manage Lead Belly's career. Under Lomax's guidance, Lead Belly joined the ranks of the burgeoning folk music scene that was emerging during he 1940s. He befriended such figures as Josh White, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger. Lead Belly recorded for Moe Asch's Folkways records (which would release the Anthology a few years later), for the Library of Congress, and for Capitol Records and RCA. Lead Belly also toured parts of Europe and performed regularly on the radio. In 1949, Lead Belly was diagnosed with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) and died later that same year.

"Packin' Trunk" is one of Lead Belly's earliest commerical recordings. It is a dynamic performance, featuring Lead Belly's mastery of the 12-string guitar, an instrument that became closely identified with him. The 12-string guitar
features six courses of two strings each. These courses are tuned an octave apart (the bass strings) or in unison (the treble strings). The sympathetic vibration of the strings produces a ringing or chiming sound. Other guitarists who used 12-string guitars include Roger McGuinn of the Byrds (producing the group's signature sound), George Harrison, Slash, Peter Buck, and Johnny Marr.

This song was made about a man and a woman. This man he married a woman, she didn’t want him. But she married him anyhow. For the money that he had. And she thought that she got every dollar that he had. But she was mistaken. But she got him pretty well bent. He sat there with his head hung down. She walked by and she said: "Daddy", she said, "what’s the matter with you?" He looked at her and here’s what he said to her:

"I’m sitting down here wondering, would a matchbox hold my clothes.
I’m sitting down here wondering, would a matchbox hold my clothes.
I’m sitting down here wondering, would a matchbox hold my clothes."

She asked him, she said: "Papa," she said, "What’s the matter with you?"

"I don’t want to be bothered with no suitcase on my road.
I don’t want to be bothered with no suitcase on my road.
I don’t want to be bothered with no suitcase on my road."

He said: "I’m going to see my friend, and see what he would do when his wife’s packing up her trunk."

"Now what would you do when your baby picking up her trunk?
What would you do when your baby picking up her trunk?
Now what would you do when your baby picking up her trunk?"

He looked at him and here’s what he told him:

"You get half a gallon of whiskey, you get on your big drunk.
You get half a gallon of whiskey, you get on your big drunk.
You get half a gallon of whiskey, you get on your big drunk."

She said: "Ghost, go and play the piano a piece for me a little piece." This Ghost jumped down and commenced playing the piano.

While Lead Belly became best known as a "folk" musician, "Packin' Trunk" is solidly in the blues idiom. It is (as Lead Belly declares in the opening) "a song about a man and a woman." It is a song about heartbreak, and it contains an image that would become known the world over. The first sung chorus contains the image of a matchbox. Lead Belly had likely borrowed the image from Blind Lemon Jefferson, who had used the image in his own "Matchbox Blues," recorded in 1927.

I'm settin' here wonderin' would a matchbox hold my clothes.
I'm settin' here wonderin' would a matchbox hold my clothes.
I ain't got so many matches but I got so far to go.

Blues scholars agree that Jefferson had, in turn, taken the image from tradition usage. Indeed, Ma Rainey had mentioned a matchbox in her 1923 recording, "Lost Wandering Blues."

I'm leaving this morning, with my clothes in my hand.
I won't stop to wandering, till I find my man.
I'm sitting here wondering', will a matchbox hold my clothes.
I've got a sun to beat, I'll be farther down the road.

After Lead Belly used the image in "Packin' Trunk," he went on to record his own version of "Match Box Blues." Carl Perkins would make the image the centerpiece of his 1956 Sun recording, "Matchbox," which would be later covered by the Beatles on their Long Tall Sally EP.

Well I'm sitting here wondering, will a matchbox hold my clothes.
Yeah I'm sitting here wondering, will a matchbox hold my clothes.
I ain't got no matches, but I got a long way to go.

In the meantime, Billie Holiday had picked the matchbox image up in "Billie's Blues," a song Holiday had co-written in 1936 and recorded several times in later years.

My man wouldn't give me no breakfast.
Wouldn't give me no dinner.
Fought about my supper and put me outdoors.
Had the nerve to lay a match box on my clothes.
I didn't have so many,
But I had a long, long way to go.

So what's the deal with the matchbox? A matchbox is, not surprisingly, a box that holds matches. They seem to have been developed, in their present form, during the late 1890s. Prior to that, people kept their matches in more elaborate metal boxes. The point is that the matchbox is very, very small. Far too small to hold anything of any size (such as a person's belongings). If a person is sitting and wondering if a matchbox would hold his clothes, he probably doesn't have much of anything of value to take with him.

"Packin' Trunk" is notable for Lead Belly's declamatory style. He speaks (or rather shouts) the song's narrative in between the sung verses. It is also notable for Lead Belly's slide technique, and for the novel use of the 12-string guitar (it's chiming is used to imitate a piano in the last verse).

"Packin' Trunk" is the first of four blues recordings in a row.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

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Here's an excerpt from the "March of Time" newsreel that made Lead Belly famous. It contains, among other things, a reenactment of Lead Belly recording for John Lomax. If nothing else, it proves that Lead Belly and Lomax were no actors...

Download and listen to Lead Belly - "Packin' Trunk"

"Cold Iron Bed" - Jack Kelly & His South Memphis Jug Band

2010-09-13T22:09:00.005-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track Nine: "Cold Iron Bed" performed by Jack Kelly & His South Memphis Jug Band. Recorded in New York on August 1, 1933.

Jack Kelly and his South Memphis Jug Band rivaled the popularity of Cannon's Jug Stompersand the Memphis Jug Band during the heyday of jug band music.

The South Memphis Jug Band was co-led by guitarist and vocalist Jack Kelly and fiddler Will Batts. The group was rounded out by guitarist Dan Sane and Dr. D.M. Higgs on the jug. They are generally considered to be the bluesiest of the Memphis-area jug bands. They made their first recordings in 1933 at a session that saw the recording of twenty three titles, including this version of "Cold Iron Bed." They didn't record again until 1939. Following their initial recording session, the group's line-up underwent several changes in personnel.

Jack Kelly remains something of an enigma. Nothing is known of his background or early years. He formed the South Memphis Jug Band with Will Batts, originally performing under the name "Jack Kelly's Jug Busters." He continued to lead various incarnations of the band until the mid-1950s. Kelly died in Memphis in 1960. His exact death date and cause of death are unknown.

Will Batts was born in Michigan, Mississippi on January 24, 1904. Little is known of Batts' early life. He was working as a farm hand when he reportedly decided to pursue music as a full time profession. Fortunately, Batts' talent as a fiddler was commensurate with his ambition. He joined Kelly's Jug Busters, making his first recordings with the group in 1933. Batts made several recordings with guitarist Dan Sane, as well as with guitarist and vocalist Frank Stokes. Batts made his last known recording with Big Walter Horton in 1952. He died on April 16, 1954.

Guitarist Dan Sane (sometimes spelled "Sain" or "Sing") was born in Hernando, Mississippi on September 22, 1896. He made his debut recordings with Frank Stokes in 1927. He met up with Will Batts and Jack Kelly in the early 1930s and soon joined their jug band. Following his association with Kelly, Sane continued to perform with Stokes until the latter's retirement in 1952. Sane died in Memphis on February 18, 1956.

No biographical information is available at this time on Dr. Daniel M. Higgs.

"Cold Iron Bed" is fairly typical blues lament, primarily focused on a no-good woman (described in the song as a "weed" whom the cows will "mow down"). No explanation is given as to exactly what this woman has done to earn the speaker's anger.

Baby, take me up and lay me down in your cool iron bed.
Baby, take me upstairs, lay me down in your cool iron bed.
If I don’t get no better, I want you to come and rub my head.

You're a no-good weed, the cows is gonna mow you down.
Yeah, you're a no-good weed, the cow is gonna mow you down.
And if I were the police, mama, I’d run you clean outta town.

Ever since, ever since my poor mother been dead,
Ever since, ever since my poor mother been dead,
The rocks have been my pillow, and the cold ground has been my bed.

Baby, I’ll make everything all right.
Baby, I’ll make everything all right.
If I don’t see you tomorrow, I’ll see you tomorrow night.

"Cold Iron Bed" is a song that Smith might have included in the third volume of the original Anthology set. The song is a series of floating verses that detail the speaker's feelings of anger and resentment towards his woman. Interestingly, however, in the last verse, the speaker seems to relent. He promises that he will "make everything all right" and that he will see her "tomorrow night."

The performance is exceptional, and stands up with the classic jug band recordings included in the original set. There is really no reason this recording couldn't have been included in the original Anthology, except that Smith apparently chose not to. It is possible that Smith had considered including this recording in the aborted fourth volume simply because he had cut "Cold Iron Bed" from the original set.

This extremely bluesy recording sets the stage for the string of four blues recordings in a row that follow.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

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Here's Jeff Mitchell performing an impassioned version of "Cold Iron Bed" on a baritone ukulele.

Download and listen to Jack Kelly & His South Memphis Jug Band - "Cold Iron Bed"

"Southern Casey Jones" - Jesse James

2010-09-09T09:15:00.005-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track Eight: "Southern Casey Jones" performed by Jesse James. Recorded in Chicago on June 3, 1936.

The Jesse James who recorded "Southern Casey Jones" is a complete mystery. No biographical information is provided in the notes to the Revenant set and I haven't been able to turn anything up through my research. All that seems to be known of him is that he was active in the '20s and '30s and that he recorded this song. Whether Jesse James was his real name or a pseudonym is unknown. If anyone has any information, please leave a comment or e-mail me at wheredeadvoicesgather1@gmail.com.

"Southern Casey Jones" is a variation of "Casey Jones," a family of songs concerning the death of John Luther "Casey" Jones. For biographical information on the real Casey Jones and more information on the "Casey Jones" family of songs, see the entry for Furry Lewis's recording of "Kassie Jones."

I heard the people say Casey Jones can't run.
I'm going to tell you what the poor boy done.
Left Cincinnati about half past nine,
Got to Newport News 'fore dinner time, 'fore dinner time, that's 'fore dinner time.
Got to Newport News 'fore dinner time.

Now Casey Jones said before he died,
He fixed the road so a bum could ride.
And if he ride he had to ride the rod,
Rest his heart in the hand of God, hand of God, in the hand of God,
Had to Rest his heart in the hand of God.

Now little girl says, "Mama is that a fact,
Papa got killed on the I.C. track?"
"Yes, yes honey but hold your breath,
Get that money from your daddy's death, from your daddy's death, from your
daddy's death.
You get money from your daddy's death, from your daddy's death.
Aw, your daddy's death,
You get money from your daddy's death."

When the news reached town Casey Jones was dead,
Women went home and had it out in red.
Slipping and sliding all across the streets,
With their loose mother hubbard and their stocking feet, stocking feet, stocking feet.
Loose mother hubbards and their stocking feet.

Now Casey Jones went from place to place,
Another train hit his train right in the face.
People got off but Casey Jones stayed on,
Natural born eastman but he's dead and gone, dead and gone, he's dead and gone.
He's a natural born eastman but he's dead and gone.

Here come the biggest boy coming right from school.
Hollering and crying like a doggone fool.
"Look here mama is our papa dead?
Womens going home and had it out in red.
Low cut shoes and their evening gowns,
Following papa to the burying ground, to the burying ground, to the burying ground.
Following papa down to the burying ground."

"Now tell the truth mama he says is that a fact
Papa got killed on the I.C. track?"
"Quit crying boy, don't do that.
You got another daddy on the same damn track, on the same track, on the same track
Say you got another daddy on the same track."

"Southern Casey Jones" is a marked contrast with Furry Lewis's "Kassie Jones," heard on the first volume of the Anthology, both lyrically and in terms of performance. Only two verses (the first and the third) in James's recording parallel those in Lewis's version. The songs also differ in terms of mood and style. Lewis's version is meditative, while James's recording is rollicking and uptempo. Lewis sings his version in a quiet, conversational tone, while James sings in a rough, declamatory style.

The "I.C. track" that Jones is killed on in this song is the Illinois Central, the line the real Luther Jones worked on.

Like Furry Lewis's version, James's version of "Casey Jones" does not actually depict Jones's death or is act of heroism. Instead, his death is referred to in the past tense, as having already happened.

James refers to the women as wearing "loose mother hubbards." A "Mother Hubbard" dress was a long, loose fitting dress originally introduced by missionaries in the South Pacific as a way of promoting modesty among the "naked savages" they were trying to convert. In Hawaii, these dresses were called "holokū" by the natives.

While James's recording is not the first on the Anthology to include the piano in the instrumental line-up, it is the first to feature the piano as a solo instrument. As one can well imagine, the piano was not generally an instrument associated with folk music. It was more expensive than a guitar or banjo and lacked the portability of these instruments.

The piano is technically a string instrument, played by means of a keyboard. When a key is depressed, a felt covered hammer strikes steel strings. The hammers rebound, allowing the strings to continue vibrating at their resonant frequency. These vibrations are transmitted through a bridge to a sounding board that couples the acoustic energy to the air so that it can be heard as sound. Dampers stop the string's vibration when the key is released. Foot pedals can be used to control the duration of the vibrations.

The first string instrument to be played with struck strings was the hammered dulcimer, an instrument with a heritage that extends back to ancient Persia. During the Middle Ages, there were numerous attempts to invent instruments that used keyboards and struck strings. Two results were the clavichord and the harpsichord, which were common by the 17th century. The problem with these instruments, however, were volume and the expressive control of notes. The clavichord offered expressive control, but wasn't loud enough for performance. The harpsichord, which had strings plucked by quills rather than struck by hammers, was loud but lacked expressive control. The first piano is believed to be an attempt to solve this problem.

The invention of the modern piano is credited to Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655–1731), an Italian harpsichord maker employed by Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany. It is not known exactly when Cristofori invented his first piano, but it seems to be around 1700. The instrument was initially called the fortepiano, a word that combined the Italian musical terms for both loudness (forte) and softness or quiet (piano).

Early pianos (such as those used by Hayden, Mozart, and Beethoven) were different from the modern piano in several significant ways. They had a smaller octave range (four octaves, as opposed to the seven and a half or more of modern pianos), thinner strings, and a lighter case with no metal frame. By the end of the 19th century, following a period of rapid innovation fueled by the Industrial Revolution, the piano had evolved into the instrument as we know it today.

Pianos and other keyboard instruments came to the Americas as luxury items affordable only to the very rich, initially. It was only with the development of smaller and cheaper pianos that they began to gain in popularity among the middle class. By the end of the 19th century, before the advent of recorded music or radio, a piano was the center of the home entertainment system. The advent of Baby Grand and upright pianos also made it possible for bars and night clubs to feature affordable entertainment. Pianos were as ubiquitous in public spaces as the jukebox would become in the late '40s and '50s.

"Southern Casey Jones" is the third song in a row to be a variation of a song featured on the original three volume Anthology. The song is played in a style that clearly demonstrates the influence of jazz and jump blues, once more connecting the recording with the popular musical trends of the era in which it was recorded, rather than the folk styles of the past.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's Andrew Calhoun performing a faithful ballad version of "Casey Jones."

Download and listen to Jesse James - "Southern Casey Jones"

"Nine Pound Hammer Is Too Heavy" - The Monroe Brothers

2010-09-06T14:53:00.006-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track Seven: "Nine Pound Hammer Is Too Heavy" performed by The Monroe Brothers. Recorded in Charlotte, North Carolina on February 17, 1936.

Bluegrass pioneers Charlie and Bill Monroe were born on their family's farm near Rosine, Kentucky. Charlie was born on July 4, 1903. Bill was born on September 13, 1911. Their parents, James Buchanan Monroe and Malissa Vandiver Monroe, had eight children, all of whom grew up playing musical instruments. Charlie settled on guitar, while Bill took up the mandolin.

Charlie and Bill, along with brother Birch, formed a band during the 1920s. They started playing on local radio in 1927. When their parents died, however, Bill was sent to live with his uncle Pendleton Vandiver, a fiddler who was later immortalized in song as "Uncle Pen." Charlie and Birch moved to Detroit to look for work, eventually relocating to Hammond, Indiana where they worked in an oil refinery. In 1929, Bill joined them in Indiana, also working in the oil industry. Reunited, the brothers began playing together again.

In 1932, Bill, Charlie, and Birch were heard by a musician on the WSM Barn Dance program and were offered a job as dancers. They toured for two years with Tom Owens before being offered work as musicians on Indiana radio stations WAE and WJKS. This in turn led to the Monroes being offered their own program, sponsored by Texas Crystals. Birch refused the offer, but Bill and Charlie signed on as the Monroe Brothers. The show was successful, and was broadcast daily on WBT in Charlotte, North Carolina, where J.E. Mainer and his Crazy Mountaineer where also performing.

In 1936, the Monroe Brothers made their recording debut for Bluebird Records, recording several sides, including this version of "Nine Pound Hammer Is Too Heavy." Bill and Charlie recorded together until 1938, when Bill left the group, resentful of Charlie's role as lead singer.

In the wake of Bill's departure, Charlie formed the Kentucky Pardners, a group that featured a number of future Bluegrass stars in its line-up over the years, including Lester Flatt, Red Rector, Curly Seckler, and Ira Louvin. The Kentucky Pardners was a successful group, touring and recording for such labels as RCA and Decca. Charlie continued to record and tour until 1957, when he retired. By then, Bluegrass music was being superseded by rock and roll, as well as the slicker country sounds coming from Nashville. Charlie emerged from his retirement in 1972 to perform at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival, where he made a tremendous hit. Charlie continued to perform at festivals until his diagnosis with cancer in 1974. He died on September 27, 1975 at his farm in Reidsville, North Carolina.

After leaving the Monroe Brothers in 1938, Bill moved to Little Rock, Arkansas where he formed the Kentuckians. The group was short lived, however, and Bill relocated to Atlanta, Georgia where he formed the Blue Grass Boys singer/guitarist Cleo Davis, fiddler Art Wooten, and bassist Amos Garren. It was the success of Monroe's group that would eventually give the name to the emerging form known as Bluegrass music.

In 1939, Monroe successfully auditioned for the Grand Ole Oprey. By 1940, Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, with a new line-up featuring singer/guitarist Clyde Moody, fiddler Tommy Magness, and bassist Bill Wesbrooks, had signed to RCA where they recorded a version of Jimmie Rodgers' "Mule Skinner Blues." Many of the elements that came to characterize Bluegrass, such as fast tempos and instrumental virtuosity, were present in these early recordings. However, it was not until 1945 and the addition of banjo prodigy Earl Scruggs to the group that all of the elements were finally in place. Scruggs joined a version of the Blue Grass Boys that featured singer/guitarist Lester Flatt, fiddler Chubby Wise, and bassist Howard Watts. By this point, the group was recording for Columbia records. The 28 song recorded by the group between 1946 and 1947 would become the defining classics of the Bluegrass genre. Among the songs recorded during these sessions was Monroe's signature piece, "Blue Moon of Kentucky," which would be covered by Elvis Presley during his sessions for Sun Records in 1955. In 1948, Flatt and Scruggs left Monroe to form the legendary Foggy Mountain Boys.

Following the departure of Flatt and Scruggs, Monroe regrouped and entered into what many consider to be the "golden age" of his career. A new line-up, consisting of Jimmy Martin on guitar and lead vocal, Rudy Lyle on banjo, and a string of fiddlers, including Merle "Red" Taylor, Charlie Cline, Bobby Hicks and Vassar Clements, made a series of recordings that are considered to be every bit the classics as those recorded by the Flatt/Scruggs edition of the band.

By the late '50s, the same factors that derailed brother Charlie's career (the emergence of rock and roll and a more sophisticated brand of country music) led to a decline in fortune for Bill Monroe. It wasn't until the folk revival of the early '60s that Monroe and his kind of playing came back into style. It was during this period that Monroe's style was dubbed "bluegrass," to distinguish it from the string band music that preceded it and the slicker country that followed.

Although initially slow to respond to the renewed interest in his music, Monroe eventually began performing at Bluegrass festivals, including the Bean Blossom Festival in southern Indiana, founded by Monroe himself. Monroe would go on to become the elder statesman of Bluegrass. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970, the Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame in 1971, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Monroe is one of only five performers to be honored by all three halls.

Monroe inspired a generation of musicians, including Ricky Scaggs, who first performed with Monroe when he was six years old.

Monroe died on September 9, 1996, several months after suffering a stroke.

"Nine Pound Hammer Is A Little Too Heavy" is a version of "Spike Driver Blues" and a member of the "John Henry" family of songs.

Nine pound hammer,
(Nine pound hammer,)
Is a little too heavy,
(Little too heavy,)
For my size.
(For my size.)
Now for my size.

Roll on buddy,
(Roll on buddy,)
Don't you roll so slow.
(Don't you roll so slow.)
Baby, how can I roll
(Baby, how can I roll)
When the wheel won't go?

Ain't one hammer
(Ain't one hammer)
In this tunnel
(In this tunnel)
That rings like mine.
(Oh it rings like mine.)
That rings like mine.

Rings like silver
(Rings like silver)
And it shines like gold.
(And it shine like gold.)
Rings like silver
(Oh, it rings like silver)
And it shines like gold.

Somebody stole
(Somebody stole)
My nine pound hammer.
(Nine pound hammer.)
They took it and gone.
(They took it and gone.)
They took it and gone.

Roll on buddy,
(Roll on buddy,)
Don't you roll so slow.
(Don't you roll so slow.)
Baby, how can I roll
(Baby, how can I roll)
When the wheel won't go?

Up on the mountain
(Up on the mountain)
For to see my darlin'
(See my darlin')
And I ain't comin' back.
(And I ain't comin' back.)
No, I ain't comin' back.

Roll on buddy,
(Roll on buddy,)
Don't you roll so slow.
(Don't you roll so slow.)
Baby, how can I roll
(Baby, how can I roll)
When the wheel won't go?

Nine pound hammer
(Nine pound hammer)
That killed John Henry
(Killed John Henry)
Ain't a-gonna kill me.
(Ain't gonna kill me.)
Ain't gonna kill me.

Roll on buddy,
(Roll on buddy,)
Don't you roll so slow.
(Don't you roll so slow.)
Baby, how can I roll
(Baby, how can I roll)
When the wheel won't go?

The Monroe Brothers' version of "Nine Pound Hammer Is Too Heavy" features Bill's infectious mandolin playing as well as Charlie and Bill's alternating/overlapping vocals and sweet harmonies. The song differs from "Spike Driver Blues," recorded nearly ten years earlier, in several ways. First, the Monroe Brothers' song is not a protest. When Mississippi John Hurt sings that "this is the hammer that killed John Henry. But it won't kill me," it is because the speaker in his version is quitting. When the Monroe Brothers sing the same line, it is a challenge or a boast. In fact, the line about John Henry's hammer is the only line the two songs have in common. The reference in the song's repeated chorus to "roll[ing] on" is similar to "Buddy Won't You Roll Down The Line." I'm not sure what "rolling" is in this context, but the fact that it turns up in two work songs seems significant.

Like many of the performers on this volume, the Monroe Brothers started in radio before becoming recording artists. The Monroe Brothers also perform in a style that points to music that was to come, rather than the folk styles of the past.

"Nine Pound Hammer Is Too Heavy" is the fourth and last song in a row recorded in Charlotte, North Carolina (recorded just four months before the recordings made by J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers and the Blue Sky Boys). It is also the last of four recordings in a row to feature brother acts, and is the second of three songs in a row that are variations of songs featured on the original three volume Anthology.

The Shameless Plug Department: You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's Merle Travis in a 1950s television appearance performing a version of "Nine Pound Hammer Is A Little Too Heavy."

Download and listen to the Monroe Brothers - "Nine Pound Hammer Is A Little Too Heavy"

"John Henry Was A Little Boy" - J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers

2010-09-02T00:39:00.007-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track Six: "John Henry Was A Little Boy" performed by J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers. Recorded in Charlotte, North Carolina on June 15, 1936. Original issue Bluebird 6629.

Joseph Emmett Mainer was born near Weaverville, North Carolina on July 20, 1898. His younger brother, Wade Mainer, was born on April 21, 1907.

The Mainer brothers came from a musical family and both learned music at an early age. J.E. Mainer learned banjo and fiddle, while Wade concentrated on the banjo. The Mainer Brothers played local dances. Both of them relocated to Concord, North Carolina during the early 1920s where they worked in textile mills. The brothers continued to play locally, their reputations steadily growing. In 1933, J.E. secured a gig playing on radio station WBT in Charlotte, North Carolina, performing on a show sponsored by Crazy Water Crystals. J.E. dubbed his band "J.E. Mainer and his Crazy Mountaineers." In 1934, Wade joined the band on banjo. The group was filled out by guitarist Zeke Morris and "Daddy" John Love. They made their recording debut for Bluebird records in 1935. In 1936, Wade and Zeke Morris temporarily left the group to perform as a duo, but returned in time for the recording session that yielded this version of "John Henry Was A Little Boy" under the name J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers.

In 1937, Wade left the Mountaineers to form his own group, the Sons of the Mountaineers. J.E. kept his group going with various changes in personnel until the start of World War II, when the band broke up. J.E. performed and recorded during the post-war era with his sons, Glenn and Curly. He died on June 12, 1971.

Wade Mainer disbanded the Sons of the Mountaineers during World War II, reforming the group for a 1942 performance at the White House for Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. After the war, Mainer continued to perform until his renewed commitment to Christianity led to his retirement from music in 1953.

Mainer relocated to Flint, Michigan where he worked in a General Motors plant. Although he had renounced the music business and quit playing the banjo, Mainer continued to sing gospel music at church and at revival meetings. During the 1960s, Mainer took up the banjo again to record religious music and to tour with his wife, who joined him on stage.

In 1987, Wade Mainer was honored by President Ronald Reagan who bestowed a National Heritage Fellowship upon him. Mainer was honored again in 1996 when he received the Michigan Heritage Award and the Michigan Country Music Association and Services' Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1998, Mainer and his wife were inducted into the Michigan Country Music Hall of Fame. That same year, Mainer was honored with North Carolina’s Surry Arts Council Lifetime Achievement Award.

Mainer still lives in Flint, Michigan. He celebrated his 100th birthday on April 27, 2007 and performed at a concert given in honor of his 101st birthday in 2008. Mainer is the only artist featured on the Anthology who is still alive at the time of this writing.

"John Henry Was A Little Boy" is a variation of the John Henry Ballad. Smith included the Williamson Brothers and Curry's version of "Gonna Die With My Hammer In My Hand" on the second disc of the "Ballad" set. For more information on the historical John Henry and on the John Henry ballad in general, see that earlier entry.

John Henry was a little boy.
Lord, he sat on his papa's knee.
Lord, he picked up a hammer and a little piece of steel,
Said, "This hammer be the death of me.
This hammer be the death of me."

John Henry told his captain,
Says, "I am a Tennessee man.
But before I let that steam drill beat me down,
Lord, I'll die with my hammer in my hand.
I'll die with my hammer in my hand."

C'mon, Johnny!

John Henry told his shaker,
Says, "Shaker, you'd better pray.
Lord, if I miss this six foot steel,
Tomorrow be your buryin' day. (Be careful.)
Tomorrow be your buryin' day."

John Henry walked to the tunnel,
With his captain by his side.
The rock was so tall, John Henry so small,
Lord, he laid down his hammer and cried.
He laid down his hammer and he cried.

John Henry had a lovely little woman.
Name was Polly Ann.
John Henry got sick and he had to go home.
Lord, Polly drove his steel like a man.
Polly drove his steel like a man.

Some woman, boy...

J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers, on this recording, consisted of J.E. Mainer on fiddle, Wade Mainer on lead vocal and banjo, Zeke Morris and Beachum Blackweller on guitars and vocals.

It is most interesting to compare the Mainer Brothers' version of this song with the earlier recording by the Williamson Brothers. Both recordings are wild, performed at breakneck speed. Both recordings feature fiddle and two guitars (although the Mainer Brothers' version also features the banjo). Many of the same lyrics crop up in both recordings (although there are some variations. In the Williamson Brothers' version, John Henry's wife is named "Sally Ann." In the version by the Mainer Brothers, her name is "Polly Ann." Such variations between versions is to be expected, and is indeed an integral part of the Folk Process). While both versions purport to be ballads, neither version actually gets around to describing the race between John Henry and the Steam Drill (although the Mainers get a little closer,) and while both version have John Henry declaring that his hammer "will be the death of" him, and that he will "die with [his] hammer in [his] hands," neither version actually depicts his death.

The main differences between the two recordings (made roughly ten years apart) is stylistic. The Williamson Brothers' version points to the past; to traditional folkways. The Mainer Brothers' version points to the future. Both Mainer brothers, but especially Wade, are viewed as a bridge between the "Old Time" styles of the past, and the Bluegrass style that was to come.

"John Henry Was A Little Boy" is the third song in a row recorded in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was actually recorded the day before the Blue Sky Boys recorded their version of "Down On The Banks of the Ohio."

The Shameless Plug Department: If you've tried to listen to the Podcast lately, you have no doubt noticed that the links are dead. The reason for this is that my account has been suspended for taking too long to put up a new episode. It is with a heavy heart that I declare the Where Dead Voices Gather Podcast to be on permanent hiatus. There's just too much going on in my life to keep it up. Perhaps the Podcast will return one day.

You can still become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook, however, and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I still host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's a kick-ass blues version of John Henry's story by Mississippi Fred McDowell. Lordy!

Download and listen to J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers - "John Henry Was A Little Boy"

"Adieu, False Heart" - Arthur Smith Trio

2010-08-30T16:41:00.006-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track Five: "Adieu, False Heart" performed by The Arthur Smith Trio. Recorded in Charlotte, North Carolina on January 26, 1938.

Born near Bold Springs, Tennessee on April 10, 1898, "Fiddlin'" Arthur Smith learned to play violin at an early age. Married at sixteen, Smith's wife, Nettie, became a performing partner. Later, their daughter, Lavonne, would perform with several of Smith's groups.

Smith performed mainly at local dances and fiddler's conventions in his early years. However, a job working for a railroad company in Dickson, Tennessee involved considerable travel, and Smith met and was influenced by fiddlers from other regions. He began competing in fiddle contests, winning several.

Smith made his debut on the Grand Ole Oprey on December 23, 1927, and became a regular in 1932. Smith's association with the Oprey would make him one of the most influential country fiddlers, his long bow style bearing considerable influence on old time and bluegrass players.

Smith formed several groups over the years, some of which featured the Delmore Brothers, as well as Kirk and Sam McGee (who were associated with Uncle Dave Macon, another Oprey veteran). The best known group Smith performed with was the Dixieliners.

Smith made his recording debut in 1935, along with the Delmore Brothers. He made many recordings over the next several years, recording for such labels as Bluebird, Victor, and Montgomery Ward.

Smith continued to work full-time for the railroad while also pursuing a career as a working musician. By 1938, the year this recording was made, the stress had caused a troublesome drinking problem that led to his suspension from the Grand Ole Oprey. With Roy Acuff's help, Smith was able to return to the Oprey and to recordings.

Smith had a brief career as a film actor during the 1940s, appearing in low budget westerns. His film career lasted until 1948, after which Smith signed with the newly formed Capitol Records. After a short stint on Capitol, Smith retired to Nashville where he worked as a carpenter.

One of Smith's songs, "Beautiful Brown Eyes," was covered by Roy Acuff during the early '50s. The recording was a hit, and led to several other cover versions. The other recording artists, however, treated the song as a folk song in the Public Domain and did not credit or pay royalties to Smith. Smith successfully sued and received a lump sum.

In 1957, Smith staged a comeback, recording with Merle Travis, as well as Kirk and Sam McGee. The recordings with the McGee Brothers were issued on an LP that was released to much acclaim in the mid-60s. in 1965, Smith and the McGee Brothers appeared at the Newport Folk Festival. Smith made his final appearance in 1969, before retiring for the last time. He died on February 28, 1971.

"Adieu, False Heart" is a folk song that likely dates from the 1860s or 70s. It was first collected in Campell County, Virgina in 1931. For many years, Smith's recording was the only one of this song.

Adieu false heart, since we must part.
May the joy of the world go with you.
I've loved you long with a faithful heart,
But I never anymore can I believe you.

I've seen a time I'd have married you,
And been your constant lover.
But now I'll gladly give you up
For one whose heart's more truer.

My mind is like the constant sun.
From the east to the west it ranges.
Yours is like unto the moon.
It's every month a-changing.

When I lay down to take my rest.
No scornful morn to wake me.
I'll go straight ways unto my grave.
Just as fast as time can take me.

This recording features Arthur Smith on vocal and fiddle, with Alton Delmore on guitar and Rabon Delmore on tenor guitar. The tenor guitar is a four stringed instrument, similar in design to the guitar. It is sometimes smaller than a standard guitar, but not always. It is believed to have been invented around the turn of the twentieth century. Tenor guitars were developed so that players of the four stringed banjo could double on guitar.

"Adieu, False Heart" is, essentially, a kiss-off to a faithless lover. The song is sung here in a deadpan fashion. Smith betrays no trace of sadness, which goes along with the lyric's acceptance that the lover is false and needs to go.

"Adieu, False Heart" was the title track of a 2006 album by Linda Ronstant and Ann Savoy.

Like several of the other artists who have appeared on this volume of the Anthology, Smith was primarily associated with radio.

"Adieu, False Heart" is the second of two songs in a row recorded in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Shameless Plug Department: It's been a long time since I've done a podcast episode of "Where Dead Voices Gather." This is partly due to my busy work schedule and partly due to the fact that I now put together a two-hour weekly radio show in my spare time. I do have plans for a seventh episode of "Where Dead Voices Gather," which I hope to put together in the next week or so. In the meantime, you can still listen to the old episodes.

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's Wild Carrot performing a version of "Adieu, False Heart" in 2008.

Download and listen to Arthur Smith Trio - "Adieu, False Heart"

"Down on the Banks of the Ohio" - The Blue Sky Boys

2010-08-24T23:38:00.007-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track Four: "Down on the Banks of the Ohio" performed by The Blue Sky Boys. Recorded in Charlotte, North Carolina on June 16, 1936.

The Blue Sky Boys were an American country music act consisting of Earl and Bill Bolick. Bill Bolick was born on October 28, 1917 in East Hickory, North Carolina. Earl Bolick was born a little over two years later, on November 16, 1919. Earl and Bill were the fourth and fifth out of six children born to the Bolicks. Their religious parents taught them to sing hymns, likely teaching them to sing in the close harmonies that characterized their sound. As children, Bill and Earl both learned to play guitar, with Bill doubling on banjo and Earl doubling on mandolin. Later on, Bill took up the mandolin, making it his primary instrument, and Earl concentrated on guitar.

In 1935, the Bolick brothers began performing on WWNC in Asheville, North Carolina as members of the Crazy Hickory Nuts, changing their name to the Good Coffee Boys later on that same year (the band's personnel, which included fiddler Homer Sherrill, was unchanged. The program's sponsorship changed, however, which necessitated the name change). The Bolicks and Sherrill relocated to Atlanta, Georgia in 1936, where they performed on WGST as the Blue Ridge Hillbillies. The Bolicks left the group soon after, however, and Sherrill carried on under the Blue Ridge Hillbillies name.

While in Atlanta, the Bolicks auditioned for RCA, where they were initially turned down for being too similar to the Monroe Brothers. The A&R man, Eli Oberstein, finally agreed to hear them and, having done so, signed them on the spot. The Bolicks adopted the name The Blue Sky Boys, taking their name from "the Land of the Blue Sky," a term often used to describe western North Carolina.

At their first recording date for RCA, on June 16, 1936, the Blue Sky Boys recorded several sides, including "Down on the Banks of the Ohio." Their first coupling, "Sunny Side of Life" b/w "Where The Soul Never Dies" was an immediate hit. Between 1937 and 1941, the Blue Sky Boys recorded more than 100 sides for RCA, to considerable success. During the second World War, both Bolicks served in the military, returning to recording after the war's end.

Changing musical tastes, and the Bolicks reluctance to keep up with them, led to the Blue Sky Boys retiring in 1951. Bill returned to North Carolina and took a job as a postal clerk. Earl stayed in Atlanta and worked for Lockheed Aircraft. In the early '60s, a reissue of their early material led to a revival of interest in the Blue Sky Boys and the Bolicks made a brief comeback, releasing two LPs of new studio recordings (one secular and one religious), as well as making numerous festival appearances. By the end of the '60s, however, the Blue Sky Boys retired from music for a second time.

Their second retirement lasted until 1975, when the Blue Sky Boys recorded a final record for Rounder, followed by more live appearances. After their final tour, the Bolicks called it quits for good. Bill retired to Longview, North Carolina and Earl to Tucker, Georgia. Earl died on April 19, 1998. Bill died on March 13, 2008.

"Down on the Banks of the Ohio," sometimes simply titled "Banks of the Ohio," is a murder ballad that originated in the United States during the 19th century. It is believed to be related to "Pretty Polly," owing to the similarities in subject matter and mood. It also bears a resemblance to "Ommie Wise," in that both songs have the tragic heroine drowned by her lover. "Down on the Banks of the Ohio" was cataloged by George Malcolm Laws as F5. Laws ballads with the "F" designation are murder ballads.

Come my love, let's take a walk.
Just a little way away.
While we walk along we'll talk,
Talk about our wedding day.

Only say that you'll be mine,
And in our home we'll happy be.
Down beside where the waters flow.
Down on the banks of the Ohio.

I drew my knife across her throat,
And to my breast she gently pressed.
"Oh please, oh please, don't murder me,
For I'm unprepared to die you see."

I taken her by her lily white hand.
I let her down and I bade her stand.
There I plunged her in to drown,
And watched her as she floated down.

Returning home 'tween twelve and one.
Thinking of the deed done.
I murdered a girl I love you see,
Because she would not marry me.

Only say that you'll be mine,
And in our home we'll happy be.
Down beside where the waters flow.
Down on the banks of the Ohio.

Next day as I returning home,
I met the sheriff standing in the door.
He said young man come with me and go,
Down to the banks of the Ohio.

Only say that you'll be mine,
And in our home we'll happy be.
Down beside where the waters flow.
Down on the banks of the Ohio.

A highlight of this volume, the Blue Sky Boys' performance of "Down on the Banks of the Ohio" is magnificent. The Bolicks' close harmonies are soothing, except when they lapse into momentary (intentional) dissonance. Their voices are eerily calm, especially when the narrator relates how he "drew [his} knife across her throat," and how the girl pleads for her life. This flatness of affect perfectly embodies the soulless killer, who continually replays his declaration of love over and over again, even after the sheriff arrives to take him away. It's a beautiful and terrifying performance, even more impressive when one considers that it was recorded at their first professional recording session when the two singers were still in their late teens.

Earl sings lead vocal on this track, with Bill providing the tenor part. The Bolicks accompany themselves on guitar (Earl) and mandolin (Bill).

As with Bradley Kincaid, the Blue Sky Boys represented the dominance of the radio during the Depression. They were also considerably younger than most of performers on the original Anthology, even the youngest of whom were born around the turn of the 20th century. When the Bolicks were born, jazz and blues music had already been around for nearly two decades. Recorded music was common and available during the Bolicks' childhood as well. The Bolicks also point forward, to the close harmonies of the Louvin Brothers and the Everly Brothers, and thence to the Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel. While the Bolicks found themselves eclipsed by the Honky Tonk country music that came to dominate in the late forties and early fifties, their style would echo as far, if not farther, than even the greatest of the Honky Tonk exponents, including Hank Williams. While Williams influenced a generation of male country singers (including George Jones, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Merle Haggard), the Blue Sky Boys (along with the Monroe Brothers and other close harmony acts of the era) would influence singers who would cross over into the world of Rock and Roll, and later Rock music. If the Blue Sky Boys indirectly influenced the Beatles, it is safe to say that their linage extends very far indeed...

The Shameless Plug Department: It's been a long time since I've done a podcast episode of "Where Dead Voices Gather." This is partly due to my busy work schedule and partly due to the fact that I now put together a two-hour weekly radio show in my spare time. I do have plans for a seventh episode of "Where Dead Voices Gather," which I hope to put together in the next week or so. In the meantime, you can still listen to the old episodes.

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Before Xanadu and Grease, even before "Have You Never Been Mellow" and "I Honestly Love You," Olivia Newton John recorded a version of "Down on the Banks of the Ohio" (she was also named the CMA's "Female Artist of the Year" in 1974, beating Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, and Tanya Tucker). Here she is performing the song for German television in 1972...

Download and listen to The Blue Sky Boys - "Down on the Banks of the Ohio"

"Black Jack David" - The Carter Family

2010-08-23T02:41:00.004-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track Three: "Black Jack David" performed by The Carter Family. Recorded in Chicago on October 4, 1940. Original issue Conqueror 9574.

For biographical information on the Carter Family, see the entry for "John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man."

"Black Jack David" is a variant of Child 200, "The Gypsy Laddie." It is a traditional Scottish folk tune. James Francis Child dates the earliest printed version of this song to the early 1700s. The first recording of this song was made in 1939 by Cliff Carlisle for Decca. The Carter Family's version came out a year later. It has been recorded literally dozens of times by artists ranging from Woody Guthrie to the White Stripes.

Black Jack David came ridin' through the woods,
And he sang so loud and gaily.
Made the hills around him ring,
And he charmed the heart of a lady.
And he charmed the heart of a lady.

"How old are you, my pretty little miss?
How old are you, my honey?"
She answered him with a silly little smile,
"I'll be sixteen next Sunday.
I'll be sixteen next Sunday."

"Come go with me, my pretty little miss.
Come go with, me my honey.
I'll take you across the deep blue sea,
Where you never shall want for money.
Where you never shall want for money."

She pulled off her high-heeled shoes,
They were made of Spanish leather.
She put on those low-heeled shoes,
And they both rode off together.
And they both rode off together.

"Last night I lay on a warm feather bed,
Beside my husband and baby.
Tonight I lay on the cold, cold ground,
By the side of Black Jack David.
By the side of Black Jack David."

After four appearances on the original Anthology, the Carter Family return with the first of three recordings on volume four. "Black Jack David" is, like the song that preceded it, a ballad which might have found a home on volume one of the original set (although its 1940 recording date puts outside of the perimeters of Smith's original survey). Like "Dog and Gun," however, "Black Jack David" offers a different viewpoint, at least in terms of its treatment of women.

"Black Jack David" tells the story of the titular character, depicted in the song as a free wheeling rambler (a gypsy in the version collected by Child, although no mention is made in this version of David's ethnic background). David charms the heart of a young (not yet sixteen) married woman, who drops everything and leaves her husband and child.

This is similar to "The House Carpenter," but with a significant difference: In that song, the young woman who leaves her husband and child is punished for her transgression when her ship sinks (as was noted in the entry for Ashley's recording, earlier versions of the ballad had a supernatural element. The young wife is punished doubly; first for betraying her dead lover by marrying a house carpenter, and then for leaving her husband for the lover's ghost). The young lady in "Black Jack David" doesn't end so unhappily. In fact, the song's ending is subject for interpretation. The young woman's statement that

"Last night I lay on a warm feather bed,
Beside my husband and baby.
Tonight I lay on the cold, cold ground,
By the side of Black Jack David.
By the side of Black Jack David."

could be interpreted as regret. The contrast of the "warm feather bed" with "the cold, cold ground" certainly seems to imply a value judgment. It could, however, be a simple observation; a statement of fact: "This is how things are." The young woman certainly does not seem to suffer for her decision.

The Carter Family's reading of "Black Jack David" thoroughly Americanizes the song. The 18th century gypsy lad has been transformed into a romantic Western outlaw figure, with more in common with Jesse James than with Robin Hood.

The performance (which features Sara and Maybelle Carter sharing the singing throughout the song, as well as both performing on guitar) also seems to support the theory that the young woman does not regret her decision to elope with Black Jack David. The instrumental performance is buoyant. The two women intertwine their vocals in such a way that it is difficult to distinguish between them. There is none of Sara Carter's usual deadpan fatalism. A.P. Carter, who never participated in performances in any other capacity than as a vocalist, is conspicuously absent from this recording. This is a woman's song, defiant in its defense of the young wife's power to choose her own fate, although she isn't anywhere near as powerful as the lady in "Dog and Gun".

While A.P.'s absence on this recording may not have had anything to do with it, it should be noted that by 1940, Sara and A.P.'s marriage was over.

The Shameless Plug Department: It's been a long time since I've done a podcast episode of "Where Dead Voices Gather." This is partly due to my busy work schedule and partly due to the fact that I now put together a two-hour weekly radio show in my spare time. I do have plans for a seventh episode of "Where Dead Voices Gather," which I hope to put together in the next week or so. In the meantime, you can still listen to the old episodes.

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's a '70s television performance of "Black Jack David" by Waylon Jennings.

Download and listen to The Carter Family - "Black Jack David"

"Dog and Gun (An Old English Ballad)" - Bradley Kincaid

2010-08-17T23:18:00.004-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track Two: "Dog and Gun (An Old English Ballad)" performed by Bradley Kincaid. "Vocal and guitar." Recorded in New York on September 14, 1933.

Born on July 13, 1895 in Point Level, Gerrard County, Kentucky, William Bradley Kincaid was a song collector, composer, and radio entertainer. Although born in the south, Kincaid found success working at radio stations in Chicago and Boston.

In 1928, Kincaid published My Favorite Mountain Ballads, a songbook which sold more than 100,000 copies. He recorded primarily for Gennett Records, including (presumably) this recording of "Dog and Gun (An Old English Ballad)."

In 1935, Kincaid went to work at WBZ-AM in Boston, Massachusetts, where he performed with a 22-year old fellow-Kentuckian named Marshall Jones, who would later become a star on the Grand Ole Opry. Noting Jones' bad attitude during early morning broadcasts, Kincaid took to calling Jones "Grandpa," a nickname that stuck and was later used by Jones while performing at the Grand Ole Opry.

In 1945, Kincaid moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he made appearances on the Grand Ole Opry alongside his former band-mate.

Kincaid retired from music in 1950, making only occasional appearances at festivals. In 1971, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Fame.

Kincaid died on September 23, 1989 in Springfield, Ohio.

"Dog and Gun" is, as the subtitle suggests, a ballad of English origin. It was collected by George Malcolm Laws and was assigned the number "N20." Laws ballads with the "N" designation are "ballads of lovers' disguises and tricks."

There was a young squire who lived o'er the way.
He courted a rich lady so fair and so gay.
To marry this lady it was his intent.
Their friends and relations all gave their consent.

The time was appointed the wedding to see.
The squire chose a farmer his waiter to be.
No sooner had the lady the waiter espied,
He inflamed her true heart. "Oh my true heart!" She cried.

Instead of getting married she went to her bed.
The thought of the farmer still ran through her head.
The thought of the farmer still went through her mind,
And how to gain him she was quickly to find.

A coat, vest and pants did the lady put on.
Away she went hunting with dog and with gun.
She hunted all around where the farmer did dwell,
Because in her true heart she loved him so well.

Often she fired, but nothing she killed.
At length the young farmer came into the field.
To talk with him there it became her intent.
With her dog and her gun on to meet him she went.

"I thought you'd have been to the wedding," she cried,
"To give to the squire his beautiful bride."
"Oh, no," said the farmer, "The truth to you I'll tell.
I couldn't give her to him 'cause I love her so well."

It pleased the young lady to see him so bold.
She gave him her glove that was flowered with gold.
Saying, "Take this, I found it as I did come along.
I found it while hunting with dog and with gun."

The lady went home with a heart full of love,
And gave out the news that she had lost her glove.
"And the one that will find it and bring it to me,
The one that will find it, his bride I will be."

It pleased the young farmer to hear of the news.
Straight 'way with the glove to the lady he goes.
Saying, "Here, honored lady, I've just found your glove.
Will you be so kind as to grant me your love?"

"My love, it is granted." The lady replied.
"I love the sweet breath of the farmer!" She cried.
"I'll be mistress of dairy and milking of cow,
While my jolly young farmer goes whistling to plow."

And when they were married she told of the fun.
How she courted the farmer with dog and with gun.
"And now that I have him so close in my snare,
I love him forever and vow I don't care."

Had Smith included "Dog and Gun" on the original three volume Anthology, it would have been part of the first volume, "Ballads." "Dog and Gun" is different from the ballads included on the first volume, however. While many of the ballads compiled by Smith had female protagonists, none of them had the female character end well. Either the women are murderesses ("Henry Lee," "Fatal Flower Garden"), shrews ("Old Lady and the Devil"), unfaithful wives ("Drunkard's Special," "The House Carpenter"), or victims ("The Butcher's Boy," "The Wagoner's Lad"). Never are the women in these songs masters (or mistresses) of their own destinies. In that regard, "Dog and Gun" stands alone. The lady in this song not only chooses her mate (preferring the young farmer over the squire), but she actively seeks him out, using deception to bypass the social restrictions that would ordinarily prevent a farmer from marrying a rich lady (interestingly, the lady announces that she will be "mistress of dairy and milking of cow," suggesting that she gives up her wealth and social status, rather than having the farmer ascend to her level).

This recording also fits in with the apparent theme of this volume, mentioned in the last entry, of having the music point to the present and future of the music, rather than its past. Kincaid, while he was a recording artist, was primarily known as a radio entertainer. The popularity of radio during the Depression led to a decline in popularity of phonograph records, which would not be fully reversed until after the war. Indeed, many people saw the radio as supplanting the phonograph. After all, the radio required only a one-time purchase. After that, the programming was free and offered variety. A phonograph, however, required the purchase of more and more records, something that Americans during the Depression could ill afford.

Bradley Kincaid, therefore, represented a new medium, even as he performed "an old English ballad."

The Shameless Plug Department: It's been a long time since I've done a podcast episode of "Where Dead Voices Gather." This is partly due to my busy work schedule and partly due to the fact that I now put together a two-hour weekly radio show in my spare time. I do have plans for a seventh episode of "Where Dead Voices Gather," which I hope to put together in the next week or so. In the meantime, you can still listen to the old episodes.

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Download and listen to Bradley Kincaid - "Dog and Gun (An Old English Ballad)"

"Memphis Shakedown" - Memphis Jug Band

2010-08-15T19:21:00.008-04:00

Set Four: The "Lost" Volume; Disc One; Track One: "Memphis Shakedown" performed by The Memphis Jug Band. Recorded in Chicago on November 8, 1934.

For the better part of a half-century, the three volume Anthology was the last word on Harry Smith's excursion into American Folk Music. Following the Anthology's release, Smith pursued his interests in a number of other directions, including painting, filmmaking, collecting string figures, and producing the first album by the Fugs. The Anthology, however, was the work for which Smith was best known. In 1968, Smith was interviewed by John Cohen and the interview dealt extensively with the Anthology.

As was mentioned in our last entry, Smith was honored with a Grammy award for the Anthology shortly before his death in 1991. Six years later, Smithsonian-Folkways released the Anthology on CD, making it generally available for the first time in many years.

Nevertheless, the Anthology was a work firmly rooted in the past. Listeners could only imagine what subsequent volumes might have sounded like.

The notes for the original Anthology promised that three more volumes were forthcoming which would deal with "examples of rhythm changes between 1890 and 1950." In his 1968 interview with John Cohen, Smith stated that there had been a fourth volume prepared for release along with the first three, but that editorial differences had lead to the project being scrapped.

According to Dick Spottswood, Smith circulated a tape copy of the proposed fourth volume which was eventually released on CD in 2000 on John Fahey's Revenant record label. Presented as a hardcover book, the two-disc set contained (in addition to the music itself) essays by Ed Sanders of the Fugs, Dick Spottswood, Greil Marcus (who had written about the Anthology in his book Invisible Republic, later re-released as The Old, Weird America, and was now treated as a foremost authority on Smith) and John Fahey, as well as excerpts from Cohen's 1968 interview with Smith. The book also included Dick Spottswood's notes for each track.

It is worth noting that Spottswood leaves out discographical information that had been included by Smith in the booklet for the first three volumes. For that reason, while we have the personnel and recording date and location for each track, we don't have the original record label or the catalog numbers. When I have that information, I will include it. When I do not (as with this selection), I will provide the information from the booklet.

The question that immediately presents itself is: What is this set about? As we saw in the previous entries, the first three sets were organized by theme ("Ballads," "Social Music" (secular and religious), and "Songs"). This volume includes examples of all three categories. The overarching theme, in my opinion, is that while all of the previous volumes looked backwards to styles and events that predated the lives of the performers, this volume deals with (what was for the performers) the here and now. In this volume, we were hear topical songs.; References to the political and social realities that faced these artists. We will also hear styles of music that reflect the increasing influence of jazz, bluegrass, and the blues.

For biographical information on Will Shade and the Memphis Jug Band, see the entry for "Bob Lee Junior Blues."

"Memphis Shakedown" is an almost entirely instrumental performance. Had this song appeared on the original Anthology, it would have been placed on the first disc of the "Social Music" volume. In his notes, Spottswood points out that the title of the song indicates that the song is a "combines the idea of the hillbilly breakdown with the African American shake or shimmy-shake." It is significant that Smith began this volume, a volume that looks to music's present and future rather than at its past, with a number that defies the genre conventions of the day. This number is a deliberate mixing of white and black styles, a mixture that in two more decades would lead to the birth of rock and roll.

Indeed, the Memphis Jug Band (in their last recording session before a lengthy hiatus brought on by the Depression) rocks on this number. There are no lyrics, but there is quite a bit of shouting and scat singing throughout, provided by guitarists Will Shade and Charlie Burse. The most prominent instrumental presence on this recording is fiddler Charlie Pierce in one of his very few recordings. Pierce saws at the strings, giving the number a down home feel that contrasts sharply with the jazz rhythms performed by Shade and Burse on the guitars, along with Robert Burse on the washboard, and Jab Jones on the jug. Given how opposed much of the Anthology's original audience was to the R&B and rock and roll that emerged during the '50s, it is possible that Smith left this number off of this original set on purpose. Its transgressive mix of white and black styles, so reminiscent of music that would be made by Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard some twenty-odd years later, might have sat badly with the purist folk audience that embraced the Anthology in the first few years following its release. Of course, the Anthology predates rock and roll by several years. Nevertheless, the seeds of rock and roll were already planted and starting to blossom in the early '50s.

It is also significant, in hindsight, that Memphis (the likely location of this recording and home of the Memphis Jug Band) would be the home of Sun Records beginning in 1952, and that it was at Sun that Sam Philips, Elvis Presley, Bill Black, and Scotty Moore would, in 1954, mix the potent elements of white and black music, resulting in the genre-busting version of "That's Alright, Mama" that would kick-start Elvis's recording career and bring rock and roll into the mainstream.

The Shameless Plug Department: It's been a long time since I've done a podcast episode of "Where Dead Voices Gather." This is partly due to my busy work schedule and partly due to the fact that I now put together a two-hour weekly radio show in my spare time. I do have plans for a seventh episode of "Where Dead Voices Gather," which I hope to put together in the next week or so. In the meantime, you can still listen to the old episodes.

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's the Carolina Chocolate Drops rocking a version of "Memphis Shakedown" on the kazoo...

Download and listen to "Memphis Shakedown" - Memphis Jug Band

"Fishing Blues" - Henry Thomas ("Ragtime Texas")

2010-08-10T16:54:00.006-04:00

Set Three: Songs; Disc Two; Track Fourteen: "Fishing Blues" performed by Henry Thomas ("Ragtime Texas"). "Vocal solo with guitar, and whistle." Recorded in Chicago on June 13, 1928. Original issue Vocalion 1249.

For biographical information on Henry Thomas, see the entry for "Old Country Stomp."

Went up on the hill about twelve o'clock.
Reached right back and got me a pole.
Went to the hardware and got me a hook.
Placed that line right on that hook.

Says you've been a-fishin' all the time.
I'm a-goin' fishin' too.
I bet your life your lovin'wife
Can catch more fish than you.

Any fish bite if you've got good bait.
Here's a little somethin' I would like to relate.
Any fish bite if you got good bait.
I'm a-goin' a-fishin', yes, I'm a-goin' a-fishin',
I'm a-goin' a-fishin' too.

Looked down the river about one o'clock.
Spied this catfish swimmin' around.
I got so hungry, didn't know what to do.
I'm gonna get me a catfish too.

Yes, you've been fishin' all the time.
I'm a-goin' a-fishin' too.
I bet your life your lovin' wife
Catch more fish than you.

Any fish bite got good bait.
Here's a little somethin' I would like to relate.
Any fish bite if you got good bait.
I'm a-goin' a-fishin', yes, I'm goin' a-fishin',
I'm a-goin' a-fishin' too.

Put on the skillet, lay down your lid.
Mama gonna cook 'em with the short'nin' bread.

Says you been fishin' all the time.
I'm a-goin a-fishin' too.
I bet your life, your lovin' wife
Can catch more fish than you.

Any fish bite if you've got good bait.
Here's a little somethin' I would like to relate.
Any fish bite if you got good bait.
I'm a-goin' a-fishin', yes, I'm goin' a-fishin',
I'm a-goin' a-fishin' too.

Recorded at the same 1928 as "Old Country Stomp," "Fishing Blues" is the perfect capstone for Smith's monumental Anthology. The song is not heavy or profound (in spite of Greil Marcus' wishful thinking about Thomas providing the "secret of life" in this song). It is a sexual boast thinly disguised by a fishing metaphor. Indeed, in Smith's notes he points out that references to fishing "other than sexual symbolism, are rare in American Folk Music."

Thomas starts the song with a spritely guitar introduction, followed by a noticeable slowing of the tempo once Thomas starts singing. Between the chorus and the verse, Thomas plays the song's theme on the quills. Thomas' voice is thick and some of the lyrics recorded here are conjectural (especially in the last verse). In his notes, Smith points out that "Fishing Blues" incorporates "Shortnin' Bread," a song often assumed to be a genuine example of African American folklore. It was, in fact, written in 1900 by the white poet James Whitcomb Riley.

"Fishing Blues" has been covered by the Loving Spoonful, Taj Mahal, and others.

This brings us to the end of the original three volume Anthology set originally released on six LPs in 1952 by Folkways records. In the next entry, we will begin the "lost" fourth volume released in 2000 by Revenant Records.

At the end of the set's original booklet, Smith lists "a few quotations from various authors that have been useful to the editor in preparing the notes for this handbook."

In elementary music the relation of earth to the sphere of water is 4 to 3, as there are in the Earth four quarters of frigidity to three of water.
- Robert Fludd

Civilized man thinks out his difficulties, at least he thinks he does, primitive man dances out his difficulties.
- R.R. Marrett

Do as thy wilt shall be the whole of the law.
-Aleister Crowley

The in-breathing becomes thought, and the out-breathing becomes the will manifestation of thought.
-Rudolph Steiner

The first quotation comes from Robert Fludd (1574-1637). Fludd was a prominent English doctor who extensively studded the occult. Fludd's inclusion here reflects Smtih's interest in alchemy (Smith was known as the "Paracelsus of the Chelsea Hotel" and claimed that his father had given him a blacksmith's set for his thirteenth birthday, commanding him to turn lead into gold).

The second quote comes from the British ethnologist Robert Ranulph Marett (1866-1943). Marett (whose name is misspelled "Marrett" in Smith's notes) was best known for his work in the field of religious ethnology.

The third quote comes from the famed English occultist Aleister Crowley (1875-1947). Smith sometimes hinted that Crowley was his real father.

The last quote comes from Rudolph Joseph Lorenz Steiner (1861-1925), an Austrian philosopher and the founder of Anthroposophy, a spiritual movement that touted an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world that could be accessed through inner development. The movement was linked to Madam Blavatsky's Theosophy, a spiritual movement of which Smith's parents were allegedly followers.

The quotes from Fludd (an alchemist), Marett (an expert on primitive religions), Crowley (an occultist and hedonist), and Steiner (a spiritualist) all hint that Smith's intention in releasing the Anthology was to commit an elaborate act of social magic. Smith has admitted in interviews that he was influenced by Plato's theories on music and its link to social order; that if one changes the music in a culture, one runs the risk of upsetting that culture's social order. It was Smith's stated intention in releasing this carefully sequenced collection of pre-war music into post-war America to bring about change. When Smith was presented with a special Grammy award in 1991, he said: "I'm glad to say that my dreams came true. I saw America changed through music."

This is not to suggest that Smith was an actual magician, but rather to point out that the one place that magic undoubtedly exists is in the human mind. It has long be noted that an idea is the most potent virus. The Anthology helped spark the folk music revival of the late '50s and early '60s, influencing such artists as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk, and Jerry Garcia. If Smith had not released the Anthology, or if he had released it in a different form, the musical landscape might look very different today.

The Shameless Plug Department: It's been a long time since I've done a podcast episode of "Where Dead Voices Gather." This is partly due to my busy work schedule and partly due to the fact that I now put together a two-hour weekly radio show in my spare time. I do have plans for a seventh episode of "Where Dead Voices Gather," which I hope to put together in the next week or so. In the meantime, you can still listen to the old episodes.

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's Taj Mahal performing a version of "Fishing Blues."

Here's Dom Flemons of the Carolina Chocolate Drops performing a version of "Fishing Blues" complete with quills!

Download and listen to Henry Thomas - "Fishing Blues"

"The Lone Star Trail [Talkie Hit From Universal Picture "The Wagon Master" ]" - Ken Maynard (The American Boys Favorite Cowboy)

2010-08-08T19:25:00.010-04:00

Set Three: Songs; Disc Two; Track Thirteen: "The Lone Star Trail [Talkie Hit From Universal Picture "The Wagon Master"]" performed by Ken Maynard (The American Boys Favorite Cowboy). "Vocal solo with guitar." Recorded in Los Angeles on April 14, 1930. Original issue Columbia 2310D (W149832).

Kenneth Olin Maynard was born in Vevay, Indiana on July 21, 1895. Little is known of his early life or of his family, other than the fact that Maynard was one of five children.

At the age of 16, Maynard began working as a circus and rodeo performer. He performed as a member of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in 1914, and later joined the Ringling Brother's Circus. He served in the U.S. Army during the first World War.

After the war, Maynard found himself performing in Los Angeles when a friend suggested that he seek work in films. In 1923, Maynard began working in silent movies and was soon under contract to Fox Studios. He worked as both an actor and as a stuntman, and his horsemanship and good looks soon made him a cowboy star. Maynard is frequently cited as one of the first "Singing Cowboys" (in fact, Gene Autry made his film debut in one of Maynard's movies). In addition to acting, Maynard also produced numerous films, wrote several screenplays, and directed 1933's The Fiddling Buckaroo. In 1930, Maynard recorded several sides for Columbia, including "The Lone Star Trail," which had been featured in the 1929 film, The Wagon Master in which Maynard had starred in the role of "The Rambler."

In all, Maynard appeared in more than 90 films (IMDB lists 94 films, as opposed to the 300 mentioned by Jeff Place in his notes to the 1997 reissue of the Anthology). He was billed as "the American boy's favorite cowboy."

It is not known when exactly Maynard began his descent into alcoholism, but by 1944 it had become the contributing factor in the end of his film career. In his later years, he made appearances at state fairs and in rodeos. The money he had earned as an actor was lost and Maynard lived out his remaining years in a mobile home, supported by an unknown benefactor (believed by some to be Gene Autry). He made a few final film and television appearences in the early 1970s and died on March 23, 1973. Maynard has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Oh, I am a lonely cowboy and I'm all from the Texas train.
My trade is cinchin' saddles and pullin' bridle rein.
But I can twist a lasso with the greatest skill and ease.
Or rope and ride a bronco most anywhere I please.

Oh, I love the rollin' prairie that's far from trail and strife.
Behind a bunch of longhorns, I'll journey all my life.
But if I had a stake boys, soon married I would be,
To the sweetest girl in this wide world just fell in love with me.

Wee-weeeeeee-eh-wheeee. Weeeee-weeee-wheeeee-weeee-weee.

Oh, when we get on the trail boys, and the dusty billows rise,
It's fifty miles from water and the grass is scorchin' dry.
Oh, the boss is mad and rangy and you all can plainly see.
I'll have to follow the longhorns, I'm a cowboy here to be.

But when it comes a-rain boys, one of the gentle kind.
When the lakes are full of water and the grass is waivin' fine.
Oh, the boss will shed his frown boys, and a pleasant smile you'll see.
I'll have to follow the longhorns, I'm a cowboy here to be.

Wee-weeeeeee-eh-wheeee. Weeeee-weeee-wheeeee-weeee-weee.

Oh, when we get 'em bedded, we think [?] down for the night,
Some horse'll shake his saddle and give the herd a fright.
They'll get to their feet boys, and madly stampede away.
In one moment's time boys, you can hear a cowboy say...

Wee-weeeeeee-eh-wheeee. Weeeee-weeee-wheeeee-weeee-weee.

Oh, when we get 'em bedded, we feel most inclined.
When the cloud'll rise in the west boys, and the fire play on their horns.
Oh, the old boss rides around then. Your pay you'll get in gold.
So I'll have to follow the longhorns until I am too old.

Wee-weeeeeee-eh-wheeee. Weeeee-weeee-wheeeee-weeee-weee.

In some ways, Maynard is the ringer on the original three volume Anthology. While he was by no means the only professional showman whose recordings appear on this set, he is the only one who came to music through another medium (in this case, through film). Maynard appeared to be accomplished on several instruments. He plays guitar on "The Lone Star Trail" and is shown playing the fiddle and the banjo in various film roles. Yet Maynard's biography makes no mention of music during his formative years. While he doubtless learned to play as a boy, music seemed to take a backseat to riding, stunt work, and later acting. While Place's notes indicate that "The Lone Star Trail" is a genuine cowboy song dating to the days of the cattle drives, there is no indication that Maynard knew the song before he was asked to sing it in The Wagon Master. In other words, while the song is a true example of folk music, Maynard does not appeared to have come to the song through the folk process.

Nevertheless, Mayard's recording of "The Lone Star Trail" seems to have made a favorable impression on Smith, who calls the record "one of the very few recordings of authentic "cowboy" singing." While Maynard may have played a cowboy in films, wild west shows, rodeos, and circuses, there is no evidence to support the notion that Maynard was an "authentic" cowboy. In does not seem to have ever worked on a ranch punching cattle.

Questions of authenticity aside, the question remains: Is "The Lone Star Trail" an effective record? In my opinion, it is. Maynard's high, nasal voice may not immediately strike the listener as sounding sufficiently "rugged," but it effectively conveys the mood of the song, which describes the lonely day-to-day existence of a cowboy on the trail. If Maynard wasn't a real cowboy, he appears to be a real actor, if nothing else. He plays the cowboy well enough that we believe in him, especially when he sings the high, keening, wordless chorus. He may not give us the romance of the old west as effectively as later singing cowboys such as Autry or Roy Rogers, but Maynard does conjure up the grim reality of lonely men who were, essentially, skilled laborers doing a dirty job.

"The Lone Star Trail" is the only recording on the original Anthology recorded in California.

The Shameless Plug Department: It's been a long time since I've done a podcast episode of "Where Dead Voices Gather." This is partly due to my busy work schedule and partly due to the fact that I now put together a two-hour weekly radio show in my spare time. I do have plans for a seventh episode of "Where Dead Voices Gather," which I hope to put together in the next week or so. In the meantime, you can still listen to the old episodes.

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's a clip from the 1934 film In Old Santa Fe starring Maynard. The clip features Maynard lip synching "As Long As I Got My Dog," which is actually performed by Bob Noland. Note Maynard's famous horse, Tarzan, and his cantankerous sidekick, Cactus. This film also features the debut of Gene Autry who would quickly surpass Maynard in popularity. I also like the way the film messes with chronology. Maynard and Cactus appear to be living in the old west, while in the very next scene a late model car is featured. Only in the movies!

Download and listen to Ken Maynard - "The Lone Star Trail"

"Train On The Island" - J.P. Nestor

2010-08-05T00:31:00.006-04:00

Set Three: Songs; Disc Two; Track Twelve: "Train On The Island" performed by J.P. Nestor. "Vocal solo with violin and banjo." Recorded in Bristol, Tennessee on August 1, 1927. Original issue Victor 21070A.

J. Preston Nestor was born in Hillsville, Virginia in 1876. His exact birthdate is unknown as are the details of his early life. What is known is that Nestor, along with fiddler Norman Edmonds, recorded four songs during the legendary Bristol Sessions, including this version of "Train On The Island." Although Nestor was approached about a follow-up session in New York, Nestor declined the offer and never recorded again. He died in 1967 at the age of 91.

Norman Edmonds was born in Wythe County, Virginia on February 9, 1889. He learned the fiddle from his father, which he played in the rural style (with the fiddle held against his chest rather than under his chin). Edmonds was known for his vast repository of songs, many of which have seldom been heard outside of Galax, Virgina. Edmonds recorded under his own name (his version of "Breaking Up Christmas" is available on the excellent Dust-To-Digital holiday collection, Where Will You Be Christmas Day) and remained active through the 1970s. He died in 1976.

"Train On The Island" is the last of five work songs in a row and the second song in a row to feature a train.

Train on the island, since I heard it squeal,
Go tell my true love, I can't hold the wheel.
I can't roll the wheel, Lord, it's I can't hold the wheel.

Thought he heard it blow, Lord, he thought he heard it blow.

Train on the island, since I heard it blow,
Go tell my true love, sick and I can't go.
Sick, and I can't go.

And I can't roll the wheel.

Train on the island, since I've heard it squeal,
Go tell my true love, how happy I do feel.
Thought he heard it blow, Lord, thought he heard it blow.

Train on the island, since I've heard it blow,
Go tell my true love, long as I can go.
Long as I can go.

Lord, he thought he heard it blow.

Train on the island, since I've heard it blow,
Go tell my true love, sick and I can't go.
Sick, and I can't go, Lord, sick and I can't go.

Thought he heard it blow, Lord, thought he heard it blow.

"Train On The Island" features some truly remarkable fiddle and banjo playing. Nestor and Edmonds simulate the sounds of the train on their instruments. Although Smith describes Nestor's vocal as "meager," I disagree. I think his voice perfectly fits the rushed mood of the piece. The words tumble forth in a way that suggests that Nestor was barely aware of them at the time. Lines are started and only half finished, or else finished without being started. Pronouns are dropped, as though Nestor doesn't have time to pronounce every word. The song gives a palpable impression of time running out. No matter how fast Edmonds plays and Nestor sings, it will be too late. It has always been too late.

The song is provides a wonderful contrast for the laid back "K.C. Moan."

The Shameless Plug Department: The sixth episode of the "Where Dead Voices Gather" podcast is finally up! It's an all fiddle episode featuring fiddle tunes from both black and white artists, as well as three tracks from the Middle East! Also available on iTunes! Subscribe today so you don't miss a single episode. It's free and it doesn't hurt. Who can ask for more?

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's a video of gadaya performing "Train On The Island" on banjo.

Download and listen to J.P. Nestor - "Train On The Island"

"K.C. Moan" - Memphis Jug Band

2010-08-02T00:42:00.006-04:00

Set Three: Songs; Disc Two; Track Eleven: "K.C. Moan" performed by Memphis Jug Band. "Vocal trio with harmonica, kazoo, banjo, jug, guitar." Recorded in Memphis on October 4, 1929. Original issue Victor V-38558A.

For biographical information on Will Shade and the Memphis Jug Band, see the entry for "Bob Lee Junior Blues"

Recorded just fifteen days before the Stock Market Crash of 1929, "K.C. Moan" is described by Smith as a "quartet arrangement of a well known work song." At the time of this recording, the Memphis Jug Band consisted of Will Shade on harmonica and vocal, Tee Wee Blackman on lead vocal and guitar, Charlie Burse on guitar, Ben Ramey on vocal and kazoo, and Jab Jones on jug. Of the members of the group heard on this recording, only Shade and Ramey are also on "Bob Lee Junior Blues."

I thought I heard that K.C. when she blowed.
Oh, I thought I heard that K.C. when she blowed.
Oh, I thought I heard that K.C. when she blowed.
She blowed like my woman’s on board.

When I get back on that K.C. road,
Oh, when I get back on that K.C. road,
Oh, when I get back on that K.C. road,
Gonna love my baby like I never loved before.

Mmm, mmm, mmm.
Mmm, mmm, mmm.
Mmm, mmm, mmm.
Mmm, mmm, mmm.

"K.C. Moan" is an extremely laid back performance of a very simple song. Only two if the three verses contain lyrics. The two verses with lyrics feature only two lines each (with the first line repeated three times). This song is an object lesson in how a song need not be complex in order to be effective. If Smith's conjecture about the song's origin as a work song is correct, the speaker in the song is likely a prisoner listening with longing to the sound of a train going by, wishing that his woman was on her way to meet him. In the second verse, he sings about going home and how he is going to "love [his] baby like [he] never loved before" once he gets there. As Smith notes, "the train is a constantly recurring symbol" in such songs. Johnny Cash would make use of a similar image in his "Folsom Prison Blues."

Jab Jones, who plays the jug on this recording, appears elsewhere on the Anthology, playing piano on "Expressman Blues"

"K.C. Moan" is the fourth of five work songs in a row.

The Shameless Plug Department: The sixth episode of the "Where Dead Voices Gather" podcast is finally up! It's an all fiddle episode featuring fiddle tunes from both black and white artists, as well as three tracks from the Middle East! Also available on iTunes! Subscribe today so you don't miss a single episode. It's free and it doesn't hurt. Who can ask for more?

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's John Sebastian and the J-Band performing a version of "K.C. Blues." This video also features some fierce harmonica playing from Sebastian. The performance follows a short interview with Sebastian.

pushkinsuncle performs "K.C. Moan" on slide guitar in this excellent version...

In this video, the Blue Ribbon Jug Band perform "K.C. Moan" in prison stripes!

Download and listen to The Memphis Jug Band - "K.C. Moan"

"Spike Driver Blues" - Mississippi John Hurt

2010-07-27T23:39:00.004-04:00

Set Three: Songs; Disc Two; Track Ten: "Spike Driver Blues" performed by Mississippi John Hurt. "Vocal solo with guitar." Recorded in New York on December 28, 1928. Original issue Okeh 8692 (W401488).

For biographical information on Mississippi John Hurt, see the entry for "Frankie."

For the ballad of John Henry and information on the historical John Henry, see the entry for "Gonna Die With My Hammer In My Hand."

Take this hammer and carry it to my captain. Tell him I'm gone.
Tell him I'm gone. Tell him I'm gone.
Take this hammer and carry it to my captain. Tell him I'm gone.
Just tell him I'm gone. I'm sure is gone.

This is the hammer that killed John Henry, but it won't kill me.
But it won't kill me. But it won't kill me.
This is the hammer that killed John Henry, but it won't kill me.
But it won't kill me. Ain't gonna kill me.

It's a long ways from east Colorado, honey, to my home.
Honey, to my home. Honey, to my home.
It's a long ways to east Colorado, honey, to my home.
Honey, to my home. That's where I'm gone.

John Henry he left his hammer layin' side the road.
Layin' side the road. Layin' side the road.
John Henry he left his hammer all over in rain.
All over in rain. That's why I'm gone.

John Henry was a steel drivin' boy but he went down.
But he went down. But he went down.
John Henry was a steel drivin' boy but he went down.
But he went down. That's why I'm gone.

"Spike Driver Blues" is the third of five work songs in a row. "Spike Driver Blues" is a song of protest. The worker in this song is throwing his hammer down and leaving the exhausting and dangerous work of driving steel spikes with a hammer (often between nine and twelve pounds). This song makes frequent references to the folkloric figure of John Henry, whose story is told is greater detail in the entry for the Williamson Brothers and Curry's recording of "Gonna Die With My Hammer In My Hand" on the "Ballads" volume of the Anthology. Here, Henry is invoked - not as a hero who raced the steam drill and won - but as a workingman's martyr. The speaker in this song has no interest in dying with his hammer in his hand. He's going home.

Work songs were often sung by convicts toiling in labor camps, so the fantasy of presenting the captain with their hammers and going home would be very appealing. Even when the workers were not actual convicts, many were simply prisoners of circumstance, lacking the economic independence to quit their back-breaking work.

As in the case of Hurt's performance of "Frankie," "Spike Driver Blues" is performed in a gentle, almost conversational tone. The guitar is beautifully played. This stands in stark contrast with the two raucous Uncle Dave Macon recordings that precede it.

The Shameless Plug Department: The sixth episode of the "Where Dead Voices Gather" podcast is finally up! It's an all fiddle episode featuring fiddle tunes from both black and white artists, as well as three tracks from the Middle East! Also available on iTunes! Subscribe today so you don't miss a single episode. It's free and it doesn't hurt. Who can ask for more?

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's Mississippi John Hurt himself in what appears to be a late '50s or early '60s television appearance (with Pete Seeger, no less) performing a version of "Spike Driver Blues."

Here's bryand79 performing a lovely and faithful version of "Spike Driver Blues."

Download and listen to Mississippi John Hurt - "Spike Driver Blues"

"Buddy Won't You Roll Down The Line" - Uncle Dave Macon

2010-07-26T01:00:00.006-04:00

Set Three: Songs; Disc Two; Track Nine: "Buddy Won't You Roll Down The Line" performed by Uncle Dave Macon. "Vocal solo and banjo - guitar by Sam McGee." Recorded in Chicago on July 25, 1928. Original issue Brunswick 292.

For biographical information on Uncle Dave Macon, see the previous entry on "Way Down The Old Plank Road."

According to Smith's notes, "Buddy Won't You Roll Down The Line," along with the previous selection, "Way Down The Old Plank Road," and the three songs that follow, are classified as "work songs" because "they are structurally adapted to responsive chanting by gang workers." Smith notes that "the performances in the present set have been given accompaniments and somewhat 'refined', but the characteristic leader and chorus pattern survives."

Field recordings of work songs performed by laborers and prisoners were made by John and Alan Lomax (among many others) and are available on such releases as Prison Songs (Historical Recordings From Parchman Farm 1947-48), Vol. 1: Murderous Home.

Uh, oh! Comin' up hard!

Way back yonder in Tennessee, they leased the convicts out.
They worked 'em in the coal mines against free labor stout;
Free labor rebelled against it. To win it took some time.
But while the lease was in effect, they made 'em rise and shine.

Oh, buddy, won't you roll down the line?
Buddy, won't you roll down the line?
Yonder come my darlin', comin' down the line.
Buddy, won't you roll down the line?
Buddy, won't you roll down the line?
Yonder come my darlin', comin' down the line.

Every Monday morning they've got 'em out on time.
March 'em down to Lone Rock, said to look into that mine.
March you down to Lone Rock, said to look into that hole
Very last word the captain say, "You better get your coal."

Oh, buddy, won't you roll down the line?
Buddy, won't you roll down the line?
Yonder come my darlin', comin' down the line.
Buddy, won't you roll down the line?
Buddy, won't you roll down the line?
Yonder come my darlin', comin' down the line.

The beans they are half done, the bread is not so well.
The meat it is as burnt up and the coffee's black as heck.
But when you get your task done, you'll gladly come to call.
Anything you'd get to eat it taste good, done or raw.

Oh, buddy, won't you roll down the line?
Buddy, won't you roll down the line?
Yonder come my darlin', comin' down the line.
Buddy, won't you roll down the line?
Buddy, won't you roll down the line?
Yonder come my darlin', comin' down the line.

The bank boss is a hard man, a man you all know well.
And if you don't get your task done, he's gonna give you hallelujah!
Carry you to the stockade, and it's on the floor you'll fall.
Very next time they call on you, you bet you'll have your coal.

Oh, buddy, won't you roll down the line?
Buddy, won't you roll down the line?
Yonder come my darlin', comin' down the line.
Buddy, won't you roll down the line
Buddy, won't you roll down the line?
Yonder come my darlin', comin' down the line.

The first verse of "Buddy Won't You Roll Down The Line" makes direct reference to the Coal Creek Rebellion of 1891. Beginning in the mid-19th century, it was common practice in the state of Tennessee to lease convicts to private companies as cheap labor, allowing the companies to pay for the care and feeding of the convicts. According to the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture,

On July 14, 1891, miners launched a series of guerrilla attacks at Briceville in Anderson County. In the initial confrontation, three hundred miners surrounded the stockade, took charge of the forty prisoners, marched them and their guards five miles to Coal Creek (now Lake City), sealed them in boxcars, and shipped them to Knoxville. The miners requested the intervention of Governor John P. Buchanan to protect the rights of labor. Buchanan agreed to meet with the miners, but ordered three companies of state militia to restore order and return the convicts to Briceville. In his meeting with the miners, Buchanan advised them to seek justice through the courts. When the miners repeated their action on July 20, Buchanan agreed to call a special session of the legislature to consider the issue of convict leasing.

It wasn't until 1893 that the Tennessee legislature agreed to construct a new prison and put an end to the practice of convict leasing, once the lease expired in 1896.

The rest of the song is a description of convict life as the men are forced to work in the mines and submit to brutal discipline.

As on the previous selection, Macon plays a spirited banjo part and is joined by Sam McGee on guitar. McGee also sings on the choruses. Macon was fond of including both historic and topical references in his songs.

There are two references in the song to getting one's "pole," which I imagine is something commonly used in coal mining, although I haven't been able to find any confirmation of that.

One amusing detail in this song is Macon's reluctance to use the word "hell" in a song. In two verses, he sets up rhymes that lead the listener to believe that Macon is going to end the line with the word "hell," but Macon quickly (and humorously) substitutes another word ("heck" in one verse and "hallelujah" in another). This reminds me of a "play song" I heard in elementary school where swear words are substituted with innocuous sound-alike words. The only words I can remember are

...you son of a
Beech Nut chewing gum, five cents a pack.
If you do not like it, then shove it up your
Ask me no more questions, I'll tell you no more lies.

If anyone remembers this song or chant, or any variations thereon, please leave a comment below.

The Shameless Plug Department: The sixth episode of the "Where Dead Voices Gather" podcast is finally up! It's an all fiddle episode featuring fiddle tunes from both black and white artists, as well as three tracks from the Middle East! Also available on iTunes! Subscribe today so you don't miss a single episode. It's free and it doesn't hurt. Who can ask for more?

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's a video of guitarist Jody Stecher performing a version of "Buddy Won't You Roll Down The Line." He also teaches you how to play the song yourself!

Download and listen to Uncle Dave Macon - "Buddy Won't You Roll Down The Line"

"Way Down The Old Plank Road" - Uncle Dave Macon

2010-07-20T16:14:00.005-04:00

Set Three: Songs; Disc Two; Track Eight: "Way Down The Old Plank Road" performed by Uncle Dave Macon. "Vocal solo and banjo with guitar by Sam McGee." Recorded in New York on April 14, 1926. Original issue Vocalion B15321 (53).

David Harrison Macon, better known as Uncle Dave Macon or The Dixie Dewdrop, was born on October 7, 1870 in Smartt Station, Tennessee to Confederate Captain John Macon and Marsha Ramsey. In 1884, the family relocated to Nashville, Tennessee where Macon's parents ran the Old Broadway Hotel, a frequent stop for vaudeville and circus performers. In 1885, Macon learned to play the banjo from a circus comedian named Joel Davidson. In 1886, Macon's father was murdered outside the hotel. Macon's mother sold the hotel and moved the family to Readyville, Tennessee where she ran a stagecoach stop. Macon entertained passengers with his banjo on a home-made stage.

Macon married in 1889 and settled on a farm near Kittrell, Tennessee where he raised his family, which came to include six sons. Around 1900, Macon started his own business, a freight company called The Macon Midway Mule and Wagon Transportation Company which ran between Murfreesboro and Woodbury, Tennessee. Macon often sang and played banjo at stops along the way. In time, his sons joined the business, but competition from automobiles forced Macon to close down his business in 1920.

Macon began his professional musical career in 1921 when he played a local Methodist church benefit show. He was discovered by Marcus Loew in 1923 while performing for a group of Shriners in Nashville. Loew hired Macon to perform at a Loew's Theater in Alabama, which quickly lead to more bookings. At the age of 50, Macon embarked on a career as a touring entertainer.

On July 8, 1924, Macon cut his first records for Vocalion. The records proved popular, and Macon recorded prolifically into the late '30s. He also made recordings for Okeh and Bluebird. In 1925, Macon met guitarist Sam McGee who would become Macon's performing partner, and was also a member (along with brother Kirk McGee and Mazy Todd) of Macon's band The Fruit Jar Drinkers.

On December 26, 1925, Macon made his debut on the recently formed WSM radio station, soon to be home of the Grand Ole Oprey. Macon remained a regular presence on WSM and frequent guest on the Grand Ole Oprey for the next twenty-six years. In 1940, Macon appeared in the Republic Pictures film The Grand Ole Oprey, along with Oprey founder George D. Hay, Roy Acuff, and Macon's son Dorris, who was acting as Macon's accompanist at the time. The late 1940s found Macon touring with Bill Monroe and Earl Scruggs, although Macon was not personally impressed with the new Bluegrass style.

Macon continued to perform regularly until March 1, 1952, when his health began to fail. He died on March 22, 1952 in Murfreesboro. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966 and his son, Dorris, along with Sam and Kirk McGee, continued to appear on the Grand Ole Oprey was the Fruit Jar Drinkers until the early '80s. A monument has been erected to Macon's memory, and Murfreesboro, Tennessee hosts "Uncle Dave Macon Days" each year, featuring contests of clogging, buck dancing, fiddling, singing, and banjo picking.

Macon is one of the oldest performers to be featured on the Anthology and is often cited as the link between old time folk and vaudeville music and modern country music.

"Way Down The Old Plank Road" is a song about life on a chain gang.

Hot dog, buddy let's go!

Rather be in Richmond in all the hail and rain,
Then for to be in Georgia, boys, wearing that ball and chain.

Won't get drunk no more,
Won't get drunk no more,
Won't get drunk no more,
Way down the old plank road.

Whoooo!

I went down to Mobile for to get on the gravel train.
Very next thing they heard of me, had on a ball and chain.

Won't get drunk no more,
Won't get drunk no more,
Won't get drunk no more,
Way down the old plank road.

Whoooooo!

Doney, oh dear Doney, what makes you treat me so?
Caused me to wear the ball and chain and now my ankles sore.

Won't get drunk no more,
Won't get drunk no more,
Won't get drunk no more,
Way down the old plank road.

Glory hallelujah, there!

Knoxville is a pretty place, Memphis is a beauty,
If you want to see them pretty girls, hop to Chattanoogie.

Won't get drunk no more,
Won't get drunk no more,
Won't get drunk no more,
Way down the old plank road.

Glory hallelujah, there!
Fare you well, I'm gone!

I'm going to build me a scaffold on the mountain high,
So I can see my Nora (?) girl as she goes riding by.

Won't get drunk no more,
Won't get drunk no more,
Won't get drunk no more,
Way down the old plank road.

Whooo!

My wife died a Friday night, Saturday she was buried,
Sunday was my courting day, Monday I got married.

Won't get drunk no more,
Won't get drunk no more,
Won't get drunk no more,
Way down the old plank road.

Kill yourself!

Eighteen pounds of meat a week, whiskey here to sell.
How can a young man stay at home, pretty girls look so well?

Won't get drunk no more,
Won't get drunk no more,
Won't get drunk no more,
Way down the old plank road.

Whooooo!
Fare you well!

"Way Down The Old Plank Road" is a perfect introduction to the force of nature that was Uncle Dave Macon. Although in his 50s when he began his career as a professional performer, Macon performs with the verve and energy of a man half his age. Characteristic of Macon's style, along with his exuberant banjo picking, were shouts, asides and stomping feet. Indeed, Macon stands out as by far the greatest showman on the Anthology.

"Way Down The Old Plank Road" tells no story and only alludes to the chain gang (with references to "wearing the ball and chain") rather than being an explicit prisoner's lament (unlike several of the tracks which appeared earlier on this disc). Instead, Macon alternates references to the chain gang with unrelated floating verses. The fifth verse contains a similar lyric to that which opens Clarence Ashley's recording of "The Coo Coo Bird."

One of the best moments in this recording is Macon's cry of "Kill yourself!" following the humorous verse about the speaker's widowhood and rapid remarriage.

This is the first of two Uncle Dave Macon recordings in a row. Two more Uncle Dave Macon recordings appear on the "lost" fourth volume of the Anthology.

The Shameless Plug Department: The sixth episode of the "Where Dead Voices Gather" podcast is finally up! It's an all fiddle episode featuring fiddle tunes from both black and white artists, as well as three tracks from the Middle East! Also available on iTunes! Subscribe today so you don't miss a single episode. It's free and it doesn't hurt. Who can ask for more?

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's the Lost Mountain String Band performing a version of "Way Down The Old Plank Road."

Download and listen to Uncle Dave Macon - "Way Down The Old Plank Road"

"C'est Si Triste Sans Lui (It Is So Blue Without Him)" - Clemo Breaux with Joe Falcon and Ophy Breaux

2010-07-18T20:12:00.005-04:00

Set Three: Songs; Disc Two; Track Seven: "C'est Si Triste Sans Lui (It Is So Blue Without Him)" performed by Clemo (Cléoma) Breaux with Joe Falcon and Ophy Breaux. "Vocal solo with accordion, guitar." Recorded in Atlanta on April 18, 1929. Original issue Columbia 40508F (W110551).

For biographical information on Cléoma Breaux, see the entry on "Le Vieux Soulard Et La Femme." For biographical informatiom on Joseph Falcon, see the entry on "Acadian One Step." For information on Ophy Breux (and the other Breaux brothers), see the entry for "Home Sweet Home."

"C'est Si Triste Sans Lui" is the last Cajun track on the original three volume Anthology.

Le seul homme j’aimais
Il m’a quitté moi toute seule.
Pour s’en aller avec une autre que moi.
Oh, moi j’prends ça si dur.
Moi j’prie jour et nuit pour il s’en revienne avec moi.

Moi j'vois pas quoi j'ai fait
Pour qu'il me quitte dans tous les chagrins.
Il m'a dit que j'l'avais perdu, ont jamais oublier.
J'ai tant prie jour et nuit pour lui s'en revienne avec moi.

Quand il a quitté la maison
Il m’a dit de l’observer.
Pourtant moi j'avais fait, pouvais donc jamais l'oublier.
Il m'a dit d'attacher le crepe noir sur la porte
Parce que lui il aurait jamais revenu.

The only man I have loved
He has left me all alone.
To go off with another than me
Oh, my great drama, it's so hard,
I pray day and night he'll return to me.

I don't know what I did
To make him leave me with all this grief.
He told me that I've lost him and he will never remember me.
I pray so much day and night that he will return to me.

When he left the house
He told me to look at him.
But I could never have forgotten.
He told me to tie a black crepe on the door
Because he will never return.

Hearkening back to the "unhappy love" theme of much of the previous disc, "C'est Si Triste Sans Lui" tells the story of a girl abandoned by her lover. The song's sentimental lyric is completely subverted by the raucous performance which features Cléoma Breaux on vocal and guitar, Joe Falcon on accordion, and Cléoma's brother Ophy on a barely audible fiddle (not listed on the original label, even though Ophy Breaux is credited). "C'est Si Triste Sans Lui" was recorded in Atlanta, Georgia on April 18, 1929, the day before Falcon and Breaux recorded "Acadian One Step."

Falcon and Breaux appear on more tracks than any other Cajun musician on the Anthology.

The Shameless Plug Department: The sixth episode of the "Where Dead Voices Gather" podcast is finally up! It's an all fiddle episode featuring fiddle tunes from both black and white artists, as well as three tracks from the Middle East! Also available on iTunes! Subscribe today so you don't miss a single episode. It's free and it doesn't hurt. Who can ask for more?

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Paul Daigle, Jesse Lege and friends play a dance at the 2007 Augusta Heritage Center's Cajun/Creole week in Elkins, WV.

Download and listen to Clemo Breaux with Joe Falcon and Ophy Breaux - "C'est Si Triste Sans Lui"

"See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" - Blind Lemon Jefferson

2010-07-14T01:23:00.004-04:00

Set Three: Songs; Disc Two; Track Six: "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" performed by Blind Lemon Jefferson. "Vocal solo with guitar." Recorded in Chicago in February, 1928. Original issue Paramount 12608B (20374-1).

For biographical information on Blind Lemon Jefferson, see the entry for "Rabbit Foot Blues."

Possibly the grimmest track on the Anthology, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" is a set of detailed burial instructions.

Well, there's one kind favor I'll ask of you.
Well, there's one kind favor I'll ask of you.
Lord, there's one kind favor I'll ask of you.
See that my grave is kept clean.

It's a long lane that's got no end.
It's a long lane that's got no end.
It's a long lane that ain't got no end.
It's a bad wind that never change.

Lord, there's two white horses in a line.
Well, there's two white horses in a line.
Well, there's two white horses in a line.
Well, they're taking me to my burying ground.

My heart stopped beating and my hands got cold.
My heart stopped beating and my hands got cold.
Well, my heart stopped beating, Lord, my hands got cold.
It's a long old story that the Bible told.

Have you ever heard a coffin sound?
Have you ever heard a coffin sound?
Have you ever heard a coffin sound?
Then you know that the poor boy is in the ground.

Oh, dig my grave with a silver spade.
Well, dig my grave with a silver spade.
Well, dig my grave with a silver spade.
You may lead me down with a golden chain.

Have you ever heard them church bells toll?
Have you ever heard them church bells toll?
Have you ever heard the church bells toll?
Then you know that the poor boy's dead and gone.

Recorded a little over a year before Jefferson's death at his last recording session, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" is arguably Jefferson's masterpiece and is unquestionably his greatest contribution to the blues canon.

The first track since "Poor Boy Blues" to stray from the theme of the prison, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" is the epitome of a thread that runs through all three volumes of the Anthology. From the very first disc, many songs have dealt with the subject of death and several have featured instructions on the disposal of the body after death. Other songs that have included burial instructions or have referred to burial or internment are "Henry Lee," "Fatal Flower Garden," "The Butcher's Boy," "Old Dog Blue," "Le Vieux Soulard Et Sa Femme," and "Country Blues." None of these songs, however, are as detailed as "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean." Jefferson not only describes the manner in which he wants to be buried (grave dug with a silver spade, casket lowered with a golden chain), but also refers to the sound of the coffin being nailed shut and the death knell. The entire song is a memento mori, a reminder that we are all mortal and that death awaits us.

While such thoughts seem grim or morbid by today's standards (and edge dangerously close to Greil Marcus's fanciful interpretation of the Anthology as a wealth of the strange and uncanny), it should be remembered that in ages past death was far more commonplace. Before the advent of inoculation against such diseases as smallpox and polio, most individuals had experienced at least one death in their immediate family and likely many more in their circle of friends, acquaintances and neighbors. Once upon a time, graveyards with located right outside the local church and were a common sight on a daily basis. When Jefferson asks the listener if he's ever heard a coffin sound or a church-bell toll, it's a largely rhetorical question. Most people in Jefferson's audience would have indeed heard such things, and quite often, too. Death was a household figure, and its familiarity would have bred a relatively resigned attitude to it.

The Shameless Plug Department: The sixth episode of the "Where Dead Voices Gather" podcast is finally up! It's an all fiddle episode featuring fiddle tunes from both black and white artists, as well as three tracks from the Middle East! Also available on iTunes! Subscribe today so you don't miss a single episode. It's free and it doesn't hurt. Who can ask for more?

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's the king of New York City cool, Lou Reed hisself, performing a feedback drenched version of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" from The Harry Smith Project.

Here's B.B. King performing a modern take on "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean."

Here's a version by Peter, Paul, and Mary (with Japanese subtitles).

This is a version performed by Mavis Staples...

Download and listen to Blind Lemon Jefferson - "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"

"Prison Cell Blues" - Blind Lemon Jefferson

2010-07-11T15:27:00.004-04:00

Set Three: Songs; Disc Two; Track Five: "Prison Cell Blues" performed by Blind Lemon Jefferson. "Vocal solo with guitar." Recorded in Chicago in February, 1928. Original issue Paramount 12622B (20388-2).

For biographical information on Blind Lemon Jefferson, see the entry for "Rabbit Foot Blues."

"Prison Cell Blues" is the last of four songs in a row to deal with prisons.

Getting tired of sleeping in this lowdown lonesome cell.
Lord, I wouldn't have been here if it had not been for Nell.

Lay awake at night and just can't eat a bite.
Used to be my rider but she just won't treat me right.

Got a red-eyed captain and a squabbling boss.
Got a mad dog sergeant, honey, and he won't knock off.

I'm getting tired of sleeping in this lowdown lonesome cell.
Lord, I wouldn't have been here if it had not been for Nell.

I asked the government to knock some days off my time.
Well, the way I'm treated, I'm about to lose my mind.

I wrote to the governor, please turn me a-loose.
Since I don't get no answer, I know it ain't no use.

I'm getting tired of sleeping in this lowdown lonesome cell.
Lord, I wouldn't have been here if it had not been for Nell.

I hate to turn over and find my rider gone.
Walking across my floor, Lordy, how I moan.

Lord, I wouldn't have been here if it had not been for Nell.
I'm getting tired of sleeping in this lowdown lonesome cell.

Magnificently performed a little over a year before Jefferson's untimely death, "Prison Cell Blues" is the straightforward lament of a convict. The only thing that requires explanation is the expression "rider." A "rider" was a girlfriend or sexual partner. "Riding" is one of the most common euphemisms for the sex act found in the blues of this period (others are "grinding" and "balling the jack").

In his notes, Smith points out that the long runs at the end of each line are typical of the Texas and Louisiana vocal style. He also notes that "the device used in this song of reversing the line order of the first verse to produce the final line" was still frequently employed by blues musicians in the early 1950s.

"Prison Cell Blues" is the second of three songs by Jefferson to appear on the Anthology and the first of two songs by Jefferson in a row. The next selection is perhaps Jefferson's most famous composition, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean."

The Shameless Plug Department: The sixth episode of the "Where Dead Voices Gather" podcast is finally up! It's an all fiddle episode featuring fiddle tunes from both black and white artists, as well as three tracks from the Middle East! Also available on iTunes! Subscribe today so you don't miss a single episode. It's free and it doesn't hurt. Who can ask for more?

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Unable to find a video featuring a performance of "Prison Cell Blues" (Steve Earle performs it in The Harry Smith Project, but it is not available online), we substitute a version of Jefferson's "One Dime Blues" performed by frankie12string.

Download and listen to Blind Lemon Jefferson - "Prison Cell Blues"

"Ninety-Nine Year Blues" - Julius Daniels

2010-07-07T09:31:00.005-04:00

Set Three: Songs; Disc Two; Track Four: "Ninety-Nine Year Blues" performed by Julius Daniels. "Vocal solo with guitar." Recorded in Atlanta on February 19, 1927. Original issue Victor 20658B.

Little is known about Julius Daniels. He was born on November 20, 1901 in Denmark, South Carolina. Nothing is known of his early life or how he got involved in music. He is considered one of the pioneers of what later became known as the "Piedmont blues," a style of blues playing indigenous to the Southern states on the East Coast (ranging from Richmond, Virginia to Atlanta Georgia). It gets its name from the Piedmont Plateau, a geographical region that covers the Appalachian Mountains between New Jersey and Alabama. The Piedmont blues is characterized by a unique style of fingerpicking. As described on Wikipedia:

[T]he Piedmont fingerstyle...is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings generally picked with the fore-finger, occasionally others. The result is comparable in sound to piano ragtime or later stride.

The term "Piedmont blues" was coined by folklorist and record producers Peter B. Lowry and Bruce Bastin. Other notable Piedmont blues artists include Blind Willie McTell, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Pink Anderson (after whom the band Pink Floyd was named), Blind Blake, Scrapper Blackwell, Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Boy Fuller, Bo Weevil Jackson, and Josh White, among others.

Julius Daniels recorded only a few sides during his short musical career. In 1930, he relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina where he spent the rest of his life. Among the jobs he worked in his later years, Daniels was a firefighter. He died on October 8, 1947 of unknown causes.

"Ninety-Nine Year Blues" tells the story of an unfortunate young man's experiences within the United States judicial system.

Ah, bring me my pistol, three rounds of ball.
Gonna kill everybody whipped the po' boy 'long.
Po' boy 'long, po' boy 'long, po' boy 'long.

On a Monday I was arrested, on a Tuesday I was tried.
Judge found me guilty and I hung my head and cried.
Lord and cried, Lord and cried, Lord and cried, Lord and cried.

"Judge, what'll be my fine?"
Says, "A pick and a shovel way down Joe Brown's coal mine."
Coal mine, coal mine, coal mine, coal mine, coal mine.

"Be light on me, judge, I ain't been here before."
"Give you ninety-nine years, don't come back here no more."
No more, no more, no more, no more, my Lord.

"Be light on me, judge, ain't been here before."
"Give you ninety-nine years, don't come back here no more."
No more, no more, my Lord.

A beautifully performed blues song, "Ninety-Nine Year Blues" is the third song in a row to deal with the theme of the prison. Of the three, it is the first to make crime and punishment the whole story of the song. It is a simple story: The speaker begins the song by describing a vengeance-fueled killing spree. Brought before the judge, the speaker is sentenced to ninety-nine years of hard labor in a coal mine. What makes this recording remarkable is not the story itself, but how the story is told: The beautifully complex fingerpicking (reminiscent of Mississippi John Hurt's version of "Frankie") and the gentle, almost conversational, manner in which Daniels sings the song.

In his notes, Smith points out several other song that deal "with the same images" as "Ninety-Nine Year Blues." Among them are Robert Johnson's "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" and Booker White's "Parchman Farm Blues," both of which appear on the "lost" fourth volume of the Anthology.

Smith also points out that Gus Cannon's song "Viola Lee Blues" (later covered by the Grateful Dead) has "some lines in common" with "Ninety-Nine Year Blues." Today, "Ninety-Nine Year Blues" is viewed as a possible source for "Viola Lee Blues."

The Shameless Plug Department: The sixth episode of the "Where Dead Voices Gather" podcast is finally up! It's an all fiddle episode featuring fiddle tunes from both black and white artists, as well as three tracks from the Middle East! Also available on iTunes! Subscribe today so you don't miss a single episode. It's free and it doesn't hurt. Who can ask for more?

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's a version of "Ninety-Nine Year Blues" performed by a group calling themselves Vegetablemen.

Download and listen to Julius Daniels - "Ninety-Nine Year Blues"

"Country Blues" - "Dock" Boggs

2010-07-04T14:30:00.005-04:00

Set Three: Songs; Disc Two; Track Three: "Country Blues" performed by "Dock" Boggs. "Vocal solo with banjo." Recorded in New York on March 9, 1927. Original issue Brunswick 131A (96).

For biographical information on Dock Boggs, see the entry for "Sugar Baby."

Come all you good time people,
While I've got money to spend,
Tomorrow might be Monday
And I'll neither have a dollar nor a friend.

When I had plenty of money, good people,
My friends were all standing around,
Just as soon as my pocket book was empty,
Not a friend on earth to be found.

Last time I seen my little woman, good people,
She had a wine glass in her hand;
She was drinking down her troubles
With a low-down sorry man.

Oh, my daddy taught me a-plenty, good people;
My mama, she taught me more.
If I didn't quit my rowdy ways,
Have trouble at my door.

I wrote my woman a letter, good people;
I told her I's in jail.
She wrote me back an answer
Saying "Honey, I'm a-coming to go your bail."

All around this old jailhouse is hainted, good people;
Forty dollars won't pay my fine.
Corn whisky has surrounded my body, poor boy,
Pretty women is a-troubling my mind.

Give me corn bread when I'm hungry, good people;
Corn whiskey when I'm dry;
Pretty women a-standing around me;
Sweet heaven when I die.

If I'd a-listened to my mama, good people,
I wouldn't have been here today;
But a-drinking and a-shooting and a-gambling,
At home I cannot stay.

Go dig a hole in the meadow, good people,
Go did a hole in the ground.
Come around all you good people
And see this poor rounder go down.

When I am dead and buried
My pale face turned to the sun,
You can come around and mourn, little woman,
And think the way you have done.

"Country Blues" is a variant of the song "Darling Cora." One version of the lyrics to "Darling Cora" is as follows:

Wake up, wake up, Darlin' Corey.
What makes you sleep so sound?
Them revenue officers a-commin'
For to tear your still-house down.

Well the first time I seen Darlin' Corey
She was settin' by the side of the sea,
With a forty-four strapped across her bosom
And a banjo on her knee.

Dig a hole, dig a hole, in the medder
Dig a hole, in the col' col' groun'
Dig a hole, dig a hole in the medder
Goin' ter lay Darlin' Corey down.

The next time I seen Darlin' Corey
She was standin' in the still-house door
With her shoes and stockin's in her han'
An' her feet all over the floor.

Wake up, wake up Darlin Corey.
Quit hangin' roun` my bed.
Hard likker has ruined my body.
Pretty wimmen has killed me mos' dead.

Wake up, wake up my darlin';
Go do the best you can.
I've got me another woman;
You can get you another man.
Oh yes, oh yes my darlin'
I`ll do the best I can,
But I`ll never take my pleasure
With another gamblin' man.

Don` you hear them blue-birds singin'?
Don` you hear that mournful sound?
They`re preachin' Corey`s funeral
In some lonesome buryin' groun'.

"Country Blues" is the second song in a row to make reference to prison. It is essentially a warning song. The speaker in this song describes himself as a "rounder" who drinks, shoots and gambles. He finds himself in prison and predicts a melancholy end to his dissolute existence. The biggest difference between "Country Blues" and "Darling Cora" is that in "Darling Cora," Cora (a gun-toting, moonshining woman) lives the dissolute life that leads to her death. In "Country Blues" it is the speaker himself. There are several lyrics in "Country Blues," however, that are clearly drawn directly from "Darling Cora."

The burial instructions in "Country Blues" are mirrored in several songs on the Anthology, including "Fatal Flower Garden," "The Butcher's Boy," and "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean."

Boggs is frequently cited as one of the first white performers to fully integrate the blues (a primarily black style in the early days of the 20th century) into his music. While "Country Blues" is certainly not an example of the traditional blues form, it does contain blues themes. One might even argue that by switching the song's point of view to a first person account of the speaker's troubles, Boggs transformed the song from a traditional mountain ballad into something more modern.

The Shameless Plug Department: The sixth episode of the "Where Dead Voices Gather" podcast is finally up! It's an all fiddle episode featuring fiddle tunes from both black and white artists, as well as three tracks from the Middle East! Also available on iTunes! Subscribe today so you don't miss a single episode. It's free and it doesn't hurt. Who can ask for more?

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's a version of "Country Blues" performed on ukulele.

Here's a version of "Darling Cora" performed on banjo.

Download and listen to Dock Boggs - "Country Blues"

"Feather Bed" - Cannon's Jug Stompers

2010-06-30T01:24:00.005-04:00

Set Three: Songs; Disc Two; Track Two: "Feather Bed" performed by Cannon's Jug Stompers. "Vocal solo with harmonica, banjo, jug, guitar." Recorded in Memphis on September 9, 1928. Original issue Victor V-38515B.

For biographical information on Gus Cannon and the other members of Cannon's Jug Stompers, see the entry on "Minglewood Blues."

"Feather Bed" is bluesy song with a rambling lyric.

I remember the time just before the war,
Colored man used to hunt him out chips 'n' straw.
But now, bless God, old master's dead.
Colored man plumb fool about feather bed.
Eee-hee, my gal Nancy. Over the road I'm bound to go.

I went uptown goin' to shriek and howl.
Think I heard my baby cry.
Eee-wee-mmm, honey. Oh, Lord, I'm bound to go.
Wee-eee-eee, baby. Oh, Lord, I'm bound to go.

I went downtown, didn't mean no harm.
Police grab me right by my arm.
Soon I began to pitch; I began to rear,
Feel like strollin' in the air.
Ooo-woo-ooo, baby. Over the road I'm bound to go.

I went downtown, doin' my best,
Find the boys that stole the vest.
Went on around 'bout the Court Square
Find the boys that done stole the coat.
Hee-hee-eee, baby. Oh Lord, I'm bound to go.

Now I knew Joe Louis was in the stand,
Had them law books in his hands.
I began to pitch, pull out a writ, began to read to me.
Said, "Nigger, you been stealin' in the first degree."
Eee-eee-eee, baby. Over the road I'm bound to go.

Ev' old Britt and Moses Brown
Said, "I'm going 'cross Cripple Creek, go into town."
Ooo-ooo-ooo, baby. Over the road I'm bound to go.

Unlike "Minglewood Blues," which featured Ashley Thompson on vocal, "Feather Bed" features the singing of Cannon himself. Cannon's voice is remarkable both for its richness, but also for the wordless moans sung at the end of each verse. Cannon also performs on banjo and jug. The song also features the remarkable harmonica playing of Noah Lewis. The guitar is played by Elijah Avery, who replaced Thompson in the group.

The lyrics veer quickly from a recollection of life before emancipation (a "Colored man" slept on "chips 'n' straw," while today he sleeps on a feather bed) to a somewhat jumbled account of a trial. In his notes, Smith points out that the lyric "over the road I'm bound to go" is "seldom heard other than in songs dealing with prison." Although it is never explicitly stated in the song that the speaker is found guilty and sent to jail, it may be inferred by the constant refrain "over the road I'm bound to go." It is significant that the next three songs that follow "Feather Bed" all deal with, or make mention of, prisons or jailhouses. For this reason, the first line's comment that "colored man plumb fool about feather bed" may be intended to be ironic, given that the speaker is headed for accommodations that a far from plush.

The song makes mention of a "Joe Louis," although the context of the lyric makes it clear that this Joe Louis is not the boxer. The fighter named Joe Louis does, however, turn up in a song that appears on volume four of the Anthology.

According to Smith's notes, "the melody used in this recording is usually called "Lost John."" There are several songs recorded as "Lost John" and there is some suggestion that this song is related to the song written by W.C. Handy as "Long Gone John From Bowling Green." Here are the lyrics to a version titled "Long John" that was recorded by John and Alan Lomax in 1934:

It's a long John
He's a long gone
Like a turkey through the corn
Through the long corn

Well my John said
in the ten chap ten
If a man die
He will live again
Well they crucified Jesus
And they nailed him to the cross
Sister Mary cried
My child is lost

Well Long John
He's long gone
He's long gone
Mister John John
Oh Big-Eye John
O John John
It's a long John

Says-uh Come on gal
And-uh shut that door
Says The dog's is coming
And Ive got to go

Its a long John
He's long gone
Its a long John
He's a long gone

WEll-a two three minutes
Let me catch my wind
In-a two three minutes
I'm gone again

He's long John
He's long gone
He's long gone
He's long gone

Well my John said
Just before he did
Well I'm going home
See Mary Lid

He's John John
Old John John
With his long clothes on
Just-a skippin through the corn

Well my John said
On the fourth day
Well to tell my rider
That I'm on my way

Hes long gone
He's long gone
He's long gone
Its a long John

Gonna call this summer
Aint gon'call no more
If I call next summer
Be in Baltimore

The Shameless Plug Department: The sixth episode of the "Where Dead Voices Gather" podcast is finally up! It's an all fiddle episode featuring fiddle tunes from both black and white artists, as well as three tracks from the Middle East! Also available on iTunes! Subscribe today so you don't miss a single episode. It's free and it doesn't hurt. Who can ask for more?

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's Merle Travis performing a version of "Lost John" that makes the connection with W.C. Handy's song quite explicit.

Download and listen to Cannon's Jug Stompers - "Feather Bed"

"Poor Boy Blues" - Ramblin' Thomas

2010-06-27T20:09:00.008-04:00

Set Three: Songs; Disc Two; Track One: "Poor Boy Blues" performed by Ramblin' Thomas. "Vocal solo with guitar." Recorded in Chicago in November, 1928. Original issue Paramount 12722A (21020-4).

Willard "Ramblin'" Thomas was born in Logansport, Louisiana in 1902. He was one of nine children. His father was a fiddle player. Thomas learned to play guitar as a child, along with two of his brothers: Joe and Jessie. Jessie "Babyface" Thomas would go on to be a professional bluesman who would perform until his death in 1995.

Willard Thomas moved to the Deep Ellum district in Dallas, Texas at some point during the late 1920s where he fell under the influence of Lonnie Johnson. In 1928, Thomas journeyed to Chicago where he recorded several tracks for Paramount Records, including this version of "Poor Boy Blues." Thomas recorded twenty-six sides for Paramount between 1928 and 1932, all of which were recorded in either Chicago or Dallas. The Depression seems to have ended Thomas' recording career as it did those of countless other musicians.

There is some disagreement on where Thomas acquired his "Ramblin'" nickname. Some claim that it derives from the "rambling" style of his songwriting. Others claim that it was due to his itinerant lifestyle. Apart from traveling between Chicago and Dallas for recording sessions, Thomas was also known to have performed in San Antonio, St. Louis, and in parts of Oklahoma.

Thomas reportedly died of tuberculosis in 1945. His exact birth and death dates remain unknown.

"Poor Boy Blues" is a traditional blues song of unknown origin. It has been recorded by numerous artists over the years, including Furry Lewis, Mississippi John Hurt, Booker Washington White, Howlin' Wolf, John Fahey, and the Black Keys, among others.

Poor boy, poor boy.
Poor boy long ways from home.

I was down in Louisiana,
Doing as I please.
Now I'm in Texas.
I got to work or leave.

Poor boy, poor boy.
Poor boy long ways from home.

If your home's in Louisiana,
What you doing over here?
Say my home ain't in Texas
And I sure don't care.

Poor boy, poor boy.
Poor boy long ways from home.

I don't care
If the boat don't never land.
I'd like to stay on water
As long as any man.

Poor boy, poor boy.
Poor boy long ways from home.

Poor boy, poor boy.
Poor boy long ways from home.

And my boat come a rockin',
Just like a drunken man,
And my home's on the water
And I sure don't like land.

Poor boy, poor boy.
Poor boy long ways from home.

Ramblin' Thomas' recording of "Poor Boy Blues" is a classic Paramount blues performance. Thomas' vocal delivery is lazy and laconic. He performs his homesick lament (with autobiographical content, considering that Thomas really was from Louisiana and moved to Texas) with just the right mixture of detachment and pathos. His guitar is allowed to do most of the crying for him, as Thomas makes excellent and evocative use of the slide technique. It is interesting that Thomas was recruited by Paramount in the wake of Blind Lemon Jefferson's success, yet Thomas' technique and style have more in common with Delta blues musicians (such as Tommy Johnson and Charlie Patton) than with Jefferson.

According to Smith's notes, "Poor Boy Blues" "and the next four selections are probably facets of a single folk-lyric complex."

The first song on the last disc of the original three-volume Anthology set, "Poor Boy Blues" is the third blues track in a row.

The Shameless Plug Department: The sixth episode of the "Where Dead Voices Gather" podcast is finally up! It's an all fiddle episode featuring fiddle tunes from both black and white artists, as well as three tracks from the Middle East! Also available on iTunes! Subscribe today so you don't miss a single episode. It's free and it doesn't hurt. Who can ask for more?

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's YouTube user daddystovepipe performing a wonderful rendition of "Poor Boy Blues."

Here's the late, great John Fahey performing an instrumental version of "Poor Boy."

Download and listen to Ramblin' Thomas - "Poor Boy Blues"

"Expressman Blues" - John Estes

2010-06-23T00:08:00.007-04:00

Set Three: Songs; Disc One; Track Fourteen: "Expressman Blues" performed by John Estes. "Vocal solo with piano, mandolin, guitar." Recorded in Memphis on May 17, 1930. Original issue Victor 23318B.

"Sleepy" John Estes was born on January 25, 1899 in Ripley, Tennessee. His father was a sharecropper who also played guitar. In 1915, the family moved to Brownsville, Tennessee. It was in Brownsville that Estes lost the sight in his right eye due to an accident that occurred during a baseball game. Due to the appearance of his blinded right eye, he was nicknamed "Sleepy."

By nineteen, Estes was working as a field hand and performing on guitar at local parties and picnics. During this period, he began performing with harmonica player Hammie Nixon (January 22, 1908 - August 17, 1984) and guitarist and mandolin player James "Yank" Rachel (March 16, 1910 - April 9, 1997). Estes would perform on and off with these two men for nearly fifty years.

Estes made his recording debut for Victor Records in 1929 in a session produced by Ralph Peer in Memphis. This recording of "Expressman Blues" was recorded roughly a year later. Estes is one of the few Anthology artists to weather the Depression. He continued to record regularly until 1941, working with such record labels as Decca and Bluebird. Estes briefly returned to recording in 1952 when he recorded for Sam Philips' Sun Records (meaning that he was recorded by the men who discovered both the Carter Family and Elvis Presley). Except for his Sun session, Estes remained retired from music until his rediscovery in 1962. Following his revival, Estes toured with Hammie Nixon and recorded several albums for the Delmark label. He continued to tour until his death from a stroke on June 5, 1977.

While Estes is the only artist credited on "Expressman Blues," he only plays guitar on this recording. The vocal is performed by mandolin player Yank Rachel. Born in Brownsville, Tennessee in 1910, Rachel is possibly the longest lived of the Anthology
artists. Before retiring from music due to the Depression, Rachel recorded with such performers as Peetie Wheatstraw and the original Sonny Boy Williamson. Following his revival in the '60s, Rachell went on record for Delmark and Blue Goose, and to work with artists such as Taj Mahal and John Sebastian. He also appeared in the 1986 documentary Louie Bluie, directed by Terry Zwigoff, who later directed such films as Crumb and Ghost World. Rachell died April 9, 1997, the same year the Anthology was released on CD.

"Expressman Blues" is a hard driving blues with an impassioned vocal.

I said expressman, expressman, lord,
You have parked your wagon wrong.
Lord, you have parked your wagon wrong.
You took and moved my good gal,
When I was a long long way from home.

Don't a woman make a man do things,
And she know darn well that's wrong.
Lord, she know darn well that's wrong.
Lord that's why you hear poor James,
Singin' these lonesome song.

Babe if you never,
You never hear me any more.
Lord, hear me any more.
Lord you can 'member one morning baby,
When I walked up on your porch.

Well I'll sing this song.
Jim ain't gon' sing no more.
Lord, ain't gon' sing no more.
I'm gonna put this mandolin under my arm,
To the North Memphis Cafe I'll go.

The words to "Expressman Blues" are almost incidental to the incendiary performance by vocalist/mandolinist Rachel, guitarist Estes and pianist Jab Jones. The song deals with many common tropes of blues lyrics: The train that takes the loved one a "long long way from home; the woman who does wrong; the threat that the man will go away and will never be heard "any more"; self-referential lyrics (Rachel refers to himself as "James" and "Jim" in the song). What makes this recording stand out Rachell's impassioned vocal and his driving mandolin, as well as Jones's barrel house piano. Rather than repeating the entire first line (as was common in the blues form), Rachel repeats only the last part of the line, following a drawn out "loooord." It is one of the most modern sounding recordings on the Anthology. In his notes, Smith points out that by 1930, the banjo was going out of style, replaced by the guitar or (as in this case) guitar/mandolin combos.

"Expressman Blues" is the first of two recordings on the Anthology to feature John Estes. The second recording, "Milk Cow Blues," appears on the posthumously released fourth volume. "Expressman Blues" is also the second of three blues recordings in a row and is the last track on the first disc of volume three, "Songs."

The Shameless Plug Department: The sixth episode of the "Where Dead Voices Gather" podcast is finally up! It's an all fiddle episode featuring fiddle tunes from both black and white artists, as well as three tracks from the Middle East! Also available on iTunes! Subscribe today so you don't miss a single episode. It's free and it doesn't hurt. Who can ask for more?

You can also become a fan of "Where Dead Voices Gather" on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Where Dead Voices Gather: Using today's technology to promote yesterday's music!

Remember that I host "Doin' The Thing," a weekly jazz program on KRML 1410 AM and 94.7 FM in Carmel, California. The show airs from 8 PM to 10PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday nights. You can also listen online by visiting the KRML website at 8 PM Pacific, 11 PM Eastern Time. Please tune in and give me feedback!

Here's a 1993 performance by Yank Rachel performing at the Chicago Blues Festival.

Here's Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon performing "Careless Love" in 1976.

This here's a YouTube user identified only as Radioshoe performing a solo guitar version of "Expressman Blues."

Download and listen to John Estes - "Expressman Blues"