Times ain't Like They Used To Be: Richard "Rabbit" Brown, New Orleans Songster

February 7, 2008 5:30 AM

In 1900 they were everywhere. Singing on street corners, in front of circus entrances, or just moving down the dusty roads of the South, playing anywhere a crowd might be cajoled into donating a dime to the cause. To survive they played any request--ballads, popular tunes, white hillbilly music, hymns, and the newly emerged blues. Songsters were the first folk musicians to be "professional" ...Most songsters faded into the past. A few waxed recordings, leaving a tempting glance into their world--and many questions. Such is the case with Richard "Rabbit" Brown, one of the most celebrated songsters and the only one from New Orleans to record.

Times ain't Like They Used To Be: Richard "Rabbit" Brown, New Orleans Songster--so, James Alley Blues is the song most everyone names as Brown's greatest and, now, you can play it online here.

So, the AOL beta player is pretty easy to figure out and you will hear at least a clip of some length of not only James Alley Blues but a taste of other songs Brown recorded.

See also Harry Smith, Liner notes, American Folk Music, Folkways FA 2951-2954, 1952.

Regarding the Anthology, see also American Folk.

posted by y2karl (17 comments total)

That's a really beautiful piece of music. His touch on the guitar is so light and melodic... voice hints at what Dylan would be doing, 80 years later.
posted by MinPin at 5:43 AM on February 7

On my computer, the AOL beta player gives me a big shiny "Play" button that is apparently there only to tease me, because it refuses to play anything. But the songs are also on Rhapsody, if that works better for anyone.
posted by caution live frogs at 5:47 AM on February 7

Click on a song in the box at the left and then hit that play button.
posted by y2karl at 5:58 AM on February 7

Er, on the right--I am afraid I have a bit of directional dsylexia this morning.
posted by y2karl at 5:58 AM on February 7

Years ago, on NPR's 'Fresh Air', Ed Ward did a piece about "Rabbit" Brown and "James Alley Blues", and played the song in its entirety, something he rarely does. That was the only time I'd heard it before now. It's a gracefully loping blues, competently played, but the last two lines of the song carries with it a lifetime of anger carried by a guy who could be easily killed for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Ed Ward's story of "James Alley Blues" isn't archived on Fresh Air's website, unfortunately, but Ed Ward references the song a couple times in his blog; the song's stuck in his head, too.
posted by ardgedee at 6:05 AM on February 7

Songsters were the first folk musicians to be "professional"...

Nonsense. Professional folk musicians predate Columbus.

Great post though, and thanks.
posted by motty at 6:21 AM on February 7

Wow, "James Alley Blues" is terrific. Thanks much for this post.
posted by languagehat at 6:29 AM on February 7

Gorgeous! And yes, I can hear some late Dylan in this performance.

You can get a couple of full performances via his page at eMusic, including the full version of James Alley Blues and Swanee River. (Once my eMusic downloads renew, I'll be downloading both collections.)
posted by maudlin at 6:38 AM on February 7

I've been givin' you sugar for sugar, let you get salt for salt
I'll give you sugar for sugar, let you get salt for salt
And if you can't get 'long with me well it's your own fault

I hates when my wommins be givin' me da salt.

Nice song.
posted by Skygazer at 8:03 AM on February 7

Another great post y2karl. I really love "James Alley Blues," but haven't dug into the rest of his catalog yet.

My pal Danny Pound did a great version of "James Alley Blues," as well as "I've Got a Secret (Didn't We Shake it Sugaree)" by Elizabeth Cotten/Fred Neil on his album Surer Days. Sorry for the pimping, but that's a really great album, especially if you're into Dylan, et al.
posted by sleepy pete at 8:18 AM on February 7

Click on a song in the box [...] and then hit that play button.

Ah, I see what the problem is - Adblock. Or Flashblock. Or the combination. Thanks.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:23 AM on February 7

Songsters were the first folk musicians to be "professional"

I should think troubadours pre-date songsters. And surely others predate troubadours. Humans have been musical for eons: it's idiotic to think early-century American songsters were the first to make a professional living.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:30 PM on February 7

Er, still, trés cool links and tunes. The invention of recording is a great thing.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:32 PM on February 7

I am not entirely sure of that. Before recording, music, even popular music, was something people did together. To play an instrument with other people at home, to sing together at home, this was how it was down. Before recording, popular music was sheet music, played on the parlor piano and everyone sang the songs. Not that there wasn't entertainment. There were professional musicians on every level from string bands at dances to music halls and vaudeville to opera and orchestral concerts. But all that entertainment was live, played once in real time.

Nowadays I see people boast of mp3 collections in the tens of thousands. It reminds me of all the record collectors I have known who have more records with more songs or instrumental compositions than they could listen to non stop four hours a day, listening to each song or piece once with no repeats, to the end of their collection, in years. The mind reels.

There was a time when music was not produced on an industrial scale, when it could not consumed alone by an individual person wearing a pair of your favorite band sucks, mine rules earphones. Recorded music may be a blessing but it is a mixed blessing.
posted by y2karl at 7:50 AM on February 8

You know, I was at home sick with the flu yesterday, thinking to myself, "I done seen better days but I'm making do with these," and planning to do a post on this song when I got well, and you beat me to it.

Well played sir. I feel that much better now.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 9:13 AM on February 8

There were professional musicians on every level from string bands at dances to music halls and vaudeville to opera and orchestral concerts. But all that entertainment was live, played once in real time.

That's true. And it did us no good whatsoever when we were at home in bed with the flu, eh?

It means I can be sitting here typing this to you while listening to the pleasant sounds of Simon & Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair" — an occupation that is, I assure you, at least a billion times better-sounding that FFFish's "Scarborough Fair."
posted by five fresh fish at 6:04 PM on February 8

Wow, great performance. A few have mentioned a Dylan comparison in the voice (which I don't see, but there you go), and for those who did, check out the lyrics Skygazer pulled out:

I've been givin' you sugar for sugar, let you get salt for salt
I'll give you sugar for sugar, let you get salt for salt
And if you can't get 'long with me well it's your own fault

And compare them to an excerpt from Dylan's Crash On The Levee (Down In The Flood):

Well it's sugar for sugar and it's salt for salt
You go down in the flood it's gonna be your fault

If Dylan does sound like this now, it's because he's well aware of it, and been tryin' to.

And here's proof of him covering this tune back in '61, for those who care:

http://www.bobdylanroots.com/james.html
posted by roombythelake at 8:48 PM on March 2