MetaFilter posts tagged with blues and Americana

I believe, I believe my time ain’t long...

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 23:02:58 -0800

Ry Cooder and the Moula Banda Rhythm Aces - Let's Have A Ball, a film by Les Blanks

y2karl — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 18:42:58 -0800

Ry Cooder and the Moula Banda Rhythm Aces - Let's Have A Ball, a film by Les Blanks
This is the complete show from the Catalyst in Santa Cruz in March 1987. Via The Iwebender Channel

Love that Maria Elena.... Let's Have A Ball Jesus On The Mainline How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live? Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb Down In Mississippi Maria Elena Just A Little Bit The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor) Crazy About An Automobile Chain Gang Down In Hollywood Good Night Irene Ry Cooder - guitar, vocals; Jim Keltner - drums; Van Dyke Parks - keyboards; Jorge Calderon - bass; Flaco Jimenez - accordion; Miguel Cruiz - percussion; Steve Douglas - sax; George Bohannon - trombone; Singers: Bobby King, tenor; Terry Evans, baritone; Arnold McCuller, tenor; Willie Green Jr, bass

RL in '78, TJ in '83

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:56:41 -0800

Oh yeah. There he is, Mr. RL Burnside, in the year of nineteen and seventy eight, Independence, Mississippi, porch fulla kids, singin' about when his first wife left him, million-dollar smile on his face. And there he is again, with his guitar and amp, out by the barb wire fence, a poor boy a long way from home. These two little gems just added to the Alan Lomax Archive YouTube channel, where you'll also find some wonderful newly-uploaded clips (filmed in 1983) from fretless banjo plucker Tommy Jarrell, the toast of Toast, North Carolina.

And The iPod You Rode In On.

timsteil — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 17:24:44 -0800

You wish you lived next door to Joe Bussard.

DeFord Bailey, American musician

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 06:31:36 -0800

Within that small and very specific sub-genre of musical Americana identifiable as the train imitation, there is one amazing performance, from 1926, that set the standard: Pan-American Blues. The man who recorded it did a fine and fanciful job of evoking the sounds of a fox chase as well, and his rhythmically compelling solo rendition of John Henry stands as testament to the potential for musical greatness achievable by one man and a humble harmonica. He was an African-American who was a founding member of the Grand Ole Opry, a musical institution that we rarely (as in, never) today associate with black people, and his touching and tragic story, documented here, is one that will be of interest to those concerned with the racial, economic and socio-cultural history of American popular music. He stands at one of its more unexpected intersections: his name is DeFord Bailey. Live performance of Pan-American Blues Introductory snippet from DeFord Bailey: a Legend Lost A little more from DeFord Bailey: a Legend Lost, and note this text, from the closing of that video clip: "DeFord Bailey is the only founding star of the Grand Ole Opry who has not been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame". Quite possibly as a direct result of that documentary, Bailey was inducted in 2005 DeFord Bailey discography DeFord Bailey at Find A Grave

Old-time songster, Henry Thomas

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 11 May 2010 01:21:47 -0800

Born in Big Sandy, Texas in 1874, Henry Thomas was one of the oldest black musician who ever recorded for the phonograph companies of the 1920′s and his music represents a rare opportunity to hear what American black folk music must have sounded like in the last decade of the 19th century. A word from yours truly, flapjax at midnite: Often when putting music posts together, I'll try to gather as many relevant links as possible, to do my small part towards making sure everyone gets their five bucks worth here at Mefi. I would've done so this time, but happily, Gadaya, of the excellent Old Weird America blog has done all my work for me! I urge you, then, to check out the various links included in his post on Henry Thomas, and most of all, of course, to listen to the wonderful tracks there. I think you'll find Henry Thomas's use of the quills especially delightful. His music harkens back to an archaic America which is nonetheless still very... familiar. It's a deep and beautiful part of our collective unconscious, I think.

Ishman Bracey, Delta bluesman, 1901-1970

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:18:26 -0800

The Victor Talking Machine Co. of Camden, New Jersey is proud to present the following Orthophonic Recordings by bluesman Mr. Ishman Bracey: Leavin' Town Blues - Trouble Hearted Blues - Brown Mamma Blues and Saturday Blues. And remember, for best results, use Victor Needles. There's more Ishman Bracey on the YouTubes, but I've limited the clips in this FPP to some favorites. I recommend listening to all of it, though! His recorded output was small compared to some of the better-known Delta bluesmen like Charley Patton and Robert Johnson, but Bracey deserves more attention than he's gotten, IMO. Ishman Bracey at Wikipedia. Note: the arrangements for "Leavin' Town Blues" and "Brown Mamma Blues" are virtually identical. They both feature mandolin from Charles McCoy. Some timeless lyric gems from the linked recordings: Now i tell you mama now, I'm sure gonna leave this town cause I been in trouble ever since I sat my suitcase down been down so long, down don't worry me went to the graveyard, fell down on my knee hollered lord have mercy on this lonesome place the woman I'm lovin', she treat me like a mangy dog if you don't believe I'm leavin', just watch the train I'm on

Gimme that old-time music

madamjujujive — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 10:42:42 -0800

Folk America: Excellent BBC 3-part documentary tracing folk music from the '20s to the folk revival of the '60s, encompassing the depression and the civil rights era. part 1: Birth of a Nation (59.21) part 2: This Land is Your Land (59:30) part 3: Blowin' in the Wind (58:49) Clips and commentary about or by the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charlie Poole, Fiddlin' John Carson, Dock Boggs, Mississippi John Hurt, Judy Collins, Steve Earle, Pete Seeger, Honeyboy Edwards, Slim Bryant, Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Rambling Jack Elliot, Anna Lomax, Mary Travis, Tom Paxton, Roger McGuinn, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Stephen Stills, Country Joe McDonald, Odetta, Tom Paxton and more. Featured music: part 1 part 2 part 3 More interviews, performances & outtakes from the series - alas, not available in my area.

Bobby Charles, Singer, Songwriter, National Treasure 1938-2010

y2karl — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:43:20 -0800

Bobby Charles 1938-2010. Songwriter, musician's musician and cultural treasure, he died on last Thursday in Abbeville,Lousiana. In the 1950s, he wrote Fats Domino's Walking to New Orleans, Bill Haley and the Comet's See You Later, Alligator and recorded for Chess records. His eponymous Bearsville album recorded in Woodstock in 1972 has been described as the best Band album released under another name.(Check out Small Town Talk there.) He appeared as well in the Band's farewell concert filmed as The Last Waltz. He made an enormous contribution to American popular music. From Blue Arts Studio, here is a biography in three parts: 1, 2 and 3. From the New Orleans Time-Picayune, here is Lost Legend. Here is Hidecki Watanabe's excellent Bobby Charles fan page. And here, from YouTube, are two performances from 1970.

bluestab's blog meets AfricanAfrican aka NegroArtist.com

y2karl — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:20:15 -0800

Chanteur puissant à la voix rocailleuse. And here is bluestab's blog And here, via Babelfish is bluestab's blog in an English of sorts. Then, while, looking for mp3s to match the tabs, I came across the universe of African American history and culture that is AfricanAfrican aka NegroArtist.com, a site so big it has two URLs. [Billy Mays] But, wait--that's not all! [/Billy Mays] Then, while looking for in the commons mp3s for any of the titles in bluestab's blog , I stumble upon a treasure trove of such in the 5000 series pages at Document Records. , the completist's completist pre-war jazz and blues label, And found even more even more in the Rare Recordings and Video page of AfricanAfrican, a small universe of texts, music and motion pictures of and on the African American experience. I am overwhelmed. Yoda says I: Truly a Labor of Love this is. And between the two--voila! We have a post!

Tampa Red

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:05:40 -0800

Hey kids, let's go way back, and spend a little quality time with Tampa Red, shall we? Cause, you know, you can't get that stuff no more, and if you missed him, you missed a good man.

You like vinyl? I've got your vinyl right here.

msalt — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 11:55:31 -0800

Desperate Man Blues Edward Gillen's documentary about Joe Bussard, renowned collector of 25,000+ blues, folk and gospel 78rpm records from the 20s and 30s. It's about the hunt and the hunter, as much as what he found. One week only on Pitchfork TV As plugged by UbuRoivas previously.

Just three old blues tunes, that's all.

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:00:38 -0800

Ramblin' Thomas: No Job Blues (1928), J.D. Short: Lonesome Swamp Rattlesnake (1930), Bo Carter: My Baby (1940). Ramblin' Thomas. J.D. Short. Bo Carter. And one more for the road: a little of that trademark suggestiveness from Bo Carter: All Around Man.

Lookin' for a home...

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:49:52 -0800

In the little town of Enterprise, Alabama, there stands a bizarre statue that would make any card-carrying surrealist proud: an archetypical Greek goddess raises her arms toward heaven and holds high above her head... an enormous insect. Of course, it's the boll weevil. That cotton-eatin' critter inspired not only the world's only monument to an agricultural pest, but some great tunes as well, from a wide range of artists. [note: see hoverovers for link descriptions] The Doc Pomus-penned tune (sung by Elvis) Little Sister refers to the boll weevil in one of its lines. MeFier Astro Zombie's tune A Man is Coming, right here at MetaFilter Music, opens with a line addressed to a boll weevil.

Dreams and Songs of the Noble Old

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:02:07 -0800

Dreams and Songs of the Noble Old, a film by Alan Lomax, takes a loving look at the talents and wisdom of elderly musicians, singers, and story-tellers from southern American folk traditions. All the musicians featured in the film have soul and musical energy to spare: great, great performances and engaging reminiscences make this film a real treat. Please see the [more inside] for a collection of links to several of the outstanding performers featured in the film. Fiddler Tommy Jarrell's Wikipedia page, and his page at Old Time Music. That site by the way: it's a good 'un. Wikipedia page for bluesman Jack Owens, who shares some common ground (particularly in repertoire, it would seem) with the great Skip James. Here's little more on Owens. The spry, occasionally bawdy and spectacularly bearded Sam Chatmon can be seen and heard performing That's Alright and Brownskin Woman. And here's Chatmon's Wikipedia page. Chatmon was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks and a brother (reputedly) of Charlie Patton. The wonderful Janie Hunter is profiled here at the National Endowment for the Arts. And you might want to check this out, and this. Wikipedia page for Nimrod Workman, and his page at National Endowment for the Arts. Here's his brief NY Times obituary from 1994, when he died at the ripe old age of 99. Here's a link to a one-hour radio show focussing on Nimrod: feast your ears, courtesy of Down Home Radio.

Robert Petway - Catfish Blues

y2karl — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:03:57 -0800

And here we have a couple of YouTube productions, screensaverish animations of photos and lyrics to the original recordings: Robert Petway - Catfish Blues and Tommy McClennan - It's Hard To Be Lonesome. This is mostly about Petway and Catfish Blues but you can't mention Petway without mentioning McClennan, as they ran together in their time and as both did versions of Catfish, a song canonical in Delta Blues, recorded and performed by nearly everyone--Muddy Waters - Rolling Stone, for example. Petway just happens to be the first person to record Catfish, and quite possibly the person who wrote it and certainly. to my mind, at least, the person who nailed it... in the uptempo version at the very least.

It is remarkable, given the later ubiquity of 'Catfish Blues', how little solid information there is about Robert. He was born about 1908, probably on the J.F. Sligh Farm near Yazoo City, like his running buddy, Tommy McClennan. His publicity photograph shows a small man with a toothbrush moustache, a lantern jaw, and big, guitar player's hands. Most unusually, he apparently saw no reason to don the sharp suit and hand painted tie so often favoured by musicians (Tommy McClennan included) when facing the camera; photographed in his working man's blue duckins, Petway's only concession to style was a rakishly angled trilby. McClennan and Petway would play at house parties, and in the juke joint at Three Forks crossroads, nowadays famous as the place where Robert Johnson was poisoned.

...thus reads the text on the Document Records page for Mississippi Blues Vol. 3 Complete Recordings of Robert Petway, Mississippi Matilda, Sonny Boy Nelson comes these Coralized mp3s of Petway's Catfish Blues as well as his and McClennan's Boogie Woogie Woman. If these don't work, the links for them on the page will. What they give you are a cpuple of slices of 1940s Delta Blues in their original context as downhome juke joint dance music performed by two diminutive men--McClennan evidently stood 4'10" and weighed in at 133, according to David Honeyboy Edwards--with big voices and punchy percussive National guitars. As guitar players, they are limited in one sense, expansive in another. As singers, well, they are shouters and they tear it up.Regarding Catfish is Robert Petway - Acoustic Guitar Forum. And, also, at Weenie Campbell's Keys To the Highway forum, Robert Petway--Keys/Positions for his Songs is a comment in the thread concerning Tommy McClennan--Keys/Positions for his Songs. As for Tommy McClennan, go to the Blues & Gospel from the 1920s & 1930s section after you join up--for free--at the The Roots Music Listening Room, which was brought to our attention by one crunchland, and you will find Baby, Don't You Want To Go, Cross Cut Saw Blues, Down To Skin And Bones, Drop Down Mama, Elsie Blues, and I'm A Guitar King--ha!--among a dozen or so others of McClennan's 40 odd song output. And, for the record, compare and contrast their portraits on their respective Stefan Wirz' Robert Petway and Tommy McClennan pages. And here iare two more pages: Tommy McClennan and Tommy McClennan, Whiskey Head Woman: The Complete Recordings 1939-1940

Honking Duck - Listen to Old Time Music from 78s

y2karl — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 05:35:31 -0800

Hill Billie Blues by Uncle Dave Macon and his Fruit Jar Drinkers is under 1924 at Honking Duck. You could search that by title as well. Or you can look up by Artist as in Al Hopkins & His Buckle Busters.
Need I mention all are in RealAudio ? Hate Realplayer ? Well, as noted before, fight the power and use Real Alternative aka Media Player Classic instead. It's not exactly my favorite style of interface but they certainly do afford a large selection.

Folktunes.org - The Folktunes Archive for teaching and learning.

y2karl — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 23:49:12 -0800

Viola Lee Blues by Cannon's Jug Stompers
The House Carpenter - Clarence Ashley
Old Dan Tucker - Judge Sturdy's Orchestra
Minglewood Blues - Cannon's Jug Stompers
Coo Coo Bird - Clarence Ashley
Sally Gooden - Eck Robertson on fiddle
The Worried Blues - Samantha Bumgarner
Dark Holler - Clarence Ashley
Cocaine Habit Blues - The Memphis Jug Band
All are from Folktunes.org, a list of annotated links to mp3s at the Internet Archive with lyrics and history on each page. It's like a functional annotated academic SomeOfTheCoolest78sAttheInternetArchiveFilter .

John Fahey - Fare Forward Voyagers

y2karl — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 05:36:04 -0800

John Fahey - Fare Forward Voyagers
John Fahey - Dance Of The Inhabitants Of The Palace Of King Phillip XIV
Clips from a 2 hour performance at the Euphoria Tavern in Portland, Oregon from 1976. Among the cognoscenti at FaheyGuitarPlayers, the consensus is that these clips display Fahey in rare form on a very good night.
Apart from Fahey, Bohemia Visual Music aka Mike Nastra, the contributor of these clips, provides an interesting assortment of way too hip YouTubery offerings including, among others, Spike Jones, Dimandas Galas, Gene Krupa, Tuxedo Moon, Sun Ra, Pere Ubu and the Holy Modal Rounders.

You want the Old Skool? You can't handle the Old Skool! You don't even have a clue what the Old Skool is! chops down door Here's ...Johnny!!!

y2karl — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:13:53 -0800

Here is Uncle John Scruggs singing and playing Little Log Cabin Round the Lane in RealAudio Dial Up and DSL format. The dancing is great and I do like the walk-on kitten part, myself.

That's from the Center For Southern African-American Music Video Link Page. Their audio link page is a wonder, too with individual artists galore. But, for the real deal, check out the Various Artist compilation album pages. Those may be 20 second of so mp3 clips but, still, those Yazoo, Document and Folkways albums are the bomb and there you get a taste of what they offer. And anywhere you can hear, for example, even a few bars of Blind Alfred Reed's How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live ? or Estil C. Ball and Lacey Richardson's Trials, Troubles, Tribulations rules in my world.

Beautiful Losers

y2karl — Fri, 04 May 2007 02:09:05 -0800

Karen Dalton - It Hurts Me, Too
Tim Buckley - Sally Go 'Round The Roses
Tim Hardin - If I Were A Carpenter
See also
The Other Side Of Greenwich Village 60's Folk Scene - Part 1
and Part 2
more within

John Fahey at Rockpalast - Hamburg Uni, Hamburg, West Germany - 1978-03-17and otherwise on YouTube

y2karl — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 08:10:05 -0800

John Fahey in concert: Beverly (aka Indian Pacific Railroad Blues) Poor Boy (Which is a variation on Booker White's Poor Boy Long Way from Home)

folkstreams.net - A National Preserve of Documentary Films about American Roots Cultures

y2karl — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 06:19:56 -0800

Folkstreams.net has two goals. One is to build a national preserve of hard-to-find documentary films about American folk or roots cultures. The other is to give them renewed life by streaming them on the internet. The films were produced by independent filmmakers in a golden age that began in the 1960s and was made possible by the development first of portable cameras and then capacity for synch sound. Their films focus on the culture, struggles, and arts of unnoticed Americans from many different regions and communities. The filmmakers were driven more by sheer engagement with the people and their traditions than by commercial hopes. Their films have unusual subjects, odd lengths, and talkers who do not speak "broadcast English." Although they won prizes at film festivals, were used in college classes, and occasionally were shown on PBS, they found few outlets in venues like theaters, video shops or commercial television. But they have permanent value...

folkstreams.net Currently streaming are the films The Land Where the Blues Began , Cajun Country , Jazz Parades: Feet Don't Fail Me Now , Talking Feet: Solo Southern Dance: Buck, Flatfoot and Tap , Ray Lum: Mule Trader and Pizza Pizza Daddy-O , among many others.

Lomax Archive

liam — Mon, 25 Apr 2005 09:39:13 -0800

The Alan Lomax Database is a free multimedia catalog of the audio and video recordings and photographs made by Alan Lomax from 1946 to 1994.

Labors of Love: American Vernacular Music & Lucky Mojo, Too

y2karl — Wed, 12 Feb 2003 01:56:15 -0800

Labors Of Love
Here are some handmade pages, personal and corporate, on American Vernacular Music and more:

First, here's Long Time Coming, with three separate shrines to Dock Boggs, Pretty Boy Floyd and Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers, worthy subjects all. I have no idea what the Eyeneer Records revenue model is or was but their American Music Archive, (Latest Update - August 20, 1999), albeit spotty, is still a must stop and see with pages on Charley Patton, Sleepy John Estes and Lucille Bogan, for example, and that's just the blues section. It's a very promising sounding site--and it's too bad they never finished it, but, on the other hand, thank god,they have not yet pulled the plug. Lea Gilmore's It's A Girl Thang's Historical Profiles has it goin' on with Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Big Maybelle and Georgia White for examples. Catherine Yronwode, of course, is a name well known here, as is her wondrous Lucky Mojo, cornucopica that it is. There, among much riches, is the extensive and authoritative Blues Lyrics and Hoodoo --but that's Not All ! »→ »→ »→