New Year's Eve is fast approaching, and for lots of folks that means... drinking. Plenty of drinking. And since there's no shortage of singers and songwriters who've had a little something to say about that particular topic, maybe some of the following tunes can serve as an appropriate soundtrack to your own joyous (or not?) imbibing of spirits. For example, there's... Jimmy Liggins with his succinct rendition of
Drunk, and there's...
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on Dec 30, 2011 -
67 comments
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.
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on Dec 30, 2010 -
15 comments
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.
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on May 11, 2010 -
21 comments
Fiddle, accordion, and a singing drummer. Seven minutes and fifty seven seconds of Gypsy music from Ukraine, live in Budapest. The real thing. Totally wailing. Kickass.
Técső Banda at Kertem.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Oct 10, 2009 -
23 comments
The
foot bone connected to the ankle bone, the
ankle bone connected to the leg bone, the
leg bone connected to the knee bone, the
knee bone connected to the thigh bone, the
thigh bone connected to the hip bone, the
hip bone connected to the back bone, the
back bone connected to the shoulder bone, the
shoulder bone connected to the neck bone, the
neck bone connected to the head bone, now
hear the word of the lord...
and be sure to check the hover-overs for link details on all this bony business,
posted by flapjax at midnite
on May 2, 2009 -
24 comments
Back in 1963, a TV special called "Folk Songs and More Folk Songs" aired, which featured a cross section of the "folk" artists who were at that time just beginning to receive wider media exposure. Aside from the squeaky-clean, white bread embarrassment of groups like
The Brothers Four, the show redeemed itself with performances by a very young Bob Dylan, who sang
The Ballad of Hollis Brown (with banjo and bass accompaniment) and
Man of Constant Sorrow. And here's two more very early Dylan TV appearances, from Canada, 1964:
A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall and
Girl From the North Country. Here's the same
Girl From the North Country performed years later, once again on broadcast TV, in duet with Johnny Cash, from the Johnny Cash Show.
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on Oct 4, 2008 -
23 comments
Each of the following
MySpace Music pages features bios and/or photos and/or videos and/or miscellaneous related materials and/or up to four songs by each of the following Old Time, Traditional, Appalachian folk (and related) artists:
Lowe Stokes,
Clarence Ashley,
Charlie Poole,
Gid Tanner and the
Skillet Lickers,
Roanoke Jug Band,
Roscoe Holcomb,
Hobart Smith,
The Weems String Band,
Burnet & Rutherford,
Bascom Lamar Lunsford,
John Masters,
Dock Boggs,
Tampa Joe & Macon Ed,
William Stepp,
Buddy Thomas,
Buell Kazee,
Isidore Soucy,
John Salyer,
Cousin Emmy,
Luther Strong,
Elizabeth Cotten,
Fred Cockerham,
G.B. Grayson,
Melvin Wine,
Lewis Brothers,
Uncle Dave Macon,
George Lee Hawkins and
Wilmer Watts. And here's some general Old Time (etc.) pages, featuring various artists:
Dust To Digital,
Traditional Music of Beech Mountain and
North Carolina Folklife Institute.
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on Oct 24, 2007 -
17 comments
Before you do anything else, just
listen to this. That's
eefing, a 100-plus-year-old vocal technique from rural Tennessee that's, well, the original hillbilly beatboxing. The undisputed master of the art was
Jimmie Riddle. His unique skill landed him
recording* and
TV (youtube) work. Want more weird sounds from the deep south? Try
Hollerin & Whoopin and
Ringing the Pig. *
[warning: on the "Little Eefin Annie" page, avoid the "click here to hear Rolf Harris Eeefin'!" link: it's a pesky popup.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jan 6, 2007 -
51 comments
