Americana Monday 10

A little Gospel Americana.

Americana Monday 11

This is both a Memorial Day post and the usual Americana post.



Today I remember my Dad (Korea, Vietnam) and my Father-in-Law (WWII).

Americana Monday 10

Pokey Lafarge and South City Three. Mad harp. Love the lead vocals too.

Americana Monday 9

Americana Monday 8

My love of American history and my love for Americana music in all its forms are closely related. Sometimes a song is a living document from a past world. Here are two contemporary "readings" of just such documents.

The Haints perform Milwaukee Blues.



Dan Tyminski sings "Dustbowl Children."

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Americana Monday 3

I've always thought this one of the best story-songs ever written. This version is by Session Americana.

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Americana Monday

Murder-Song Monday: Down in the Willow Garden

I suppose if you put all these murder songs back to back, well you could form a sad commentary on the human condition. That, after all, is the point of folk music. To tell a human story, serving as a familiar reminder or lesson to the community. In this song the remorseful fellow has poisoned, stabbed, and drowned his girl friend all in the same verse! Did these songs persist in so many versions from generation to generation as a warning to young women to be careful of who they went walking with? Anyway, Kirsten Hersh does an appropriately haunting version, but since embedding has been disabled on that one, I'll have to offer up Bailey Cooke as an alternative. I like her banjo-playing and tempo here. And the sound of the peepers in the background is kind of cool too.

Murder-Song Monday: You Led Me to the Wrong

Ola Belle Reed. She was truly "old time." A preservationist of mountain music, her voice seems to come out of a time long past. In this murder-song, the "narrator" is going to his execution with no apparent regret. He did what he thought right, killing his best friend for courting his girl. This is a piece of Americana more vivid than anything you will read in the history books.

Musical Americana

Sparrow Quartet

Americana Week: Day 5

Okay, last day of the Americana series. I haven't nearly done justice to the amazing diversity of this music. I haven't featured the Blues at all, nor the rich and ongoing musical harvest from the Mississippi Delta (which, heck, isn't even really a delta..what's with that). Like Bluegrass, the Blues is thriving, producing young innovators who keep reshaping the tradition and drawing in other influences. It's really rather amazing. Jorma Kaukonen was once one of those young innovators, and as he's gotten older he's simply grown more rooted in the Blues tradition. Here's a nice example. Not a great video, but a great sound.



And just for good measure, here's the great Reverend Gary Davis:



There's so much good music being made today, and so much available from the past, I believe we're living in a culturally rich era when it comes to music. And that ends my brief tribute to Americana.

Americana Week: Day 4

Jimmie Rodgers was one of the popular "hillbilly" artists in the early days of recorded "country" music. Many give him credit for practically inventing the genre. Along with the Carter family, he was important in bringing blues and "old time" music to a popular audience. Here's a classic country blues:

Americana Week: Day 3

Americana, when it refers to music, is a loosely defined collection of musical styles, but the common denominator may be that each of these styles is clearly rooted in American traditional music. Thus, you've got Cowboy Americana, Folk music, Blues, Bluegrass, work songs, etc. You might call it "roots music." Over the years it continually draws in new influences (from new immigrant communities, for example), and changes in musical technology have also clearly impacted these traditions. The point is, it is a diverse musical form and it is clearly not a "dead" tradition. In fact, we seem to be enjoying a time of particular creativity in the Americana movement. Younger musicians are rediscovering "old time" music and playing with the tradition in very creative ways. This happened in the '50s and '60s under the influence first of bands like The Weavers and then Joan Baez, Peter Paul & Mary, The Kingston Trio, etc.

In my opinion, we are living in a kind of roots music renaissance. Musically speaking, this is one of the most enjoyable periods of my lifetime. I'm particularly partial to the Appalachian strain of roots music, sometimes called "Bluegrass," although that's actually a prominent subset. Here's an ensemble of some of my favorite practitioners, led by Tim O'Brien on vocals. I love the lyrics here, O'Brien's wonderful singing, and the musicianship is of course exceptional.

Americana Week: Day 2

This comes from NPR (the Juan Williams debacle aside, they feature some pretty good music). Welch and Rawlings are premium. I like everything about them. I like the single mic, I like the guitar playing of Rawlings, I like their harmonizing, their lyrics, everything. The second song, Ruby, is one of my favorites. These two have marked out a musical territory that no one else can occupy. In the tradition, but utterly unique.

Americana Week

I think I'll make this Americana Week at Wilderness Fandango. Five days, five choice selections. I love the ensemble in this video. Add a flute, accordion, and simple drum kit to a bluegrass lineup and you've got a pretty rich sound. And Darrell Scott can sure write a lyric.