"Civil War" theme "Potter's Reel"
Theodore R. Goodman
music for the "Civil War" documentary series on PBS.
Did Jay Unger write "Potter's Reel"? The reason I ask is that I
recorded a version of the song, apparently played by Bill and Taffy
Dannoff (two artists I don't know about) -- and I wasn't sure exactly who
wrote and who played.
Is "Potter's Reel" based on an older traditional song?
ghost
(& seeing as its only monday morning I probably should have waited longer)
but
In article <CDzMx...@eis.calstate.edu> tgo...@eis.calstate.edu (Theodore R. Goodman) writes:
> Here's a question about "Potter's Reel", also known as the theme
>music for the "Civil War" documentary series on PBS.
>
> Did Jay Unger write "Potter's Reel"? The reason I ask is that I
>recorded a version of the song, apparently played by Bill and Taffy
>Dannoff (two artists I don't know about) -- and I wasn't sure exactly who
>wrote and who played.
Aren't Bill & Taffy Dannoff the people who had a hit record several years
ago with something called "Afternoon Delight", about which the less said
the better, or is this just stray neurons firing & random associations
& soforth?
Jay Ungar wrote "Ashokan Farewell", which is now known as the PBS Civil War
series theme. It was written as a farewell to a music&dance week in
upstate New York, several years before the Civil War series was filmed;
the director had heard it & liked it.
What's Potter's Reel?
John Lupton
==>> Did Jay Unger write "Potter's Reel"? The reason I ask is that I
==>>recorded a version of the song, apparently played by Bill and Taffy
==>>Dannoff (two artists I don't know about) -- and I wasn't sure exactly who
==>>wrote and who played.
===>Aren't Bill & Taffy Dannoff the people who had a hit record several years
===>ago with something called "Afternoon Delight", about which the less said
===>the better, or is this just stray neurons firing & random associations
===>& soforth?
Bill Danoff has been a prominent songwriter for many years. One of his
best-known songs is "Boulder To Birmingham", which he co-wrote with
Emmylou Harris. In the late 60s, Bill and his wife Taffy, then known as
Taffy Nivert, performed as "Fat City", and it is their voices that are
heard on John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads". In fact, if you look
at the original album and the 45 single, it says "John Denver and Fat
City". In the mid-70s, Bill & Taffy teamed up with Margo Chapman and John
???? (I can never remember his last name) to form the infamous (in some
people's minds) Starland Vocal Band. Aside from the insipid "Afternoon
Delight", I've always felt they actually did some reasonably nice stuff,
but I'm very much in the minority on that, at least among most people I've
run into who are even willing to discuss them.
"Starland" broke up years ago, and last I heard, Bill & Taffy were splits.
_____________________________________________________________________________
John Lupton, LAN Specialist |Part-Time Country/Bluegrass/Old-Time DJ
SAS Communications & Networking |"Rural Free Delivery"
University of Pennsylvania |WVUD-FM 91.3 University of Delaware
jlu...@mail.sas.upenn.edu |Listener-Supported, Non-Commercial Radio
_________________________________|___________________________________________
ghost
>===>Aren't Bill & Taffy Dannoff the people who had a hit record several years
>===>ago with something called "Afternoon Delight", about which the less said
>===>the better, or is this just stray neurons firing & random associations
>===>& soforth?
>
>Bill Danoff has been a prominent songwriter for many years. One of his
>best-known songs is "Boulder To Birmingham", which he co-wrote with
>Emmylou Harris. In the late 60s, Bill and his wife Taffy, then known as
>Taffy Nivert, performed as "Fat City", and it is their voices that are
>heard on John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads". In fact, if you look
>at the original album and the 45 single, it says "John Denver and Fat
>City". In the mid-70s, Bill & Taffy teamed up with Margo Chapman and John
>???? (I can never remember his last name) to form the infamous (in some
>people's minds) Starland Vocal Band. Aside from the insipid "Afternoon
>Delight", I've always felt they actually did some reasonably nice stuff,
>but I'm very much in the minority on that, at least among most people I've
>run into who are even willing to discuss them.
>
>"Starland" broke up years ago, and last I heard, Bill & Taffy were splits.
If he's the one who co-wrote "Boulder to Birmingham" all is forgiven,
even Afternoon you-know-what. I was shocked to learn "B to B" was
co-written at all, & learned it only a few months ago; didn't remember his
name though. I'd like to think Emmylou wrote the words, considering
the subject; did anyone ever break it down?
Salieri
( ghost ) writes:
> In article <CDzMx...@eis.calstate.edu> tgo...@eis.calstate.edu (Theodore
>R. Goodman) writes:
{stuff deleted}
>> Did Jay Unger write "Potter's Reel"? The reason I ask is that I
>>recorded a version of the song, apparently played by Bill and Taffy
>>Dannoff (two artists I don't know about) -- and I wasn't sure exactly who
>>wrote and who played.
>
> Aren't Bill & Taffy Dannoff the people who had a hit record several years
> ago with something called "Afternoon Delight", about which the less said
> the better, or is this just stray neurons firing & random associations
> & soforth?
{stuff about "Ashokan Farewell" deleted}
> What's Potter's Reel?
>
>> Is "Potter's Reel" based on an older traditional song?
Are you perhaps thinking of "Potter's Wheel?" I believe Bill Dannoff wrote a
song by that name; John Denver recorded it on a recent album.
-- E.M.A.
___________________________________________________________________________
Ed M. Auvers | Bitnet: AUV...@DRYCAS.BITNET
(a.k.a. "Salieri") | Internet: AUV...@DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU
Vampire aficionado |
Writer of vamp fiction | "I think, therefore I'm dangerous."
Apprentice folkie | + + + + + + +
Thumper of bodhrans |"To work 'til you're dead / for one room and a
-------------------------------| bed / is not the reason I left Mullingar!"
|--------------------------------------------
Art Kaufmann
I don't know about "Potters' Reel," but Jay Unger wrote "Ashokan Farewell" which is
the plaintive waltz-time tune used as the main theme of the series "Civil War."
---
Art Kaufmann |
a...@ElSegundoCA.NCR.COM |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"... and should anyone actually read this drivel, any knowlege of your actions
will be denied by AT&T and NCR Corporation"
Don Wegeng
>In article <CDzMx...@eis.calstate.edu> tgo...@eis.calstate.edu (Theodore R. Goodman) writes:
>> Here's a question about "Potter's Reel", also known as the theme
>>music for the "Civil War" documentary series on PBS.
>>
>> Did Jay Unger write "Potter's Reel"?
>
>series theme. It was written as a farewell to a music&dance week in
>upstate New York, several years before the Civil War series was filmed;
>the director had heard it & liked it.
>
Billy Bragg has pointed out that the tune to Ashokan Farewell is very similar
to There is Power in a Union. I suspect that there are other similar tunes
as well.
John Lupton
Don writes:
=>Jay Ungar wrote "Ashokan Farewell", which is now known as the PBS Civil War
=>series theme. It was written as a farewell to a music&dance week in
=>upstate New York, several years before the Civil War series was filmed;
=>the director had heard it & liked it.
=>
==>Billy Bragg has pointed out that the tune to Ashokan Farewell is very
==>similar
==>to There is Power in a Union. I suspect that there are other similar tunes
==>as well.
It's often surprising to track the history of particularly tunes and
melodies, especially when they lead back to the Civil War era. The
particular example I'm thinking of is a song that was written during the
Civil War called "Vacant Chair", about a family who has lost a son in the
war that will never come home to take his seat at the family table again.
The melody of this song is known to most of us today as "Life Is Like A
Mountain Railway" or "Life's Railway to Heaven", the words to which are
totally different than "Vacant Chair". Following the success of the PBS
series there was a CD released called "Songs of the Civil War" (NOT the
soundtrack album) which featured a number of country and folk artists
performing Civil War era songs. On this CD, Kathy Mattea does a wonderful
rendition of "Vacant Chair". Other goodies include John Hartford doing
"Lorena" and Hoyt Axton doing "The Yellow Rose of Texas". My recollection
is the CD is put out by Time-Life records, but I could be mistaken.
Rob Bradley
>
>Billy Bragg has pointed out that the tune to Ashokan Farewell is very similar
>to There is Power in a Union. I suspect that there are other similar tunes
>as well.
There is a tune on the CD "Songs of the Civil War" which contains a
melody very similar to the one Billy Bragg uses on "There is Power
in a Union"? Could it be this that you are thinking of? I'll try to
remember to check my copy of the album tonight and report back on the
title of said melody.
Of course, similarity is in the eye of the beholder, but I would gently
suggest that Ashokan Farewell and Power in a Union are quite different.
The chord patterns are entirely different. I've been playing Power
in a Union for years, and I recently worked out the barring and picking
of Ashokan Farewell for a friend who plays the diatonic autoharp.
(I predict it will sound great when he masters it; I never had any
ability on the instrument myself.)-:
BTW, I heard Billy Bragg say at a concert that he borrowed the melody
for Power in a Union from an English hymn, presumably also the source
for the civil was melody. He got the words from Joe Hill.
--
Rob Bradley bra...@adx.adelphi.edu
Dept of Math & Computer Science (516)877-4496
Adelphi University, Garden City, NY 11530
Marc Salvatori
: "There is Power in a Union," at least as I've heard it, is sung to the tune of
: George F. Root's 1863 song "The Battle Cry of Freedom" (a/k/a "Rally 'Round
: the Flag") -- which tune, of course, was used several times in THE CIVIL
: WAR TV series. It's *not* the same as "Ashokan Farewell," although I suppose
: a couple of measures (the seventh and eighth ?) of "Ashokan" bear a slight
: similarity to a couple of measures (the seventh and eighth ?) of "Battle
: Cry"...
In the vein of Civil War music, anyone care to recommend some discs? I've
got the Civil War soundtrack and am thinking about getting Songs of the Civil
War, Songs of the Civil War by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and Battle Cry of
Freedom by the Robert Shaw Chorus.
Kristen M. Schultz
If the "Songs of the CW" is the 2-record set by Folkways, I would
recommend it as it is interesting to compare with more recent
recordings, and because I enjoyed it. I asked a similar question on
the alt.war.civil.usa group, and they recommended artists such as Jim
Morgan, Bobby Horton, and the 97th Regimental String Band. I can give
you more info if you want. As for the other recordings you mentioned,
I would avoid them because I don't think they would give you an
accurate feel for the period.
--
Kirsten Schultz
E-mail: ksch...@epas.utoronto.ca
Gary Martin
In the vein of Civil War music, anyone care to recommend some discs? I've
got the Civil War soundtrack and am thinking about getting Songs of the
Civil War, Songs of the Civil War by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and
Battle Cry of Freedom by the Robert Shaw Chorus.
Get Sparky & Rhonda Rucker's "The Blue & Gray in Black & White", which
is on Flying Fish. Simple arrangements, honest and thoughtful choice
of material and presentation, excellent singing and playing.
--
Gary A. Martin, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, UMass Dartmouth
Mar...@cis.umassd.edu