What performer 1st turned you on to folk music?
Michael
was at a friends house and from his brothers car radio outside came the
most beautiful voice I had ever heard - "Virgil Cane is my name and I
rode on the........" I was hooked. Joan Baez will be forever
responsible for turning me on to music with voice, lyrics and message.
Long may she reign.
>
> Since we have a large age span in this group, I am curious.
>
> What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
>
> For me it was Buffy Sainte-Marie around 1964. The first time I heard
> her I was hooked. I searched the record stores for her album and also
> sought out other folk artist. I had been familiar with other artist
> such as KT and PPM, because they were played on mainstream radio, but I
> did not realize I was listening to folk.
>
> Jon-Jon
Jon-Jon
Bill Williams
suppose it was learning "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Ya" in the mid
1950s in Westlake School in Daly City, California. Later, it was Donovan's
"Candy Man."
Michael <mja...@netcom.ca> wrote in message news:370AB9...@netcom.ca...
> When I was 12 years old, I remember this very beautiful autumn day. I
> was at a friends house and from his brothers car radio outside came the
> most beautiful voice I had ever heard - "Virgil Cane is my name and I
> rode on the........" I was hooked. Joan Baez will be forever
> responsible for turning me on to music with voice, lyrics and message.
> Long may she reign.
> >
Reed Waters
brought in an LP (remember them?) with a French song on it. It was one of
the two discs on PP&M's live album. I had really never paid much attention
to them before but I liked the song when it was played in class. I asked her
if I could take the disc home and listen to it. I did and when I gave it to
her the next day, I asked her for the other disc. I have been hooked on folk
music ever since. I still think that album is one of the most enjoyable of
any to listen to, I have almost worn it out (not the other student's, I did
buy one of my own). It is early PP&M (1963 I think) and they are so full of
life and energy.
Gerry Myerson
<unic...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
Performer? Group?? For me, it was the other kids on the bus on the way
to and from day camp every summer. Michael Row the Boat Ashore, Kumbaya,
Gopher Guts, Working on the Railroad, B-I-N-G-O, The Fox - that's what
turned me on to folk music.
In later years, I found that Pete Seeger, with or without the Weavers,
had recorded most of the songs we sang on the bus, and I suspect that
he was the proximate source of our repertoire, but I certainly hadn't
heard of him at the time.
Gerry Myerson (ge...@mpce.mq.edu.au)
Hodagg
For me it had to be Bob Dylan. Before him, my musical world consisted of
TheOhio Express, The 1910 Fruitgum Company, Paul Revere & The Raiders, and The
Buckinghams. After I heard Bob for the first time during a Christmas party in
my high school Spanish class, I knew there was so much more out there. I then
got into Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Phil Ochs, and Eric Andersen. I can't really
speak much Spanish anymore, but I still listen to all these folk singers. I
guess it wasn't wasted time after all.
Rick
Richard L. Hess
library installed a stereo with turntable and about six headphones.
You could only listen to one recording at a time, and we all had to
agree. Somehow, Joan Baez/5 was available (I'm not sure that the
parents would have appreciated it--certainly mine didn't) and I
remember listening to it over and over with my friends during study
period.
Shortly thereafter, I found Judy Collins's "In My Life" and the rest
is history <smile> and my interest in these two wonderful ladies (and
others) is documented on my web site.
At the recent concert in Thousand Oaks, CA, I had Joan autograph a CD
of Joan Baez/5, telling her that it was the album that started my
interest in 'folk' music about 33 years ago.
Looking back on it, however, my parents really got me interested to
some extent in folk music by giving me copies at an earlier age (1958)
of the Columbia set of "The Union" and "The Confederacy" It sparked an
interest in history, geography, and an acceptance of traditional
music. While today I wouldn't consider these specifically folk as they
are arranged more in a cantata format, the songs included were either
composed at the time or just sung by the people. I recently found that
Sony had re-released these, complete with facsimilies of the elaborate
books, as CDs.
I had taken a hiatus from folk music from the early '80's to the mid
'90's as my wife didn't understand it or appreciate it. We went to see
Judy Collins in concert and now I'm trying to make up for lost
time--and my wife loves the concerts.
Great question, Jon-Jon!
Cheers,
Richard
Richard L. Hess rlh...@mindspring.com
Glendale, CA USA http://rlhess.home.mindspring.com/
Web page: folk and church music, photography, broadcast engineering, and more
JesiAna
"Blue-tail Fly" and "I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly" (what was it with
Burl and flies?). I don't think I even made the connection between Burl and
folk music until much later, but folk songs were what I was listening to when I
listened to him.
When I was nine, my favorite singers were Marty Robbins and the Kingston Trio.
A year or so later, I went crazy for the Chad Mitchell Trio. Through them, I
was introduced to Tom Paxton's songs, and Ian Tyson's "Four Strong Winds."
Probably the most influential for me (besides the CMTrio) was Judy Collins, who
I wanted to be when I grew up. However, there have been so many; topping the
list after CMT, Collins, and Burl, were Pete Seeger, Tom & Dick Smothers (who
were excellent singers of straight folk music as well as hilarious humorists),
Tom Paxton, and Phil Ochs, whose socially aware music opened up my young mind!
Jesiana
"If you can walk, you can dance. If you can talk, you can sing."
Clare Ferguson
discuss on this group but this is my experience. My dad listened to
classical music, opera, Scottish Country Dance music, Catherine
McKinnon, John McCormack, Paul Robeson, Nelson Eddy, Kenneth McKellar.
More that I can't remember. What I loved was the last group (take
Nelson out, I think) I didn't know what was folk and what wasn't, who
originally recorded things, etc but I knew that was the style of music I
liked. I am grateful to this list for giving me ideas on what to listen
to next. Now I know I have to check out Ian and Sylvia, of course being
Canadian i have heard them but never paid attention.
When I was a teenager I listened mostly to Bruce Springsteen but
tempered that with Linda Ronstadt, John Denver and Gordon Lightfoot. I
also like Priscilla Herdman. I like a wide variety of music and I hate
music snobbery. What I know I like best is a great melody and stirring
lyrics. For plain fun I love Great Big Sea.
--
Clare
TJSTRAT
TJS
"...I'll never find a better time to be alive than now..." Peter Hammill
Brett Weiss
newcomer.) This has let to my "discovering" most of the people
mentioned in other messages.
--
Brett
Jon-Jon <unic...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:370A8869...@earthlink.net...
> Since we have a large age span in this group, I am curious.
>
> What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
>
Joseph Kesselman, yclept Keshlam
listening to at about age 10. I no longer have it. I _do_ have the copy
of Josh White at Town Hall that I swiped from my mother...
------------------------------------------------------
Joe Kesselman, http://www.lovesong.com/people/keshlam/
Performing April 10th at Walkabout Clearwater: GREG BROWN!
http://www.lovesong.com/walkabout/coffeehouse.html
Joseph Kesselman, yclept Keshlam
otherwise evaporated.
CHERYLMHVA
had a high school teacher who was crazy about them.. The next music I liked was
the Beatles, Monkees, Paul Rever & the Raiders & other top songs of the era. I
love the rock & roll oldies. I don't like the 80's & 90's rock or soul. I
remembered when Arlo Guthrie had out ALICES RESTUARANT & CITY OF NEW ORLEANS &
thought they were nice but that's all I knew of him. In 1988, I saw the video
of ALICES RESTUARANT in a local video store. It looked good so I rented it. I
liked it so well, I wondered what happened to him & decided to get his lp's
with those 2 songs on them -- ALICES RESTUARANT & HOBO'S LULLABYE. I loved
them & soon became a loyal fan. Altho, I always thought folk music was nice,
thanks to Arlo I enjoy it even more & got more interested. If it weren't for
him & him having his wonderful website Arlonet, I probably wouln't be as
interested in the internet as I am! http://www.arlo.net is my home here on the
web. Thank you Arlo for helping enjoy folk music! Peace to All!
Peace & have a nice day! Cheryl Harrell
Personal Quote: "Cheryl, huh?" By: My folksinger friend ADG
"Support Finding A Cure For Diabetes". By: ME
****NO SPAM PLEASE! THANK YOU! **** :)
LanceU1943
strum that led into "...Hush little baby, don't you cry,
you know know your mama's bound to die,
All my trials, Lord.... soon be over. Too late, my brothers, too late, but
never mind,
All my trials, Lord....soon be over.
Beautiful in its simplicity, beautiful in its truth.
From there the world expanded rapidly. Kingston Trio, Joan Baez, Barbara Dane,
young Bob Dylan, wise Bob Gibson, Judy Collins with the clear blue eyes, Ian
and Sylvia, Peter, Paul and Mary and the chain never ended. Each new record led
the way to others to listen to. Pure folk, quasi-folk, the high lonesome sound,
Bluegrass. Expanding what I listened to, hearing through fresh ears.
Seeking out the roots of folk music was an interesting experience. It evolves
to become what it will be, with few limits to be imposed.
Steve Ashton
>
> Since we have a large age span in this group, I am curious.
>
> What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
>
> For me it was Buffy Sainte-Marie around 1964. The first time I heard
> her I was hooked. I searched the record stores for her album and also
> sought out other folk artist. I had been familiar with other artist
> such as KT and PPM, because they were played on mainstream radio, but I
> did not realize I was listening to folk.
>
> Jon-Jon
A mate at school forcibly sent me home with a copy of Folk Songs of Olde
England by Tim Hart and Maddy Prior in ?1969/70.
Instantly hooked, brilliant LP.
Steve
Emma Wilson
Em
CphylThumb
As I pondered the question "Who first?", I kept finding that there would be
someone performer prior to the one that I thought was earliest.....until I came
to Burl Ives.....then I read your post. :) So then comes the question,
"Where did we see/hear Burl Ives refrain, "Jimmy crack(ed) corn...."? For me
I'm quite sure it was television. There sure weren't many television offerings
back then....it was prior to The Smothers Brothers' Show, prior to Mitch...oh
gosh, what WAS his name... Mitchell(?). My money says that I saw him on The Ed
Sullivan Show. Hmmmm, now who else appeared during that 'really big show'? The
guy balancing mass quantities of spinning plates atop thin sticks? Topo Gigo?
Those little people with the harmonicas and the various bicycles? AND, who
stood up in te audience to take a bow.
Brian
MiltGF
Rory Block - Gypsy Boy
Chris Smither- Everything
Howard Camber
ge...@mpce.mq.edu.au (Gerry Myerson) wrote:
>> What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
Couldn't name only one, as it was cumulative. I grew up in Glasgow, so
The Corries, Robin Hall & Jimmie McGregor, Hamish Imlach, Matt McGinn and
a little later on, Mike & Robin (ISB), Donovan, Bert Jansch, etc.,
From the other side of the pond (although I live here now), most of the
others have been mentioned already with the exception of the Limeliters,
whom I was listening to when everyone else was singing along with The
Kingston Trio.
Debra Cowan
named June Bugg. I fell in love with her voice and the music. I also
remember hearing Peter, Paul & Mary singing "Blowing In the Wind" on
the radio. A while after that, I heard some guy doing "Blowing In the
Wind" and hated it. Of course, the guy was Bob Dylan :-)
Debra
Stephen Suffet
>
> Since we have a large age span in this group, I am curious.
>
>
> her I was hooked. I searched the record stores for her album and also
> sought out other folk artist. I had been familiar with other artist
> such as KT and PPM, because they were played on mainstream radio, but
> I did not realize I was listening to folk.
>
> Jon-Jon
Greetings:
It was Mom. Her real passion was jazz, and she would accompany
herself on a Martin uke while singing Billie Holiday numbers such as
"Hello, Heartache" and "God Bless the Child." But she also did what she
called "folksongs": "Toot-Toot-Tootsie Goodbye," "Balling the Jack,"
"Meet Me In Saint Louie, Louie," "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey?,"
"Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Man On the Flying Trapeze," etc. For me she
would even do what she claimed to hate the most -- "hillbilly music!"
That included "The Wabash Cannon Ball," "Sixteen Tons," and "Hey, Good
Looking!"
Only when I started to hang out with hardcore folkies in Greenwich
Village did I discover that none of what my mother played was considered
"folk music," with the sole exception of "The Wabash Cannon Ball."
Oh well, live and learn. :-)
Regards,
Steve
Geraldine Legard
Jon-Jon <unic...@earthlink.net> wrote in article
<370A8869...@earthlink.net>...
> Since we have a large age span in this group, I am curious.
>
> What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
>
> When I was a little girl in England in the 50's I used to watch a puppet
show called 'Tales of Rubovia' set in a fairytale land of wizards, kings
and queens. There was a court magician who played a small organ, the sound
of which facinated me and stayed in my mind. I could even remember the
sound of the tune.
Years later, I found out that the sound was the Northumbrian pipes playing
the Redesdale Hornpipe. So, I was bound to grow up with a love of
traditional English music, wasn't I?
Geraldine Legard
>
>
>
Joseph C Fineman
appears that at the age of 2 1/2 I knew about 40 songs. The earliest
professional singer I can remember is Burl Ives. We had several of
his records (78s, of course), and we listened regularly to his radio
program _Wayfaring Stranger_.
--- Joe Fineman j...@world.std.com
||: "How singular!" said the Gaussian, cautiously approaching a :||
||: delta function. :||
Frederick Paepke
>What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
Fannigan's Isle, a folk-duo out of Dayton, OH. In 1987, while a freshman in
college, a friend dragged me out to see these guys every Tuesday night. Lots of
fun.
They in turn, introduced me to the music of Stan Roger, Christy Moore, Silly
Wizard, etc. Having never listened to much other than Top-40, I must say that it
was a wonderful time of new discoveries.
Frederick.
Aislinn
John Davis and Uncle Ruthie. My parents also had a large collection of folk
records, but the ones I remember most fondly are the Bok/Trickett/Muir
albums, and the New Golden Ring. Also Odetta and Ian & Sylvia. Much to my
delight, they've finally started releasing a lot of these old favorites on
CD.
Cheers,
Ais
--
Several years ago I said goodbye
to my own sanity
but I don't mind at all.
-- Bourgeois Tagg
Stephen Suffet
>
> .... and then Folkways Records 10 inchers, Vera Hall, Leadbelly, and a
> lovely recording by an obscure banjo picker named "Darlin' Corey". It
> today remains my favorite Pete Seeger recording. My first "Hootenanny"
> was at a private home when I first heard Cisco Houston sing 900 Miles.
Frank:
Pete Seeger's 10-inch "Darlin' Corey" LP has to be my all time
favorite as well. Every song is a masterpiece. I went through two vinyl
copies -- wore them clear down 'til they were unplayable -- but now I
have the Smithsonian-Folkways reissue on CD. Not a week goes by that I
don't play it once, or find myself singing "My pocketbook was empty, my
heart was full of pain..." When the children sang "Risselty Rosselty" in
Hitchcock's "The Birds," did you find yourself as the only one in the
theatre who knew the words? I know I did!
By the way, I just came from a hoot ("open sing") tonight in Brook-
lyn, where someone I had never seen before started playing "900 Miles"
slowly in A-minor, just the way Cisco Houston did. I picked up my own
guitar and started to flat-pick the melody in the base and the two of us
ended up doing a duet. "I will pawn you my wagon, I will pawn you my
team ..." It was wild. What a fine song to sing together.
How I wish I could have heard Cisco Houston. I just missed him. I had
a couple of his Folkways LPs (the two 12 inch ones) and two of the ones
he turned out for Vanguard. But by the time I started going to the clubs
in the Village -- when I could get my older brother to take me -- Cisco
was already terminally ill with cancer. I got the "I Ain't Got No Home"
LP as soon as it came out. I understand he recorded it for Vanguard just
before he died, and after he had stopped appearing in public.
Regards,
Steve
Gerry Myerson
cphyl...@aol.com (CphylThumb) wrote:
-> I'm quite sure it was television. There sure weren't many television
-> offerings back then....it was prior to The Smothers Brothers' Show, prior
-> to Mitch...oh gosh, what WAS his name... Mitchell(?).
I believe you're thinking of Mitch Miller - Sing Along With Mitch.
What do you get if a bee stings you on top of a mosquito bite?
Sting along with itch.
Gerry Myerson (ge...@mpce.mq.edu.au)
Bass
Jon-Jon wrote:
>
> Since we have a large age span in this group, I am curious.
>
> What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
What a nice question. I go through different periods of my life with
this one and I think back to going to camp in the early sixties and
hearing counselors singing Peter, Paul, and Mary and liking it an awful
lot. A few years later, I heard Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger records for
the first time and fell in love with that. A few years later, in high
school, it was David Bromberg's playing that brought my attention to
another side of folk music, and a few years later, as Brett has posted,
it was John McCutcheon. I am still excited by the different artists that
are playing and think how lucky we are to have so much of this music
available to share and listen to, despite not being able to usually
exactly say what "folk music" is. My current "first" introduction to
much "folk music" is the public radio show "Mountain Stage".
Gary
ACEford1
Ace "I wish I was back in Texas" Ford
Frank Hamilton
Library of Congress made by the Lomaxes. Chub Parham, Texas Gladden,
Herbert Smoke, and then Folkways Records 10 inchers, Vera Hall,
Leadbelly, and a lovely recording by an obscure banjo picker named
"Darlin' Corey". It today remains my favorite Pete Seeger recording.
My first "Hootenanny" was at a private home when I first heard Cisco
movie actor face and a hypnotising voice with a continuous right hand
arpeggio on a dark stained Martin, I think.I wanted to do that. So I
picked up my guitar (a Silvertone archtop monstrosity from Sears
Roebuck) and whanged away singing Sam Hall. I was around sixteen. I
ran into Guy Carawan and we sang together. Then I met Will Geer. Then
I met Woody. And then Pete. And a mentor, Bess Lomax Hawes and Sam
Hinton. I haven't recovered from the shock.
Centuries later I still thrill to the sound of ethnic American music
with the echoes of history, living representatives of an American
sub-culture and this is the music that "rings true" to me. I may have
fallen asleep in the Sixties but then folk music to me is timeless.
Uncle Dave Macon, Dock Reese, Buell Kazee, Aunt Molly Jackson, Bukka
White, Wade Ward, Texas Gladden, and don't forget Burl Ives and Josh
White. Guess you can tell I got hooked. First performer, so many but
Cisco comes to mind. He was the one that made me say I wanna' do
that.
Frank Hamilton
LanceU1943
for me, a fan and advocate for folk music of all kinds. Some of it is hiighly
regional, and takes some listening to get confortable with a different kind of
music. When you mention these names, it is without the posturing that is so
common these days. You are one of those bridge performers who link those before
you with those who came after you. I admire you for having had the opportunity
to meet with and sing with these people who have near legendary status in the
society of folk music fans. Keep up your the good work, and never let your
voice be
still. It is for many like you that I continue to believe that there should be
a Hall of Fame for Folk Music. You are among our honored treasures.
Ken Josenhans
> Since we have a large age span in this group, I am curious.
> What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
Steeleye Span. The PARCEL OF ROGUES album, in 1975. I bought it
completely blind, with no idea what to expect; I had only a vague
recommendation from a friend.
I went back to the store the next day and bought every Steeleye
album they had.
-- Ken Josenhans, boring old rock fan
k...@msu.edu
Genia Ainsworth
> Since we have a large age span in this group, I am curious.
> What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
That's difficult to define, of my parent's records I liked Burl Ives,
Lonnie Donogan and Harry Belafonte, and a school teacher turned me on to
Pete Seeger and the Weavers, but I think Peter, Paul & Mary and Tom
Paxton were the first I identified as *folk music*. Songs that flood me
with childhood memories include Tom Dooley, Kisses Sweeter Than Wine,
Purple People Eater, Rock Island Line, This Land Is Your Land (Cdn.
version), Puff.. , Marvellous Toy, and most Buddy Holly.
I grew up with Donovan, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Buffy
Ste.Marie, Ian & Sylvia, but didn't really classify them as being
*different* from the Beatles, Who, Animals, Dylan, Stones, Mannfred
Mann. They were all MY music. Then I went to Britain and a whole new
world opened up. I remember sending a postcard which read: "Iv'e just
seen The Incredible String Band, and they ARE!" I worked in Bunjies
Folk Cellar, and went to several festivals, and was blown away by it
all.
Genia :-)
Sian Thomas
decades*, isn't it?
Joseph C Fineman wrote in message ...
>Like Steve Suffet, I started with my mother.
Definitely ditto. And we seemed to have a lot of folk singing in school and
youth groups in Canada, in English and French. And campfire every night at
summer camp. And my aunts sitting around on the front porch in the summer
(sorry if this is beginning to sound like the Waltons, but ...) Thing is,
it wasn't ... laboured? It's just something ya did. Laid back. Not in the
least bit self-conscious.
> The earliest professional singer I can remember is Burl Ives. We had
several of
>his records (78s, of course), and we listened regularly to his radio
>program _Wayfaring Stranger_.
Seems to me that my parents had 78s by someone called ... hmmmm... Fess
Parker? Lord, I could have listened to Green Grow the Lilacs all day ...
But I think the BIG influence for me was the TV programme, Don Messer's
Singalong Jubilee, which got me listening to other recording by their
featured artists.
I think, in Welsh, it would be the 78s of Thomas L. Thomas (ancient!) and
the Folkways double-disc set of Dr. Meredydd Evans (a collector's item now).
--
Sian Thomas
http://www.telecottages.org/iws
Y gerdd orau, cerdd at dy waith
ICQ #11650729
remove twp to reply - dileu twp i ateb
Ellen Mill
>Jon-Jon wrote:
>>
>> Since we have a large age span in this group, I am curious.
>>
>> What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
>>
Probably got started liking folk music when I was about 11... anyone
remember the old "Hootenanny" television show? We watched that show every
week, my parents and me, and Dad brought home records by the "approved"
folkies... Kingston Trio, Limelighters, Brothers Four. Later I started
bring home records by Pete Seeger, and so of course then discovered people
like The Weavers, Woodie Guthrie, et al. MUCH different than Dad's music,
and what a wonderful world it all opened. :)
But we sure had great times every week, all of us together enjoying the
same music. How often does THAT happen in families anymore?
Ellen
Katherine Kaye
{snipped wisdom}
.....
> "Where did we see/hear Burl Ives refrain, "Jimmy crack(ed) corn...."? For me
> I'm quite sure it was television. There sure weren't many television offerings
> back then....it was prior to The Smothers Brothers' Show, prior to Mitch...oh
> gosh, what WAS his name... Mitchell(?). My money says that I saw him on The Ed
> Sullivan Show. Hmmmm, now who else appeared during that 'really big show'? The
> guy balancing mass quantities of spinning plates atop thin sticks? Topo Gigo?
> Those little people with the harmonicas and the various bicycles? AND, who
> stood up in te audience to take a bow.
>
Many thanks to Brian for reminding me of some classic popular-culture
referents I don't often get to think about, as an ex-pat. I remember the
spinning plates and Topo Gigo too.
We had a huge range of music in our house which certainly included Burl
Ives - but also Richard Dyer-Bennett, whose 'Golden Vanity' used to send
shivers up my spine when I was six - and Theo Bikel and Cynthia Gooding. I
still sing 'Sur La Route de Louviers' and an Israeli love song I learnt
straight off one of their albums. They were one facet of a folk buckyball
also comprising Blind Lemon Jefferson, Leadbelly, Hank Williams Sr., Patsy
Cline, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Red Army Chorus, and my grandmother's English
music-hall recordings from the early 1920s. All these from birth --- but
seeing Burl Ives on the television was very exciting. He was our
friend..:-) </sentimentality>
Thanks again, Brian.
Kath in Oxford
p.s. - any R D-B fans out there?
Hiroshi Ogura
Jon-Jon <unic...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
Back when I was a freshman in Austin, TX, I discovered Joe Ely (who,
by the way, turned me on to country). Back then, Ely used to perform
many tunes by his Lubbock buddies Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale
Gilmore, so I gradually started to listen to them also. These two (or
three, if you count Ely) were the singers /songwriters who turned me
on to folk. Even though I had already been a fan of acoustic music
such as Paul Simon's, I had never contemplated about the interplay and
struggle between an artist and his tradition until I started listening
to these Lubbock musicians. Nowadays, I can no longer listen to
Simon.
--Hiroshi
--
H.Ogura Dpt.Chem. U.Az. | Take the sun from my heart
Tcs AZ 85721 hiroshi@u. | Let me learn to despise
arizona.edu http://www. |
u.arizona.edu/~hiroshi | -- Richard Thompson
Doug Roberts
Frank Hamilton
Hi, Lanceul
Thank you so much for your kind words. I am deeply honored. I
sincerely believe it has been a privilege to have been lucky to have
met and played with the people in folk music. The thing that keeps
coming to mind is how the folk music community is so together in their
enthusiasm, charity and helpfulness. This has to be because whatever
anyone says folk music is, it is always about the connection of human
beings on a musical and spiritual level. Folk music communicates when
we as an audience look past the flashy and the ego-driven consumer
orientation of pop music, the faddish latest musical style, the next
big star (the new Dylan or whatever) and the obviously showy newest
"dynamite" performers. Folk music is with us always as it has been in
the past with it's own tradition and history and it's relatively quiet
but enduring presence in everyone's lives.
Again, thank you.
Frank Hamilton
fdu9
> What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
>
I must be lucky because my parents went to see Paul Robeson perform in
Golden Gate Park when I was three, and the world just stopped for a while.
Dad said that San Francisco was about the only place he could perform in
1951 without the audience being beaten up afterwards by the Republican
voting swine.
Neil Donley
the standard folk groups like the Weavers, etc and liked them all, but
never really got turned on to the music. Phil Ochs' songs really made me
listen, but then I heard Stan Rogers and was hooked. When I first heard
John Gorka's "That's How Legends are Made", I knew early on, who and what,
the song was about and totally agree.
Neil
Jon-Jon wrote:
> Since we have a large age span in this group, I am curious.
>
> What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
>
JesiAna
Golden Gate Park when I was three, and the world just stopped for a while.
Dad said that San Francisco was about the only place he could perform in
1951 without the audience being beaten up afterwards by the Republican
voting swine.>>
Oh how I envy you! The closest I came to seeing Paul Robeson (a personal hero
of mine) was through memories of my mother, who once saw him sing "Ballad for
Americans," and my present next-door neighbor, now 70, who saw him in Othello.
Jesiana
"If you can walk, you can dance. If you can talk, you can sing."
Steve Terry
<dco...@sprynet.com> writes
> I heard some guy doing "Blowing In the
>Wind" and hated it. Of course, the guy was Bob Dylan :-)
>
>
close to matching the early work of Bob Dylan in my opinion. I can still
listen to it today and enjoy it as much as I did 30 years ago.
--
Steve Terry
B.Ross
>> What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
Though I hated the way she sang, Joan Baez had a great book which
is still in print after, what, 30 years--her "Songbook."
She had some fabulous collaboraters help research it.
Yours, Bev Ross
Ian Anderson
>What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
An interesting side observation to this thread, now it has been running
a while, is that it once again points up the big difference between
what people think is folk music in the USA compared to the UK.
(And please don't take this as excuse to get into another pointless
definitions argument ).
To answer the original question, for me it was Muddy Waters
who led me down a path that eventually travelled to everything
from the Copper Family to Snakefarm, Youssou N'Dour,
Rakotozafy and playing "Speed The Plough" some . . erk . .
nearly 36 years later . . .
--
Ian Anderson
Folk Roots magazine
fro...@froots.demon.co.uk
http://www.froots.demon.co.uk/
remove anti-junkmail .off to reply
jay cat
tiny tim.
amers
really showing my youth here but so what?). Dad would play jazz, blues and
rock on the piano, as well as some of the funnier Gilbert and Sullivan
numbers, and both of my parents sang all the time to me. Nana is from
Tunisia and I know more French songs than I care to count. Later on, I got
secretly hooked on my little sister's Raffi tapes....he's got some great
ones which I've since discovered are a real boon when taking care of
preschoolers (interactive and educational....care to comment, JesiAna?).
I know it sounds hokey, but I think it's wonderful that no matter how
frequently what's popular among the adult population changes, most of the
songs that kids sing are the same ones kids have sung for generations.
Cheers,
Amy
Faux B. Ersatz, Jr.
that was the version by Peter Paul and Mary. I must have been 3, 4 or
5 at the time, around 1960-1962.
carverOn Tue, 06 Apr 1999 15:19:21 -0700, Jon-Jon
<unic...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>Since we have a large age span in this group, I am curious.
>
>What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
>
JesiAna
secretly hooked on my little sister's Raffi tapes....he's got some great
ones which I've since discovered are a real boon when taking care of
preschoolers (interactive and educational....care to comment, JesiAna?).>>
My students are a little older and their tastes run toward Tommy and Colum
Sands, Pete Seeger, Sam Hinton, and John McCutcheon, but the preK and
kindergarteners like Raffi, and I know there are teachers who use his work in
the classroom.
My own tastes of course run toward the ones I named, too, and that helps. But I
also love Paul Robeson and John McCormack, and while the students listen and
find these voices "interesting," they are not on the student request list as a
rule.
Claire K. Huang
The Weavers--played my folks' Decca album again and again.
The Kingston Trio--loved the MTA song.
Family sings around the piano--songbooks were full of folksongs. And I just
thought they were fun, singable tunes.
John Denver--in my early teenage years. Couldn't get enough of his singing.
Two Christian folk groups--the Wedgwood Trio and Take Three. Still
unsurpassed, in my opinion, in their genre.
Happily reminiscing,
Claire H.
LanceU1943
was real. She sang Backwater Blues, with a twelve string guitar, and later in
the show was a very young Bob Dylan with his little cap, singing A Man of
Constant Sorrow, and a very young Joan Baez singing All my Trials. You can
imagine my surprise when the e-mail arrive in my mailbox. I am just thrilled
to share this with folk music listeners, although it is clear that she is a
name from the distant past...however, I found a mint promotional lp the
previous week, called "I'm on my way" which I am doubly pleased to have. I hope
to arrange a fundraiser for her friend, Judy Mahan, where Barbara can perform
her songs. Today, a second surprise arrived. It was a thank you e-mail
from...Carolyn Hester. Good things flow from good deeds. Indeed!
peter nelson
---peter
peter nelson
I suppose this depends on your definition of "folk" music. To me
"folk" anything - music, art, etc - has to arise from the traditions
of the culture itself. Something which is composed from scratch
as a commercial endeavor is a questionable use of the term.
It's an interesting question because there are lots of people
who bill temselves as "folk singers" who don't play any
traditional music at all. I've heard Joni Mitchell referred to
as a "folk singer" and never understood this. She's a fine
songwriter and a versatile singer (when I first heard her most
recent stuff I didn't even recognize her!). But what's "folk"
about her? We can't call something "folk music" just because
it involves an acoustic guitar, else all the latest rock performers
doing "unplugged" sessions would called folk performers.
---peter
Tom King
Ford's immortal "Sixteen Tons" - absolutely within the folk tradition. My
Grandfather was the second folk musician I encountered. He played piano well
I'm told, but my grandmother (whose only instrument was a $12 Sears clock
radio) wouldn't allow one in the house. We all suspected she was jealous of
the attention he got from playing. She couldn't quite kill his love of
performing live music, however. He played a mean harmonica as well and when
we grandkids discovered it, we bought him new ones every Christmas and
birthday so that he always had backup harps in case one wore out or got
accidently tossed by my grandmother. He played "Polly Wolly Doodle" to four
generations of my family and taught us all to carry a little music with us
wherever we went.
Later at the age of 10, I discovered a Peter, Paul & Mary album in my
Grandmother's record collection (a surprising discover as this was a woman
who considered Earnest Tubb a god and everyone else - silly!). I guess
someone in the family was trying to encourage her (unsuccessfully) to branch
out in her musical tastes. She wouldn't give me the record (even though she
hated it and I hinted shamelessly), so I had to sit in her sitting
room/parlor on the stiff green sofa with my hands folded to listen to it
over and over for hours on her hi-fi set with the volume turned respectfully
low. Even under those conditions I became a hopeless folkie. During my
adolescence I bought a $6 Mexican guitar from a friend, rebuilt it and
learned to play "Polly Von" as I remembered it from that album. From there
it was summer camp and Shel Silverstein's "The Boa Constrictor Song", Burl
Ives' rendition of "Three Crae, Sa' Upon a Wae" and, of course, "Blowin' in
the Wind". I soon knew Alice's Restaurant (the entire monologue) by heart.
Just the first three chords used to send people running for the brush. Then
I discovered the Clancy Brothers and to the dismay of my roommate in the
dorm at boarding academy, I purchased a banjo. Over the next year, I learned
approximately 3,000 banjo player jokes and spent my senior year living
without a roommate even though I had one of the nicer rooms in the dorm.
Seven guitars, four banjos, a dulcimer, 3 recorders, 43 jaw harps, 8
harmonicas, a mandolin, bodhran and two sets of bones later, I've been
happily married for 25 years to a beautiful Scotch-Irish Indian woman and
fellow folkie with a lovely voice and a passion for sad Scottish songs about
suicide and betrayal. I am, at present, resisting a sudden urge to buy a
set of bagpipes (since I like my current roommate and am well aware that
most of those banjo player jokes can be equally applied to pipers).
Pray for me!
Tom King
P.S. Claire K. Huang wrote ...
> Two Christian folk groups--the Wedgwood Trio and Take Three. Still
> unsurpassed, in my opinion, in their genre.
Had both records. The Take Three one disappeared in one of my moves as a
church school teacher. Your mention of those records really brought back
some memories.
Matt Griffin, American
(Hodagg) wrote:
> >What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
That's a complicated answer. I was a little kid in the early sixties, so
it was everywhere and of course I didn't think of it as "folk music" per
se. I remember singing "This Land Is Your Land" at a big school assembly,
I remember "choir" in Jr. High where the songbook was mostly folk-revival
type stuff and some of it traditional, Burl Ives was on TV a lot... It
was all around and yet nebulous as an entity called "folk music." My way
into doing it myself as a serious avocation comes from seeing A. Guthrie
play a thanksgiving show, playing in a rock band with someone who'd been
active in the Virginia Beach, VA singer/songwriter scene in the eighties,
"roots rock," and a whole bunch of other things besides.
One group or performer? Maybe the Byrds.
--
Matt "equal love for all" Griffin
the real address is
did...@shore.net (don't ask)
"After my law boards, I became pretty much a lounge potato." --John Purchase
Matt Griffin, American
> >What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
Or maybe the New Christy Minstrels. Sing along with Mitch? The Kingston
Trio? Harry Belafonte? "Sloop John B." by the Beach Boys? It's so hard
to say.
Gldancer
probably around 1961. Played folk music for while myself till after college.
Gloria "Only the iguanas know for sure"
Janet M. Ryan
know the header says "performer" (singular). Happily, many
of you aren't following that too narrowly. :-) Its a really
fascinating thread.
I tend to think in terms of influences myself, not just
one song, one performer, one type or style of music, because
I don't remember my personal music history (or mythology, as
the case may be) that way.
So I've been spending some time over the last week trying to
remember my earliest musical influences that lead me to
what *I* consider to be folk music, which of course, differs
from some, just as it is similar again to others. Its been
sort of odd and strange...
What I came up with first was a set of records my parents had
that I used to listen to all the time--I just loved them. But
I don't know what the name of the series was--only that it had
a "History of American (?) Music" sort of theme--I think--I can't
be sure because I was very young then. What I do remember very
clearly was it had one album I loved about instruments of the
orchestra, and you heard each instrument individually, with a
spoken word story kind of thing. And then, there was a folk music
album--John Henry, that sort of thing. But god, I *loved* those
records. And my favorite songs from childhood were "She'll Be
Comin' Round the Mountain" and--if you can believe this--"The
Streets of Laredo." Maybe I am manic-depressive after all?!?!
Next thing I thought of was Betty Boop! Oh, I loved, loved, loved
Betty Boop cartoons--again I would have been really, really young--
under five years old--but the music was with Cab Calloway, and I
adored it! When I got older and saw the old cartoons I was of
course shocked to see how racist some of them were, but the music!
God, I thought the Cab Calloway stuff was brilliant. Now, is
Cab Calloway's singing on Betty Boop cartoons "folk"? I dunno.
Then, I remember, again, being very young, American Indian
music during the summers we spent up north on Lake Mille Lacs when
I was growing up. We would go to the fort--this would be Fort
Mille Lacs, which was the agency for what is the
tribe now known as the Displaced Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, but I
digress--at the fort, they used to have these pow wow type things
for the tourists. It was pretty grim actually, I remember being
depressed by certain aspects of it as a kid. But the music, the
dance and the outfits were astounding. I can still sit at a pow
wow today, and feel the same kind of awe at the drums, the singing,
the dancers, the color, the twirling, the dust, the movement....
And then, just to get a bit more eclectic, there was Sunday mass
at the mission church. That was bizarre. We had both Indians and
whites attending, and the music was...different from what we
heard at mass when we were back in the Cities during the school
year. I don't know how else to describe it, and I can't really
describe it in any detail now, except to say that there
was something about the music that was different to the sound of
the congregational singing when the Catholic missionary Indian
church ladies would sing hymns, than when I was in the congregation
in the Cities, listening to the all white congregation singing
Catholic hymns. But then my dad quit the Catholic church, we went
Presbyterian, Lutheran, all sorts of Protestant "upper class" sects
my mother drug us around to. But the Catholic Indian church ladies
thing sort of reminds me of the black Baptist church ladies thing.
And because my aunt Milli was Catholic, I remember going with her
to mass sometimes on Sundays in summer, even after my dad "quit"
the church. As all Catholics know, you *never* quit the church, no
matter how far behind we might think we've left religion!
And then, when Frank mentioned Mahalia Jackson in a recent post--that
triggered the gospel stuff for me--growing up in Chicago, listening to
the radio at night in the 60s, it was hard to escape gospel music!
And Mahalia was--and there was never any doubt about this--the QUEEN
of gospel as I recall it anyway. She was on TV a lot too in the Chicago
area as I recall. In all her glory and splendor--and fancy evening
gown type dresses (these are the things that stays with us young,
impressionable girls from modest circumstances you know). So
even though I don't consider Motown and Diana Ross to be folk, I will
say this--there are roots to *their dress* in gospel. Diana Ross,
the Shirelles, all of them, had (for awhile) the same hairdos and evening
gown type dresses that the female gospel singers wore on TV...
It wouldn't have been until my late teens, in St. Paul, when I started
hanging out at O'Gara's and later McCaffertys, that I got into the
Irish music scene. Prior to that, my recollection of Irish music
was of the stage Irish/dance hall/immigrant song traditions, which
my aunt Mary seemed to love so much. And you know, I loved my aunt
Mary, so its hard not to acknowledge her as one of my "influences"
even if I only heard her sing occassionally, and it being only
"Danny Boy" and "My Wild Irish Rose." And of course, the Clancy
Brothers. They just seemed pretty bizarre to me, but my family
were religious Ed Sullivan watchers, so that's my first memory of
the ballad tradition from Ireland--never anything in my family
though. I don't remember being particularly moved one way or the other.
But at the same time, in my teen years was the "English folk" invasion
to the States that followed on from the Clancy Brothers phenomenon, although
there was the hippie sub-culture aspect to this music at the time, as
I'm recalling it anyway. My fave band was Steeleye, but this also
would have been the time that I first started hearing Bothy Band.
But that was the only group of that time I remember. I don't remember
ever hearing of Planxty in those days. So I of course am quite amused
at these newsgroups threads where the English folkies are bemoaning
the "Irishization" of folk music from those islands. Back in my teens,
we all thought the Bothy Band was English...
So I really don't know what the bizarre pull of music and ancestry
had on me to bring me back to Irish music in middle age. My dad had long
since left "the old neighborhood" and never looked back, and very much tried
to distance himself from his "Irishness" much to my nana's disgust. Her
motto was "we were never lace-curtain Irish." My dad was never lace-curtain
either, he just did his utmost to assimilate into Anglo culture as a
businessman. It was in my late teens when my family moved back
to Minnesota from suburban Chicago after my parents divorce.
Ironically, we landed in Dad's old neighborhood, and Dad stayed
living in the City of Chicago. Its funny, he always loved the city,
my mom the suburbs. My mom grew up in a wealthy part of Minneapolis,
my dad in the working class Irish part of St. Paul. And now, my
daughter is going to *both* her grandpa's alma mater's--St. Mark's
Catholic primary, and next year--the big deal high school!
At St. Paul Central, one of the city's oldest public
high schools. What goes around, eh?
But it got me wondering about my dad's interest in jazz and big band music
from his era there in St. Paul. Central has been a racially mixed
school for many, many years. And he went to school with this guy
named Leigh Kammen (sp?), who has done a late Saturday night jazz
show on Minnesota Public Radio for years. I remember when I worked
very briefly for MPR in the 70s, my dad asked me about Leigh, told
me that he knew a lot about the jazz scene, and my dad credited him
with being an influence on his love of jazz. I don't know if there
was an historic jazz scene here in the Cities, or if it was more
of a Chicago influence, or what. Historically, there has been a lot
of migration back and forth between Chicago and the Twin Cities, both
among blacks and whites. Ah, the mysteries...
Then there was my Irish nana, who used to insist we gather at
Christmas round the piano, and sing carols--I can still hear
her voice belting out "Adeste Fideles" and thinking how
cryptic the words sounded...
And my mother used to sing to us a lot at night. Some lullabies,
but only a few. She sang anything that came into her head that
might put us to sleep actually--which is what I did with my
own as well. She sang around the house too, but I don't
remember what exactly. I think she sings like me--whatever
she knows & comes into her head. I call us "kitchen singers."
And now she is getting old, and her mental faculties
are getting a bit slippery, she has started to sing unconciously
again. Cradle to the grave behavior, innit?
My dad had an awful voice, and he was more of the silly song
guy...beetbiddlieoatendoatenskeedotenwaddledaddleyeah! Is
the one I remember best--anybody know where that creature
came from? He loved that great Irish singer Ella Fitzgerald!
I'm serious! The Irish last name used to (and maybe still does)
have Irish folks claiming anybody and everybody as "their own
people." But claim Ella he did, even though my dad is pretty
racist himself. So I've often wondered if it was a jazz scat
singing kind of thing, or an Irish diddle aye kind of thing...
Ah, now I've gone on way too long, in this post, in the
newsgroups, I gotta get back to work tomorrow, so no
more play. Glad I let this one spin out of my brain though...
Janet Ryan
Frank Hamilton
>God, I thought the Cab Calloway stuff was brilliant. Now, is
>Cab Calloway's singing on Betty Boop cartoons "folk"? I dunno.
Cab's big hit was "Minnie the Moocher" from the Cotton Club days. It
was based on the folk song "Willy The Weeper", a jazz-folk tune about
Cocaine addiction. It has variants. One of them is found in
Sandburgh.
Fun post, thanks.
Frank
Harry Rosensteel
Bill Staines' "River." He told us it was the only music he listened to
that was written by someone who is still alive. I thought it was Burl
Ives. (If you know Bill's voice you are saying to yourself, "Of course."
If you've seen Bill perform, you are smiling.) I went right out and
bought Bill's disc FIRST MILLION MILES. I've been lucky enough to see
him twice, and I'm looking forward to another show this fall.
Harry
"So here's to the rainbow that's followed me here,
And here's to the friends that I know,
And here's to the song that's within me now,
I will sing it where'er I go.
River, take me along..."
-Bill Staines, "River"
Jean Katherine Rossner
carols, whatever she felt like singing.
But for really getting into the music--several influences:
The Clancy Brothers were probably the first real performers I knew.
At least, there's a comment in my mother's journal about my saying
that "Young Roddy McCorley" and "Brennan on the Moor" were my favorite
songs, and I know which album I learned those from! (I was about two
and a half at the time.)
I got Pete Seeger's Children's Concert at Carnegie Hall not long after
that--along with the Child's Introduction to Gilbert & Sullivan, the
first two records of my very own! Unfortunately, my parents started
listening to pop around that time--Beatles, Rolling Stones, Grateful
Dead rather than folk.
Early adolescence--I'd mostly forgotten that folk existed and was
listening to my classmates' pop whatever. Then I had the great good
fortune to spend a summer at Camp Interlocken (that's the NH one, not
the Michigan one!). Tony and Irene Saletan were there a lot and
guests for the summer were John Roberts and Tony Barrand; there was
singing going on all the time, and I fell in love with the traditional
stuff (again).
(If anyone from Interlocken reads this, or John and Tony...thanks
forever!)
High school--back to pop, which at least included some of the folkier
singer-songwriters (a bit outdated by then, but I loved Simon &
Garfunkel and Don McLean). Everybody else, alas, was listening to
disco and then punk. I didn't know where to find folk recordings, nor
radio.
Again good luck--going to UPenn, I discovered WXPN, which at that time
scheduled many hours of traditional and contemporary folk each week.
And then I started going to concerts at the Cherry Tree Co-Op nearby.
I can only begin to name the performers from that time who thrilled
me: Silly Wizard and Clannad and Martin Carthy and Stan Rogers and
Priscilla Herdman and... anyway, that time the folk bug took, for
good.
(And my mother, who started it all, listens to chamber music and
complains of "such loud stuff, just like all those teenagers!" if I
put on Ellis Paul or Greg Greenway or Silly Wizard when visiting
her....)
Katherine Rossner
janice
I've been reading these great posts for a few weeks now, time to say....
hello !
This is quite the thread....
it was Woody Guthrie.... hands down.... before I was even aware of his
music... to me , his life was folk music. I don't even know how may times I
read Bound For Glory. LOL
janice :)
http://www.freespeech.org/frontporchacoustics
Jon-Jon <unic...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:370A8869...@earthlink.net...
ironman
folk music?> > For me it was Buffy Sainte-Marie around 1964. The first time
I heard> her I was hooked. I searched the record stores for her album and
also> sought out other folk artist. I had been familiar with other artist>
such as KT and PPM, because they were played on mainstream radio, but I> did
mitchell trioironman-ggddaae
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
Nicholas Toth
: In article <370A8869...@earthlink.net>, Jon-Jon
: > Since we have a large age span in this group, I am curious.
: >
: > What one performer or group first turned you on to folk music?
Stan Rogers.
I only ever saw him live once, when I was really little, but I liked him
so much that I made sure my mother called me whenever the folk show on
CJRT played one of his songs. Of course, once I was in the room, I'd also
listen to whatever else was getting playtime that day, so I got to hear
all kinds of other folk music, and when my bed time got later, I'd stay up
for the jazz and blues music they played at night.
Well before I was old enough to actually do anything about my own
musical tastes (as opposed to being limited to what my parents had around
the house), Stan Rogers was dead in a plane crash. Now that I'm old enough
to seek them out and appreciate them, there are no new songs, no more live
concerts, no flesh to what must forever be a fuzzy childhood memory of a
big man with a big voice singing under a big night sky.
Take care,
Nick.
--
____________________________________________________________________________
Nicholas Toth | Science is not a force of nature. It is merely a way
yu14...@yorku.ca | of describing the world around us. As with any other
| language or system, the people using it can be wrong.
____________________________________________________________________________
Jeri Corlew
A teacher in high school played a cut from a John Roberts and Tony Barrand album
and I was hooked on the harmonies. Then some of the kids in that class went to
a folk festival and the post-festival party. That party was what did it. Being
in the middle of the music instead of in front of it, and having my whole body
vibrate from the sound of all the voices was as close to rapture as I've ever
been.
I love listening, but I love participating even more.
__
Jeri Corlew
(Remove "XXX" to flame me)