Are there any members who were born BEFORE the 1950s?
I guess most NT members were born after the 1950s and have no knowledge of the Folk Music Revival in the 1960s. It seems that only us really old fogies can be old folkies. If there is anyone on NT who was at least a teenager in the 1960s, they MIGHT have been a folkie and if they were, I think they should appreciate this new group, Folksongs and Folklore . Seems like a lot of members are saying "Folk you" about this new group.
However, if you have a feeling for performers like any of Woodie Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Leonard Cohen, Arlo Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Simon and Garfunkel, Pete Seeger, The Weavers, Phil Ochs, The New Lost City Ramblers, The Jim Kweskin Jug Band with Maria Muldaur, Judy Collins, Ian and Sylvia, Jean Ritchie, Gordon Lightfoot, Buffy Ste. Marie, Old Timey Music, Mountain music, story telling, folk crafts, or ever attended a folk festival, you would find topics of interest, perhaps post a comment, and maybe, God knows, might actually post topics of interest on Folksongs and Folklore .
It isn't a private group, so just go there by posting this link, and join the group. You automatically become a member.
https://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group/167/folksongs-and-folklore
If the link doesn't work, just copy it and paste it in your browser, or go to the "Groups" word on the index banner at the top of the page (it's between the words "Forums" and "Blogs" if you have trouble finding it), click on it and Folksongs and Folklore is most likely the first group you will see. Click on it, and it will take you to the group.
(You might note that I used 14-point font, which is a little easier on the eyes for us old fogies, I mean old folkies. LOL)
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There's bound to be some of us old Folkies still around.
Yes, there are.
Welcome to the club. We'll all meet at noon tomorrow in the phone booth at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street.
Welcome to the club. We'll all meet at noon tomorrow in the phone booth at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street.
I was born in 1945 I remember with fondness the Hootenanny TV show that featured folk artist.
Born in 54 but matured early due to a musical family. Played my own 8th grade graduation dance.
Born in 1962 but have listened to many of the singers you've mentioned.
Not sure how you left out Peter Paul and Mary , Buzz. Or the New Christy Minstrels.
I could have named many many others. PP&M were very commercial with their covers of other songwriters, but they did bring the message to many and got them started on the road to developing a taste for more authentic traditional and broadside genres, and the music of contemporary singer-songwriters. Actually, Theodore Bikel was one of the performers who initiated my interest in folk music.
No Kingston Trio?
Please text the name of the song, Steve. I can't open youtube.
MTA is the song. I forgot you can't get to Youtube.
Back when it was a hit, I heard it enough times to have memorized it.
I loved the Kingston Trio in 1958 I told my dad I wanted all their albums for Christmas, he got them for me and I still have them.
This is a secret that I've kept for decades, I'm over 39, please don't let anyone know Buzz.
This is one of the Kingston Trio's best.....Tom Dooley.
I started in community college in Wilkesboro NC where the story is said to have originated.Also the moonshine capital!
Kavika,
I thought about posting that one, but I always loved MTA also.
As for the age, I'm right behind you at 38 as it would be obscene to be younger than my daughter.
LOL, it's hell to be younger than our daughters, Steve.
Well, it would be kind of strange if they were older than you.
Michael Landon starred in the movie Tom Dooley.
Loved the folk music back then. Such greats as Mud Mud Glorious Mud by the Serendipity Singers or their other great song "Mama told me not to put beans in my ears".
"The Reverend Mr. Black" by the Kingston Trio!
John and Mitchie were gettin' kind of itchy
Just to leave the folk music behind;
Looks like it did happen when the British invasion killed it.
Well, I don't think it entirely "killed it", but it certainly did transform it for many.
Then this "new" group sang it - the Mama's and Papa's.
Folk with a pop rock twist. Great group that got it's start in the folk scene.
Not to mention Glen Yarbrough and his version.
I seen Glenn Yarbrough in concert with Bobbie Gentry and Johnny Cash in Starkville, MS while in the Air Force. It was the first time Cash performed " Starkville City Jail" in public. I don't recall all the songs sung that night the ones that stick out in my mind was "Starkville City Jail", "Ode to Billy Joe" by Gentry and " Baby The Rain Must fall" by Yarbrough
I am one of those!
I was a teen in the 1960s and still love folk music. The first concert I went to was Judy Collins. Pete Seeger gave the commencement speech (and sang) when I graduated from college.
Thanks for making this new group, Buzz ... I'm in!
Thanks for joining, Jasper. At least there's ONE NT member besides myself who is interested enough in folk music and folklore to join the group. In another day, if I were still going to remain the sole member I would have deleted the group for total lack of interest. If I could have pointed out that Trump or Hillary or Bill or Barry or Michele were old folkies, or that it's a "Christian" thing or an "Atheist" thing, there might have been enough members joining for a Hootenanny.
Thanks for joining, Jasper. At least there's ONE NT member besides myself who is interested enough in folk music and folklore to join the group. In another day, if I were still going to remain the sole member I would have deleted the group for total lack of interest. If I could have pointed out that Trump or Hillary or Bill or Barry or Michele were old folkies, or that it's a "Christian" thing or an "Atheist" thing, there might have been enough members joining for a Hootenanny.
There's no need to thank me, Buzz. I've grown quite bored with the argumentative pettiness that we find in radical Left and Right politics and religion seeds/articles, so music, art, and other topics are more to my liking.
I have a question about the parameters of your new Folk Music group. Does folk music also include 18th/19th century Negro spirituals and how they impacted the rhythmic, chordal, lyrical developments of 20th and 21st century folk jazz/rock music? I have a great respect and appreciation for this music and its history.
I hope that I am not overstepping NT CoC lines by using the word "Negro" as it relates to spirituals and music, but that's my frame of reference. Newsvine's moderators and some nation Admins felt that using the word "Negro"as it related to music was disrespectful and offensive ... and our comments were deleted.
Do you consider The Staples Singers to be the kind of group that sings spirituals? At the annual weekend Mariposa Folk Festival in Toronto (wherein I was a long-time Director and eventually President of the Foundation that ran it) we dedicated part of our Sunday morning program to spirituals/gospel music, and we brought the Staples Singers to the Festival for that purpose. We absolutely understood the significance to the development of American folk music.
I read your use of the word "Negro" and didn't even think it was an issue or problem until I got to your concern about it. We are speaking of historical music, and I see no reason why we can't use a historically politically correct word. They are not going to change the correct anthropological race name "Negroid" to "Blackoid" as far as I know.
Kansas City has the Negro Leagues Museum. A young black reporter overheard me talking with Bill White who played in the old Negro Leagues and she started to take umbrage with me. Bill promptly set her straight on the terminology and got after her as a sportswriter who didn't know about segregated baseball.
My friend Buck O'Neil was instrumental in getting the museum and getting the Baseball Hall of Fame to recognize some of the greats of the game who never got their due. Buck was truly one of the legendary ambassadors for the game.
Most don't even know what it was like growing up in N.O. and hearing real Blues. And, the after hour jam sessions....letting it all just roll. Or, sitting on your front porch and listening to your neighbors jamming Blues.
I grew up in the best times!
I find your response interesting Jasper. Having been born in the first half of the last century with a Grandfather who played the harp(harmonica) and ran the ridges with best of them folk music was common around our place. The music you have referred to put forth by colored members of our society was much better and more reflective of life as it really was.
Negro Music is a legitimate genre for the music, to call it anything else is nothing but a lie that denies history as it truly was. Much more the basis for jazz, rock and roll, modern rhythms and beats than folk music could ever dream of being.
I am not saying that folk music was bad or unimportant, it had it's place, but primarily enjoyed by bigots and the uneducated, performed by drunken junkies commercially in the 40's 50's and 60's. Some folk music is actually quite awesome and entertaining but there is a real lack of true musicality.
The folk music crowd exposed itself as a bunch of stuck in the mudders when they so vehemently turned their backs on Bob Dylan the first time he appeared on stage with an electric guitar. Spelled the end of Folk Music as a viable form of music. Out with the hootenannies and in with lallapaloozas.
Sorry Buzz, I'm just a Classical Music and Blues Man, just not in tune with Ma and Pa Kettle whining about having too many children. Mr. Dooley deserved to die. No ifs about it, I have several hammers and I use them to pound nails. Tried a couple of Puffs of Magic Dragon a few weeks back ,(really some pretty expensive stuff) I guess it's great if you want to go around in a heavy-lidded daze, but it didn't do a dang thing for my arthritis pain. Dag nab it. Should have just listened to that Arlo kid at eaten at Alice's Restaurant
Hoot ! Hoot !
So did I. I pity those who are growing up now.
Hey you all. My paragraph three was not meant as a generalization of all who enjoy folk music. I was speaking in terms of commercial demographics.
Up until the late 50's and early 60's what demand there was for Folk Music was channeled through the Grand Old Opry, but when Country Music went electric it became more of a feature than a major draw.
Concerts in the 30's and 40's with some exceptions were not buy a ticket and watch paid musicians play. Primarily they were affairs on Sunday afternoons when troupes of traveling performers would come to town and the local workers would gather in a park or a field and listen to them. How much a performer got paid depended on how much was put in the can being passed around during the performance. Just like in church Sunday morning, just not as fancy.
The deal with my demographic description is that the more middle class one was, the less likely they would attend one of these "concerts". The "elite" of the community, (that would be rich bass turds and politicians) might make an appearance, (with their lily white handkerchiefs, top hats and canes) if an election was coming up.
Folk music deserves respectful recognition in the annals of musical history. It has brought a lot to the table, including whiskey jugs, washboards and saws. Not being funny. I have long been puzzled at the resistance to the electric guitar has been so stiff. A good singing saw can duplicate the musical sound of an electric guitar. Shouldn't be too surprised, after all it took a blues man to stick a broken bottleneck on his finger create that sound in the first place.
If you or anyone else took offense at my wording. Sorry about that. It's been a while since I posted and I wasn't thinking in a politically correct mode. Hoot ! Hoot !
I was in the audience at the Newport Folk Festival when Bob Dylan started playing Maggie's Farm electrically. I couldn't believe the reaction of the crowd. I've seen an article that downplayed the booing, but I saw it chase Dylan off the stage. Although I have no love for the song Maggie's Farm, So much of Dylan's music is enhanced by the use of electricity. I can't imagine how "Like a Rolling Stone" or "Just Like a Woman" would sound without it, for example. On the other hand it wouldn't work with "Tambourine Man". There are songs that are best using acoustic instrumentation, some that are best with electricity, and even a few (VERY few) that I can enjoy a cappella. Joan Baez can make a cappella work, as she does with "Amazing Grace".
Damn!!!! I wish these discussions were posted on the comment wall of the Folksongs and Folklore group that everyone is afraid to join, rather than out here ending up sandwiched between mountains of political and religious diatribe on the Front Page, and pushed off the flat earth within half an hour.
Damn!!!! I wish these discussions were posted on the comment wall of the Folksongs and Folklore group that everyone is afraid to join, rather than out here ending up sandwiched between mountains of political and religious diatribe on the Front Page, and pushed off the flat earth within half an hour.
Do you believe that Eric Clapton has done some Black spiritual music. Indeed he has.
Dad was a merchant seaman in the late 40's. Hauled grain from N.O. to France and Japan after the war. He told me stories about the jazz clubs in N.O.
There is a really great Blues club off of Esplanade Avenue. Takes me back to the "days". Aren't many left anymore.
In the beginning, yes, but they became commercialized. To me, they're more in the jazz/soul/R&B genres.
Spirituals are mostly religious in nature. Slaves in the US South gave us their beautiful songs. Here are two of many interesting articles about the history of Negro spirituals:
I'm a newcomer to this site, and the only way I know how to "track" articles/seeds of interest is to click on that "clock" (?) icon in the upper right hand corner of each one. Then, I get notifications to my email or Private Notes. It's frustrating that these notifications are duplicated. I followed someone's directions, but they didn't work. So, I get 2 notifications in 2 areas for everything.
I haven't seeded much yet, but what I have didn't get much "traffic". When you learn how to link your articles to your groups, please teach me how to do it! Thanks!
Good morning Buzz. Wanted to respond last night but we lost our power for awhile.
I don't think people are afraid to join your group, it's probably more a case of not enough people being as old as we are and those who are not having much specific knowledge on the particular branch of folk music you are focusing on. A highly political and volatile branch when you get right down to it.
My fondness for musical expression and societal development go hand in hand. Folk music is a reflection of the times. What people are experiencing in their daily lives, good times of abundance and prosperity, bad times of instability, political dissension, love, hate and hope and frustration. The music created by an individual is a product of the same factors. All that we call music can be labeled as folk music.
I'll leave it at that for now. Noticed your interest in various forms of musical instrumentation. It is amazing what can be used to make music and what we can make music about. What makes music unique is that it is a universal language transcending the entire animal kingdom of which we are part of. We may not understand the words, but we feel the sentiment. My first instrument was a blade of grass
Hoot ! Hoot !
I consider Eric Clapton to be one of the three best electric guitar players in the world: Clapton, Carlos Santana and Jimi Hendrix (in no particular order of preference). Any other candidates? I can't think of a guitar solo that can compete with the late Jimi Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner that he played at Woodstock.
You have to realize that I'm thinking of the Staples Singers of around half a century ago.
I started asking Perrie months ago to do a META article on correct way to adjust the settings on your personal page to enable you to obrain what and where to get the notifications you want, but she has not only been REALLY busy because of the influx of new members from NV, the inconsistent moderation by the moderators so she has to do the bulk of the work, but also a necessity to move her home, and serious illness in her family. Hopefully she will provide the information that will clarify the mysteries of settings fairly soon.
When you open a group site in which you are a member, at the top right of the article list you will see a plus (+) sign. Click on it and it will open a window for you to post your article.
LOL. I a blade of grass was my first instrument as well, if not using a spoon to drum on the dish I was eating from as an infant.
Your words "A highly political and volatile branch when you get right down to it." make ultimate sense when I think of the broadsides, the anti-war and civil rights songs written and sung by Dylan, Ochs, the social criticisms and lessons that were put to music. And so perhaps folk music really ISN'T an escape from the NT Front Page articles and comments.
Oh, sure, there are political songs depicting wars, protests, civil rights, etc.
Music tells a story and is easier to sing than to read in a newspaper. "G.I. Jazz", 'White Cliffs of Dover", "One Meatball", "When Jonny Comes Marching Home Again", "I'll Walk Alone", so, so many.
Hi Mags
New Christy Minstrels. Christy might have been new but Minstrels have been around since long before newspapers.
Hit the tree trunk once for yes and twice for no. Music is and always has been a tool. News and events that happened would be put into song. People couldn't read or write. Rhythms and melodies made it easier to retain the words as originally spoken. Same archaic principle is still used. How often does the sound of a melody bring a product name into your mind? Barry Manilow was a jingle writing genius. Us old fogies, make that folkies (Hi Buzz) can't even forget the old jingles.
"You'll wonder where the yellow went,when you brush your teeth with ___
More history has been retained by music than by print. Before there were books, there were ballads. I would dare say that songs were performed by the first talking heads of modern day journalism. Hoot ! Hoot !
To put it profoundly, music is a reflection of life and politics are a part of life. That does not mean that you can't experience and enjoy music without thinking about politics
Thank you very much for all of your help!
I know of only one with that name. Here's another link:
If there's another group, please give me a link, because I'd enjoy reading about them.
Hi Owl......nice to see you read your posts.
It all make sense, doesn't it? Even today.....I show how I feel through a song, but can't find write them so you will understand. .
I believe there is only one group of that name. Most likely the changes in members is generational, and their music has probably changed somewhat over the years.
I was born in the 50's so I grew up listening to the 60's folk music. I still have my Bob Dylan albums. Highway 61 Revisited, I think was the first one I bought. I listened to him a lot in the early 70's. I have a bunch of the original albums. My father hated it when I played his music in my bedroom.
"You play that over and over" he would say.
I got a warning message telling me that it's not safe to open that link, Buzz. Do you have another one?
Don't bother to open it then. It was a group playing and singing "You Are My Sunshine". LOL
it opened for me. it was very nice Buzz. Thank you.
That was my mother-in-law's favorite song, and she sang as a lullaby to my children. I don't think she understood its real meaning but that's OK. It's still a beloved song for all.
Thanks for posting that aritcle. It's good to know the history of that song. I would have preferred to see comments about folk music posted on my new group rather than on this teaser which is meant to draw attention to the group and have members join and post articles and comments there. By the way, I was thinking of a different song that was performed by a group, but the version of You Are My Sunshine I posted was of a young girl playing a ukulele and singing the song.
Sorry, not a group, but a young girl playing the ukulele and singing it.
Hootenanny and all of that. In 1950 I was three. Lived in a small town, pop. about 800 and as near as I can tell we were the first family in the town to get a TV. I remember my 'Grandpa' saying he'd never have one of those, even when he stopped by every evening to watch. Within a month he too had one.
We didn't get our first TV until 1956
Arlo was once a guest at a party in my home in Toronto in the late 1960s. He wasn't a jerk then. We sat on the floor talking about his father and his concern about musicians covering his father's songs and radio stations playing them, without paying royalties. What I didn't know to tell him then was what I more recently learned, that Woody didn't even want to copyright his songs because he didn't want any impediment to allowing everybody to sing them.
Buzz.....I am really dating myself, but the second song I sang on the radio way back then was .....see the pyramids along the Nile....."You Belong to Me".
Those were the days my friend!
What a great memory for me of this timeless song, magnoliaave! I remember my mom and dad dancing ...
Jo Stafford
Patsy Cline
When I was a pre-teen/teen in the 1960s ... The Duprees ...
It makes my heart sing that I brought good memories for you.
It was on WNOE Radio and at that time the studio was located in the Roosevelt Hotel.
Back in those days opportunities were available where they aren't so much today. I grew up in N.O. My first break came when I got a small part in "Nutcracker Suite" on radio as a mouse. The director was Beverly Brown. Lo and behold if he didn't call me that summer asking me if I would like to audition for a regular weekly TV show. Well, duh! Before that, my Mother had taken me to audition for a City group that was being formed.
Life is full of surprises and I am so glad I brought back memories for you.
After I read your comment, for the longest time I tried to place why I was familiar with the words "makes my heart sing" until I finally realiized that it was from watchng the movie: "Major League" - they played "Wild Thing" in the baseball stadium when Charlie Sheen came on the field to pitch. "Wild Thing. You make my heart sing."
That was a good song!
I enjoy some of the folk groups and songs, but I'm a died in the wool bluesman.
I saw BB King about 20 years ago at a very small venue in Grand Rapids, MI. Unbelievable talent. He was the King!
I've saw BB a number of times. One of the very best.
One of my favorites is Etta James.
him and Glen Campbell where the most talented and entertaining I have ever had the pleasure to see.
Thanks.
Sunshine, I can't open YouTube. Please also indicate the song title and performer when all you post as a comment is a YoiuTube.
I enjoyed that.
The bass line of the song you linked ("Sweet Home Chicago", Robert Johnson) was the structure that laid the groundwork for what developed into the boogie woogie bass line.
Indeed it was Jasper.
Sure do.....
I was born before 1850.
I have papyrus scrolls to document it.
Enoch, creaking but still moving.
You mean that could really be YOU in your avatar?
Yuppers, that's me all right.
High school year book photo.
Voted most likely to crate a flood of Biblical proportion.
Smiles.
E.
Apparently, this went up while I was... ahem... on vacation...
Born in '47. High school and college in the 60s.
Judy Collins .
She had a sweet voice, did a lot of covers of songs by Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell (I started typing "Joni Anderson" because I knew her before she married Chuck Mitchell), Bob Dylan, and others.
She still has a sweet voice, and she still sings. (Born in '39.)
I assumed she was still with us, but I've not heard her sing for a very long time. I'm happy her voice hasn't deteriorated as some other famous singers have experienced.
She doesn't have the same power, of course, but her control is still perfect.