American Folk Music
Dave Van
Ronk -> Kate Wolf
| DAVE VAN RONK |
Fantasy 24710 |
Inside Dave Van Ronk |
● CD $16.98 |
25 tracks, 77 min., highly recommended
The digital reissue
of "Dave Van Ronk, Folksinger" (Folklore 14012) from1963 and
"Inside
Dave Van Ronk" (Folklore 14025) from 1964, showcasing the gravel voice of
this delightful Brooklyn born and bred folk/blues singer. Selections include
Samson and Delilah, You've Been a Good Old Wagon, Long John,
He Was a Friend of Mine, Stackerlee, House Carpenter,
Talking Cancer Blues, Fair and Tender Ladies, Silver Dagger,
and He Never Came Back. Self-accompanied numbers, sung, growled, and
occasionally brayed by one of the folk revival's most interesting and
original artists, at the height of his powers here. Well worth your money
and your time. (DH)
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| DAVE VAN RONK |
Fantasy 24772 |
Two Sides Of Dave Van Ronk |
● CD $16.98 |
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| DAVE VAN RONK |
Just A Memory JAM 9132 |
Acoustic Guitar & Vocals Live |
● CD $12.98 |
13 tracks recorded at a live concert in Montreal in 1967.
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| DAVE VAN RONK |
Philo 1065 |
Somebody Else, Not Me |
● CD $15.98 |
CD issue of 1979 album featuring the veteran folker in fine
form on a selection of 10 folk and blues songs and tunes including Jelly
Roll Morton's Michigan Water Blues, Scott Joplins The Entertainer,
Brownie McGhee's Sportin' Life, Woody Guthrie's Pastures Of Plenty
and more including Tom Paxton's touching tribute to Mississippi John Hurt.
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| DAVE VAN RONK |
Smithsonian Folkways 40041 |
The Folkways Years 1959-61 |
● CD $15.98 |
Long a staple performer in folk venues all over America,
Dave Van Ronk was a leading member of the Greenwich Village folk scene in
the fifties. He personified for many what a folk singer should be, with his
gravelly voice, tasty but rudimentary fingerpicking guitar style, and
imaginative and far-reaching repertoire. These twenty cuts, taken from three
Folkways albums, represent Dave at his finest, singing such traditional fare
as Duncan And Brady/ Hesitation Blues/ Willie The Weeper/ 12 Gates To The
City/ Careless Love/ Bed Bug Blues/ Winin' Boy/ Come Back Baby and the
hilarious Georgie On The IRT, a spoof of Maybelle Carter's Engine
#143. Van Ronk has always known a good song when he hears one, and his
versions of many of these classics are the first versions many aspiring
folkies heard. You can almost hear the steam escaping from the espresso
machine as this disc plays. (RP)
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| TOWNES VAN ZANDT |
Sugar Hill 1020 |
At My Window |
● CD $15.98 |
CD issue of acclaimed recent album by brilliant Texas
tunesmith. With Mark O'Connor, Jim Rooney & others.
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| TOWNES VAN ZANDT |
Sugar Hill 1026 |
Pancho And Lefty (Live And Obscure) |
● CD $15.98 |
"Live And Obscure" is a welcome edition of this premier
Texas songwriter's work. Joining Van Zandt at the 12 & Porter in Nashville
are lead guitarist Mickey White and Donny Silverman, who adds understated
sax and flute shadings. Of the 13 songs here only six have been reprised
from the Live At The Old Quarter LP. Live And Obscure was
recorded in 1985 before an appreciative audience, and it's remarkable how
little change has taken place in Townes' presentation. There is a fine
assortment of vintage Van Zandt, with Loretta, White Freightliner Blues
and the often covered classic Pancho & Lefty interspersed with the
more obscure Many A Fine Lady, Nothin' and Pueblo Waltz .
Sound quality is absolutely sterling. (SG)
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| TOWNES VAN ZANDT |
Tomato 2008 |
Our Mother The Mountain |
● CD $12.98 |
11 songs, including Kathleen, Be Here To Love Me, Our
Mother The Mountain.
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| TOWNES VAN ZANDT |
Tomato 2009 |
Flyin' Shoes |
● CD $12.98 |
10 tracks, 33 min., recommended. Originally issued in 1978,
this set of tunes finds Van Zandt in the occasional and not entirely
felicitous company of electrified instrumentation. Otherwise, it's pretty
much downbeat country folk numbers written by the performer, the notable
exception being his re-make of Bo Diddley's classic Who Do You Love.
Townes' own numbers include Rex's Blues, Pueblo Waltz, No
Place to Fall, Loretta, and When She Don't Need Me. Though
some admire his lyrics and have compared him to Bob Dylan among others, John
Morthland in
The Best of Country Music calls Van Zandt "yet another of those
legendary Texas singer-songwriters whose reputation turns out to be much
greater than his accomplishments." That kind of makes me feel bad. I don't
think he's in the Dylan league myself, but every now and then I like to
listen to to his stuff anyway. (DH)
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| TOWNES VAN ZANDT |
Tomato 2013 |
Delta Momma Blues |
● CD $12.98 |
Reissue of Tomato 7013 from 1978. Van Zandt is in my eyes a
terrific songwriter, but it's his stark plaintive vocal delivery which might
be hard for some folks to digest. He is an exposed nerve end, whose minimal
style, basically voice and guitar, focuses the listener immediately to the
song's content. His songs have a tragic quality running just below the
surface and I do believe he's carrying a torch for Hank Williams. But I dig
his upbeat melancholy, and a finer songwriter from this section of the south
has yet to be found. Some of his better known tunes from here include
Tower Song/ Brand New Companion/ Come Tomorrow/ Turnstyled, Junkpiled.
Recommended. SG)
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| TOWNES VAN ZANDT |
Tomato 3011 |
Live At The Old Quarter, Houston, Texas |
● CD $19.98 |
Live recording from July 1973. 21 songs, including Pancho
& Lefty/Two Girls/White Freight Liner Blues/No Place To Fall/Kathleen/Only
Him Or Me.
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| LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III |
Rounder 3096 |
I'm Alright |
● CD $15.98 |
A terrific album! I've never been a real fan of Wainright
but what caught my eye was Loud's partner-in-crime Richard Thompson who
doubles here on guitars and is co-producer. The album is full of witty,
mini-life portraits, caustic observations, and some 'kiddie' songs. There's
a brilliant song - Screaming Issue - about the helplessness he feels
when his daughter Lucy starts to cry. The British Isles are hotly
represented here - Christine Coll with her angelic vocal support, Danny
Thompson (Pentangle) ensures a solid bottom on string bass, and Gerry Conway
(Bunch) is a demon on the drum kit. Paul Brady also adds some backing
vocals. Loudon is to be applauded for delivering 12 songs you can sink your
teeth into. ([SG])
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| THE WEAVERS |
Bear Family BCD 15930 |
Goodnight Irene |
● CD $139.98 |
4 CD box set with book. The definitive collection of
recordings by this important folk group surveying the first five years of
their recording career. It starts with their Charter & Hootennanny sessions
from 1949, includes 16 previously unreleased audition acetates, WNYC
airchecks, their complete Decca recordings and Snader transcriptions,
previously unreleased carols, documentary appearances, tracks from a
children's record, Fred Hellerman's & Ronnie Gilbert's solo records, a 1950
radio interview and CD-ROM containing the Weavers' Snader telescriptions.
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| THE WEAVERS |
MCA 11465 |
Best Of The Decca Years |
● CD $11.98 |
16 tracks, 45 min., essential. In spite of the fact that
Gordon Jenkins's sometimes heavy-handed arrangements of the music of this
seminal folk ensemble occasionally strike me as the height of absurdity, the
overwhelming positive energy of the early 50's Decca recordings of the
Weavers makes them, for me at least, utterly indispensable. As Mary Travers
once remarked of the entire 60's folk movement: "We are all very much the
Weavers' children." Hats off to Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays, and
Fred Hellerman for that and for the uplifting music here: On Top of Old
Smoky, Hard Ain't It Hard, Goodnight Irene, (The Wreck
of the The) John B, The Roving Kind, Kisses Sweeter Than Wine,
The Midnight Special, and When the Saints Go Marching In,
among others. The sound quality is splendid, the cover photo reveals an
appropriately youthful ensemble, and the liner notes tastefully tell the
awful and ugly truth about the blacklisting of the Weavers during the
McCarthy era. In fact, the only thing that's really wrong with this disc is
it's too damn short. But you'd better get it while you can anyway. MCA
certainly hasn't been very conscientious about reissuing its early
treasures. (DH)
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| THE WEAVERS |
Omega 3021/2 |
Kisses Sweeter Than Wine |
● CD $29.98 |
Two CD set of previously unissued live concert recordings
from 1951 & '52.
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| THE WEAVERS |
Vanguard VCD 15/16 |
Greatest Hits |
● CD $15.98 |
CD issue of Vanguard VSD 15/16 featuring late 50s/ early 60s
25 of their most popular songs - When The Saints Go Marching In/ Tzena,
Tzena, Tzena/ Wimoweh/ Follow The Drinking Gourd/ Guantanamera/ Rock Island
Line/ Goodnight Irene/ This Land Is Your Land, etc.
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| THE WEAVERS |
Vanguard VMD 79100 |
Almanac |
● CD $13.98 |
12 songs by Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman, Ronnie Gilbert, and
Erik Darling (no Pete Seeger here). When The Stars Begin To Fall/ Brother
Can You Spare A Dime/ Rally Round The Flag/ Get Along Little Dogies/ True
Religion/ Which Side Are You On.
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| LUCINDA WILLIAMS |
Smithsonian Folkways 40003 |
Happy Woman Blues |
● CD $15.98 |
Originally issued in 1980 as Folkways 31067, this completely
enjoyable album (Williams' second) is filled with 11 traditional country and
blues-sounding originals. She generally avoids opportunities for cliched
lyrics as carefully as she avoids relinquishing any creative control to
record industry boneheads who would like it if she wrote a bankable hit now
and then. Don't think she can't, either. Her subject of choice more often
than not is love gone wrong, or love gone away, sometimes both. Whether it's
the plaintive King Of Hearts or the lighthearted I Lost It,
Williams remains intelligently optimistic in the face of romantic disaster.
She's blue, but she's not bitter. The title track isn't half as ironic as it
could be. And that's good news. (Notes by John Morthland). (JC)
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| LUCINDA WILLIAMS |
Smithsonian Folkways 40042 |
Ramblin' |
● CD $15.98 |
Lucinda's 1988 album on Rough Trade was an alternative radio
hit (until that label folded), and for a time, it looked as if bigger things
were in store for her. Her talent is certainly deserving, as this reissue of
her first album on Folkways (1978) indicates. Even then her unique deadpan,
almost dispassionate vocal delivery belied the power in her voice. Most of
the cuts here are traditional blues (Ramblin' On My Mind/ Me And My
Chauffeur/ Motherless Children/ Malted Milk Blues/ Drop Down, Daddy),
and Lucinda accompanies herself on twelve-string guitar, while guitarist
John Grimaudo provides nice accompaniment. My favorite cuts on the album are
the country tinged efforts, like her unique readings of Little Darlin'
Pal Of Mine/ Jambalaya and especially Great Speckled Bird/ Satisfied
Mind. All in all, an interesting early view of a talent perhaps too
unique to fit comfortably anywhere in the commercial recording industry, but
an intriguing talent indeed. RP)
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| MASON WILLIAMS |
Vanguard VSD 137/38 |
Music, 1968-1971 |
● CD $15.98 |
22 tracks, 68 min., recommended Not really a folk performer,
Mason Williams burst onto the pop charts in 1968 with the hard-to-classify
guitar number Classical Gas. He signed with the Smothers Brothers TV
show, produced music for them, including the show's theme, and remained a
fixture on the music scene into the early 70's. This retrospective looks at
his broad range of work for the Warner Brothers label during those years.
Selections include the aforementioned hit, Sunflower, Saturday
Night at the World, $13 Stella, The Last Great Waltz,
Cowboy Buckaroo, Reason to Believe, Manha de Carnival,
Train Ride in G, and Life Song. Folksy music from a talented
artist who rode the main stream for a while, nicely produced with liner
notes by Williams himself. (DH)
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| JESSE WINCHESTER |
Rhino 70085 |
The Best Of Jesse Winchester |
● CD $16.98 |
18 track collection of recordings drawn from albums recorded
for Bearsville between 1972 and 1981 - Tell Me Why You Like Roosevelt/
Yankee Lady/ Biloxi/ Bowling Green/ Defying Gravity/ I'm Looking For A
Miracle/ Skip Rope Song/ Rhumba Man/ Dangerous Fun, etc.
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| JESSE WINCHESTER |
Sugar Hill 1023 |
Humour Me |
● CD $15.98 |
CD of Jesse's critically acclaimed new release has two extra
tracks - Pushover and Love Is fair .
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Back To American Folk Index |
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