American Folk Music
Buffy Sainte-Marie -> Sweet Honey In The Rock
| BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE |
Vanguard VCD 3/4 |
The Best Of ... |
● CD $15.98 |
After being knocked out by Buffy's Ensign album (now out of
print) I decided
to go back and listen to some of her earlier recordings and there is no
better introduction to her 60s recordings than this 24 track, 71 minute
collection drawn from her many Vanguard albums of the 60s and early 70s.
It features some of her most famous 60s compositions, including the still
topical and chilling Universal Soldier, her intense tale of codeine
addiction Cod'ine based on personal experience, and the remorseless
My
Country 'Tis Of Thy People You're Dying about the treatment of Native
Americans over the centuries. But it's not all grim - there are some
beautiful love ballads, like Take My Hand For A While and Until
It's Time For You To Go. Several songs are country songs with Buffy
accompanied by Nashville studio group including Piney Wood Hills
and I'm Gonna Be A Country Girl Again. She also shows her skill
with blues on her reworking of Lottie Kimbrough's Rolling Log Blues
and on the traditional American songs Ground Hog and Cripple
Creek she plays a mouthbow. In spite of the diversity of material
Buffy almost always sounds comfortable with only a couple of pieces
sounding dated. It also includes one of my favorite songs of the era Many
A Mile - written by Patrick Sky who plays guitar and harmonica this is
a lovely and moving performance. If you think all 60s folk is corny - give
this a listen and you might change your mind! (FS)
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| BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE |
Vanguard 79211 |
Little Wheel Spin & Spin |
● CD $13.98 |
14 tracks with John Pilla or Merle Watson on second guitar. Walk
On Boy/ Sweet Georgia Brown/ Southbound/ Call Of The Road/ That Was The
Last Thing On My Mind/ Nothing To It/ Never No More Blues, etc.
|
| BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE |
Vanguard 79280 |
I'm Gonna Be A Country Girl Again |
● CD $13.98 |
13 tracks, 34 min., recommended. In the late 60's many folk
musicians chose to move off in new directions. Dylan tried rock, Ochs
championed the cause of Chairman Mao, and Ms. Sainte-Marie cut this LP with a group of country
musicians backing her. The remakes of her earlier self-accompanied
numbers, in particular Now That the Buffalo's Gone, lose some of
their bite in the company of steel guitars and fiddles. But the material
that first appears in this collection is often very effective. I
particularly like the title track, The Piney Wood Hills, and Tall
Trees in Georgia. All in all, a less-than-generous but nonetheless
welcome reissue. Original cover art and liner notes. (DH)
|
| BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE |
Vanguard 79330 |
Quiet Places |
● CD $13.98 |
12 tracks, 36 min., good. The digital reissue of Buffy
Sainte-Marie's last Vanguard album, from 1973, an outing in which she
continued her search for an audience beyond the 60's folk crowd which she
originally charmed. Here she lends her vibrato-laden voice to numbers
penned by Mickey Newbury, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Boudeleaux Bryant,
and Carole King, as well as herself, and tries out musical styles that
range from violin-accompanied ballads to 70's style rock. Featured numbers
include Why Have You Been Gone So Long, No One Told Me, For
Free, She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain When She Comes, Clair
Vol's Young Son, Civilization, and Eventually.
Sainte-Marie's voice is as strong and appealing as ever, but the material
she tries out here, I think it's fair to say, is not uniformly successful. (DH)
|
| CLAUDIA SCHMIDT |
Flying Fish 0361 |
Out Of The Dark / New Goodbyes |
● CD $15.98 |
Reissue of Claudia's fourth and fifth album. "Out Of
The Dark" is Claudia's fourth album and the most satisfying. Her
soaring vocals can no longer be contained within the folk genre. `Out of
the Dark' leans more into the realm of jazz - with Claudia's trademark
phrasing, scatting, and the occasional spoken lyric. She has written the
bulk of material here - my favorite is the opening song, Happy Hearts
and the album's closers We Hold Back and Love Is The Strongest
Thing . In between are 3 covers, all done with infectious pizazz - Skylark
(Carmichael/ Mercer), the jazz romp Beginning to See the Light
(Ellington), and Tom Wait's brilliant San Diego Serenade ,
accompanied simply by piano and Claudia's exquisite lap dulcimer. The
musical accompaniment is kept to just the bare bones essentials -
primarily Dan Dance's sensitive piano on 6 songs playing off the solid
rhythmic balance of upright bassist Doug Lofstrom and drummer Phil
Gratteau. Claudia has a remarkable singing v and there is a variety of
settings offered here. A class album. (SG)
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| CLAUDIA SCHMIDT |
Flying Fish 066 |
Claudia Schmidt |
● CD $15.98 |
CD reissue of early LP.
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| MIKE SEEGER |
Rounder 0262 |
Fresh Oldtime String Band Music |
● CD $15.98 |
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| MIKE & PEGGY SEEGER |
Rounder 11543/44 |
American Folksongs For Children |
● CD $29.98 |
2 CD version of the triple album package, with every song
from Ruth Crawford Seeger's children's book of the same title.
|
| MIKE, PEGGY
& PENNY SEEGER |
Rounder 0268/9 |
American Folk Songs For Christmas |
● CD $22.98 |
Two CD set. Fine and warm acoustic renditions of over 50
songs from the book of the same name by their mother, Ruth Crawford
Seeger. Famous and obscure American folk Christmas tunes.
|
| PEGGY SEEGER |
Smithsonian Folkways 40048 |
The Folkways Years 1955-92 - Songs Of Love
And Politics |
● CD $15.98 |
21 tracks, 73 min., recommended. Subtitled Songs Of Love
And Politics, this anthology focuses on recordings made for Folkways,
but also issues previously unreleased live recordings and three tracks
from Rounder. Included are traditional American folk songs such as Going
To The West, Elizabeth Cotten's Freight Train, a couple of
child ballads, Peggy's version of longtime partner Ewan MacColl's First
Time Ever I Saw Your Face, and Peggy's own wonderful feminist anthem Gonna
Be An Engineer, along with many other personal and political songs. A
fine summing up of one artist's 35-year career. RP)
|
| PEGGY SEEGER WITH
IRENE SCOTT |
Sliced Bread 71204 |
Almost Commercially Viable |
● CD $15.98 |
Reissue of 1992 album originally issued on the Golden Egg
label featuring folk legend Seeger with Belfast singer/ songwriter/
guitarist Scott who worked together for several years in the early 90s. 17
tracks, mostly originals by Peggy, some co-composed with Irene and some
from other sources. Arrangements are varied featuring accompaniments from
Peggy's sons Calum & Neill MacColl as well as other musicians. Nice
blend of topical and love songs.
|
| PETE SEEGER |
Columbia C2K 45312 |
The Complete Carnegie Hall Concert, June 8,
1963 |
● CD $19.98 |
|
| PETE SEEGER |
Columbia CK 46185 |
Children's Concert At Town Hall |
● CD $9.98 |
26 tunes for the wee ones including Little Birdie/ Here's
To Cheshire - Here's To Cheese/ Skip To My Lou/ Fifteen Miles On The Eerie
Canal/ Riding In My Car/ The Foolish Frog/ Frere Jacques/ It Could Be A
Wonderful World/ Abiyoyo/ Michael Row The Boat Ashore/ De Grey Goose,
etc.
|
| PETE SEEGER |
Columbia CK 57311 |
Waist Deep In The Big Muddy And Other Love
Songs |
● CD $11.98 |
15 tracks, 47 min., recommended The digital reissue of an LP
originally released in 1967, with the addition of two previously
unreleased bonus tracks, Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies and Los
Quatros Generalas. The hallmark of the first half of this set is that
several numbers find Seeger in the company of a chorus of "young
people" from his home town of Beacon, New York. Together they perform
Oh Yes I'd Climb (The Highest Mountain)/ Down by the Riverside and
several other numbers. The second half of the program highlights old and
new songs of social protest, including My Name is Liza Kalvelage
and Those Three Are on My Mind. More fine music from one of
America's most prolific consciences and current poster boy for Ben &
Jerry's ice cream. (DH)
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| PETE SEEGER |
Columbia CK 64772 |
A Link In The Chain |
● CD $25.98 |
2 discs, 38 tracks, 113 min., essential. A solidly worthwhile
overview of the works of this genuinely seminal performer during his years
with the Columbia label, between 1961 and 1971. The two disc program is
divided into four parts, each with eight to ten selections. Part one is
called "Tall Tales and Stories," and its songs include My
Oklahoma Home Blowed Away, Get Up and Go, Oh Had I a Golden
Thread, and Waist Deep in the Big Muddy. Part two, "Songs
of Freedom," features This Land Is Your Land, Draft Dodger
Rag, Turn Turn Turn, Guantanamera, and We Shall
Overcome. Part three is entitled "Saints, Sinners, Just Plain
Folks," and among its selections are Pretty Boy Floyd, Hobo's
Lullaby, Jesse James, and Jay Gould's Daughter. And part
four, called "For the Children," includes What Did You Learn
in School Today, Put Your Finger in the Air, This Car, Be
Kind to Your Parents, and Cumberland Mountain Bear Chase. More
evidence, as if any were needed, that Pete Seeger is and has been a
national treasure for a significant part of this century. A man with a
musical yarn for just about any occasion, he has had to live for a while
before much of America could see his many virtues. But he has managed to
make the journey from the McCarthy era blacklist to the receipt of a
National Medal of Honor and induction into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.
And that's not too bad for one lifetime. (DH)
|
| PETE SEEGER |
Flyright 68 |
In Prague |
● CD $27.98 |
Two CD set featuring recordings made by Pete in Prague in
1964 including a live concert and a radio broadcast as well as some spoken
reminiscences.
|
| PETE SEEGER |
Smithsonian Folkways 40018 |
Darling Corey And Goofing-Off Suite |
● CD $15.98 |
30 tracks, 53 min., recommended As is suggested by the dual
title above, this disc reissues two of Seeger's 10 inch Folkways lps, the
first one from 1950, the second from 1955. The first 13 cuts, from LP #1,
highlight southern mountain music such as John Riley/ Come All Fair
Maids/ Skillet Good and Greasy, and Danville Girl. The last 17
numbers, from LP #2, show off Seeger's virtuoso skills as a banjo, guitar,
and mandolin player. He plays winning string renditions of Jesu, Joy of
Man's Desiring/ Blue Skies/ Duet from Beethoven's Symphony no. 7/ Chorale
from Beethoven's Symphony no. 9, and a splendidly jaunty final number
titled Woody's Rag. A joy from start to finish. Fine sound quality,
original notes, lyrics, and solid graphics. (DH)
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| PETE SEEGER |
Smithsonian Folkways 40024 |
Traditional Christmas Carols |
● CD $11.98 |
13, often obscure, folk carols from the French, English,
Italian & African-American traditions - 'Twas On A Night Like This/
Glory To That New Born King/ Rise Up Shepherd & Follow/ Carol Of The
Beasts/ Behold That Star, etc.
|
| PETE SEEGER |
Smithsonian Folkways 40027/8 |
Singalong - Live At Sanders Theatre 1980 |
● CD $24.98 |
Double reissue of Folkways 36055, featuring Seeger doing
what he does best - leading an old-fashioned folk singalong. Spoken
introductions accompany many of these favorite songs, which include John
Henry/ Amazing Grace/ Old Time Religion/ Abiyoyo/ We Shall Not Be Moved/
If I Had A Hammer/ Jacob's Ladder/ Greensleeves and many more.
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| PETE SEEGER |
Smithsonian Folkways 40058 |
American Industrial Ballads |
● CD $15.98 |
This classic collection of songs of the working man first
appeared as Folkways lp 5251 in 1957. It brings together twenty-four songs
from many traditions, but all dealing with the concerns of working men and
women. Fine original and new notes by Irwin Silber. Songs include, Peg
And Awl/ The Blind Fiddler/ The Buffalo Skinners/ Eight Hour Day/ Hard
Times In The Mill/ The Farmer Is The Man/ Casey Jones/ Cotton Mill Colic/
Beans, Bacon, And Gravy and Seven Cent Cotton And Forty Cent Meat.
RP
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| PETE SEEGER |
Smithsonian Folkways 40096 |
If I Had A Hammer - Songs Of Hope And
Struggle |
● CD $15.98 |
Collection of all topical songs - mostly drawn from various
Folkways albums but also including two songs recorded in 1998 - If I
Had A Hammer/ Talking Union/ Where Have All The Flowers Again/ Turn, Turn,
Turn, etc.
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| PETE SEEGER |
Smithsonian Folkways 45001 |
Abiyoyo And Other Story Songs For Children |
● CD $15.98 |
Reissue of Folkways #7525/#31500. With Sam The Whaler/
Abiyoyo/Where Are My Pajamas/One Grain Of Sand and 3 more.
|
| PETE SEEGER |
Smithsonian Folkways 45039 |
Birds, Beasts, Bugs & Fisher (Little
& Big) |
● CD $15.98 |
Two LPs from 1955 on one CD - a collection of 28 songs and
stories about animals.
|
| PETE SEEGER |
Smithsonian Folkways 45056 |
American Folk Songs For Children/ American
Game & |
● CD $15.98 |
22 tracks, 59 minutes, recommended This delightful
collection of traditional children's songs is a re issue of 2 recordings
by Seeger, American Folk Songs for Children (1953) and American Game and
Activity Songs for Children (1962). Songs from the first collection were
transcribed by Seeger's stepmother, Ruth Crawford Seeger, from Library of
Congress recordings. Listeners will recognize many of these old classics
like Jimmy Crack Corn/ This Old Man/ Frog Went A-Courting, and She'll
be Comin' Round the Mountain. The songs from the second collection
include rope skipping chants, square dances, and songs associated with
other activities; for example Skip to My Lou/ Ring Around the Rosey/
London Bridge/ Shoo Fly, and Liza Jane. The arrangements are
basic, with just Seeger and his banjo. This enjoyable collection is sure
to bring back many pleasant memories for adults and serves as an excellent
way of introducing new generations of kids to this rich tradition. (DP)
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| PETE SEEGER |
Sony LK 48907 |
Pete Seeger's Family Concert |
● CD $11.98 |
12 sing-along favorites for young and old - Skip To My
Lou/ Coming Round The Mountain/ This Land Is Your Land/ Abi Yo Yo/
Guantanamera/ Lonesome Valley/ My Rainbow Race and more.
|
| PETE SEEGER |
Vanguard VCD 77008 |
Live At Newport 1963-65 |
● CD $15.98 |
15 tracks, 63 min., essential Aptly described in the liner
notes here as "the Johnny Appleseed of American folk song," the
charismatic Seeger and his whimsical, humble, and rousing music are
fittingly viewed in a live audience context in this set, specifically
through his performances at the 1963-1965 Newport Folk Festivals. Featured
numbers include Manyura Manyah/ Oh Mary Don't You Weep/ Never Wed an
Old Man/ Holy Ground/ Midnight Special, and Down by the Riverside
with able assistance from Odetta; Joan Baez; Peter, Paul, and Mary; and
several other folk luminaries. Seeger, of course, enthusiastically aims
for full audience participation on most numbers. If you are or were a fan
of the folk scene, this one's a definite winner. Nice cover art,
appreciative notes, and reasonably good sound for a live recording. (DH)
|
| PETE
SEEGER, JANE SAPP & SI KAHN |
Flying Fish 0104 |
Carry It On |
● CD $15.98 |
21 songs about America's working people including Step By
Step/ Harriet Tubman/ I'm Gonna Be An Engineer/ Black, Brown & White
Blues/ A Hayseed Like Me/ Carry It On/ Union Maid/ Soup Song/ I Am A Union
Woman/ Somos El Barco/ Solidarity Forver, etc. More than 60 minutes of
music.
|
| PAUL SIEBEL |
Philo 1161 |
Paul Siebel |
● CD $15.98 |
15 tracks, 51 mins, highly recommended Paul Siebel was one
of the most talented performers to emerge from the late 60s Greenwich
Village folk scene - a powerful and distinctive vocalist and a superb
songwriter with a knack for writing memorable tunes. Although his songs
have a strong folk sensibility they often have a country feel. There are
ten songs from his first album "Woodsmoke & Oranges' released on
Elektra in 1970 including such classics as She Made Me Lose My Blues/
Nashville Again/ Then Came The Children and Louise which has
been covered by several artists. He is accompanied by a stellar group of
musicians including David Bromberg, Richard Greene, Weldon Myrick and
others. There are five songs from his second album "Jack Knife
Gypsy" featuring him with Clarence White, Buddy Emmons, David Grisman
and others. There are some more fine songs highlighted by the beautiful If
I Could Stay. After "Gyspsy" Siebel pretty much disappeared
from the recording scene though he continued to tour and perform live into
the mid 80s. (FS)
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| SHEL SILVERSTEIN |
Columbia 39412 |
Where The Sidewalk Ends |
● CD $11.98 |
Children's album.
|
| SHEL SILVERSTEIN |
Columbia 40219 |
A Light In The Attic |
● CD $13.98 |
A zany collection of children's poems written and performed
by Shel Silverstein. These poems are excerpts from his book, A Light In
The Attic.
|
| FRED SMALL |
Flying Fish 0491 |
I Will Stand Fast |
● CD $15.98 |
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|
| FRED SMALL |
Flying Fish 0625 |
Everything Possible |
● CD $15.98 |
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|
| FRED SMALL |
Rounder 4014 |
Heart Of The Appaloosa |
● CD $15.98 |
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|
| FRED SMALL |
Rounder 4018 |
No Limit |
● CD $15.98 |
Small's second outing for Rounder, shows Fred covering much
the same ground of last year's highly successful Heart of the Appaloosa
. A straight-ahead folk singer, Fred uses modest instrumentation (banjo,
fiddle, a second guitar, bass & cello. His delivery & vocals
remind me of Pete Seeger. The sound of No Limit has a very
traditional feeling. It's not self-righteous, but certainly strident. A
fine duet with Priscilla Herdman on Everything Possible & sweet
harmony by Cindy Kallet on Jimmy Come Lately , a touching Leslie
Is Different & the topical Cranes Over Hiroshima are the
high points for me. Also on cassette. (SG)
|
| MICHAEL SMITH |
Flying Fish 0404 |
Michael Smith/love Stories |
● CD $15.98 |
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