The Library of Congress Banjo Collection

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The Library of Congress Banjo Collection

I recently received a request to post this fine album of banjo music drawn from the trove of material at the Library of Congress.  This album of field recordings representing different pre-bluegrass banjo styles was put together by Bob Carlin and released on LP in 1988 by Rounder records.  Amazingly it has not been reissued on CD.

There is some seriously amazing and important music on here.

I didn’t upload this album, the fine people over at
www.timesaintliketheyusedtobe.blogspot.com did and that’s where I first got the record.  Thanks!  Be sure to check out their website for a scan of the back of the record so you can read the excellent notes by Alan Jabbour and Bob Carlin. There’s lots of great records available on “Time’s Ain’t Like They Used to Be”.  Well worth checking regularly.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD the record.

and be sure to check out my sort of complete list of free internet folk music resources

Studs Terkel Interviews Bob Dylan 1963

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Studs Terkel, author, radio show host, actor and activist died on Friday at his home in Chicago at the age of 96.  Terkel is perhaps best known for the amazing oral histories that he did with working class people.  He published these in books such as his well known Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression (1970) and Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do (1974).  He has said in interviews that he first got the feeling for what he would later do and received his first bit of education at Bug House Square, a famous free speech zone in Chicago.  Terkel got his start in the world of media during the New Deal, working on various public works projects of the WPA.  From that time he worked on radio soap operas, in stage plays, as a sportscaster and a disc jockey. In 1944 he started a radio program on WENR in Chicago called ” The Wax Museum” that allowed him to express his own personality and play recordings he liked from folk music, opera, jazz, or blues. Perhaps Studs invented “free form radio” back in 1944?

Studs hosted a radio show on WFMT in Chicago from 1952-1997.  On today’s show I air an interview he did in 1963 with Bob Dylan.  He was truly a great interviewer!

You can download this interview cut up into tracks Here.

You can hear more audio from his radio program and learn more about Studs Terkel at his website http://www.studsterkel.org

He was interviewed a number of times on Democracy Now

Interview with Zeke Schein – A New Photo of Robert Johnson Comes to Light

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Robert Johnson poses with fellow blues musician Johnny Shines in the newly released photograph. http://www.morethings.com/music/robert_johnson/robert_johnson.jpg
L. Photo of Robert Johnson with Johnny Shines discovered by Zeke Schein, published in Vanity Fair
R. Previously released photo of Johnson

On today’s show I speak with Zeke Schein, musician and vintage guitar expert who recently discovered a previously unknown or thought to be lost photo of Robert Johnson with another man who may well be Johnny Shines (this would be by far the earliest known photo of Shines, and he looks quite different as an older man).  The photo has just come out in Vanity Fair, together with an article telling its remarkable story.  I met Zeke at a cafe on 7th Ave. in Brooklyn and over coffee we discussed his own musical background, introduction to blues and the musical community and exchange of ideas that takes place at Matt Umanov Guitars in Greenwhich Village where Zeke works.  We talked about the photo itself, how Zeke found it, and what he has hoped to do by publishing it and through out we spin a bunch of records relevant to the program.  Looking at this photograph brings home to me, among other things, just how young Robert Johnson and Johnny Shines were, and how hip they were- Nice suits!

Roots n Ruckus Live at Jalopy August 27th 2008

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Jessy Carolina Dom Flemons Feral Foster
Jessy Carolina                         Dom Flemons                         Feral Foster

Willy Gantrim at Jalopy Sam Shepard and Peter Stampfel Frank Hoier

Willy Gantrim               Sam Shepard & Peter Stampfel          Frank Hoier

Every Wednesday night I take part in a live folk music show called “Roots n Ruckus” that takes place at the Jalopy Theater in Brooklyn, NY. Here’s another live recording I made there back in August.  That night the show featured many of the Roots n Ruckus regulars as well as Dom Flemons from the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Peter Stampfel and Sam Shepard of the Holy Modal Rounders.

It was a great show!  Hope you enjoy.

The acts:

Part 1
0:00 – ???  Who is this?  I can’t remember, but he’s real good.
22:00 – Frank Hoier
45:30 – (Elements of the) Peach Colored Jug Smugglers w/ Eli Smith (me) on guitar & Dizzy on washboard
66:00 – Feral Foster
88:00 – Peter Stampfel & Sam Shepard w/ Jeannie Scofield & Eli Smith

Part 2
0:00 – Dom Flemons
38:00 – Willy Gantrim
68:00 – Jessy Carolina

Down Home Radio makes The Village Voice’s “Best of New York” issue

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Check out the Village Voice for a nice write up of Down Home Radio.  DHR won in the “Best Way to Compensate for the Lack of Roots-Music Radio” category.

“Everyone complains about how the local airwaves suck, but instead of bitching, you should go online to find a Gotham-based program that actually has good roots music—the podcast-formatted Down Home Radio Show…“

Here’s the rest of what they wrote.

Plus, the Jalopy Theater won in the “Best Old-Timey Venue” category!

Interview with Blind Boy Paxton

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Blind Boy Paxton by you.
(Blind Boy Paxton at the Jalopy Theater, Roots n Ruckus show, Sept. ’08.  Photo by Eli Smith)

On today’s show I speak with blues musician Blind Boy Paxton.  Paxton is a 19 year old musician and singer who plays the guitar, banjo and piano and is a walking encyclopedia of early blues and jazz.  He hails from the Watts section of Los Angeles, but we are lucky enough to have him here on the East Coast during the school year.  I visited him where he goes to college a couple of hours north of New York City and we recorded this interview.  Paxton is very influenced by the music and culture carried in his family, and grandmother in particular, who are from Louisiana.  Blind Boy plays plays live on the air, spins some of his favorite records and recounts some interesting stories!

See below for links, etc.

Songs of the Great Depression

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http://www.southernspaces.org/contents/2008/matthews/images/1d-003-ss-08-smatth_sm.jpg
(Poster for the National Recovery Administration known as the Blue Eagle, an early New Deal program)

Well, what with the bank failures and giant government bailout of Wall Street, I thought it was time to do an episode featuring the songs of the Great Depression. A lot of great music was composed in response to the collapse of the economy and the hard times of the Great Depression. I’m just scratching the surface on today’s program! But if things keep on the way they are I’m sure I’ll be doing another episode. On today’s show we hear songs about bank failures, New Deal programs, FDR, hard times, inflation, the Union Movement and more. See below for a list of the tracks played on today’s show, plus links and some good articles about the economy.

Article I wrote for the Music for Democracy website on music and politics.

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Here’s an article that I wrote for the Music For Democracy website on the interchange between music and politics. I tried to isolate different approaches to the question of music and politics and then pick one musician that exemplified each approach.

How Musicians Have Responded to Politics: A Brief Historical Overview

By Eli Smith September 10, 2008

Music creates and fosters community by speaking to people’s needs, hopes, fears, and intimate lives — and so does politics. Musicians have responded to this connection in a variety of ways over time. As the host of Down Home Radio, I thought it would be worthwhile to compile a brief survey of how certain musicians, each in a particular way, chose to explore the realm of politics. Obviously, I have only touched on a few musicians here, so please respond with amendments, qualifications, additions and corrections.

Pete Seeger (b. 1919)

Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger has worked it from almost every angle over his long career. He started out in the 1930s playing at union meetings, and in 1948, hit the road with Progressive party presidential candidate Henry Wallace to sing songs at campaign rallies. Since the era of the civil rights and peace movements, Seeger has appeared at demonstrations large and small, using his unique celebrity in conjunction with grassroots activism to draw crowds and attention to a wide range of issues, from war and racism, to nuclear power, to ecological awareness.

Some New Folks Part 1

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Blind Boy Paxton by you.
Blind Boy Paxton at the Jalopy Theater 9/17/08 (Photo by E. Smith)

Today’s show features recordings by some exciting young performers I have encountered.  These are people that I met in my travels and field recorded or who heard about the show and sent in their recordings.  Great stuff!  These artists are operating for the present at an underground and basically local level and I heard about them in a grass roots manner.  Certainly in terms of folk or roots type of music that’s pretty much where its at- no major media attention.  With some exceptions, the only bands in the folk/roots/”obsolete” music field that I’ve thought are any good are ones I’ve heard about in the most grass roots, grapevine, personal encounter type of way.  So I’m happy to share some of these people with the Down Home Radio audience.  The “Some New Folks” episodes of Down Home will be a continuing series on the program, airing every time I amass a critical number of recordings by underground artists that I really like and want to share.  I hope to do interviews with all of the people on today’s show real soon!

On the show today we hear from 6 performers/bands:

1. Clifton Hicks – An excellent singer and old-time banjo player from North Carolina
2. Blind Boy Paxton – Originally from LA but going to school near NYC, plays blues and old time on guitar, piano and banjo and is a great singer too!
3. The Cangelosi Cards – Great New York New Orleans style jazz/swing band.
4. The Squirrelly String Band – Great old-time string band from Berkeley, CA
5. Elizabeth Butters – Dulcimer and guitarist from Cambridge, MA.  An excellent singer of songs and ballads.
6. Frank Hoier – New York folk musician and songwriter writing some really good songs.

Links:

Some Favorite Videos

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Hello everybody, thought I’d post up a bunch of my favorite videos I’ve found over the last period.  To all those people who have posted these videos – I salute you.

Enjoy!

Videos below:



“March of Time” newsreel footage about Leadbelly and John Lomax –
A reenactment where they play the parts of themselves! This is unbelievable footage. It is also pretty spooky and haunted.