tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18969380344983744622024-03-14T15:27:08.868+01:00River's InvitationYou know what happens when you cut the roots of a tree - it dies...Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.comBlogger124125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-58951912125813815842010-04-14T12:52:00.004+02:002010-04-14T13:34:14.153+02:00The River's Getting Dry<img style="width: 400px; height: 264px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs7KKKL82x2bfzupBf0UmBczGft-se6x6fXMSVF4qpgqLmUF1b9od7GO1Sjd2yPgQO7yeFt1a2UOwatKew-BPCkwjUCfOFmjqSGtKTZrcQvCAzqjjPtfnCDs0JzEZUW9OY8gus14FctI7w/s400/image09.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459945553208520114" /><br /><br />Dear readers,<br /><br />I don't know how to say it but I'm getting a bit tired, abit lazy, a bit ditracted, and this blog hasn't been active for a few weeks now. <br /><br />Lack of inspiration ? Weak feedback compared to the amount of work provided ? Too much time spent on my computer ? Need to take a new life turn, to be more open to real people, find a better job, try to make more music ? Yes, all these things, and a lot more.<br /><br />I'm working on other musical projects, like building a big anthology of french chanson and pop since 1945. I'll probably open a new blog about that.<br /><br />So I'm gonna make a break. Will it be goodbye or farewell ? Well, goodbye only.<br /><br />In fact I don't know. Maybe I will come back tomorrow, maybe in a month, maybe never. I want to break the one post per week routine.<br /><br />Anyway, I'll still be posting on Groover's Paradise (in English), etat-critique.com and L'Appel de la rivière (French).<br /><br />Untill then here's a great song by one of my favorite French singers, Henri Salvador.<br /><br />Anyway, if it's my last post, I want to thank you all for your presence, (too rare) comments and faithfullness.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/a031e4u5qb.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Henri Salvador</span> - Dans mon île</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B0025HWFVI/ref=dm_sp_alb?ie=UTF8&qid=1271244818&sr=8-1">buy</a>) (1958)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script>Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-55295092185086674662010-03-24T13:00:00.004+01:002010-03-24T13:12:54.924+01:002 more covers by Yours Truly<img style="width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPMJMHERwmUwWnF_Ix1PQfX1C8dmd2R9XbOa5pkWRkm6wk5F7lu6HP7mVdRWE_TKNTv-p2z-KFJjONoa35Qg5PIW1-AozWMARVSMFOF27GTOfDV7QudmNOnKqgmFaG10t4WuTMemrx_uX-/s400/50973649_p.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452170072531687090" border="0" /><p></p><span style="font-size:85%;">Me, my daughter Cyann and Honorio</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/x2c06no7zs.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nicolas & Honorio</span> - La Marine (Georges Brassens cover)</a> (2010)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/dkjvayvmvs.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nicolas & Honorio</span> - Reason To Believe (Bruce Springsteen cover)</a> (2010)<br /><br />Hi,<br /><br />Here are the two other songs that we mixed last week in Valencia after recording by exchange files with my friend Honorio. The African instruments were only for the photo !<br /><br />Two songs by my 2 favorite singers : Brassens (as you probably noticed if you're a River's invitation regular) and Springsteen.<br /><br />Honorio plays the guitars and did the arrangements. I sing and play the harmonica.<br /><br />That's it. Hope you'll enjoy. Comments welcome, of course. See ya.Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-87526177806255445912010-03-18T16:00:00.008+01:002010-03-23T21:49:15.912+01:00From Valencia with love<img style="width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKM7eHo3q1K6cKA5H_z8rhuKnjca00VwQLoyp_3TpmSjeSfbgDC86LyGFsLgT5Md1-O80y8Mi5PioR_Af-j3h0X-GgNww4QsSHaqdT93RCfWwlEDxkjKqAeaAQiQpsVkUMI1rA0b5HtK6M/s400/CIMG1851.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449991572210458498" /><p></p><br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/bfi4rh9kq1.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nicolas & Honorio</span> - Canción Mixteca</a> (2010)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/lz1s7yneri.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nicolas & Honorio</span> - Guilty By Association</a> (2010)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><br />I'm in Valencia when the sun is always shining (except today)<br />I'm in vacations so I won´t make a long post, but just check out the songs that Honorio and me recorded and mixed this week:<br /><br />Honorio played all the guitars, his friend Esteve the accordion and I sang. You'll probably recognize that the version of "Canción Mixteca" is a cover of the Paris Texas soundtrack rendition by Ry Cooder et ql, and that the second song is by Vic Chesnutt.<br /><br />We did 2 more songs that I will post later.<br /><br />¡ Hasta Luego !Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-50179220909004168112010-03-11T11:15:00.012+01:002010-03-18T16:11:50.473+01:00Me voy a Valencia - Gent Del desert<img style="width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0QS7vijqBKxh_3XA2OhpxyFLMgdmllCsGI70UkZdZq-kSDZ_JDUXuHg0jym4Iea2itlWSpyx9tbxv6IO_zNdfchFJvjMIypEB7DwG9lbcdAW22kmrKMkFeUh2hciJAyzUGOBGK6F9JKSO/s400/08_015_Valencia+Fallas+2009.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447351687848808178" border="0" /><p></p><br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/xhmmf32l5z.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gent Del Desert</span> - El Record</a> (2009)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br />(see lyrics with English translation below)<br /><br />Vacations, again, at last ... 2 days left, and I'll be on the plane to Valencia, sunny Spain, to meet my friend Honorio, during the holiday week of Fallas (see photo). He's one of my Internet friends that I've never seen, we had a lot of great conversations in the Acclaimed Music forum. And we're making music together, by file exchanges. We recorded 4 covers (Brassens, Ry Cooder, Springsteen, Chestnutt)<br />Next monday we'll go to a studio and mix the songs. I'll post them here when I'll be back in 2 weeks.<br /><br />So, no River's Invitation posts next week.<br /><br />But today I'd like to introduce you with a Valencian band called Gent Del Desert. They sing in Valencian, the local language, which is close to Catalan.<br /><br />According to Honorio, who played guitar on the album : "Gent del Desert is the music wing of a group of people, mainly poets, that gather every Thursday to sing some songs, read some poetry and chat about music and literature. They call themselves El Desert de la Paraula (The Desert of the Word). None of them except Jesús (the leader, and honorio's brother) and Marc had previous music experience (some of the other members, Sergi, Vicent and Pep however have published poetry books), but they were able to put together a fine album called “El Pèndol i la Terra” (“The Pendulum and the Earth”, 2007) a spoken-word album about texts of David Mira, a poet from Ontinyent, with music backing of traditional folk-songs and Jesús and Marc own compositions.<br /><br /><img style="width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp_jauRpddTPJuqvw5nu5hQPj1ke59leSVlh3f6F_7-AAF9mna35n70NFLxBnRTjPgfwJsy0QlYuHtEa8zmz_FrpcB1midAn15welKiR88CplEmQldElcuiYMzDg70TPNQsBzmBb2bkeT1/s400/l_0ccae3f33f7943a6a68f94749465f92c.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447360610742571970" border="0" /><p></p><br /><br />The approach to the second work, recorded during 2008 at Jesus' house, has been quite different and more ambitious. They again added music to poems but the majority of the songs were sung, although they did not completely give up the spoken-word. Moreover some poems were penned by members of the band. And the music approach abandoned the almost pure folk sound of the first album, adding many colours and textures coming from diverse styles including rock. As Henrik (from Acclaimedmusic) perfectly pointed in a personal e-mail, “Gent del Desert both look back and ahead, being both rootsy and experimental”.<br /><br />My favourite song from “Molles” is (funnily) the only completely spoken one in the style of the previous album. The lyrics comes from a poem from Lluís Roda about childhood memories (and whorehouses). You can read the translated lyrics next. The first verses are recited by Vicent as an intro without background music but the main body of the poem is recited by Sergi, who does an excellent work here, giving the exact tone to the story, detached and mocking but evocative and emotional enough. And the background music is awesome (in my humble and non-objective opinion), based in another original tune with country and border flavours that Jesús and me used to play many years ago (once it was called “Vals del callejón”, “Backstreet Waltz”). The protagonists here are the guest musicians, the song is held up by an excellent tuba and accordion part played by Miquel Payà and the superb pedal steel part played by Pablo Gisbert (pupil of British blues guitar-player Graham Foster). The rest of the instruments are played by my brother himself, including guitars, percussion, banjo and piano (I love this fabulous honky-tonk piano figure at 2’14”!).<br />Seeing the many country music fans here in this forum I’m sure you will enjoy the song.<br /><br /><img style="width: 338px; height: 336px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtP82smGN-ZhV5ei0ln-SM8YeTJhP6UZN9XySjMky5gRuZ8iafudygtSD6BHuAeGj659Un6UIU8SEF1_Zdz-O6lZQfpiXEgBpv9AJ8Zw0PuqMaD4nFURqZcZqCfKmuJlO5HJOF3ZPdHzHE/s400/l_cf33cc8dd966410695147fd4022d1921.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447361136390503778" border="0" /><p></p><br /><br /><br />EL RECORD (Lluís Roda / Jesús Barranco)<br /><br />És cert que fores, però a qui li interessa?<br />És teu només, el record.<br />Mira-ho bé i tira-ho, a ningú li fa cap falta...<br />Ni tu mateix te’n recordaves.<br /><br /><br />La via del tren separava la ciutat asfaltada. A l’altra banda, no hi havia res.<br />Un descampat, un solar, escombraries. Enderrocs, una séquia una claveguera.<br />Fang i pols i pedres. Herba i camps esparsos. Entre naus i fusteries i tallers.<br />I bars, alguns de putes.<br />I un enorme pal o bastida elèctrica, enmig de tot allò.<br />Un home havia sigut trobat mort penjat dels cables d’alta tensió.<br /><br />La propietària del bar de putes, i l’única cambrera que recorde,<br />era una dona gran, o m’ho semblava,<br />amb faldilla curta i botes, cabell ros o platí,<br />amb uns pits punxeguts. Literalment, acabats en punta.<br /><br />A les tres de la vesprada, el bar ja era obert.<br />L’obríem nosaltres cada vegada que passàvem, puntualment, en anar a escola.<br />Déiem puta i pegàvem a fugir.<br />Després ens aturàvem per veure si eixia, sempre eixia. I la véiem.<br /><br /><br />A vegades hi havia algú dins.<br />Sempre pensàvem que estava fent-ho.<br />A vegades deixava, o restava, la porta entreoberta.<br />I passàvem a poc a poc, una i altra vegada. Fins que la tancaven.<br />Era de vidre opac de colors diversos: roig, blau...<br /><br />Un dia tancaren el bar, i en posaren un altre, amb vidres transparents pintats.<br />Recorde el dia que els pintaven: Bocadillos – Tapas variadas,<br />amb una clòtxina i una gamba dibuixades. No tenia cap interés.<br />Uns mesos després asfaltaren el carrer.<br /><br /><br /><br />TEXT: Lluís Roda, Elogi de la llibertat, poemari datat a València entre 1990 i 1994 (Edicions Bromera, 2001, pàg. 7 i<br /><br /><br />THE MEMORY (Lluís Roda / Jesús Barranco)<br /><br /><br />You were there, that’s true. But, who cares?<br />The memory is only yours<br />Look at it and throw it, nobody needs it...<br />Not even you remembered it<br /><br /><br />The railroad track divided the asphalted city. On the other side there was nothing.<br />An open ground, a piece of land, rubbish. Rubbles, a ditch, a sewer.<br />Mud, dust and stones. Grass and scattered fields.<br />Between warehouses, carpenters workshops and repair shops.<br />And bars, some of them whorehouses.<br />And a big stick or electric pylon in the middle of that.<br />A man was found dead hanged on the high voltage wires.<br /><br />The owner of the whorehouse, and the only waitress I remember,<br />was an elder woman, or so it seemed to me,<br />wearing a miniskirt and boots, platinum blonde hair,<br />with pointed breast. Literally, pointed at the end.<br /><br />At three o’clock on the afternoon, the bar was open yet.<br />We opened it every time we passed, punctually, on our way to school.<br />We shouted whore! and ran away.<br />And then we stopped to see if she came out. She always came out. And we saw her.<br /><br /><br />Sometimes there was someone inside.<br />We always thought that he was doing it.<br />Sometimes the door was left, or remained, half open.<br />And we passed slowly, again and again. Until someone closed it.<br />It was made of opaque glass with different colors: red, blue...<br /><br />One day they closed the bar, and they opened another one, with painted transparent glass.<br />I remember the day they painted it: Sandwiches – Assorted Snacks<br />with a draw of a mussel and a shrimp. It lacked any interest.<br />Some months later they asphalted the street.<br /><br /><br />LYRICS: Lluís Roda, Elogi de la llibertat (“Praise for Freedom” , poems dated in València between 1990 and 1994 (Edicions Bromera, 2001, pages. 7 and 8)<br /><br /><br />Discover <a href="http://www.myspace.com/gentdeldesert">Gent Del Desert on Myspace</a><br /><br /><img style="width: 400px; height: 294px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivzptA3S99DRdlyrjHktyHkc59Dyh0v3C4zPdYbU8ZmmC7t9_iS2yxIkoGJu-wUK-7OY3ouU_SxpPqP0anCckZy8iaFgfQ2cFth79Vx1QZGaK8g3W0Dzi-nCTi-I3k2WT-7UQpljFEnWp9/s400/fallas_valencia.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447362222085863666" /><p></p>Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-68637271431346335572010-03-04T12:56:00.019+01:002010-03-04T15:59:05.513+01:00Mexican sones : Mariachi, Huasteco y Jarocho<img style="width: 400px; height: 272px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxxiDV9cTvxR0PeW8f9Zo_E6MikuCNtwuHvKr6w9P9M2CbIPCa6fQ2imt7ev2kzKZX6KeWDEO0LAB1nMiqQ8IDrdXfcYXWNtz5lKI7YybsH0q0XDgtdEiSQCk8KGRhmpmI03HZ_iInlMmh/s400/mvt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444751591623029954" border="0" /><p></p><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/96g7fo7uo5.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán</span> - El Mariachi</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mexicos-Pioneer-Mariachis-Vol-Recordings/dp/B0000023TL/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1267714069&sr=1-1">buy</a>)<br /><br /><br />Last year I made a <a href="http://riversinvitation.blogspot.com/search/label/Tejano">series of posts about Tejano music</a>, mostly played by Mexican immigrants in Southern texas.<br />The book <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.amazon.fr/Americana-Histoires-lAm%C3%A9rique-Pr%C3%A9histoire-lindustrie/dp/2213622612/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267714331&sr=8-1">Americana</a></span> by Gérard Herzhaft is the main source for this post.<br /><br />Today I'll post songs of 3 different styles of sones, and later I will post about other sones, bolero and canción.<br /><br />- First, the <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariachi">son mariachi</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>, probably the most popular style of Mexican music. This music comes from the Jalisco state, on the Pacific coast. The term "mariachi" probably comes from the French word "mariage" (wedding). Bands from Jalisco were invited to play at weddings and parties by powerful people in Mexico. President Profirio Diaz was a big fan of mariachi orchestras. The most famous of all is el Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, created in 1897 and still active now. The traditional Jalisco mariachi ensembles did not feature trumpets, but they became so popular (and more powerful than harps) that Mariachi Vargas started adding trumpets in the 1940s.<br />This is one of their first recordings.<br /><br /><br /><br /><img style="width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs62e4O6DwSN42UTN56ICwDSjRNVg7CkVvyDEx_jRn1HLJXVL6jgB9aQpTC1M1r4HZ562H9E5fCfdkSYZz8XDuyY3rAZM4vAWtiJAk3_lzF0xhW_9PXEOkNbwfWYsz2m9L6YEXF1L8D8Zv/s400/700_valles.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444764551572880834" border="0" /><p></p><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/irb81nen1f.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Los Camperos de Valles</span> - La Pasión</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/El-Ave-Mi-Sonar-Huastecos/dp/B0007LPMDM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1267710565&sr=1-1">buy</a>)<br /><br />Another vibrant regional style is the <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_Huasteco">son huasteco</a>, aka huapengo tipico, which comes from the state area of Northeastern Mexico called La Huasteca. This is an indian style with Arab and Andalusian influences, relying on violin, huapanguera guitar and jarana huasteca (the small 5 string guitar), and often using falsetto singing. The violin solos are very intense, and remind me of the gypsy music of Central Europe.<br />Los Camperos de Valles (pictured above) are the most famous and internationally known ensemble, having recorded for Smithsonian Folkways and toured in the whole world, although they still play at parties and weddings in their home state.<br />You can also read <a href="http://sepiensa.org.mx/contenidos/sonhuasteco/son1.html">great article in Spanish about the son huasteco</a>.<br /><br />Guillermo Velázquez is another famous traditional musician who plays sone huasteco and arribeño, another genre from the Central states using the same instruments but with strong Spanish medieval influences in its lyrics.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/ox60q14064.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Guillermo Velázquez Y Los Leones de la Sierra de Xichú</span> - El Triunfo</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tercer-Festival-Huasteca-Various-Artists/dp/B000056VEA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1267711137&sr=1-1">buy</a>)<br /><br /><br /><br /><img style="width: 400px; height: 270px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghs2dqIdHZVZg6RIx6dCSwcKdht2rwtxmhP9_krxb6wn3ZhyphenhyphenucoxhXfAP6Oq8gMlSKgRdZGIDWYDBqtD8-y7L8uV8i7nmWUDFESChm3bds-9qE-w53h5YN2123W_lb_KIYv9R7WPfuiGEL/s400/p+42.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444780362076554866" border="0" /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Illustration</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> : </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><i style="font-style: italic;">Enrique Valderrama</i></span><br /><br />And last but not least, here's the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> son jarocho</span> from the Southern Vera Cruz state on the Caribbean coast, a distinct, dynamic style. As the musicians from <a href="http://www.sonjarocho.com/about.html">Conjunto Tenocelomeh </a> explain on their great site, <a href="http://www.sonjarocho.com/">sonjarocho.com </a>, " Just as the Son Huasteco from east-central Mexico and the west coast Son de Mariachi have their own characteristics the Son Jarocho can be distinguished by its percussive rhythms, syncopation, vocal style, and improvisation in its harmonic and rhythmic framework and verse." Read the whole article<a href="http://www.sonjarocho.com/introduction.html"> here</a>. The main instruments are the harp and two local, small guitars, the requinto and the jarana. Some ensembles add bass guitar, percussions, Spanish guitars, etc..<br />"La Bamba", one of the most famous Mexican folk songs (thanks to Ritchie Valens and Los Lobos) comes from the Jarocho repertoire. Here is one version by <a href="http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/artist/content.artist/la_negra_graciana_and_the_silva_trio_49256/en_US">Graciana Silva</a>, a veteran harp player from the Vera Cruz state.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/88scxy99ey.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Graciana Silva</span> - La Bamba</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mexique-Jarochos-Graciana-Silva-Garcia/dp/B00000DHS6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1267713550&sr=1-1">buy</a>)<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWGQpiTuBZaaHf3yYf9nJWujazYuwyR391oatksdaHGnR72opZ3FlU7QT-UIA-T375wcakCEchccrjN2urFJKkOzOBYBMgbrFKSEl5VGm-H2n_AEuTpEOCR6jGD8VDQq5AzA0mTi7nUmo3/s1600-h/son_jarocho_000.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWGQpiTuBZaaHf3yYf9nJWujazYuwyR391oatksdaHGnR72opZ3FlU7QT-UIA-T375wcakCEchccrjN2urFJKkOzOBYBMgbrFKSEl5VGm-H2n_AEuTpEOCR6jGD8VDQq5AzA0mTi7nUmo3/s400/son_jarocho_000.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444789647980649570" border="0" /></a>Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-12997409223815618532010-02-25T12:54:00.010+01:002010-02-25T13:45:52.330+01:00Blind Blake Higgs - Bahamian Songs<img style="width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjES5feh4aBcG-5ikji09yvBHUp4_Hd2f52B-bNmzKUlwABzo3LDVFzGeZRSd-yPu2OEQwwCwYqg-LkivO7zqqxcnw6cDTY7k9wZW3tf77XMmksCMsax-4prQiJKJgKkQn_TBQGlj5Kp-AK/s400/Blind_Blake.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442148712012284962" /><p></p><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/65m9924mp8.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Blind Blake Higgs</span> - John B. Sail</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bahamian-Songs-Blind-Blake/dp/B0026OO2KC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1267099462&sr=8-2">buy</a>) (1952)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/rzg5496q32.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Blind Blake Higgs</span> - JP Morgan</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bahamian-Songs-Blind-Blake/dp/B0026OO2KC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1267099462&sr=8-2">buy</a>) (1951)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/0r42z0ghpk.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">E.T. Mensah</span> - John B. Calypso</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/E-T-Mensah-Tempos-Dance-Band/dp/B00000JLE4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1267099710&sr=1-1">buy</a>) (1958)<br /><br />One of the great discoveries I made while exploring the music of the fifties.<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_Alphonso_Higgs">Alphonso "Blind Blake" Higgs</a>, not to be confused with the great Piedmont bluesman and guitar virtuoso, was a singer-guitarist from Nassau who was very popular there from the 1930s to the sixties. <br /><br />Elijah Wald in an<a href="http://www.elijahwald.com/blindblake.html">article</a> says that the similarity between his name and the bluesman's may have been a coincidence, but I seriously doubt that. Just listen to the intro of the first song I posted and you'll hear a typical Blind Blake intro on the guitar, with his signature ragtime chord progression. <br /><br />Just like the island it comes from, this music is a bridge, a doorway between the Southern United States and the West Indies, between the blues, jazz and American pop on onehand and calypso, mento, and other carribean styles on the other. The songs originate from the island tradition ("John B."), but also from Trinidad (the famous "love love alone")or Afro American numbers ("the Yas Yas Yas").<br /><br />And of course there is the John B. song, made famous by the Beach Boys on <span style="font-style:italic;">Pet Sounds</span>. <br /><br />Like a lot of carribean songs, that one crossed the Atlantic in the 1950s and eventually ended up in Ghana, as the E.T. Mensah instrumental that I added especially for you, attests.<br /><br />Go <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_Alphonso_Higgs">here </a>to get the whole compilationNicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-55929951625197731772010-02-17T16:20:00.008+01:002010-02-17T22:03:51.493+01:00Before country (4/4) : 1916-1921<img style="width: 400px; height: 290px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8yerWG16YSr4b7dpXqmjN-LNoyXNA879GOBq4AIUvUT5A-l-r2d-nRq0o9M_sqFI33GoijtAsqZXgDIVACMggwUJslcCXfmwViHDeNCM147oUUO80qaUqbYNdK2bxnEUX0A8mmtn1IMPQ/s400/Returning-Soldiers.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439230021304633826" border="0" /><p></p><span style="font-size:78%;">Returning soldiers : the 1916-22 ear saw America engage in World War I.</span><br /><br />Here's the final part of my series about pre-country music, which in fact encompasses a lot of different old recordings of all styles. I stop in 1921 because 1922 is the year of what is now considered as the first hillbilly commercial recording.<br /><br />So as in the previous posts (<a href="http://riversinvitation.blogspot.com/2009/11/before-country-part-1-1891-1909.html">part 1</a>, <a href="http://riversinvitation.blogspot.com/2009/12/before-country-1893-1909-2.html">part 2</a>, <a href="http://riversinvitation.blogspot.com/2009/12/old-recordings-vol-3-1910-1915.html">part 3</a>), I will go through this playlist made of sentimental songs, vaudeville numbers, blues played by military bands, hawaiian music, everything that influenced what people would call country music decades later.<br /><br />1. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Harry Lauder - Loch Lomond </span>(1916)<br />Second song by this Scottish celebrity. A later great version by Bennie Goodman Orch. on their 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert album.<br /><br />2. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ford's Hawaiians - Aloha Oe</span> (1916) : the first years of the century were years of Hawaiian craze. See <a href="http://riversinvitation.blogspot.com/2009/06/from-honolulu-to-nashville-hawaiian.html">here</a> for more Hawaiian music.<br /><br /><img style="width: 310px; height: 360px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIGQIwIVY7jb5BQJ2KimmxIBeZfu1dsykuWbZ8hX9dmSrIsQG-0z944-JdqligcarBCuwTgrS0I8_sUtrdjkz4_UpXX8cjjPxFHgt5uDeUnKoRJhDiBnUwSkY3x2KxlyzErvKbG2wx1_sr/s400/fordhawaiianseam1920.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439231489815203762" border="0" /><p></p><br />3. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Prince's Band - Saint Louis Blues</span> (1916) : Before the first blues were recorded by Afro American artist (in 1920) military bands recorded a lot of them, especially stuff by WC Handy. See more pre-blues <a href="http://riversinvitation.blogspot.com/2010/01/honey-dont-play-me-no-opera-first-blues.html">here</a>.<br /><br />4. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Don Richardson - Arkansas Traveler (1916)</span> : this is one of the first recordings of a traditional country fiddler.<br /><br />5. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Versatile Four - Circus Day In Dixie</span> (1916) : <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/the-versatile-four">The Versatile Four</a> were an Afro american ragtime ensemble. They toured in Europe around WWI.<br /><br />6. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Harry C. Browne - Old Dan Tucker</span> (1916) : Both a great fiddle tune and an everlasting folk song. Bruce Springsteen included that song on his traditional folk album in 2006.<br /><br /><img style="width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUGW8IElVRtt-QX4GSpC42YQ5RPGYf-iCvKxnQFK1DzFXZdknOG7WVqcy2cEtTC0v76hHunV6eNvlLS_O7lTsnsRygZUStvO9SgmNwmLIupxV2o7D1zXpAUr7eeE3n4gPDq-tbagilUjMQ/s400/Al-Jolson_1299042c.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439197955228277650" border="0" /><p></p><br /><br />7. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Al Jolson - When Did Robison Crusoe Go With Friday On Saturday Night ?</span> (1916) : one of the biggest "hits" of 1916. According to Wikipedia, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jolson">Al Jolson</a> (see picture above) was the "first openly Jewish man to become an entertainment star in America".[1] His career lasted from 1911 until his death in 1950, during which time he was commonly dubbed "the world's greatest entertainer”.<br /><br />8. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Vernon Dalhart - Star Of Bethlehem</span> (1917) : before becoming one of the first country superstars, Dalhart was a sentimental pop singer singing sirupy songs. But he was very popular too, and Edison issued a Blue Amberol of this song for christmas 1917<br /><br />9.<span style="font-weight: bold;">Ada Jones & Billy Murray - Lilley of The Valley</span> (1917) : a funny vaudeville number<br /><br /><br /><img style="width: 400px; height: 292px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx6JzkG1rYM0BviOt8CHeGO7GN0blg2LTzbuVgKBQIJhSM1jAf7dvSIZBJwDbhs4urJc8Oz88If4xfg6-0mJBP7tigBTjs3e4nFUad-sqy0KnbOK0RAboRRt97RLEO3WT9WttxyBoinF1v/s400/Peerless.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439223399584184610" border="0" /><br /><br />10. <a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/pttvk4pyuo.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Peerless Quartet</span> - Oh! Susanna</a> (1917) :<br />probably the best-known of all American old folk songs (even here in France), here performed by the famous Pearless quartet (on the picture above)<br /><br />11.<a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/oapzq87ugn.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Harry C. Browne</span> - Carve Dat Possum </a> (1917) : someone suggested me that song after my first post, and now it's one of my favorite songs of the acoustic era. A great cover by Uncle Dave Macon. Yeah, I know, it's a "coon song", but I've heard much worse and the music is appealing. In the late 1910's coon songs were less frequent. Good riddance !<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">12. Samuel Siegel & Marie Caveny - Ragtime Echoes</span> (1918): great banjo ragtime piece.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">13. Charles Hart & Lewis James - Till We Meet Again (World War Song)</span> (1918) : a sentimental song about the parting of a soldier and his sweetheart. Find the song's story <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Till_We_Meet_Again_%281918_song%29">here</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">14. Al Bernard - St. Louis Blues</span> (1919) : another "St Louis Blues", but a vocal version by vaudeville singer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Bernard">Al Bernard</a>. Like Vernon Dalhart, Al Bernard recorded hilbilly music when it became popular.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">15. Charles Hart & Elliott Shaw - I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles</span> (1919) : a Tin Pan Alley hit that was also very popular in the UK, so much that it became the anthem of soccer team West Ham United. Read more about the song <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_Forever_Blowing_Bubbles">here</a>.<br /><br /><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 305px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXZ6D2K65xueKheN5nf_Jpz66q4RqwG5hr9v6RqSKdoNJaLmZPgVqiQvl5jylibMQGbRYZjcp4aTnGFE4rFxxOji1mMQ6k_Y-xB2uBEguOxwP-uHNBrxx3gCPfVZdIzsIZEjqEwJEptLqh/s400/a0769-1-72dpi.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439231919013815634" /><p></p>16. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Frank M. Kamplain - In Tyrol</span> (1920) : a singer specialized in yodelling, one of the most popular attractions in vaudeville shows. In 1924, Riley Puckett became the first hilbilly artist to yodle on record.<br /><br />17. <a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/1in6eiv6ii.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ben Hokea</span> - Beautiful Ohio</a> (1921)<br /> <br />18.<span style="font-weight: bold;">Waikiki Hawaiian Orchestra - Rainbow Isle</span> (1921)<br />Let's close this selection with Hawaiian music. What's striking in these pre-1920 popular recordings is that you never hear a guitar unless it's a Hawaiian band. Listening to the Ben Hokea track tells us how much Hawaiians influenced country and blues performers.<br /><br />I would like to thank the site <a href="http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/1111111111111111111new-page.aspx">Bluegrass Messengers</a> which listed a great part of the songs featured here in their "country music timeline.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?nhozmgzz2wn"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> BEFORE COUNTRY VOL. 4 (1916-1921)<br /></span></a>Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-21452823539611056702010-02-04T13:19:00.006+01:002010-02-17T16:47:28.933+01:00Listmania : 1950<img style="width: 400px; height: 315px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijXVvdOUv2pFWUPrwRcV5JkJOIhl7MyR5-O3UG6l9MSwkQbRW5mciuki8wc7Jfdlkz-tq2IOkbawwGE0vn6ESVxpi1Zz1NN1iuAfUmGyIueA0SwThMJ8kQZ73l-JpLo5En9AEJ8X3Vpwla/s400/flatt_scruggs.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434363149246803506" border="0" /><p></p><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/6mxg25tczp.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs</span> - Foggy Mountain Breakdown</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Foggy-Mountain-Breakdown-Flatt-Scruggs/dp/B00005LNY1/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1265286791&sr=1-1">buy</a>) (1950)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/g081qcqhf3.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Professor Longhair</span> - Mardi Gras in New Orleans</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Foggy-Mountain-Breakdown-Flatt-Scruggs/dp/B00005LNY1/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1265286791&sr=1-1">buy</a>) (1950)<br /><br />On the <a href="http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=3172289350&frmid=0&msgid=0">Acclaimedmusic.net forum</a>, we're doing a decade poll every year. Last year we did the seventies, and in 2010 we're doing the 50's and 60's. I've decided to post here my favorite albums and songs of the fifties from time to time, starting with 1950.<br /><br />If you feel like taking part in these polls, don't hesitate. We are nominating our favorite albums and songs from the years 1953 to 1955 this month. And roots music do needs some support at Acclaimedmusic !<br /><br />So here are my 10 favorite songs of 1950 :<br /><br /><span>1. Percy Mayfield - Please Send Me Someone To Love : </span> Go <a href="http://www.grooversparadise.com/2010/02/but-if-its-not-asking-too-much.html">here</a> if you want to hear it<br /><span>2. Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs - Foggy Mountain Breakdown<br />3. Hank Williams - My Son Calls Another Man Daddy<br />4. Hank Williams - Long Gone Lonesome Blues<br />5. Professor Longhair - Mardi Gras in New Orleans<br />6. Fats Domino - The Fat Man<br />7. Archibald - Stack-a-Lee<br />8. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Dream a Little dream Of me<br />9. Ruth Brown - Teardrops From My Eyes<br />10. Henri Salvador -Le Loup, la Biche et le Chevalier<br /></span>Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-37765809414465470112010-01-21T13:35:00.009+01:002010-01-22T14:33:21.762+01:00To Jean Lejeune (1914-2010)<img style="width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1E3m95LtAqExXQ9n1lPbHaUxq36jZgYxxLbS2ztZxkFsEkkYYqk1uTNK6wHyB_ThP8UdoHgGvVQMMzcnDIwOgFi9YIVlqPZCEefvjmn0f5_apBrxHQ8QmwM-_sGCWskrM2E8BkqPuzHEt/s400/PICT0012.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5429314744154521506" border="0"><p></p><br />(3 generations out ot of 4 of Lejeune guys on this picture taken in 2008 : me, Jean and Basile)<br /><br />My grandfather passed away during the night. He was My father's dad.<br /><br />We used to call him Pépé (pronounced "pay-pay").<br /><br />Pépé was great. He was a good and humble man. Pépé was a French teacher. Past students used to call him or went to see him in his remote house in Burgubndy long after his retirement.<br /><br />Pépé was a man of words. Pépé wrote his life in a book. Pépé loved to tell stories. We loved to hear them. Poems by La Fontaine, Baudelaire, Victor Hugo. He loved Rimbaud and Proust (I hate Proust). He wrote poems too, in a 19th century style.<br />Pépé loved tennis and football. Pépé was a good tennis player. Pépé loved fishing.<br />Pépé loved Bach, Edith Piaf and Ray Charles. And Georges Brassens. My first memories of hearing Brassens were at his house in the country. Brassens to me is Biches (the name of the village where he lived).<br /><br />Pépé had gone to World War II. He had been given a gun, a revolver, but he never shot it. His regiment never fought. He went home in 1940 and resumed his job. He bought his house in the country. He had met his wife at a ball in 1937 and they were married since that date. Until a few weeks ago, Pépé, although physically impaired, had kept all his wits and we talked on the phone everynow and then.<br />Pepe, as a school teacher, has meticulously-made photo albums with type-written texts detailling what he's done almost everyday from 1950 to 2000. It's just fascinating. He used to describe himself as a witness more than as a maker.<br />So for you, Pépé, I can olny post these Brassens songs :<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/9izxb132j4.mp3" target="_blank"><font style="font-weight: bold;">Georges Brassens</font> - Grand père</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.fr/Aupres-Arbre-Vol-2-Georges-Brassens/dp/B000007WZO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1264111256&sr=1-1">buy)</a><br /><br />First, of course "Grand père", a fierce, humourous piece which tells of a poor family who loses their grandfather and try to have him buried, but nobody wants to do it because they have no money. So (pardon the translation)<br /><br />"At the grocery store,<br />No money, no groceries<br />At lovely Suzanne's<br />No money, no thighs<br />Low status dead people<br />Are outside of my jurisdiction<br /><br />Yet I had inherited from grandpa<br />A pair of pointed boots<br />If ass kicks get lost sometime<br />This one hit its goal"<br /><br />It would make him laugh. And thank God we won't have the same problem to take him to his last resting place !<br /><br />The other one, "Je m'suis fait tout petit" instantly brings me back memories of summers spent in his house.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/dx4g7u2iyp.mp3" target="_blank"><font style="font-weight: bold;">Georges Brassens</font> - Je me suis fait tout petit</a> (<a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/dx4g7u2iyp.mp3">buy</a>) (1954)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script>Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-34002645027657407182010-01-15T13:09:00.010+01:002010-01-15T14:09:19.764+01:00Song for Haïti<img style="width: 400px; height: 282px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnGhP5npQODrhZo9KgX-c9I3s6dVXQCsUukmYupySYc9pPodGlu1w0TjvNO2iNgSoG1-9cOo5fVROz7XvyohaufNV283jRGunakDoJlbIoTUDAfEENuIJ4vCLlJlSNWlKOixQ22Gpedbko/s400/grupovocaldesandann.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426941318535923074" border="0" /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/iatdy9ylvo.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Grupo Vocal Desandann</span> - Guédé Nibo</a> (<a href="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/grupo">buy</a>) (1999)<br /><br />Sometimes I'm just fed up with news images. Especially when such a tragedy hits. You get saturated by pictures and videos on TV, in the web, in your papers...<br /><br />It really looks like, as Rev Gary Davis used to sing, death don't have no mercy in this land.<br /><br />This beautiful song by a vocal ensemble of Haitian singers from Cuba (there's a huge Haitian community there) is dedicated to the day of the dead, on november 1st. Guédé Nibo is a spirit of death, but also of sexuality. Both ends of life.<br /><br />So please listen to that song and give to your favorite nongovernmental organization; but the worst part of that tragedy is that it seems to be very difficult for medical or food supplies to reach their final destination - the people.<br /><br />Thoughts to two of my friends, David and Aravena, who are still trying to get in touch with their families back there.<br /><br />David has posted a link to this <a href="http://bodyandmindrevolution.com/default.aspx">site</a> on his Facebook page. If you're looking for friends and relatives in Haiti you can contact the site and leave a short message with youre-mail and the names, status and contact info at info@bodyandmindrevolution.com<br /><br />You can also go the <a href="http://www.icrc.org/web/doc/siterfl0.nsf/html/familylinks-haiti-eng">CICR site</a> here if you're looking for news of friends and relatives.<br /><br />You can also join this <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=426734575003&ref=nf">Facebook group </a> called Together for Haiti, where you can send donations and be informed on the situation.<br /><br /><p></p>Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-5790075139733036792010-01-14T13:19:00.009+01:002010-01-28T13:59:08.942+01:00Honey Don't Play Me No Opera : the first "blues" records 1914-1916<img style="width: 400px; height: 289px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xnkpF8utylo27jhQLy3kAgdWMQGJ76GyLfuTdph8gxuQ9J_qZVb-sVEoBkHAxnKkaR7qx9_W1jSgTCqB41EimFc6xpt0INOtbL-UOPmprQNM-0F_KkGKXAr8K6bkb_pHPpH5lgW7rWLj/s400/STAGEharris.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431766431215689314" /><p></p><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/l86hdfct2n.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Marion Harris</span> - Paradise Blues</a>(1916)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/fbg5j5f0ba.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Victor Military Band</span> - Joe Turner Blues</a>(1916)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/canxy03zjc.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Prince's Band</span> - Hesitating Blues</a>(1915)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/z2njkjhab4.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Nora Bayes</span> - Homesickness Blues</a>(1915)<br /><br />All blues scholars and writers have ID'd the first true blues record : "Crazy Blues", by Mamie Smith, recorded in 1920. Every story of the recorded blues starts with this song. But we tend to forget that songs were recorded with the word "blues" in the title before 1920.<br /><br />While searching for pre-1920material I stumbled upon a list at <a href="http://www.redhotjazz.com/">redhotjazz.com</a>, a great site dedicated to the history of jazz before 1930. It features a few records, between 1914 and 1916, that were blues before the blues.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.redhotjazz.com/firstbluesrecords.html">list</a> is made of two different types of recordings : instrumental pieces recorded by military bands that play in the Jim Europe / WC Hadny stle, and songs by famous female (and white) entertainers of the times, like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nora_Bayes">Nora Bayes</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Harris">Marion Harris</a>.<br /><br />I've posted four of them, two of each style, just for you. They don't seem to bear a strong resemblance to the blues (maybe in the chord structure), but you'll recognize, in "Hestating Blues", a standard of both blues and hillbilly music of the 20's; and the female singers really sound like the first "classic" blues divas like Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith or Alberta Hunter.<br /><br />Historians probably picked the Mamie Smith recording as the first blues because Mamie was colored and also because that was the first (although unwilling) attempt at reaching the Afro American public. But those recordings I'm posting today have their dated charms, and I'll probably post some more from 1917-1920, especially by the great Al Bernard, the famous "jazz singer".Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-28081908612979038852010-01-07T14:40:00.016+01:002010-01-09T11:11:13.916+01:00From cakewalk to ragtime 1998-1916<img style="width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQBNUpHFhDV-5kcQQ5yDogLrLAuPjC9B8lHc8kny6hGrO1NUunkgdfNtgsiGKZv3ib6VbAdumMPw-Gxzr57aAf_C2uOw4_3OG_KzbNHj9OLY3fHOCjxJmqavazNa8yUzRU9toTSqmAqz9i/s400/300x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423993009030228642" border="0" /><p></p><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/sihv6e8iy3.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Metropolitan Orchestra</span> - Smoky Mokes</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cake-Walk-Ragtime-1898-1916-Various-Artists/dp/B000024WFU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1262879162&sr=8-4">buy</a>) (1900)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/gsf33ovgar.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Victor Minstrels</span> - The Cake-Walk</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cake-Walk-Ragtime-1898-1916-Various-Artists/dp/B000024WFU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1262879162&sr=8-4">buy</a>) (1902)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/h8r035sksr.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Europe's Society Orchestra</span> - Down Home Rag</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cake-Walk-Ragtime-1898-1916-Various-Artists/dp/B000024WFU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1262879162&sr=8-4">buy</a>) (1913)<br /><br />Trying to trace the origins of jazz in pre-1920 recordings may prove a bit frustrating. The great New Orleans bands only started to gain the interest of producers in the mid-twenties. So all you get before is mostly music recorded by Victor in New York City, generally played by white bands with a military, vaudeville or classical background.<br />But that doesn't mean such explorations are useless and uninteresting. Proof is this compilation by French label Frémeaux & Associés featuring original recordings of rags and its direct ancestor, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cakewalk">cakewalk</a>.<br /><br />This styles are very important because they formed a link between 19th century European music and the music played by the black slaves. The cake-walk was derived from the dances of black people who mocked the European dances like menuets.<br /><br />As <a href="http://www.basinstreet.com/cakewalk.htm">this great article at basinstreet.com</a> says, "Instrumental rags and ragtime-styled music (an ancestor and influence of jazz), were important in Jazz’s evolution because they: 1) brought Negro rhythmic music to the usually sophisticated American White society; 2) non-reading bands listened to and imitated the more learned orchestras heard performing ragtime song; 3) the large demand for dance orchestras during an era when dancing was the most popular form of social activity; and 4) they provided the style for the ‘ragging’ of marches by adding syncopation and blue notes by the piano players of the era."<br /><br /><img style="width: 400px; height: 294px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhECVnqauObX90Qe48fPv5l-Mmwpmum7GLz5Bw1lMwyjdC_yS_UFpLh7rSUm5MYlbEOAiylhrsJyANHUo5S86tonlSp3_adhZi3s8Jvkt_dUOv9-0wo_o1oIkvmk-7X6BEGs3eUuCId5o1v/s400/800px-Cake_walk_poster_1896.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424356181774996066" border="0" /><br /><br />Nowadays, when you think about ragtime, what comes to your mind is Scott Joplin's piano pieces (see <a href="http://riversinvitation.blogspot.com/search/label/Scott%20Joplin">previous post</a>), but cakewalk and ragtime were mostly played and recorded by orchestras or by banjoists, and that's what you will hear in this compilation. These 36 sides may sound stiff at times, but it is a great document anyway on the influence of black music in the turn of the century, and on the popular roots of ragtime.<br /><br />Included are American and European recordings. The cakewalk and ragtime came to France by 1900 with the Exposition Universelle, and the British started to take an interest in cakewalk at this time (as a 1903 piece by banjoist Olly Oakley attests).<br /><br />"Cake-Walk" (listen to the mp3 above) is one of the earliest attemps to capture the autentic spirit of an Afro American dance contest. The MC is one of the vaudeville stars of the era, Len Spencer.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 275px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU08CHjXOHTsXVKqBN2JZjnA_AxQrZy0OzOYuEh30rHFOUS5YIdgry4b3u7Himck0Be5gLLnRetilWoR2vCDUkM2MrFK5BwtSByF4ETDFeQRsue85WkuBjsJMH0_2UvHYrIyPPne7S1TtV/s400/eu2.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424357308504765682" border="0" />The most important bandleaders of the era were <a href="http://riversinvitation.blogspot.com/search/label/jazz%3B%20John%20Philip%20Sousa">John Philip Sousa </a>(specialized in marches), Arthur Pryor (an ex-Sousa band member) and <a href="http://jass.com/Others/europe.html">Jim Reese Europe</a>, the first great African-American bandleader who introduced jazz in France during World War I. Europe's Society Orchestra's "Down Home Rag",under the leadership of drummer Charles "Buddy" Gilmore has a drive and feel which is "the best of what was available in NY at the time. This is highly-polished orchestral ragtime, which stops just short of being jazz.", as Olivier Brard says in the interesting liner notes.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fremeaux.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=138&category_id=64&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=299">See the CD's tracklist here.</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhECVnqauObX90Qe48fPv5l-Mmwpmum7GLz5Bw1lMwyjdC_yS_UFpLh7rSUm5MYlbEOAiylhrsJyANHUo5S86tonlSp3_adhZi3s8Jvkt_dUOv9-0wo_o1oIkvmk-7X6BEGs3eUuCId5o1v/s1600-h/800px-Cake_walk_poster_1896.jpg"></a>Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-30600768618879101152009-12-31T09:58:00.012+01:002010-02-17T16:26:11.098+01:00Before country, vol. 3 : 1910-1915<img style="width: 300px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9LGPuxX9d6mBIJUq8q9ZOLxu2jLy5v5g1VRGgvb_6zsGETMfgzqA9f5C0Bn0B9U83euX1OcjVTsYI6WtuchfpfpdPNcgY0coQ0dq6kI6yKeRvyLXPAvqOdAWnyxT9eXy99zofRJuWYhyw/s400/BertWilliams-BrotherLowDown1921.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421354907595916530" border="0" /><p></p><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/93ui09lhhq.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Harry Lauder</span> - Roamin' in the Gloamin'</a>(1912)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/bv0axqpbz4.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bert Williams</span> - Nobody</a> (1913)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/tzn8veikrg.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Morton Harvey</span> - I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier</a> (1915)<br /><br />This is the third part of my explorations of pre-country music. Here is one more little compilation I've made of various songs and tunes from the first half of the 1910s. Musically speaking, ragtime is still very popular, and the arrival of Afro American syncopated music is related by Tin Pan Alley or vaudeville singers ("Alexander's Ragtime Band). The "first" blues song to be published, "Memphis Blues" by WC Handy, is from 1912 (I included Harlan & Collins' rendition). And in 1910 John Lomax published "Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads", first big scholar work on Western music.<br /><br />Like the two others, this selection features popular "hits", some of them sentimental ballads ("Will The Roses Bloom In Heaven ?" later recorded by the Carter Family), vaudeville and blackface numbers like "Some Of These Days" by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Tucker">Sophie Tucker</a>, a Russian born entertainer that influenced the first "classic blues singers" like Mamie Smith or Ma Rainey, and of course the great <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Williams">Bert Williams</a> (see picture above), maybe the best Afro American entertainer of the early 20th century, with his signature tune "Nobody" (great Johnny Cash version with Rick Rubin in 2000).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiODHq3FHumVn2-8kwnT_UCirSwPfio3_GB9WiUEyN1yZjfhTk-4kv8K-C7gDxmvyoblUjX_cJE4eKTROQJ8GrvmtZHWYdOEnXbLPSnXBfNct5gR-cDH-sI7umvtSApC7GZwsD8WblmAQS5/s1600-h/260px-Music_album.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 260px; height: 347px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiODHq3FHumVn2-8kwnT_UCirSwPfio3_GB9WiUEyN1yZjfhTk-4kv8K-C7gDxmvyoblUjX_cJE4eKTROQJ8GrvmtZHWYdOEnXbLPSnXBfNct5gR-cDH-sI7umvtSApC7GZwsD8WblmAQS5/s400/260px-Music_album.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421373992441933602" /></a>There are the usual oddities, like this beautiful Brasilian tune played by F. Van Eps on the banjo, fiddler and comedian Charles Ross Taggart and one of the most famous singers of the era, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Lauder">Sir Harry Lauder</a> with the delighful "Roamin' in the gloamin'", that shows if need be, the strong musical links between Celtic and country music.<br /><br />The last two songs are World War I related, especially the one by Morton Harvey, which is a good example of the debate on America's preparation and taking part in the conflict. See this <a href="http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4942/">short article</a> about the songs and its context.<br /><br />Here's what you get as a new year's eve present. I don't have the time to go through every song like I did last time, but <span style="font-weight:bold;">don't hesitate to comment or ask details about the songs if you like.</span><br /><br />1. Henry Burr - Old Folks At Home (1910)<br />2. Will Oakland - I'll Remember You, Love, In My Prayers (1911)<br />3. Bill Murray - Alexander's Ragtime Band (1911)<br />4. Arthur Clough & Brunswick Quartet - Down By The Old Mill Stream (1911)<br />5. Henry Burr - Will The Roses Bloom in Heaven ? (1911)<br />6. Sophie Tucker - Some Of These Days (1911)<br />7. Byron Harlan - They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around (1912)<br />8. International Association Quartette - The Church In The Wildwood (1912)<br />9. Bob Roberts - Ragtime Cowboy Joe (1912)<br />10. Harry Lauder - Roamin' in the Gloamin' (1912)<br />11. Edna Brown & James F. Harrison - The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine (1913)<br />12. Collins & Harlan - When The Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves For Alabam' (1913)<br />13. Bert Williams - Nobody (1913)<br />14. Charles Ross Taggart - Old Country Fiddler in New York (1914)<br />15. Fred Van Eps - Sans souci (Maxixe brésilienne) (1914)<br />16. Billy Murray & American Quartet - When You Wore A Tulip (1914)<br />17. Morton Harvey - In The Hills Of Old Kentucky (1915)<br />18. Collins & Harlan - Memphis Blues (1915)<br />19. Morton Harvey - I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier (1915)<br />20. Peerless Quartet - Is There Still Room For Me Neath The Old Apple Tree (1915)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?mzmimiq5zun"><span style="font-weight: bold;">DOWNLOAD BEFORE COUNTRY VOL. 3 (1910-1915) HERE<br /></span></a><br /><br />... and enjoy the music !<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ1c85HxLhy9EO30-o-zxaHn8xi_wAke-8NEKsc4E9xy_3hh6Lwv6tJhl-1xeE9eHeAUNIA5qnXHVrA-6s1UfEatE0ijdbyLk31ul5jBfnOUQps6Ur5q-WvWvxqKJLVn8dXYKJVjfqaTEz/s1600-h/a0665-1-72dpi.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 230px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ1c85HxLhy9EO30-o-zxaHn8xi_wAke-8NEKsc4E9xy_3hh6Lwv6tJhl-1xeE9eHeAUNIA5qnXHVrA-6s1UfEatE0ijdbyLk31ul5jBfnOUQps6Ur5q-WvWvxqKJLVn8dXYKJVjfqaTEz/s400/a0665-1-72dpi.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421366380181951474" /></a>Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-85948813936403350472009-12-21T13:48:00.007+01:002009-12-22T06:55:24.931+01:00Joyeux Noël<img style="width: 300px; height: 252px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGVCgm_RYup1N0uplBczt_7SXln2A6NS_11UyFApOUyD-YAcdv528YMOdCiI5BVS-M4SqP2W1hPjwKAsQES8SRzqTct6_ihbim2LsU0dChwp_IsqV68yVc69sJIuC6zT59epbgSS0OCk6q/s400/jds49.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417672687268954450" border="0" /><p></p><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/jbcuycp9eb.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Leadbelly</span> - On A Christmas Day</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Huddie-Ledbetters-Best-Leadbelly/dp/B000009QAG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1261400421&sr=8-1">buy</a>) (1944)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/61f83ghxdq.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Georges Brassens</span> - Le Père Noël et la petite fille</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001IAQU14/ref=dm_sp_alb?ie=UTF8&qid=1261400562&sr=8-1-catcorr">buy</a>) (1960)<br /><br />Have a nice Xmas dear readers !!<br /><br />You'll find more great christmas music and pics at the <a href="http://therealbigrockcandymountain.blogspot.com/">Big rock candy mountain</a>Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-3520514199491796572009-12-17T13:34:00.014+01:002009-12-17T16:25:23.886+01:00Blues Standards : Ain't Nobody's Business<img style="width: 271px; height: 350px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0x6mtSdGhelFVkLVXlOayFONy8bgwAhCT_ktecCJ8WyeE3GZr99-T7X2UIEHR5NWbLJkv9rp1ClwlxP-NUUx6zq5x_tCn_DHwetLUnX-RUPL0MABEsbbgY8hLFg445Gsm4Yi6RVERwBk/s400/Witherspoon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416199536761305074" border="0" /><p></p><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/r6b7ytfceu.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Bessie Smith</span> - T'ain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013AZO3Y/ref=dm_sp_alb?ie=UTF8&qid=1261057942&sr=8-1">buy</a>) (1923)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/ed9rkbphxv.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jimmy Witherspoon</span> - Ain't Nobody's Business</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013AZO3Y/ref=dm_sp_alb?ie=UTF8&qid=1261057942&sr=8-1">buy</a>) (1947)<br /><br />Here's one of these blues standards that was sung by almost everybody.<br /><br />If you think it's by Eric Clapton, you're wrong (again)...<br /><br />The theme of this song is universal and holds in the title : it's a song of freedom. Freedom from the universal "what will the neighbors say ?". <br />That's the reason why it became so popular among the public but also among the artists, whose private lives are so often threatened and scrutinized. <br /><br />According to French scholar Gerard Herzhaft's <span style="font-style:italic;">Encyclopédie du blues</span>, the song has a blackface/vaudeville origin and the first influential version was recorded by Bessie Smith in 1923, and composed by Porter Grainger and Everett Robbins. It seems that a few other "classic blues" lady singers waxed it around 1922-23 (Sara Martin and Alberta Hunter).<br /><br />According to the <a href="http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/ballads/RcNobBu1.html">Traditional Ballad Index</a>, this song dates back to 1911 and shouldn't be confused with <a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/0qnosn216x.mp3">another one that was recorded by African American Black entertainer Bert Williams in 1919</a>, and which is about a preacher trying to protect his own private life. The lyrics of William's version are different, but the subject is the same.<br /><br /><img style="width: 349px; height: 270px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxj1NUZJLsmRYSExa7MGwRpwpWgsEwStMoynx-wrLGU1MMHpjDYoU_152H_Zda44-oCUONIhaq-eflMMxn-sPkY6gfypMdoeRAlgkt_ZafdaYLl7huJ-jQ8SsJJHUGAGRm4czYWjS8Oj6m/s400/williams_b_pic2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416212656477978658" /><p></p><br />But "Nobody's Business" was really made famous by Jimmy Witherspoon when he recorded it with Jay McShann orchestra in late 1947. The song was a #1 hit for Spoon in 1949 and became one of his signature tunes, that he recorded many times. I posted the original version (parts 1 & 2), but there's a Chess recording from 1958 that is excellent too.<br />Spoon's rendition became the reference for a lot of covers in the 1950s and afterwards (Billie Holiday, BB and Freddie King, Ike and Tina Turner among others).<br /><br />But there's another version, more rural, less urban, that was recorded many times in the 1920's and after by both black and white artists, with a different melody. <br />Here are the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Johnson_%28fiddler%29">Earl Johnson</a> (hillbilly fiddler from Georgia)and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Stokes">Frank Stokes </a>(Memphis bluesman) versions :<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/mopxux9758.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Earl Johnson</span> - Ain't Nobody's Business</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B0027AM26G/ref=dm_sp_alb?ie=UTF8&qid=1261061896&sr=8-5">buy</a>) (1927)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/foaobzrvfl.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Frank Stokes</span> - 'Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Best-Frank-Stokes/dp/B0006TRO4U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1261062121&sr=8-1">buy</a>) (1928)<br /><br />This different, folky version was also sung by Mississippi John Hurt (before Stokes, in february 1928), country singer Riley Puckett (several recordings between 1935 and 1941), and by Piedmont blues singer John Jackson in 1965. Taj Mahal recorded a similar version in 1976.<br /><br /><img style="width: 275px; height: 252px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ON6HrOZfTFBwtKmBH4crARRulFIIY_UcOMvdDcRgrr6inFTO-90aKKGxCgeywLN02AffweNOMk3nC_UuSabLwm9yNF3CrfS0dFQrZRCyu6-Qu8707VNLDOxnna1mBvbUxPPk0s1SrE3G/s400/1928-7_FrankStokes.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416222276104056050" />Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-90508186599367366242009-12-11T11:51:00.041+01:002009-12-31T13:17:44.206+01:00Before country : 1893-1909 (2)<img style="cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 326px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsEkDU0SOsqBMBcBN31XzdsBC4PEerSBDm0yMxfmybts_1kvo3rBEMSOvch4mkp17v0rM1cUVb-6EYpsCUMQ-MkLWbOHJRQvuZlS-rfG-DqSIRqei33jQoBvcqLmxarzqVrVUb4gm69vo_/s400/blackface-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413964983286921378" border="0" /><p></p><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dear readers,</span><br /><br />I'm both excited and worried. Excited, because I've discovered a new field, a musical virgin land for me : pre-1920 recordings.<br />Worried because , as always, there is so much music and so little time. I just wanted to post a couple of songs the other week to illustrate the pre-hillbilly era, but now I'm hooked on this music and I want to go much farther.<br /><br />I know this is just the beginning but as I did last time, I have posted a playlist I want to share with you (see link at the end of this post) of pre-country recordings (and more will follow), covering the same period as last time, from 1890 to 1910.<br /><br />As you will hear, lots of different styles are featured there : Tin Pan Alley songs, some in the over sentimental fashion of these days, more comic tunes ore sketches from the minstrel tradition, gospel songs, banjo tunes, and some sadly famous "coon songs".<br /><br />So here's the list (with my comments) :<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><br />George J. Gaskin - After The Ball (1893)</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> :</span> <a href="http://songwritershalloffame.org/artists/C4070">Gaskin</a>, an Irish tenor, was one of the most famous singers from the 1890s. This song is typical of the sentimental style : the brother/sister misunderstanding episode can be found in numerous songs like "The Tragic Romance" (Doc Watson).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Cousins & De Moss - Poor Mourner (1898)</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> :</span> This is one of the most ancient forms of Afro American pre-blues music I've ever heard. It's fascinating. This banjo duet plays a call and response gospel in a pure rocking style. I HAVE to get more from them (and I will).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Steve Porter - In The Baggage Coach Ahead (1899)</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> :</span> This is the song that Mellencamp's grandma sings on JCM's <span style="font-style: italic;">Scarecrow</span> album from 1984. It was covered by Vernon Dalhart in 1925.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Vess L. Ossman - Whistling Rufus (1899)</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> :</span> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vess_Ossman">Vess Ossman</a> was a very famous banjoist who recorded a lot in the turn of the century. Here he plays an instrumental version of the famous coon song "Whistling Rufus".<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Dan W. Quinn - Ain't Dat A Shame (1901)</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> :</span> another recording star of the era, in another coon song.<br />I decided to include a few of these songs, because they were very popular at the time and that most of the time the music is excellent and shows a lot of African american influences. I am conscious that the lyrics are very offensive today, and needless to say I was disgusted by their outspoken racism, but they are very representative of the era. As Patrick Featser at his wonderful site <a href="http://www.phonozoic.net/">Phonozoic</a> says, "The coon song coupled the catchiest tunes of the age with words marking a low point in crude racial stereotyping and insensitivity. This genre of popular song shaped and reinforced racist assumptions to a degree that should not be underestimated". You can find an excellent article on coon songs <a href="http://parlorsongs.com/insearch/coonsongs/coonsongs.php">here at Parlor Songs</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHXf2S8h732LLr-WbRkSYcn1BtamJygv2MmP-MINkP9jrKFl1SEzzE4g5YyLzRddjlypLPXfXrim_P_ZZvHX_nqMrX4aXV1T4jm-V4aWdjvqGz_U5sVzIyw-4c4swV3jJ1V7bmiIvP0SQ-/s1600-h/1380-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 203px; height: 270px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHXf2S8h732LLr-WbRkSYcn1BtamJygv2MmP-MINkP9jrKFl1SEzzE4g5YyLzRddjlypLPXfXrim_P_ZZvHX_nqMrX4aXV1T4jm-V4aWdjvqGz_U5sVzIyw-4c4swV3jJ1V7bmiIvP0SQ-/s400/1380-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413982459158527282" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/sq4jribvyg.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">George W. Johnson</span> - The Laughing Song (1901)</a><br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Johnson">George W. Johnson</a> was the first Afro American artist to record. A famous whistler and singer from Virginia, he started recording in 1890. From 1890 to 1895, the total sales of his records was 25 000 to 50 000, each one recorded individually by Johnson !! (every single record was a master by then). This is a re-recording of one of his most famous songs, carrying the stereotype of the big-mouth, loud laughing "darkey". Coon songs were not sung by white men only...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Silas Leachman - Fortune Telling Man (1901)</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> :</span> Silas Leachman was also known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Walker_%28vaudeville%29">George Walker</a>, part of the Walker and Williams duo with Bert Williams, one of the first and the most prominent acts of Black comedy.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Arthur Collins & Vess L. Ossman - All Coons Look Alike To Me (1902)</span> /<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan - Old Black Joe (1902)</span></span>:<br />These are two of the most famous coon songs. <a href="http://songwritershalloffame.org/artists/C4017">Arthur Collins</a> was a popular minstrel singer, who often paired with tenor <a href="http://songwritershalloffame.org/artists/C4039">Byron Harlan</a>. The banjo accompaniment on these two songs is very interesting and probably derived from Afro American music. "All Coons Look Alike" was written bu a Black composer ! Sad...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">J.W. Myers - I Stood On The Bridge At Midnight (1902)</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> :</span> a famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Byron G. Harlan - Always In The Way (1903)</span> /<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Byron G. Harlan - When The Harvest Days Are Over (1902)</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> :</span> As a solo artist, Harlan specialized in sentimental ballads like "Hello Central Give Me Heaven" (see previous post) or "Harvest Days", later sung by Uncle Dave Macon<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Harry Macdonough - Stay In Your Own Backyard (1904)</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> :</span> another typical sentimental song, often advertised as a "plaintive coon song" (sic). Although showing compassion for a little coloured boy who his rejected by his white neighbors, the title and the conclusion of the song are more than ambiguous and justify segregation in the end.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtq5Cfd1MLmh_eS0Pl5pUN0FUmJ-d4_5bV_YYcdGzjS61j0_HpBCGu0e-X8K3-S4-Jg6afkyuxendcGZlAwdzSSw14s4yMkI8C0CsNjNOpGGdcUASyCzh7jJiAjzLSbyvy6Txcf26w7VD/s1600-h/3777-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 203px; height: 270px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtq5Cfd1MLmh_eS0Pl5pUN0FUmJ-d4_5bV_YYcdGzjS61j0_HpBCGu0e-X8K3-S4-Jg6afkyuxendcGZlAwdzSSw14s4yMkI8C0CsNjNOpGGdcUASyCzh7jJiAjzLSbyvy6Txcf26w7VD/s400/3777-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414004799707355602" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/h97ib12a00.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span> Bob Roberts & Vess L. Ossman- - The Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane (1904)</a><br /><br />Now a bluegrass standard, this song was written in 1871 for the minstrel trade. The song itself was popular, but the melody was even more widely used, finding itself adapted to a variety of other songs: "The Little Old Sod Shanty On The Claim" , "Little Red Caboose Behind The Train"; and even hymns, "The Lily Of The Valley".Fiddlin' John Carson's version of 1923 is famous for being the first commercial recording by a white rural musician.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Edison Male Quartet - When The Bees Are In The Hive (1905)</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> :</span> A pastoral sentimental Tin Pan Alley song later recorded by Bill Monroe.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/t0ozgj2prr.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Arthur Collins</span> - The Preacher and the Bear (1905)</a> :<br />Collins' greatest hit and signature tune, a great comic song and a convinving bear imitation.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Irving Gillette (Henry Burr) - In The Shade Of The Old Apple Tree (1905)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Billy Murray - Parody on In The Shade Of The Old Apple Tree (1905)</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">:</span> <a href="http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/4/4/m2-1004-e.html">Henry Burr</a>(photo below), born in Canada, was one of the most prolific artists of the era. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Shade_of_the_Old_Apple_Tree">This song</a> was so sentimental that Billy Murray recorded this parody.<br /><br /><img style="width: 400px; height: 277px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju1n33UIte4hn22UDz7vERCFD6NUeJ82WUfwL1qEBtJUFqDxGx9PbFoN5DMjKN7Yia9DNkRabF5o1QNzYy44RISqahBcyob2rkzYqAlmu-fr9ob0JpViVmgRTyMxySDMfTUwddp2pecyyB/s400/nlc008561-v6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414007974516456226" border="0" /><p></p><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Osman Dudley Trio - St. Louis Tickle (1906)</span> : a ragtime piece for banjo celebrating the 1904 St Louis Exposition.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Len Spencer & Alf Holt - A Barnyard Serenade (1906)</span> : this vaudeville comic duo performs a series of animal imitations.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Arthur Collins - Moving Day (1906)</span> : another "coon song" that Charlie Poole would record later.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">May Irwin - The Bully (1907)</span> : <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Irwin">May Irvin</a>, a vaudeville Canadian actress and singer with her signature tune, the famous "Bully Of The Town" (in country, the Stankey brothers covered it). Her act around 1900 was known as "Coon Shouting" in which she performed African American influenced songs. watch out : the lyrics are particularly racist, but as they say at Parlor's song, it's important to know that such things existed. The Golden years were not good for every one....<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGXQ87qcIeGRd7IQAFgXv1g2-FrPm5fN6rXsP0BJKOp3CLqp9hCxkF2l4aBQfE8SNYGVCYjOgLxNHnohLaFck_U7C00JlZZtUoo7B2X4auOz6-Ho603Bf_10-nn_LdwyYaqcqRRJeHM4Wa/s1600-h/2086-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGXQ87qcIeGRd7IQAFgXv1g2-FrPm5fN6rXsP0BJKOp3CLqp9hCxkF2l4aBQfE8SNYGVCYjOgLxNHnohLaFck_U7C00JlZZtUoo7B2X4auOz6-Ho603Bf_10-nn_LdwyYaqcqRRJeHM4Wa/s400/2086-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414245281143276962" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Frederick Potter - Red Wing (1907)</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> : </span><a style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Wing_%28song%29">Red Wing</a><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> ("an Indian fable") was a popular Tin Pan Alley Song that became a very famous fiddle tune and a barn dances favorite.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Arthur Collins - All In, Down and Out (1907)</span> : this vaudeville classic was later recorded by Uncle Dave Macon. The song title and line "If I ever get my hand on a dollar again, I'm gonna hold on to it" were used in the famous classic "Nobody Knows You When You're down and Out" (Bessie Smith)<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Fisk University Jubilee Singers - Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (1909)</span> : <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisk_Jubilee_Singers">the famous a cappella ensemble</a> was organized in 1871 to raise funds for the African American Fisk university in Tennessee and toured all over the world. This is one of their first recordings (of course it was not the origninal line-up). Fisk Jubilee singers still perform today.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/gat3y6mb6k.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Polk Miller & The Old South Quartet</span> - Watermelon Party (1909) </a><br />Last but not least, a pure gem. It's from 1909 and it sounds like blues, 20 years before the fist country bluesmen were recorded ! It is one of the rare recordings from the era featuring a guitar, and the playing, singing are just plain authentic. And there's more to it : <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polk_Miller">Polk Miller</a> (see photo below), a white pharmacist and musician from Virginia, performed with a quartet of African American singers : one of the earliest mixed groups ever recorded ! According to various sources, they played material going back to the days before the Civil War. Mark Twain considered Miller as "the only thing this country can furnish that is originally and utterly American". One can understand why. Document records issued more songs by them and they're on my immediate wish list !<br /><br /><img style="width: 387px; height: 216px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhug784VWMUAa93nyrH-rP1JZiIWv5X8Yq5uW9t5sGG86GzGtkay2j_ihjeWjAo-rydsMDL8MsfAUkTQWQ57nxC7P6ugBz3lhLFAwnFoVMR2MjgWPIrk2DCDc-k8eFeRmDj7qOymkJD4kdq/s400/polkoldsouthqu2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414260308138361394" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?divmjkdztwz"><span style="font-weight: bold;">DOWNLOAD BEFORE COUNTRY VOL. 2 HERE<br /></span></a><br /><br />... and enjoy the music !Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-78792220951518371812009-12-01T13:31:00.005+01:002009-12-01T15:12:39.055+01:00Henry Thomas, Texas songster<img style="width: 280px; height: 280px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjvJjh_amjZT9aOTNQeA7O1tmxlXVzgKxv49unLk2ct66lA0PGIvyNYk1zQCbPQoRXLeLwnzbgzIplG7BFiiZQHcJKyybEPEusa6SPkGPW-OPOCL2mnolsawTBFFoCNLozZidyETCcYjid/s400/61c87Kqo+tL._SL500_AA280_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410245415865803762" /><p></p><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/47xrkyoptx.mp3"target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Henry Thomas</span> - Bull Doze Blues</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Worried-Blues-Complete-1927-1929/dp/B000000G8B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1259672131&sr=8-1">buy</a>) (1928)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/rsb398h06o.mp3"target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Henry Thomas</span> - Fishin' Blues</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Worried-Blues-Complete-1927-1929/dp/B000000G8B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1259672131&sr=8-1">buy</a>) (1928)<br /><br />Henry Thomas, aka "Ragtime Texas" was one of the oldest Black folk musicians to ever record. Born in Big Sandy, Tx, in 1874, he recorded in 1928-89 when he was in his fifties. The 23 songs he left us (available on the Yazoo compilation <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Worried-Blues-Complete-1927-1929/dp/B000000G8B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1259672131&sr=8-1">Texas Worried Blues</a></span>) are a great document on the music that was there before the blues. Henry was the archetypal songster, capable of playing any kind of popular music to entertain his audience and earn his life. <br />If you want to know more about the man please read this <a href="http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/fthxc.html">excellent article</a> in The Handbook of Texas Online. <br /><br />In fact Ragtime Texas only waxed a handfull of "bona fide" blues, and the rest was of various origins : rags, reels and other country dances, vaudeville and minstrel songs, with floating verses taken from many different popular songs.<br />His lively guitar playing, his use of the quills (see <a href="http://riversinvitation.blogspot.com/2009/04/fifes-and-quills.html">previous pos</a>t), make him a very original figure of a great influence. His music was re-discovered thanks to the Harry Smith anthology in 1952, that featured a couple of his tunes, including "Fishin' Blues". In the 60's, great old-time music lovers like Dylan ("Honey Aloow Me One More Chance"), Canned Heat ("Bull Doze Blues" becoming "Goin' Up The Country"), Grateful Dead or Taj Mahal covered his songs.<br /><br />And most of all, Ragtime Texas sang about the itinerant life of the hobo-musician like nobody else, especially in the following song :<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/ba5debv79k.mp3"target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Henry Thomas</span> - Railroadin' Some</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Worried-Blues-Complete-1927-1929/dp/B000000G8B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1259672131&sr=8-1">buy</a>) (1928)<br /><br />I leave you with this beautiful tribute made by Norman Blake 70 years after Henry Thomas recorded.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/pg4r0a7o3k.mp3"target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Norman Blake</span> - Ragtime Texas</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Chattanooga-Sugar-Babe-Norman-Blake/dp/B000000DTM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1259674026&sr=1-1">buy</a>) (1998)Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-62135342676228646602009-11-24T14:23:00.030+01:002009-11-26T22:08:35.538+01:00Before country part 1 (1891-1909)<img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 229px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTgsaalv14olKGoKZUEB966a4zZ0xDQvI-8r5APp79JdXWp5pMIIaW2GUPKsJYsN7ltvxLSD-uYl1EhjjY7N5ASL1Tvmi99qzR28FZSDZKvd0t3_XPBEEOAibocTvClC0EcimQhNA-dty_/s400/BillyMurrayEmerson1919.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408172022025064450" border="0" /><p></p><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/e0hmglvuay.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Edison Male Quartet</span> - A Flower From Home Sweet Home</a> (1907)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/kg3t0fos41.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Edison Male Quartet</span> - My Old Kentucky Home</a> (1902)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/tu9vdctqbc.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Byron Harlan</span> - Hello Central Give Me Heaven</a> (1904)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/ghneni76nz.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Billy Murray</span> - Casey Jones</a> (1909)<br /><br />It is admitted that the first documented country recording was Eck Robertson's Victor session in june 1922.<br /><br />But what was there before ?<br /><br />In the first years of the phonograph industry, before World War I, record companies only focused on an urban audience. They had not realized yet the importance of the rural population, at least as a specific audience.<br />As Bill C. Malone writes in <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Country-Music-U-S-Bill-Malone/dp/0292752628">Country Music USA </a></span> (the main source for this post),<br /><blockquote>"Rustic types were staples of American entertainment, but these were usually sophisticated entertainers, such as John Denman or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cal_Stewart">Cal Stewart</a>(hear his <a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/vquthrqvrb.mp3">"Uncle Josh In A Barber Shop"</a>), who merely acted the parts of hayseed and rubes. Folk and rural songs likewise were not absent (...) but they were generally done by urbane song-and-dance men like Billy Golden (hear his <a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/e4h9gc18oi.mp3">"Turkey In The Straw"</a> from 1891) or the Edison Male Quartet (see songs above)".</blockquote><br />Out of curiosity for these unknown names, I went to archive.org and picked a couple of Edison Male Quartet tunes. These guys are really exciting to hear. Weird to hear music from cylinders more than a century old ! What I like the most is the man barking his announcements in a great sergeant-major style...<br /><br /><br /><img style="width: 284px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxSGsgeez3XLp-vNg6XobuOKZBwGHKUC3t8kMr1CxlYskhKBly0pYa6vrvxWCVtA75iMGQ1bt4vqHi5XQuqmZ8zVXI52CqHsu95v5L9IcSU7UPSGSy1WzIrzthl0SGMNFqJi8gbnGZECZ6/s400/tlc0130.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408026284360361954" border="0" /><p></p><br /><br />I listened to a few songs, then other ones, then others, and tried a little research on the Web. With the help of <a href="http://bluegrassmessengers.com/1111111111111111111new-page.aspx">this page</a> at bluegrassmessengers.com, I found so many great songs that I decided to make a little compilation you can download, in addition to the tracks posted above, featuring songs I think influenced country music. I only included tracks from the turn of the century (1891-1909). Of course, there will be (at least) a volume two.<br /><br />Although, like Malone says, the instrumentation and performing style have nothing to do with hillbilly music, you'll find folk or Southern ballads ("My Old Kentucky Home", a great version of "Casey Jones") and many sentimental ballads, some of which were covered by country and hillbilly singers ("Silver Threads Among the Gold", with a melody that reminds me of "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain", "Hello Central Give Me Heaven", later sung by the Carter Family), more satirical comedy sketches about hillbillies ("Arkansas Traveler"), and a lot of vaudeville and minstrel shows artists like Byron G. Harlan. There also were tons of terrible "coon songs", but i didn't include them; I didn't know they were SO popular in 1900 !!<br /><br />The sentimental "pop" ballads, along with the old folk traditions, were an undeniable influence on country music too.<br /><br />Here's what you'll find :<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Before country vol. 1 (1891-1909)</span><br /><br />Billy Golden - Turkey in The Straw (1891)<br />Cal Stewart - Uncle Josh In A Barber Shop (1896)<br />JJ Fisher -The Girl I Loved In Sunny Tennesse (1899)<br />Joseph Natus - A Bird In A Guilded Cage (1900)<br />Edison Male Quartet _ My Old Kentucky Home (1902)<br />Arthur Collins - Oh Didn't He Rambled (1902)<br />Richard Jose - Silver Threads Among the Gold (1904)<br />Byron Harlan - Hello Central Give Me Heaven (1904)<br />Len Spencer -Arkansaw Traveller (1904)<br />Haydn Quartet - My Grandfather's Clock (1905)<br />Edison Male Quartet - A Flower From Home Sweet Home (1907)<br />Ada jones & Bill Murray - Rainbow (1908)<br />Will Oakland - The longest Way 'Round Is the Sweetest Way Home (1909)<br />Bill Murray - Casey Jones (1909)<br />Arthur Clough - Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet (1909)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?jddg3nktfic">DOWNLOAD BEFORE COUNTRY (vol.1) HERE</a><br /><br /><img style="width: 300px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB8X-Jkk2pVO2PRm4jyAFeJjioVW6YP-A1RNIPx0650SlssG2g5X2KhjLeauf8gRGozVLg0kGV2hVCPGHJScFbJc69twU4dGCbw1W7wyqJxr8fSeUdspujXeG-Mt6_b9fxhF5spZHggSxF/s400/79807414_1c5af3ba20.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408173520839935426" border="0" />Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-30384569987093936612009-11-18T13:23:00.006+01:002009-11-18T16:16:06.734+01:00Growling Tiger : Knockdown Calypsos<img style="width: 307px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzsiCh78RtpbbOO5Iszfa5WFSdj2u3vJvKVpAypzKMJwyaYOSG3nOgUXFSnNp2S5QdgaFBiN0zXaO0P9HPVbWC36ZcFezTbdlf9ZqUynM7gtxkS7-6BpTjBuOvYXNNFPjIfxJHY8Gv16XE/s400/KnockdownCalypsos.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405419294632367586" border="0" /><p></p><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/71uvuffra2.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Growling Tiger</span> - Money Is King (1979)</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.fr/Knockdown-Calypsos-Growling-Tiger/dp/B000000382">buy</a>)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/f2mf9afdza.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Growling Tiger</span> - The Train Blow (1979)</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/High-Priest-Mi-Minor-Knockdown/dp/B000000382/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1258547939&sr=1-1">buy</a>)<br /><br />First of all, I am deeply sorry for not posting those past weeks, I was too much busy with the Acclaimed music poll, which is now over.<br /><br />Just after submitting my list of favorite albums, I found this gem, that I would heve included if I could. I knew one track already, the first one I posted, the delicious "Money Is King", on a great box set called <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Musica-Negra-Americas-Various-Artists/dp/B00004Y9TE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1258547988&sr=1-1">Musica Negra In the Americas</a></span>.<br /><br />The album is a great surprise, even if "Money Is King" remains, IMO, the highlight of the lot. Neville Marcano, aka The Growling Tiger (1915-1993) was a calypsonian from Trinidad, an ex-boxer who became a star in the 1930s, when calypsonians started exporting their music overseas, and big names emerged like Lord Kitchener, Lord Invader or Roaring Lion (I don't know which one of Roaring Lion or Growling Tiger earnt his nickname first).<br /><br />Check ou his bio <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growling_Tiger">here</a> (Wikipedia) and <a href="http://www.acousticmusic.com/fame/p00782.htm">here</a> (Acousticmusic.com)<br /><br />After a semi retirement, Growling Tiger was recorded by Alan Lomax in Trinidad in 1962 with an acoustic band, playing a traditional form of Calypso and even older styles. You can find these recordings on the Alan Lomax Series under the name <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000002UY/ref=s9_simz_gw_s0_p15_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0S00THJNTKHER02C46BY&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846">The Growling Tiger Of Calypso</a></span>.<br />Then 15 years later American enthousiast Steve Shapiro rediscovered a 64 year-old Tiger and recorded him again, this time with a more "modern" band featuring horns. These sessions gave birth to <span style="font-style: italic;">Knock Down Calypsos</span>.<br /><br /><img style="width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDrTvm7aMNXAh8O_Rx9PDCR0qEmdCCzP81xoK1bk-5F-LMvKS-dwcXfi1p3Lss1lrToqhgRVVHTU5NT9tJIinszXWHTQb1xrfqS-Tnxpz1CJt2PshELXtJOB3HqEdWTXGp1VeGZ3iWSVc1/s400/ROUN1717_Cover%5B1%5D.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405462095673696194" border="0" /><p></p><br />It is difficult to resist the Tiger's charms. His music, a sum of various influences from French, Spanish, English and African traditions, ranges from old-school minor-key calypso ("Money Is king") to derivations from more ancient styles like kalinda (a stick-fighting dance popular in Trinidad carnivals) or songs with a strong African heritage like "Youruba Shango".<br /><br />A common trait in calypso, the lyrics and the singer's personality are very important. The singer must forge himself a strong identity in order to outshine the competition. Growling Tiger, with his deep barytone voice, was famous for his political and social lyrics, and never ceased to mock the rulers and the system, in pure carnaval tradition.<br /><br />"Money Is King", both funny and serious, is a great example of his consciousness. The album also features bawdy songs like "The Train Blow". I couldn't understand the whole thing but it looks like the story of a romance on a passenger train. If somebody could help me with the lyrics exact meaning, that would be great (same goes for "Money is King") !<br /><br />As <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/robert-leaver">Robert Leaver</a> says, "A master of improvisation (extempo) and the competitive Calypsonian duel, Tiger could rhyme on diverse subjects with intelligence and wit. Rappers take heed -- Growling Tiger could school you".Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-57334497787091734002009-10-27T13:53:00.004+01:002009-12-14T20:12:53.643+01:00Favorite roots albums : Blind Gary Davis - Harlem Street Singer<img style="width: 318px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizeagXCZ4KXyPbe7CTtp2Kb_PRl34CJYrsWzwxKn8U1LCV7t6OWIx-oj4W2kPXOdeJO96tpz_DVGznQlwTsELG34QojRR-2MXLBnaKcRxggfL8n8vt0qrt7QNAJgjCyVIKpzdo6x5Ndbce/s400/cover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397262721609791218" border="0" /><p></p><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/6nz538443r.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Blind Gary Davis</span> - Death Don't Have No Mercy</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Harlem-Street-Singer-Rev-Davis/dp/B000000XYN/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1256649254&sr=8-3">buy</a>) (1960)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/u7pzzjapup.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Blind Gary Davis</span> - Lo, I Be With You Always</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Harlem-Street-Singer-Rev-Davis/dp/B000000XYN/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1256649254&sr=8-3">buy</a>) (1960)<br /><br />Sorry folks for the late post, I have few free time these days due to the <a href="http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=3172289350&frmid=10&msgid=1003379&cmd=show">Top 200 AMF album poll</a> I'm running. This is another of my favorite albums.<br /><br />This beautiful LP was part of my father's collection when I discovered it. It features a great vocalist and guitar picker in 12 gospel-blues songs as he sang them in the streets of New York City. The album was recorded in a 3 hour session on August 24, 1960.<br /><br />This is pure top notch acoustic blues and one of the very first masterpieces of the folk/blues revival of the sixties.<br /><br />I'll discuss the man Gary Davis later but you can check out his bio <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:3vfixq85ld6e%7ET1">here</a>.Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-65181677675199753602009-10-16T13:56:00.004+02:002009-10-16T15:20:28.301+02:00Favorite roots albums : Georges Brassens Edition<img style="cursor: pointer; width: 378px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggTvCBU-21guAD53YkkN96JavAHHj2TMEUdJH_z7bezMyj8SS7UBTvDdebZsJ8YBQS07yqFSxawK0j2zh5p2-jr_YB4kEWliZ58OV-Fv_diEESGZUlLdWt8l1E9LhwRdijh5UHiAhBqbfS/s400/Georges+Brassens.jpg" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/uhfc01ytpj.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Georges Brassens</span> - Le Gorille</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mauvaise-Reputation-Georges-Brassens/dp/B00005NV8T/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1255697554&sr=8-3">buy</a>) (1953)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/1xh8s0c75p.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Georges Brassens</span> - Le Bistrot</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/M%C3%A9cr%C3%A9ant-Georges-Brassens/dp/B00005NV8Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1255697660&sr=1-1">buy</a>) (1960)<br /><br />Sorry guys i haven't got much time these days due to my work with Acclaimed Music's album poll, in which you can still take part (more details <a href="http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=3172289350&frmid=10&msgid=1003379&cp=1&cmd=show">here</a>. )<br /><br />While I'm knee-deep (and soon chest-deep) into lists of favorite albums, here's an artist who will have at least 3 or 4 albums in my top 200.<br /><br />Brassens is the first thing I remember, musically speaking. <br />My grandfather used to play these 10-inch (25 cm) LPs, I was 3 or 4 years old and soon I knew some songs by heart and sang them in my grandparents' garden. <br /><br />My father played these records too, singing along. I listened to them with my sisters and grew up with this music. That's probably why I love folk music today.<br /><br /><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 326px; height: 328px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQOKDaxYnhIA-oBrKsm5SftcUHMCaY9DY5EhSZI-F6j9oEJI8wugncwAf-mf_JiXneATjhP1tCzYLhGRZn_rKAYSdFZRFAwaCgZDkpsAUkVIulH9FJESjBKIZx254kqLiH8NIW2_rTmOOy/s400/25cm-3-georges-brassens-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393167771576285058" border="0" /><br /><br /> And Brassens still rules : he's folky, and sometimes jazzy à la Django (most of the time just a double bass and two accoustic guitars), he's the hell of a songwriter, he's an exquisite poet (much better than Brel to me, much more literate), he's fun, go to his biography on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Brassens">wiki</a> or <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=GEORGES|BRASSENS&sql=11:3xfwxqq5ldfe~T1">AMG</a> if you don't know him. <br /><br />The songs ? about God (the hilarious "Le Mécréant"), death and murder ("Le gorille"), love ("Je m'suis fait tout petit", two of his very best songs), and of course, booze ("Le Bistrot", about a bartender's wife).<br /><br />"Le Gorille", one of his very first songs, was banned from airplay because of its lyrics. It even caused Brassens' mother, a devout Catholic to boycott his concerts.<br /><br />You'll find English subtitles in this video to learn why. Brassens is old and sick in the video so the performance is not as good as in the record.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wJp1G1Igcz4&hl=fr&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wJp1G1Igcz4&hl=fr&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-63745486690764439472009-10-09T13:14:00.002+02:002009-10-09T13:59:10.011+02:00A to Z : The Allen Brothers<img style="width: 300px; height: 297px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPApO_EDONM9q66KjSc7XtgfM9_yMihkpxQHlFwwWBogimX3T5J5tw5kjpDWtqd6W7nV3z3NjVf4TJPXW2y7tyJcbXI-eZDPP7TdggSPgA6zR1Opbi3UN5z9HNmK39hAEGxORNCCjTd6zo/s400/300x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390558000105501042" border="0" /><p></p><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/xdg8daxcg2.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Allen Brothers</span> - Bow Wow Blues</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Allen-Brothers-Vol-1-1927-1930/dp/B00005YQHG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1255087233&sr=1-1">buy</a>) (1927)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/kaqtru9d12.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Allen Brothers</span> - Jake Walk Blues</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Allen-Brothers-Vol-1-1927-1930/dp/B00005YQHG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1255087233&sr=1-1">buy</a>) (1930)<br /><br />Ever since the beginnings of the country industry, singers and musicians were fascinated by the blues. Although the most famous of them was Jimmie Rodgers and his blue yodels, others like Darbie & Tarlton, Dick Justice recorded numerous blues songs, but the Allen Brothers' music was so rooted in the blues that Columbia catalogued their recordings as "race" performances, which caused them to leave the label.<br /><br />Austin and Lee Allen were from a poor family of Chatanooga sawyers, and spent a part of their youth as itinerant musicians especially on miners camps in the moutains. There they probably met a lot of other songsters, black and white, and learnt a lot from them. The songs they recorded between 1927 and 1937 were mostly personal compositions (a rare fact at that time) inspired by blues standards and jug band numbers. They often wrote about current events : "Jake Walk Blues" is a commentary on the Jamaican ginger ("jake") food-poisoning episode that made headlines that year.<br /><br />Although they were good singers and valuable banjo/guitar players, Lee's kazzo playing is the duo's trademark. As Bill C Malone says , "he took this child's toy of presumed limited range and converted it to a lead instrument of exceptional flexibility. On Allen Bros recordings the kazoo is used like a trumpet; the result is a sound not unlike that heard on Charlie Poole's string band recordings, a syncopated but structured swing."<br /><br />Like a lot of musicians who recorded in the twenties, their onstage repertoire was wider than just the blues.<br /><br />As a bonus, here is a good example of their uptempo, swinging songs.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/u827jkqv56.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Allen Brothers</span> - Ain't That Skippin' An' Flyin'</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Allen-Brothers-Vol-1-1927-1930/dp/B00005YQHG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1255087233&sr=1-1">buy</a>) (1928)<br /><br />Check out their <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hpfwxqu5ld6e%7ET1">AMG bio</a><br /><br /><a href="http://scratchyattic.blogspot.com/2009/01/allen-brothers-1927-1934.html">Here</a> a post on Lonesome Lefty's Scratchy AtticNicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-85595643423185935642009-10-01T13:09:00.004+02:002009-10-01T14:06:52.647+02:00Favorite roots albums : Doc & Merle Watson : Ballads From Deep Gap<img style="width: 300px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip6WSJB2Tk3L1xu4NGdnIBWqu7m5VbjaOMrLYUhLsdrKGxJqNJlSbGHVKjSY728Ba8jy814RhVchyzFfqfHF31aqCSc8Sc-Mg-v0hll0Iz-_u9nFIDFt1P69T1EFkoHSiM3WxKX406Tdp9/s400/l16886.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387591039249705442" border="0" /><p></p><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/687zrphmsg.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Doc & Merle Watson </span>- My Rough and Rowdy Ways</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000000EFA/ref=s9_simz_gw_s0_p15_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0TTCFMWTKE3P4GGF69VQ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938131&pf_rd_i=507846">buy</a>) (1967)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/2m7ei3vgd8.mp3" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Doc & Merle Watson </span>- The Lawson Family Murder</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000000EFA/ref=s9_simz_gw_s0_p15_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0TTCFMWTKE3P4GGF69VQ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938131&pf_rd_i=507846">buy</a>) (1967)<br /><br />I'm a list maniac. There is no cure for that. So I spend a lot of time hanging out on the <a href="http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=3172289350&frmid=10&cmd=show">Acclaimed Music forum</a> with my list maniac (and music nerd) friends.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I'm running a poll this month called "list you 200 favorite albums of all time" (all genres) and if you're a list maniac don't hesitate and </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=3172289350&frmid=10&msgid=1003379&cmd=show">participate</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> !</span><br /><br />So this month I will post about my favorite roots albums and the first of all (#8 in <a href="http://rateyourmusic.com/list/niclejeune/200_all_time_favorite_albums">my all-time list</a> which contains a lot of "non-roots" material).<br /><br />I doscovered this forgotten gem by chance at the library while looking for some Doc Watson stuff. To this day, no folk-country album (I'm not counting compilations) has had such an effect on me.<br />The 12 songs encompass some of the best styles in traditional American music : old Appalachian ballads (a great rendition of Clarence Ashley's "The Cuckoo"), hillbilly music (a cover of Jimmie Rodgers' "Rough and Rowdy Ways"), bluegrass (Lester Flatt's "Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms"), blues (a wonderful version of Mississippi John Hurt's "Stackolee") or murder ballads, with the "Lawson Family Murder", a terrible story sung in a gentle manner, which makes it even more stunning. The only other song on this subject that could pair it might be Suicide's "Frankie Teardrop", which tells the same story in a completely opposite manner.<br /><br />And of course there is Doc and son's performance. Doc Watson is one of the best acoustic guitar players of the century, taking picking to unbelievable heights. Not only is he a technical virtuoso, but his playing is almost laid back and seems effortless. Everything is done at home, the sound is incredible, and the music is fast, fun and unpretentious.<br /><br />I do hope I have convinced you to get that masterpiece. If you love the music I post here, you will love this album.<br /><br />Track list :<br /><br />1 Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms <br />2 My Rough and Rowdy Ways <br />3 The Wreck of the Old Number Nine <br />4 Gambler's Yodel <br />5 The Cuckoo <br />6 Stack-O-Lee <br />7 Willie Moore <br />8 Travelin' Man <br />9 The Tragic Romance <br />10 Texas Gales [instrumental] <br />11 The Lawson Family Murder <br />12 Alabama BoundNicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-82598632650474727322009-09-21T13:08:00.004+02:002009-09-21T13:50:55.579+02:00Tejano Roots (5) : Conjunto Bernal<img style="width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI8AWwAI530bELsvToIfJT48Pwh5SwXjKt5QHyZMeKG0j0tjwpCz_g-X2b2aeTlVPRNyGB158f4uiBiZW8m9PsE3XAR0K6najNCOEfvooLAhGAfUjEmQ-N2IFVslBtDXOO1z7xvJosShbr/s400/300x300.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383877876226411954" /><p></p><br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/1az2rce894.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Conjunto Bernal</span> - Mi Unico Camino</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tejano-Roots-Various-Artists/dp/B0000001H9/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1253533535&sr=8-2">buy</a>) (1958)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/ncmal8mg4b.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">Conjunto Bernal</span> - La Novia Antonia</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tejano-Roots-Various-Artists/dp/B0000001H9/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1253533535&sr=8-2">buy</a>) (1958)<br /><br />Led by Paulino Bernal, this conjunto started recording in the 1950s, and became the best of its generation. <br />It was a classic tejano group, with Paulino on lead vocals and accordion and his older brother Elias on bajo sexto and harmonizing. Like many conjuntos, they started in South Texas, playing in bars for blue-collar immigrants to support their family.<br /><br />I really love their modern sound and their harmonizing is divine. And they were the first tejano band to play rock 'n' roll, as you can hear on the second track, a cover of Larry William's "Bonie Moronie".<br /><br />There's a great Arhoolie compilation of them (see the image above) that you can download at e-music.<br /><br />If you're interested in Tejano music, check <a href="http://www.lib.utexas.edu/benson/border/arhoolie2/raices.html">this article</a> from the University of Texas site.<br /><br />Perfect for reading Cormac McCarthy's <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Border-Trilogy-Crossing-Everymans-Library/dp/0375407936/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253533664&sr=8-1-catcorr">Border Trilogy</a></span>.<br />God, that is a great series of novels, the perfect companion for the music on River's Invitation.Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896938034498374462.post-33008414197017175542009-09-17T12:16:00.005+02:002009-09-18T17:04:45.594+02:00You send, I like : KJ Walker<img style="width: 355px; height: 326px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr_dV4W_x6Mc_MhubXEw2NjfwnM90Sh54GunmEOmbUUcEQgGal_p144875VK_viwBHFikO-i6QpkUg1qnS3Qs9Dsm35x3caEtTasGA6sa6PEMG1Y-3nvzYdfRjwtNW6ivXqqsD4e2Ik580/s400/3153849195_fb1bc0658e.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382814266231876146" /><p></p><br /><a href="http://www.box.net/shared/static/zg3vs9dfks.mp3" target="_blank" ><span style="font-weight:bold;">KJ Walker</span> - Without You</a> (<a href="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kjwalker">buy</a>) (2009)<br /><script src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><br />I've started receiving albums and e-mails about new artists and it's always a pleasure. Some were off-topic, some I didn't like enough, but I took KJ Walker's Cd with me when I went to the mountains and listened to it in the car. <br /><br />I really liked his brand of roots rock, with a Californian flavour, especially in Kj's mellow vocals. The songwriting is solid most of the time, reminiscent of Roy Orbison, Tom Petty , and the melodies and beats are versatile enough.<br /><br />I picked "Without You" a great love song, probably because it reminds me of the later Bruce Springsteen (didn't I tell you that Bruce is my favorite singer ?)and because of its nostalgia, but there are other highlights, from the ballad "A house In My Heart" to the driving rock'n roll beat of "Thinkin Of You".<br /><br />According to his <a href="http://www.kjwalkerband.com/KJ%20Walker%20Band%20Site/About%20%20.html">bio</a> Kevin J Walker is a veteran of the Los Angeles blues circuit who started to play in the streets of Europe. And last but not least, just like me, he was born in Paris.<br /><br />Bravo KJ !<br /><br />If you liked this sample, you can either :<br /><br />- visit the KJ Walker Band's <a href="http://www.myspace.com/kjwalkerband">Myspace</a><br /><br />- or go <a href="http://www.kjwalkerband.com/KJ%20Walker%20Band%20Site/Music.html">here</a> if you want to buy or hear more of the album.Nicolashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405492831168985314noreply@blogger.com0