The role Dave Van Ronk played in influencing and benefiting the folk music boom of the 1960s cannot be overstated. Slightly more than a decade after his passing, well-regarded directors, Joel and Ethan Coen, have announced they will be releasing … Continue reading →
This is the second post concerning the ballad Child 4. See also Part 1. Introduction In my first post this week, I looked briefly at the history of the ballad Francis Child cataloged as his #4, known by many names; … Continue reading →
Famed folk singer and Sing Out! co-founder Pete Seeger and his wife, Toshi Seeger, were honored by Beacon High School, New York, in a ceremony that named their school theater after the Seeger family. The newly named “Seeger Theater” was … Continue reading →
The artistry of Woody Guthrie’s voice has graced our ears for over 80 years, and for the first time, it is reaching us in narrative form. Written in 1947, House of Earth is Guthrie’s only full-length novel and has recently … Continue reading →
This is the first post concerning the ballad Child 4. See also Part 2. Introduction I love this image; it’s so evocative! What secret does this young gentle lady want her pretty parrot to keep? Well, you know the title … Continue reading →
Adam McCulloch (r) “A rip-roaring yarn” Earlier this year, when researching my posts for “Babylon” (Child 14), I came across a terrific Scottish recording of the tune, “The Bonnie Banks of Airdrie” by Adam McCulloch. McCulloch’s album In These Times, … Continue reading →
Jeffrey Foucault and Mark Erelli This is the second post this week on Norman Blake’s “Billy Gray.” Read the first here. Outlaw Rhetoric That I haven’t read Aristotle‘s Poetics yet is a gap in my education. I’ll need to get right … Continue reading →
Norman Blake (photo by Henry Horenstein) This is the first of three posts on “Billy Gray.” Read the second here, and the third here. Prelude: But I regress… After last week’s focus on re-thinking gender roles in both new murder … Continue reading →
Christine Stulik (photo by Logan Futej) This is part two of our interview with Eileen, and the third post of the week. You can read the first part of the interview here, and read our introduction to their song “I’ll … Continue reading →
Becky Poole (photo by Logan Futej) Here is Part One of our interview with the Chicago-based duo, Eileen. Today, we meet the duo and dive more deeply into the song “I’ll Lay You Down,” which we introduced in the previous … Continue reading →
